As Duke commencement finished today, let's talk about this year's senior class. Duke basketball's senior class this year comprised of Nolan Smith (@NdotSmitty), Kyle Singler (@KyleSingler), and Casey Peters (@Casey_Peters). Yes, I know their twitter accounts. The truth is, I never thought I would get involved with twitter and really had no desire to do so. Liz (@Jrsygrly) told me she had an account but I still wasn't sold until I found out that Duke home basketball tickets could/would become available via @DukeTickets. I never ended up getting any tickets from the account's few posts, but oh well. I still followed some of the basketball players' lives.
This senior class contains Nolan Smith, a guard who, after two years, was considered somewhat of a bust because of his lack of point guard skills. He was never recruited to be a point guard. He never claimed to be a point guard. He was thrust into that position because he was a better player than Greg Paulus. He apparently even thought about transferring after those two years. I think everyone, including Nolan, is happy with his (non-)decision. It also contains Kyle Singler, a forward who came in tied with Mike Dunleavy as the most pale Duke player ever. I guess there isn't much sun in Oregon. I still remember, while sitting in the UNC alumni section at the Dean Dome my freshman year, a UNC fan yelling, "Dunleavy, you look like a ghost!" as we proceeded to completely dismantle them to the tune of a 30-point blowout. Kyle was talked about as a First-Team All-American this year and unfortunately didn't have a great season. Perhaps an All-American season would have gotten his jersey retired but I doubt it will happen now. He still ended up with one of the best careers for a four-year duke men's basketball player. His legacy is set after winning Final Four MOP en route to Duke's fourth NCAA title. Casey Peters, who might be a coworker of mine soon, was once a student manager who worked his butt off to make the team as a walk-on. Not sure if he ultimately got a scholarship, but nonetheless, he was said to be a great teammate, and he had to have been with a work ethic like that.
By my recollection, this year's seniors won three ACC Championships but the NCAA tournament is where a Duke player is judged. This group also won eleven NCAA tournament games. To put that feat into perspective, eleven wins was more wins than the class that contained JJ Redick and Shelden Williams (ten total wins). It was more wins than the group of Jason Williams, Carlos Boozer, and Mike Dunleavy (also ten total wins, though they all only stayed three years). Johnny Dawkins and company only won 7 NCAA games. Laettner, along with his class, won twenty-one games, but that is by far the most of any Duke player and perhaps the most of any NCAA men's basketball player. Kareem won three titles but back then I believe you only had to win four games to win it all so he won twelve NCAA games, just one more than this year's graduating class at Duke. In addition, any class that can claim a national title necessarily has to be boosted above most others. How could you be more proud of a team than you were last year with the 2010 Blue Devils, with two huge contributors being in the 2011 graduating class?
Thank you, Seniors, for your hard work and four thrilling years.
