Busting Brackets
Fansided

Duke Basketball: Best player ever to wear every Blue Devil jersey number

DURHAM, NC - FEBRUARY 24: Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils during their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on February 24, 2018 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
DURHAM, NC - FEBRUARY 24: Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils during their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on February 24, 2018 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 7
Next
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – APRIL 06: CBS correspondent Jim Nantz speaks to head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils as his team looks on after defeating the Wisconsin Badgers during the NCAA Men’s Final Four National Championship at Lucas Oil Stadium on April 6, 2015 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Duke defeated Wisconsin 68-63. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – APRIL 06: CBS correspondent Jim Nantz speaks to head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils as his team looks on after defeating the Wisconsin Badgers during the NCAA Men’s Final Four National Championship at Lucas Oil Stadium on April 6, 2015 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Duke defeated Wisconsin 68-63. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

In all of the history with Duke Basketball, who is the best player to wear every jersey number? I take a look at the best of the best.

When you have as many years of success as Duke Basketball has, you tend to have many historic players. Whether it’s before or during the Coach K era, Duke has seen it all. They’ve had all-Americans, NBA All-Stars, and legends in both college and the pros.

When looking at all the players to ever play at Duke, I had a question pop in my head. Who is the greatest Duke player to wear every jersey number?  So, after spending a lot of time on Sports Reference and Duke’s official stats database, I constructed my own list for each number.

Some numbers were heavily contested. Some were hard to find a player worth writing about. Either way, I did my best to make the best list I could.

How I made my list

When choosing players, I looked at many factors. The biggest factor is strictly the players’ success at Duke. I looked at stats, awards, and other factors strictly in college. After that, I looked at NBA success. Some players are strong in college, but they can blossom into superstars in the pros. I tried to lean more towards proven veterans with the Blue Devils. This means players like Kyrie Irving, unfortunately, slide down my list.

Also, I tried to avoid a bias towards players in my era. I did my best to compare players before my time equally with players of the past few years. That being said, I’ve never seen a majority of these players play basketball before.

My last way to gauge a player’s greatness is by how their legacy stood the test of time. If people are remembered thirty years after playing, that gives them a leg up.

I’m sure some of my picks might be controversial, so please let me know what you’d change in the comments.

*NOTE* I only included numbers that are currently allowed in the NCAA (digits 0-5), so even though players used to use numbers like 57 or 72, I decided to omit those.