YouTube Gold: Shane Battier And The 2000-2001 Duke Basketball Season

Who’s your daddy? Battier!

Duke has had some spectacular talent over the years. We tend to think of the starting when Mike Krzyzewski got to Durham, but in the 1950’s Dick Groat led the nation in scoring and assists. In the 1960’s, there was Art Heyman, Jeff Mullins, Jack Marin, Mike Lewis and Bob Verga. In the 1970s, Duke had Tate Armstrong, Jim Spanarkel, Gene Banks and Kenny Dennard.

And then there is the K era, with guys like Johnny Dawkins, Danny Ferry, Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill, Elton Brand, Jason Williams, Carlos Boozer and Mike Dunleavy.

And that’s just through 2001.

Wait...who did we forget?

Oh yeah, Shane Battier.

For our money, Battier is the most-loved player in Duke history, and that’s saying a lot.

It’s partly just his personality, partly because he stayed for four years and partly because of how unbelievable he was.

And he was never more amazing than he was in the 2000-2001 season.

Battier became one of the greatest leaders in college basketball history that season. Duke lost Carlos Boozer for some critical games down the stretch and never missed a beat. Duke played Maryland four times and won three, including an astonishing comeback in the national semifinals. And in the championship game, Battier was just totally out of his mind and he took hist team with him.

This video is about that 2001 season and how it was redemption for Battier and his teammates after being upset by UConn in 1999.

Zion Williamson was electrifying and Cooper Flagg is busy reimagining the possible.

No one yet has bonded with Duke fans quite the way Battier did. The guy was just something else again.