Duke basketball: 50 best players to play for Coach K
1. Christian Laettner (1988-1992)
You didn’t have to click on this article to know who would be sitting at number one. Christian Laettner is not only the best Duke basketball player of all time, he is one of the greatest college basketball players of all time, period.
His individual, and team accomplishments, are second to none in NCAA history. He led Duke to four Final Fours, two National Championships, two ACC Regular Season titles, and two ACC Tournament titles, and he wasn’t just on the team for all of those accomplishments, he led the Blue Devils to all of those team accomplishments.
Laettner held a career average of 16.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.6 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game. Over the course of his four seasons with Duke, Laettner was named to the All-ACC Tournament team four times, received All-ACC honors three times, was the ACC Tournament MVP once, was named to the NCAA All-Tournament team twice, was the 1991-92 ACC Player of the Year, was a two-time consensus All-American, won the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player once, and was also named the 1991-92 AP Player of the Year, while also winning the Naismith, and Wooden Awards, as well as the Rupp Trophy.
In addition to all of that, Laettner was responsible for one of the most iconic plays in college basketball history. Down by one with 2.1 seconds on the clock, Laettner caught a full-court inbound pass from Grant Hill at the free-throw line, dribbled once, pump-faked, and then drilled the jump shot to lift the Blue Devils over Kentucky, sending Duke to the 1992 Final Four where they would go onto win the National Championship.
Laettner was selected with the third overall pick in the 1992 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves. He had a mildly successful 13-year NBA career as he averaged 12.8 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 2.6 assists, was an All-Star and was named to the 1992-93 All-Rookie team. Laettner was also part of the 1992 USA Men’s Basketball ‘Dream Team’ that won the gold medal.