Coach Collins: Our Guy

I remember where I was on that Saturday in April of 2008 when the bottom line on ESPN turned red. There was breaking news in Men’s College Basketball and as I read it, my heart sank. Johnny Dawkins was leaving DUKE to become the Head Coach at Stanford. I was standing in a bar in New York City and I felt like the rug had been pulled out from under me. I had suffered this same feeling before around this same time of year in 1999 when I read that Elton Brand, William Avery and Corey Maggette were leaving DUKE to go to the NBA and also in 1997 when I read that Tommy Amaker was packing his bags and going to Seton Hall. And now, here I am again… getting ready to watch another good-bye unfold: Chris Collins is leaving to become the Head Coach at Northwestern. This is the guy whom I watched play from my seat in Cameron Indoor Stadium starting when I was 11 years old. This is the guy with the beautiful face but an even more beautiful three-point shot. This is the guy who never faltered in his abilities as a player, his leadership or his love for his school; even when the wins weren’t coming in droves as they once had. This is the guy who ranks 11th in all-time three-point field goals at DUKE. This is the guy who returned to his school in 2000 to add another “C” to his name: Coach. This is the guy who went toe to toe (and nose to nose) with UNC’s Matt Doherty during a heated rivalry game. This is the guy who is credited with getting the name Scheyer on the back of a DUKE jersey. This is the guy who is revered by many other DUKE greats like Mike Dunleavy, Jason Williams, Chris Duhon, J.J. Redick, DeMarcus Nelson, Gerald Henderson, Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith, Austin Rivers, Seth Curry, Tyler Thornton and Quinn Cook as the person who guided them to the players that they became. This is the guy who has 8 ACC Tournament Championships, 4 ACC Regular Season Titles and 2 NCAA National Championships under his belt. This is the guy who worked first-hand with the USA National Teams that won the FIBA World Championship in 2010 and Gold Medals in the Olympics in 2008 and 2012. This is that guy and that guy is family.
Family: It’s the same reason why it was so hard to watch Amaker and Dawkins move on and why it is always so hard to lose players early to the draft; these guys aren’t just anybody- they are family. The camera shoots over to the DUKE bench in the middle of a game and you see our 7 players in DUKE uniforms. But, then the camera pans a little to the left and you see our 4 former players sitting in suits surrounding Coach K. This isn’t a team of one guy from here and another from there and another from somewhere over there. This is a team of family members. This is a group that shares common pasts and common goals for the future. And now, again, we are losing a member of our family. It will never be the same to look at the DUKE bench and not see our former #20 there. It will never be the same to have another Coach doing our halftime media interviews. It will never be the same to see the team photo and not see him there. But, we must recognize and always remember how lucky we have been for the past 21 years and also know that as lucky as Northwestern is to be getting Coach Chris Collins, no matter what; he will always be our guy. DUKE Basketball Never Stops and DUKE family is for life.
Congratulations, Coach Collins. You deserve only the very best.

Krzyzewski's Starting Five

Each week, Jason King of ESPN writes a column entitled “King’s Court” and at the end of the column, he contributes this:

The Starting Five

Each week, I'll pick the top five players -- and three reserves -- to play for a high-profile coach. Disagree with my selections? Let me hear about it. Note: Current players were not considered.

It was only a matter of time before he got to him, and this week he did:

Duke's All-Mike Krzyzewski team

Starters

G: Jay Williams -- Won NCAA title in 2001 and the Wooden Award in 2002
G: Johnny Dawkins -- Duke's second all-time leading scorer was national POY in 1987
F: Shane Battier -- Swept the national player of the year awards after winning 2001 title
F: Danny Ferry -- 1989 national player of the year owns single-game mark for points (58)
F: Christian Laettner -- All-American is the only player to start in four straight Final Fours

Bench

G/F: Grant Hill -- Two-time All-American and two-time NCAA champion
G: J.J. Redick -- School's all-time leading scorer; one of 13 players to have jersey retired
F: Shelden Williams -- Duke's career leader in blocks and rebounds

Looking at this, I can’t outright disagree. But there are some things worth noting.

I sent this to my friend, James (a UNC fan) and asked his opinion and this was his response:

"I think Hill needs to start over Ferry. I know Ferry was very good (I saw him a lot), but Hill was simply a better player. And there is no way I’d pick Shelden Williams. I’d have Brand or even Boozer over Williams. And how can you not have Hurley on the bench?"

I also cannot outright disagree with James. I was only ages 4-8 when Danny Ferry was at DUKE but I will say this: whenever my brother and I would play video games and there was an option for us to pick a number in anything- I’d always pick number 35 because Ferry wore 35. He was obviously doing enough right that a 4-8 year old was picking up on it. But, Grant Hill did win two National Championships at DUKE. Two. That’s gotta be something. You can’t lose with either of these two though, regardless of the rotation.

Any Coach that has had enough good players that J.J. Redick (as a collegiate player) is coming off the bench? That’s just… wow. Full disclosure: J.J. Redick is, and more likely than not always will be, my favorite player to put on a uniform. But, that isn’t without reason. The guy was unstoppable. I saw him drop 41 points on Texas in East Rutherford, NJ like it was nothing. He hit everything, including nine threes that day. Did I mention that it was a #1 (DUKE) vs. #2 (Texas) matchup? The guy was a maniac. When J.J. took off his DUKE uniform for the last time, he did so as the leading scorer in DUKE history, the leading scorer in ACC history, the leading scorer in ACC Tournament History, the national career leader in three- pointers made and the nation’s second best free throw shooter ever. He won the Rupp Award (twice), the AP National Player of the Year Award, the Wooden Award, the Naismith College Player of the Year Award, the NABC Player of the Year Award and the Oscar Robertson Trophy. I suppose it’s fine that J.J. starts on Krzyzewski’s bench but I’d be willing to bet he comes in before the first media timeout.

Now: Shelden Williams. James makes a good point that he’d take Brand or even Boozer over Shelden Williams and in some ways, I agree; in others, I think Shelden deserves to be there. Brand and Boozer only stayed in Durham for two and three years respectively so you have to wonder- had they stayed (this is more geared toward Brand than Boozer, probably), would Shelden still have those records? The way Elton Brand played? I doubt it. But, in Shelden Williams’ defense, like J.J. Redick, he is one of 13 players to have his jersey retired and Shelden Williams had to do something J.J. Redick didn’t have to: he had to play second-fiddle to J.J. Redick. Shelden Williams not only did this, he found a way to carve out his own piece of history. He was a two-time NABC Defensive Player of the Year and was only the third player in NCAA history to score 1500 points, grab 1000 rebounds, block 350 shots, and pick up 150 steals. That’s nothing to scoff at. (What is something to wonder though is how- with the offensive machine that Redick was and the defensive machine that Williams was- this team never won a National Title.) If you’re looking at accomplishments and accolades alone, I’d go Shelden Williams too. But, to agree with James, using the call-it-like-I-see-it-test… I’m taking Elton Brand all day.

The rest is pretty straight forward. You know you’re taking Laettner, you know you’re taking Battier, you know you’re taking Jason Williams (note: I know it’s Jay now but to me, especially when referring to him in that #22 DUKE uniform- it’s Jason) and you know you’re taking Dawkins. The scary part though, as James notes: no Hurley? NO HURLEY? The all-time assists leader? The 1992 Final Four MVP? The two-time National Champion? Who would I put him over? I don’t know. I just don’t know. But I do know that having had a roster of players so good that they don’t put J.J. Redick as one of your top-five and they don’t put Bobby Hurley as one of your top-eight… well that’s a luxury that most just cannot afford.

No wonder that guy is still Kounting.