Duke basketball: Hall of Fame overlooks Blue Devils, Tar Heels

Though the UNC and Duke basketball programs have owned the past four decades of college hoops, their individual players across this time frame have yet to receive the combined respect they deserve.

The National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, which inducted former Duke basketball great Shane Battier this week, surely also includes fellow Duke legend Bobby Hurley, right?

Wrong. And the Blue Devils’ starter at point guard from the 1989-90 season through 1992-93 is not the only all-time player from Tobacco Road who inexplicably continues to go overlooked.

First, despite reaching three final fours, winning two national championships, and dishing out what remains the NCAA all-time record number of assists (1,076) — not to mention a career 40.5 percent clip from deep and 1.7 steals per game — Hurley is not among the now-131 inducted players.

Neither is J.J. Redick. Evidently, someone needs to remind the HOF voters about the Blue Devil who knocked down a then-record 457 3-pointers from 2002-06 (still a record among players from major conferences) on his way to a then-ACC record 2,769 points, reaching one final four and cutting down nets from three conference tournaments.

The same goes for the guard Redick bumped to second on Duke’s all-time scoring list, Johnny Dawkins. Evidently, someone needs to remind them about the light-footed, silky Blue Devil who came within a couple of buckets of winning a national title in 1986 and put up 2,556 points of his own — before the existence of the 3-point line, mind you — saving the job of Mike Krzyzewski in the process (yes, thank goodness, the HOF did have enough sense 13 years ago to induct Duke’s coaching legend).

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So how about Art Heyman? Mike Gminski? Danny Ferry? Nope, nope, and nope.

Battier joined former inductees Dick Groat, Christian Laettner, Grant Hill, and Jason Williams as the only Blue Devils on the list. Simply put, five is just not enough.

And as much as it pains this Duke basketball fan to admit, the same goes for the six from UNC: Billy Cunningham, Charlie Scott, Bob McAdoo, Phil Ford, James Worthy, and Sam Perkins. Again, not enough.

Seriously, where is Michael Jordan? J.R. Reid? Eric Montross? Antawn Jamison? Rashad McCants? Tyler Hansbrough? Nope, none of the above. No joke, not a single Tar Heel from the past 35 years is in the HOF. Let that sink in.

No, it’s not because some of these guys didn’t stick around for four years. After all, stars who turned pro early — such as Magic Johnson and Shaquille O’Neal — litter the list.

In essence, what the HOF is doing in UNC’s case is entirely crediting the four national titles the Tar Heels have brought home since 1993 to Roy Williams and the now-late Dean Smith — again, as painful as it is to admit, both are deservedly among the HOF coaches.

Evidently, as it is, the combined 25 final fours and 10 national titles between Duke and UNC since 1981 — roughly two-thirds of all the final fours during this span have included at least one of the schools while they have accounted for a little more than 25 percent of the national titles — only warrant HOF inductions of six combined players from all these memorable teams.

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Ouch. Maybe the HOF is shortchanging the UNC and Duke basketball programs because fans of the other 350 or so Division I programs grow tired of only seeing Blue Devils and Tar Heels all over their screens and in seemingly every headline about college basketball.

Well, HOF, here’s what you say to that: Tough $#!+.

So maybe one day the folks from Tobacco Road will just have to start their own HOF, to include both the Blue Devils and Tar Heels who are in the actual HOF and those who should be — along with a couple of legends from N.C. State and Wake Forest.

They could refer to it as “The Hall of Fame that would whoop the national Hall of Fame in a game.” Good luck naming a better starting five of all-time college basketball players than Bobby Hurley (or Phil Ford or Jason Williams, take your pick), Michael Jordan, David Thompson, Tim Duncan, and Christian Laettner. Just saying.

Stay tuned to Ball Durham for more updates, analyses, opinions, and predictions regarding all things Duke basketball.