Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski’s success is due in large part to the defense he has both taught and inspired, but which of his 40 teams have stood out from the rest in terms of executing his instructions the best?
While the 2019-20 squad did not make this list of the five greatest Duke basketball defensive teams under Mike Krzyzewski — way too early for that — the current Blue Devils’ play through four games is the inspiration for this list. Put another way, sometime between now and April, this season’s collection of lockdown Duke defenders have a shot to become the reason for a tweak to this list.
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But what does it take to be one of these five bucket-denying, havoc-creating juggernauts? Well, stats — blocks, steals, points allowed, etc. — obviously weigh heavily on a team’s overall defensive rating (grading those that made the cut here on a 100-point scale). In addition to numbers, though, sometimes boosting these squads’ scores are single-possession defensive stands that became memorable because of their importance to crucial contests.
Of course, there is also the intimidation factor to consider — i.e., certain guys, or sometimes tandems or trios, who regularly made Duke’s opponents shiver, sometimes on the way to becoming the National Association of Basketball Coaches’ Defensive Player of the Year (Duke is responsible for nine such recipients dating back to the award’s inception for the 1986-87 season).
Finally, championships matter. That said, not all of these five Duke teams won national championships. Not all of them even played in April.
What they all did do, though, was nearly perfect each of the countless tenets of Coach K’s defensive doctrine: grit, passion, hustle, communication, togetherness, perseverance, awareness, instincts, sacrifice, etc. So from No. 5 to the winningest college basketball coach’s No. 1 defensive unit — in an attempt to let the current team understand what it takes to land here — let’s get started…
- Team’s top five defenders: Billy King, Danny Ferry, Quin Snyder, Robert Brickey, Kevin Strickland
- 68.8 points allowed per game
- 45.2 opponents’ field goal percentage
- 8.5 steals per game
- 3.3 blocks per game
- Defensive grade: 93.5
Senior forward Billy King couldn’t shoot free throws (47.9 percent for his career). Actually, he couldn’t shoot at all beyond five feet (4.5 points per game for his career). And his average steals and blocks weren’t off the charts (1.5 and 0.4, respectively, his final season).
But the primary contributor to his 1987-88 NABC Defensive Player of the Year award was his ability to shut down opponents’ top players. As a senior, he propelled the underdog Blue Devils to the final weekend of the Big Dance by limiting No. 1 seed Temple’s Mark Macon, who averaged 20.7 points that season, to 13 points on 6-for-29 shooting — including eight airballs.
Prior to that performance, King had helped hold N.C. State’s Vinny Del Negro to a scoreless performance across 35 minutes of play in addition to forcing Florida’s Vernon Maxwell to shoot 7-for-18 from the field, North Carolina’s Jeff Lebo to shoot 2-for-14, and Notre Dame’s David Rivers to shoot 3-for-17.
However, King did have some partners in crime. Junior forward Danny Ferry had a knack for snatching steals (1.3 per game) and loose balls. Junior point guard Quin Snyder (1.6 steals per game) had honed a defensive stance that posed regular problems for opposing ball-handlers. Senior guard Kevin Strickland was just a dude keenly aware of happenings in his surroundings, leading to his 1.0 steals and 0.7 blocks per game.
And then there was sophomore high-flying forward Robert Brickey, who only averaged 0.7 steals and 0.7 blocks that season but went on to average 1.1 and 2.2, respectively, the next. He cemented his defensive fame at Duke on Jan. 21, 1988, by cementing the program’s first-ever Dean Dome win — the first of a three-game rivalry sweep that season — with a Zion-esque last-second block of a baseline jumper from Lebo.
All in all, this group of Blue Devils put the “off” in opponents’ offense. Now for the next greatest defensive bunch in Durham…
- Team’s top five defenders: Zion Williamson, Tre Jones, Cam Reddish, Marques Bolden, Javin DeLaurier
- 67.8 points allowed per game
- 39.8 opponents’ field goal percentage
- 9.1 steals per game
- 6.8 blocks per game (program record)
- Defensive grade: 95.5
The 2018-19 Blue Devils came up one win short of playing in April, but the shortcoming was not the defense’s fault. In fact, had Duke’s shooting prowess matched its prowess at shutting down opponents’ shooters, there’s no doubt the season would have ended with a win for what was arguably Mike Krzyzewski’s all-time most athletic squad.
There was freshman forward and eventual Naismith Player of the Year Zion Williamson, who averaged 2.1 steals and 1.9 blocks, coming out of nowhere on the road to swat away any last hopes of eventual champ Virginia. There was Zion pinning a Notre Dame layup against the backboard. There was Zion hitting his own head against the backboard when blocking a Princeton shot.
There were Zion’s countless swipes of opposing guards, forwards, and centers that led to his countless fastbreak oohs and aahs. Rather than describe them all, though, why not just check the tape:
There was freshman point guard Tre Jones locking up one opposing point guard after another on his way to collecting 1.9 steals per game. There was freshman wing Cam Reddish (1.6 steals per game) using his go-go-gadget arms and superb instincts to disrupt opponents’ passes. As for the interior, junior big men Marques Bolden and Javin DeLaurier, despite frequent foul trouble, held their own with clean-up duties, combining for 3.0 blocks per game.
Plus, though not his specialty, freshman guard R.J. Barrett — 0.9 steals and 0.4 blocks per game — played a key part to the team’s defense by way of his own ideal athleticism, length, instincts, and willingness.
Had this ACC Tournament Champion added “NCAA Champion” to its portfolio, there’s no doubt it would have leapfrogged at least one or two of the following defensive powerhouses under Coach K…
- Team’s top five defenders: Shelden Williams, Chris Duhon, Sean Dockery, Daniel Ewing, Luol Deng
- 65.0 points allowed per game
- 40.7 opponents’ field goal percentage
- 9.2 steals per game
- 6.5 blocks per game:
- Defensive grade: 96.0
Unfortunately, the 2003-04 Blue Devils squandered a four-point lead across the final two minutes against UConn, ending their season on a low note defensively and one win shy of a chance to play for a national title (lost the ACC Tournament Championship to Maryland in overtime).
But the season as a whole was a display of all the ingredients to a monumental defensive unit. Other than sophomore guard J.J. Redick, who more than made up for his shortcomings on defense with his lights-out performances on the other end, Duke’s primary starters each possessed at least a hint of defensive wizardry.
For starters, take sophomore big man Shelden Williams, who won the NABC DPOY award the following two seasons and whose number ended up next to Redick’s in Cameron Indoor Stadium’s rafters due in large part to his shot-blocking expertise.
Left and right, “The Landlord” evicted opponents’ inside shot attempts. Williams’ broad shoulders and eye for opponents behind on their rents led to his owning Duke’s record for blocked shots in a career (422) and Duke’s top three season individual block totals (2004-06) in addition to his name appearing all over the list of Duke’s top individual block totals in a game.
Partnering with Williams during the 2003-04 campaign, though, was arguably the most aggressively speedy perimeter defender in program history: senior guard Chris Duhon, who was always willing to dive into a crowd for a loose ball with seemingly no regard for his well-being. And the Slidell, La., native was magical at intercepting passes (2.2 steals per game that season).
The primary supporting defensive staff consisted of freshman forward Luol Deng, a lengthy athlete with a high defensive IQ; junior guard Daniel Ewing, who pitched in with crafty takeaways in key moments; and sophomore guard Sean Dockery, a feisty, fiery competitor from Chicago who despite coming off the bench and playing only 15.5 minutes per game managed to come away with 1.5 steals per game (an incredible team-leading 3.9 per 40 minutes).
But now for the first group of Blue Devils on this ranking — and the first in program history — to have cut down April nets, needing every last ounce of their energy on defense to pave the way to “Wish Granted” bliss…
- Team’s top five defenders: Christian Laettner, Grant Hill, Thomas Hill, Bobby Hurley, Brian Davis
- 73.4 points allowed per game
- 44.5 opponents’ field goal percentage
- 9.3 steals per game
- 4.1 blocks per game
- Defensive grade: 97.5
Considering the 1991-92 Blue Devils finished 34-2 with nets in hand after welcoming the return of all the most significant pieces from the 1990-91 squad, one might think the unquestioned greatest overall Duke team in history would have been better at defense than the previous team.
The stats say otherwise. So too does the fact that the Duke team responsible for the program’s second NCAA title had developed an extraordinarily efficient offense and did not have to rely on defense quite to the degree of the previous team.
And remember, the most important win in Duke basketball history — many would also say the greatest — came in the second-to-last game of the 1990-91 season and ended with a defensive stand.
The UNLV Runnin’ Rebels, riding a 45-game win streak that included a 30-point whooping of Duke in the previous season’s title game, had 12 seconds left to erase a two-point lead to keep the Blue Devils from pulling off one of the biggest April college basketball upsets in history and allow Mike Krzyzewski’s first ultimate winners to dance on a stage in Indianapolis two nights later.
So in order to put a stop to UNLV’s last-ditch effort, freshman sensation Grant Hill, who averaged 1.4 steals and 0.8 blocks for the season, stayed tight with UNLV’s Larry Johnson as he brought the ball across halfcourt. And when Hill bumped into UNLV’s Stacey Augmon, along came Christian Laettner — who averaged 1.9 steals and 1.1 blocks that season and was an underappreciated defender for his career — who dared Johnson for a moment to shoot what could have been a game-winning 3-pointer for UNLV.
But Johnson second-guessed himself — probably due in large part to Laettner’s sly mind-control techniques as one can see below. Rather than shoot, he flipped the ball over to guard Anthony Hunt with five seconds remaining and desperation now setting in.
Fortunately for the Blue Devils, sophomore point guard Bobby Hurley — who hounded opposing guards all season and averaged 1.3 steals — was not only nearly in position to pick off the pass, but he stayed in Hunt’s grill as the running-out-of-options Rebel heaved a contested prayer (Laettner had alertly glided over to put another hand in his face) from about 25 feet out with three ticks on the clock. Clang!
That defensive stand — which also included blue-collar junior forward Brian Davis, who pitched in a steal per game that season, and sophomore guard Thomas Hill, who averaged 1.5 steals and doesn’t receive nearly enough mentions when folks talk about the back-to-back title squads — highlighted what these Blue Devils were all about.
Communicating with one another. Reading one another’s movements. Being as tough as nails as a unit. Believing together that they had what it takes, beginning and ending with their hard-nosed and intelligent defense, to wear the crown at the end of the Big Dance.
Speaking of a champion, we’ve now reached Duke’s all-time defensive team…
- Team’s top five defenders: Shane Battier, Jason Williams, Chris Duhon, Mike Dunleavy, Nate James
- 70.5 points allowed per game
- 41.6 opponents’ field goal percentage
- 10.5 steals per game (program record)
- 5.0 blocks per game
- Defensive grade: 99.0
Just as there is no doubt who is the overall greatest Duke basketball player of all time — that mind-games fella from the previous slide — there should be no doubt who is the overall greatest Duke basketball defender of all time: Shane Battier. Therefore, one would think he would have to be a member of the best defensive team under Coach K.
Yup.
As a senior, Battier — not the most athletic player but sharper, brighter, wittier, and more competitive than all but a handful of people on the planet — put together a masterpiece. Sure, the combo forward’s offense was on another level, averaging 19.9 points that season with a deadly shooting touch from both inside and beyond the arc. But his defense — in addition to his overall leadership — was otherworldly.
And Battier was crafty. He set the national record for charges taken in a career (111). He did something few paint defenders can pull off, positioning his hand low in order to knock away the ball as an opposing post player pulls up for a close-range attempt. The combination of his hand-eye coordination and balance among traffic — either down low or beyond the arc — was a thing of beauty.
And he saved his greatest beauty for just the right moment.
Ahead by seven early in the second half of the championship game against Arizona in 2001, seconds after sophomore wing Mike Dunleavy had knocked down his second of soon-to-be three 3-pointers on consecutive possessions — a.k.a., the statement flurry that gave Duke control and gave its fans goosebumps from thinking ahead to title No. 3 coming home to Durham — Battier provided what this writer believes to be the greatest defensive play in Duke basketball history.
The presence of mind to come off his man to defend a guard darting to the basket. The two-handed block, blanketing the opponent yet somehow never touching him. The all-pro wide-receiver-like balance on the baseline. The one-handed backward flip to freshman guard Chris Duhon, requiring Battier to turn on his go-go-gadget eyes on the back of his head to complete.
We’ve already talked about Duhon a few slides back. We could sit here and chat about the sheer defensive tag-team dominance of he and sophomore guard Jason Williams, two quick, slick guards who averaged 2.0 steals apiece for the season. We could discuss the dog-pound toughness of fifth-year senior forward Nate James, who was good for 1.6 steals per game. We could bring up the underrated defense of Dunleavy, who averaged 1.4 takeaways of his own. We could even point to the respectable 0.9 blocks and 0.9 steals per game from sophomore center Carlos Boozer.
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We could even break down how the “Miracle Minute” win against Maryland that season wouldn’t have happened without the defenders who all season executed the greatest fullcourt press in Coach K’s history.
Or we could just keep replaying the first clip on this slide of Battier’s magic trick — the No. 31 in Cameron’s rafters was the last 3-time winner of the NABC DPOY award — and just leave it at that. The 2000-01 Duke basketball team is the greatest defensive unit under Krzyzewski, no doubt about it.
And a fitting end to this article is this quick question and answer for anyone who dares to disagree with this ranking of the 2000-01 champs: “Who’s your daddy? BATTIER!”
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