2003 Top 50 List: No
Dan Collins List: Yes
When I drafted my first list, I had Trajan Langdon in the Top 50. But the more I reflect on his playing record, I think that’s too high. What he has going for him is that he was first team All-ACC three times and was a solid second team All-American as a senior. That’s impressive. But I can’t escape the feeling that he was overrated. He was a one-dimensional player. He didn’t rebound, he didn’t create, he wasn’t a great passer, he wasn’t a great defender. He had one job, and he did it really well, but I just don’t think that’s enough to make someone a Top 50 player. Now you could argue that JJ Redick was a one-dimensional player too, and in a way he was, but a) he developed a floor/drive/penetrate game that was very effective, and b) he was better than Langdon at the one dimension. Langdon made first team All-ACC in 1997 and 1998, but looking back, it’s hard to see how. 14 points per game for a one-dimensional player, that just doesn’t seem like enough.
You’ve heard of guys who “fill up the stat sheet”? Langdon was the opposite of that. Here’s a crude metric that supports what I am saying. I looked at the total number of career rebounds + assists + steals + blocks for all 59 players in ACC history with 1900+ career points. We’ll call this made-up stat RASB. Langdon ranks dead last in RASB among this group, excepting a few pre-1980 players for whom we don’t have assist, steal, or block totals.
Langdon missed nearly all of the 1999 ACC Tournament after spraining his foot in the opening round. Those missed games likely cost him a spot in the ACC 2,000 point club. He finished his career with 1,974.
I’ve been running Langdon down, but he is on the list, so obviously he did something right. For one thing, he’s one of the best three-point shooters in ACC history. Sounds like a good topic for a list… who are the best 3-point shooters in ACC history? Considering both accuracy and volume? Here’s my (subjective) ranking:
| Rank | Player | Team | Minutes | 3P | 3P% | Min/3P |
| 1 | Dennis Scott | Georgia Tech | 3686 | 351 | 0.452 | 10.5 |
| 2 | Jack McClinton | Miami | 3013 | 286 | 0.440 | 10.5 |
| 3 | JJ Redick | Duke | 4732 | 457 | 0.406 | 10.4 |
| 4 | Trajan Langdon | Duke | 3921 | 342 | 0.426 | 11.5 |
| 5 | Rodney Monroe | NC State | 3989 | 322 | 0.436 | 12.4 |
| 6 | Anthony Morrow | Georgia Tech | 2906 | 258 | 0.421 | 11.3 |
| 7 | Kyle Guy | Virginia | 3080 | 254 | 0.425 | 12.1 |
| 8 | Curtis Staples | Virginia | 4072 | 413 | 0.383 | 9.9 |
| 9 | Jason Williams | Duke | 3572 | 313 | 0.393 | 11.4 |
| 10 | Randolph Childress | Wake Forest | 3970 | 329 | 0.395 | 12.1 |
Honorable Mention: Scott Wood, NC State; Justin Gray, Wake Forest; Rashad McCants, UNC; Seth Curry, Duke