Duke Basketball: What would you do in a Blue Devil switcharoo?

Shane Battier 1998-99 and Jeff Capel 1993-94

Such a serious look for this just being a hypothetical, but that’s why they are icons; for the way they played and their commitment to Duke basketball. The 1999 team was such a force that UCONN’s three-point win in the title game was considered a huge upset even though the Huskies only lost three games that year.

After some early owns by Duke basketball and Devil-god Christian Laettner, Jim Calhoun and his Husky teams have gotten the Blue Devils back and then some. Maybe no more so then that game, with Elton Brand and Will Avery in their second years, Trajan Langdon in his final year, Chris Carrawell as a junior, Battier and Nate James as sophomores and Corey Maggette as a freshman stud and Duke basketball’s first one and done. For the record, he only played 11 minutes and had eight points. He probably should have played more, but you know what they say about hindsight.

It’s easy to see who needs to go and has the most value to another team. No, it’s not Brand or Magette, although…With the way Shane Battier played: with smarts, instincts, toughness and a team-first attitude; he could have helped any team in any era. Hence his number being retired at Cameron Indoor. It’s much easier to see what that squad needed. This team lacked guards and the 74 combined minutes played by Langdon and Avery in that final game are a testament to this.

Plus, he had almost identical numbers to Chris Carrawell, but with his defense-first approach and younger age, I’d move him to keep the older player’s veteran intangibles and continuity. Battier also had 1.2 fewer turnovers and when playing the Arkansas “40 minutes of hell” pressure which had 23 takeaways in that championship game, smarts with the ball would have been key for Duke to pull off the win. It would have given Grant Hill his third title in four years and an unmatched spot in Duke basketball immortality..

The Devils also forced only 12 turnovers themselves, gave up 17 offensive rebounds and 59 2-point attempts; 14 more than Duke had. The 6’8″ Battier would have been better able to rebound and provide stouter defense than Jeff Capel, especially on the inside where Corliss Williamson torched Duke basketball for seven offensive rebounds and 23-pts.

Both players averaged a tenth more or less than nine points and shot over 40% from three, while Shane actually had 18 more attempts than Jeff on the year, who was only a freshman in that 1994 title game. While Capel’s ball-handling against the Razorback press would have been missed, he still had six turnovers and Duke could have moved senior Marty Clark into that role with more guard depth than at the forward position.

Capel would have given the 1999 version of Duke basketball another guard presence against the Huskies and with four assists in his title game, he would have almost had half the total that Duke had versus UCONN with ten. He could have spelled Langdon and Avery, who were both shoot first guards, and gotten the ball inside to Elton Brand more who only took eight shots while making five. The 1999 team was also better able to take on Capel’s decreased defensive efficiency. Sorry, Jeff.

Even though both these Duke basketball icons were underclassmen at the time of these NCAA championship games, they each played over 33 minutes and were starters on their respective teams. We can only wonder what could have happened if they played on the other’s national runner-up squad.