Podcasts

YR via RSS

For Educators
Teach Youth Radio
Curriculum

Youth Programs
CORE
Outreach

The Curse of the Dukies

"Why is it that almost every single player to come out of Duke has struggled in the pros?"

By Mike Oseroff

Mike Oseroff is Youth Radio’s resident sports commentator and columnist. Keep checking this space for his weekly updates! You can email him at sports@youthradio.org.

There is no denying that Duke University has produced some of the greatest fundamental college basketball teams in the past two decades. Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski has made a consistent powerhouse out of the Blue Devils ever since he first arrived on the scene in the early 80s. With more than 500 career wins, nine Final Four appearances, nine regular season ACC crowns, and three National Championships under his belt, Coach K. has become a model for greatness at the college level and has taken young fledgling players under his wing and turned them into solid winners.

So why is it that almost every single player to come out of Duke has struggled in the pros?

Ever since the late 80s, top prospects have come out of Duke University with very high expectations set for them, and very few have ever lived up to the hype. The latest and greatest example of this is the Golden State Warrior’s very own small-forward Mike Dunleavy. Mike was taken as the third pick in last June’s NBA draft, after leading his Duke squad to a National Title in 2001. The MVP of the championship game was well renowned for his sweet three point shot, not to mention his great passing and court awareness. Many people felt that Dunleavy would be the missing piece that would scrape the team from the bottom of the NBA barrel. But that was not the case at all.

Dunleavy’s arrival onto the NBA scene has been anything but a godsend for the Warriors. For the first half of the season he played very much like a timid deer caught in the headlights of a giant big-rig. He always seemed to lose track of his man on defense, and the shot that had been his staple in college seemed to abandon him. He played with very little confidence, and his playing time dropped tremendously. Some analysts even went as far as to call him one of the worst number three picks ever.

Now this isn’t a knock at Mike, and he shouldn’t take it the wrong way. Since the All-Star break he has slowly but surely gained his confidence back and is playing well. There is no doubt in my mind he will be a good player down the road, but his NBA play has all too much reminded people of other famous guys from Duke who enjoyed, or are still enjoying, average to sub average pro careers. Experts were quick to put Dunleavy in the same category as Jay Bilas, Mark Alarie, Danny Ferry, Bobby Hurley, Cherokee Parks, and Christian Laettner — Dukies who have never lived up to the hype of their college days.

Some people call it a curse and claim that teams should beware Duke players, but there has been at least one Duke graduate who reached the peaks of NBA stardom. Grant Hill was exceptional for Detroit before injuries began to tarnish his career, and remains one of the few, if not the only, Dukie who has ever become an NBA superstar. It also remains to be seen if players such as Elton Brand, Jay Williams, Corey Magette, Shane Battier, and Carlos Boozer will follow Hill’s path or end up another Cherokee Parks.

So what is the deal? What is the method behind this mayhem? How can players who look so promising in college grow up to be so mediocre? There has to be a reason for all of this. And there is one.

It is Coach K. As good as he is at the college level, many people argue he would never be successful in the pros, and the truth is they are probably right. Mike Krzyzewski’s coaching philosophy is based around team offense and team defense. Individual players are polished into great, fundamentally sound players, but their main purpose is to be just another gear in Duke’s winning machine.

Coach K. has always been about a team first attitude, and that is why Duke has always produced team players. He has never been fond of hot shots that take a third of the team’s shots, and would probably lecture a player after a game if he had a 40-point night. In all of his years coaching, Krzyzeski has never had just one star player and a bunch of sidekicks. Evidence of this can be seen in recent drafts such as 1999 when four Duke players were selected in the first 14 picks of the draft and 2002 when Jay Williams and Dunleavy went back-to-back as picks two and three. What NBA franchises have failed to realize is that Duke players play great in a team system, working together, sharing and passing, but not in the pros, where superstars take over the game every night and take 40 shots to get 25 points.

Just look at some of today’s superstars. Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, and Kevin Garnett are all front-runners in this year’s MVP race. All three of those players made the jump straight from high school where they were “the team,” to the pros. They are used to being their team’s offense, and their team can win games even when nobody else on their squad is scoring. This year’s probable Rookie of the Year, Amare Stoudemire, also came straight from his Florida high school cafeteria to the big show. He was picked ninth by Phoenix, six picks after Dunleavy, and is fueling the Suns to the final Western Conference playoff spot.

Lets face it. Team players just aren’t what they used to be anymore. Fans would much rather see someone throw down a reverse tomahawk dunk on somebody and score 50 points, than see Mike Dunleavy fire a good pass to his teammate. Which reminds me: Duke’s team is doing pretty well this year. I think they’re ranked ninth, and guard Chris Duhon is expected to declare himself eligible for next year’s draft. Sure he’s a top prospect, but just a word of advice to any team trying to rebuild their franchise: he might not be the one you want. Sorry Chris, it’s just the curse of the Dukies, baby.

Check out more of Mike's columns!