Duke basketball champ says Blue Devils have most talent, depth since 2001 title

Duke basketball champion Jay Williams has become a fixture on ESPN's college basketball coverage and while he hasn't always shown his Blue Devil colors on the air, he has continued to root for the success of the program.

Last week he gave a glowing endorsement of the team at halftime of its matchup against Kentucky.

"I never thought I would say this about a Duke team, and this is talking about the last two teams that have won championships there -- 2015, 2010," Williams said.

"This is the most talented and the most depth of a Duke team that I've seen since our class in 2001."

The Blue Devils won the National Championship in 2001 behind players such as Shane Battier, Carlos Boozer, Mike Dunleavy, Chris Duhon, Nate James, and Williams. Five players from that team would eventually play in the NBA.

"Talent wise, they throw numbers at you and defensively it feels like Duke is back to its old ways," Williams continued.

"Even with RJ Barrett and Zion Williamson, they played a lot of zone back in that time. They're playing man-to-man, they're so disruptive with their defense -- it feels like an old Duke team with the way they establish pressure."

Naturally, Jay Williams’ comments came while the Blue Devils were leading Kentucky at halftime by nine points, 46-37, before the Wildcats rallied in the second half to win, 77-72.

“I haven’t thought I would say that in a long time about a Duke basketball team.”

The Blue Devils (3-1) dropped six spots to No. 12 in the Associated Press Top-25 Poll after its first defeat of the season but will have another chance to showcase its depth and defense against a dominant opponent when it goes on the road to Tucson and plays No. 17 Arizona (2-1) on Friday night.

Duke will then play No. 1 Kansas (5-0) on Tuesday in Las Vegas.