Record: 31-4, 13-3 (2nd place)
ACC Tournament: Won
NCAA Tournament: Lost in Sweet 16
Final AP Ranking: 1
All-ACC Players: Carlos Boozer (1st), Jason Williams (1st), Mike Dunleavy (1st)
All-Americans: Jason Williams (1st), Mike Dunleavy (2nd)
This was the last year of Duke’s five-year run of greatness from 1998-2002. They were definitely the best team in the country in 1999 and 2001 and arguably the best team in the country in 1998, 2000, and 2002.
Coming into the 2001-2002 season, the Blue Devils were the defending national champions. Shane Battier and Nate James had departed, but Duke had plenty, and I do mean plenty, of talent. How about Jason Williams, Carlos Boozer, Mike Dunleavy, Dahntay Jones, Chris Duhon, and Daniel Ewing?
On paper, this team was just as good as the 2001 team. They are the only team in the history of the kenpom ratings going back to 1999 to finish the season as both the best offense and defense in the country. Like many of the Duke teams of this era, they were great at pretty much everything except rebounding. And free-throw shooting, I guess. What they were exceptional at was putting the ball in the basket. Williams, Dunleavy, and Boozer averaged 57 points among them, and it wasn’t volume scoring, it was highly efficient. Boozer in particular made two out of every three field goal attempts, good for the third-best single season FG% in league history (behind Brendan Haywood 2000 and Zion Williamson 2019).
On defense, they were extremely disruptive on the perimeter. Williams, Dunleavy, and Duhon were deflection machines and Duke led the ACC in steals by a wide margin. Their three-point defense was exceptional. They were a little bit vulnerable on the interior; Boozer wasn’t a shot-blocker, and Nick Horvath and Casey Sanders didn’t play enough to make a big impact.
They rolled through the regular season and ACC Tournament with a 29-3 record. Their average margin of victory of 19.7 is the fourth-best in league history behind 1999 Duke, 1973 NC State, and 2001 Duke. The fascinating storyline was that Maryland was having just as good a year. The Terps, not Duke, won the ACC regular season. The two giants battled to a draw in their two regular season matchups, with each team winning handily on its home court. We were denied a rubber match in the ACC Tournament when NC State upset Maryland in the semifinals, only to get hammered by Duke in the final.
Everything went according to plan until their Sweet 16 game with Indiana. Several things conspired to lose this game for Duke. One, they got killed on the glass as Indiana had 20 offensive rebounds. Two, they went 10-for-19 from the line. Three, they committed 26 fouls and sent Indiana to the line for 31 free throw attempts. Four, Dunleavy and Williams did not shoot well, combining to go 11-for-35. And five, Indiana was really good for a five seed. You’ll recall they advanced all the way to the championship game before losing to Maryland. And with all that, it was a one-point game.
Rebounding and free throw shooting were known vulnerabilities for this team, and Indiana was able to exploit them. In most of their games, Duke was able to make so many shots that it didn’t matter, but with the poor shooting night from Dunleavy and Williams, it was too much to overcome. What most people remember about this game is the very end. Duke was down 74-70 when Williams drained a three-pointer with four seconds left and was fouled… and missed the free throw.
I’m not all that big on intangibles, but I can’t help but think that the difference between this team and the 2001 team is the leadership and toughness of Shane Battier. This team may have been as good as the 2001 team on paper, but Battier wouldn’t have let them lose that Indiana game.