Charlotte Bobcats win despite resting starters, 99-95

not a duke fan at all, but plenty of duke players have had nba success… at least the ones that should’ve actually GONE to the nba… coach k is such an exceptional coach that he can take sometimes middling talent and make them look great, and more importantly, teach them the fundamentals that allow them to excel above young players who don’t have them

in the NBA, MOST players are fundamentally sound, and the ones that aren’t, make up for it with unnatural athleticism

so when Duke goes deep in the NCAA tournament, people automatically assume they have great players… occasionally they do, but typically it’s a bunch of good but not great players coming together to play as a team and focus on their strengths, while hiding their weaknesses as role players… and if you think about it, the majority of Duke players make it in the NBA as role players (see JJ Reddick, Chris Duhon, Shane Battier, Luol Deng etc).

Duke currently has the most players in the NBA right now with 14, by the way. Most of them are role players, with basically Carlos Boozer being the one exception since Elton Brand’s role now seems to be forgetting how to rebound.

I mean, pick any powerhouse program in the NCAA that sends a lot of their players to the pros? What percentage of their players go to the pros and excel based on what percentage of Duke players go pro and excel? Duke has had 51 NBA players, 14 of which who are currently in the NBA. Then you add guys who played at least 10,000 minutes in the NBA, like Gminski, Ferry, Laettner, Marin, Mullins, Dawkins, Banks, Verga, Denton and Lewis. So, of 51 players, you have 14 currently in the NBA, three of whom haven’t had time to make a name for themselves, and then 10 who made somewhat of a niche for themselves playing 10k minutes. That’s 24 of 51 players who have had some kind of real NBA success. And then there’s guys like Cherokee Parks, who managed to play in the NBA as a bench player for 8 years. If you also count guys who played in the NBA at least 5 years, then the list increases by 4. So basically you have 28 of 51 players who spent at least 5 years in the NBA or are currently on an NBA roster. Of them, you have six “stars”. Hill, Mullins, Brand, Boozer, Meggette and Verga. Or 12% of NBA players that become stars.

Compare that to any other school and tell me if you don’t get similar results? Let’s try UNC… 75 NBA players…. stars being Jordan, Carter, McAdoo, Cunningham, Jamison, Daugherty, Worthy, Davis, Stackhouse and Wallace. 10/75… 13%. Granted, UNC “stars” are far superior to Duke “stars”, but Brand, Hill and Boozer all have a legit shot at the Hall of Fame.