96 Duke basketball alums to attend Coach K’s final home game

A boatload of Blue Devils is in Durham for the UNC-Duke basketball clash.

Of the 208 Duke basketball players that Mike Krzyzewski has coached across his 42 years in Durham, more than half will be in Cameron Indoor Stadium when the No. 4 Duke Blue Devils (26-4, 16-3 ACC) take on the unranked yet hungry UNC Tar Heels (22-8, 14-5 ACC) at 6 p.m. ET Saturday.

Now, 14 are members of the current team. Plus, four more — Jon Scheyer, Chris Carrawell, Nolan Smith, Amile Jefferson — will be on the bench as Coach K’s staff members.

And guys like ESPN commentator Jay Bilas and ACC Network analyst Carlos Boozer likely would have been there anyway as part of their job description since both ESPN and the ACC Network will broadcast the game with more than 100 employees on site.

Then there are 90 more of the 96 former Blue Devils under Coach K who, according to a tweet on Saturday morning from the official account of the Duke basketball program, plan to be in the stands to honor their former coach during the epic rivalry showdown. Those expected patrons span every decade the Hall of Famer has been at the helm.

Notable Duke basketball alums on the list

The complete list (below) includes seven of Mike Krzyzewski’s nine former pupils who saw their jersey numbers retired at Duke: Danny Ferry, Christian Laettner, Grant Hill, Shane Battier, Jason Williams, JJ Redick, and Shelden Williams.

https://twitter.com/DukeMBB/status/1500118442896146436?s=20&t=1kknAYlknJOaUu6dCxJJxA

Presumably, the two retired-jersey legends who won’t be there, Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley and Central Florida head coach Johnny Dawkins, would be if not for their responsibilities with their teams.

The same goes for a handful of active NBA Blue Devils, such as Jayson Tatum and the Jones brothers, who cannot make the trip due to their scheduled games. Still, it seems they have all tweeted out their support for Coach K on this historic day.

Stay tuned to Ball Durham for more Duke basketball news and views.