The All-Time Duke Basketball Starting 5

When Mike Krzyzewski took over as head men's basketball coach at Duke University in 1980, he quickly turned a moribund program into one of the most recognizable brands all of college sports, pumping out NBA stars and All-Americans at a ridiculous clip. Their all-time team stands out as one of the deepest in the history of the sport no matter how you pick it.

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While fan favorites like Kyle Singler, Elton Brand, and Grant Hill deserve recognition and praise, they just missed the cut for the all-time starting five at Duke, which stacks up against the best of any program in the land.

5. Center: Mike Gminski

Believe it or not, there was indeed basketball at Duke before Coach K took the job. Arguably the finest player of the pre-coach K days was Mike Gminski, who averaged 19.2 points and 10 rebounds per game over four years in Durham. A consensus All-American and ACC Player of the Year, Gminski went on to average 11.7 points over a 14-year NBA career, mostly with the New Jersey Nets.

4. Forward: Christian Laettner

Christian Laettner is certainly the most infamous former Duke star, as his clutch college production in crunch time led to him to a national Player of the Year award while guiding the Blue Devils to two consecutive national championships in 1991 and '92.. Laettner averaged at least 16.3 points per game in three straight seasons, eventually earning a top-five selection in the draft, and he played for the 1992 Dream Team before he even entered the NBA. No player in Duke basketball history invokes a stronger reaction among rival fans.

3. Forward: Shane Battier

Before Shane Battier was a veteran "3 and D" guy on LeBron James' Miami Heat teams, he was one of the best players in the country during his days in college. A champion and an All-American, Battier's 19.9 points and 7.3 rebounds helped a stacked Duke team chew through the rest of their competition on the way to yet another title for Krzyzewski.

2. Guard: JJ Redick

Think of all the great players that can call themselves Blue Devils. Now, think about the fact that no one in the history of the program has as many points in a Duke uniform as JJ Redick does. One of the most hated Duke players who ever lived, Redick's ability to pull up from anywhere on the court and knock down big shot after big shot was uncanny. He averaged 26.8 points per game as a senior, and though he can't claim to have won a national championship, he's one of only two Duke players ever to win ACC Player of the Year twice. The program retired his number almost immediately after he turned pro.

1. Guard: Bobby Hurley

Krzyzewski is notoriously tough and demanding of his point guards, and he had the utmost confidence in Hurley from his first day on campus. Hurley is still the progam leader in assists, as he averaged 7.7 per game while teaming up with Laettner and Grant Hill to catapult some stacked Blue Devils teams to those back-to-back championships in the early 90s. Hurley was as consistent as they came, and Duke has yet to match his production at the point guard position. The 1992 Final Four Most Outstanding Player, he later became just the seventh player to have his jersey raised to the rafters at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

ALL-TIME BENCH: Elton Brand, Danny Ferry, Art Heyman, Jay Williams