This is the third in a series of Duke’s All-Decade teams, as named by various Chronicle writers, past and present. At the end of the series, you will be able to vote for your own All-Decade team, and your votes will determine The Sports Blog’s final choice. Stay tuned over the next two weeks for more All-Decade choices.
There was a multitude of nominees for this team, mostly because many of the most talented Blue Devils in the last 10 years had more than one great season. In short, it wasn't hard to compile a list of the worthy. Slashing it down to five players, in no order, on the other hand...
Jay Williams, 2001: Back when he was still Jason Williams, the explosive point guard built on his freshman season, in which he was named ACC Rookie of the Year, by adding a few more awards to his mantle. The NABC Player of the Year award, for one. Oh, and Duke's third national championship, too. He led the ACC in scoring with 21.6 points per game, becoming the first Blue Devil to do so in more than 10 years, and surrounded by other stars like Shane Battier, Carlos Boozer and Mike Dunleavy, Williams also handed out 6.1 assists per game. The most astounding part of his season? Well...
Jay Williams, 2002: ...he managed to one-up it the next year. Technically, Williams' production dipped -- he averaged 21.3 points, 5.3 assists and 2.2 steals per game -- but he played two more minutes every contest and compensated for the loss of Battier. This year, he won the Naismith, Wooden and Robertson, but perhaps the honor he treasures most was watching his No. 22 float to Cameron Indoor Stadium's rafters. On his own Senior Day. Yeah.
J.J. Redick, 2006: All shockers aside, it was one of the virtuoso seasons in NCAA history. The numbers alone are astounding -- 26.8 points per game on 47 percent shooting and 42.1 percent from deep. So are the plethora of records he shattered. He became Duke's all-time leading scorer in February, and the ACC's all-time leading scorer later in the month. Then he set a Duke record for single-season scoring in the ACC tournament, and finished two 3-pointers away from the ACC single-season mark. He averaged 37.1 minutes per game, most of which were spent running around screens, but make no mistake: by the end of his senior year, Redick was far more than a spot shooter. Defenses made him evolve into a more complete player, and at the end of the year, the rest of the country had noticed. (Plus, he scored 41 points against No. 2 Texas and 40 points on 13 field goal attempts against Virginia. That's plain dirty.) A two-time ACC Player of the Year, he won the Naismith, Wooden, Robertson and Rupp in his senior year, too. In fact, just about the only thing he didn't do was win a national championship. Forgive him.
Shane Battier, 2001: Amidst all the praise Battier garnered for his leadership, brilliance and being an all-around mensch -- Duke administrators were considering renaming Cameron after him at one point, right? -- we'd be remiss to ignore the fact that Battier was a fairly spectacular college basketball player. His senior year, in which he won a national championship with Williams and Co., Battier served as the team's foundation, averaging 19.9 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, including 22.5 points per game in the NCAA Tournament and 22.2 points per game against North Carolina and Maryland. In the Big Dance, he managed to post a double-double in all but one of the games. Also, he took a lot of charges. Perhaps you've heard.
Shelden Williams, 2006: OK, so this last spot was up for grabs, primarily between Williams, Luol Deng's first and only season and Carlos Boozer's 2002 campaign. They were all rather remarkable in their own right -- Deng was a freshman who, despite not leading the team in scoring, was probably the team's best player, and Boozer was quickly transforming into the dominant presence he is now -- but in the end, I'm anointing The Landlord. I'll rationalize the choice and, in the process, try to convince myself. First, he was the only player this decade to average a double-double with 18.8 points and 10.7 rebounds per game. He posted 3.8 blocks per game, en route to Defensive National Player of the Year honors, and he left Durham as the school's all-time leader in rebounds and blocks. Apparently, he was also just the third player ever to score 1,500 points, grab 1,000 rebounds, block 350 shots and garner 150 steals. (And if that stat's wrong, then go change it on Wikipedia, please. Thanks!) And most important, Williams was the frontcourt foil to anyone scheming against Redick, and Redick alone. For that, I'll give his due and pay my rent one last time.
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