10 Favorite Moments From '09-'10

Duke Hoop 10 Favorite Moments From Last Year’s Title Run

It’s a lot easier to look back on last year, when it ended like it did. Some people have referred to the title run of ’09-’10 as a fairy tale scenario, and at times it certainly felt that way. There were the ups of 82-50, the downs of the NC State and Georgetown games, and the ultimate, nerve racking finish in Indianapolis as the Duke Blue Devils won their fourth National Title. We will look back at our 10 favorite moments from last year, not just because it’s a nice, round even number, but also because it’s Duke’s current winning streak. It’s good to be king…

We start our look back with #10:

#10 – Moments of Toughness

Cohesiveness, a true team, magical, fairy tale, all are words used for the ’09-’10 team from last year. One word you don’t typically hear to describe that team is tough. For whatever reason, and it’s curious to us, the outside perspective of that team was that of a finesse team who relied on outside jumpers to outscore their opponents. If you were paying attention though, you saw Miles Plumlee bleeding from his head in the Florida State game, you saw Lance Thomas go down with a knee injury in the second half of the Duke-UNC game in Chapel Hill, and you saw Kyle Singler’s black eye that he wore as a badge of badassedness for the majority of the second half of the season.

This first "moment" is actually three. The first was when Kyle came flying in for a dunk in the (Which game was it, Wake Forest at Cameron?) and landed flat on his back right underneath the basket. Without missing a beat, he popped right up and shook it off like he stubbed his toe. It was quite a fall for a 6’8” 230 lb small forward to take, especially at as fast of a speed as he was traveling. Didn’t phase him one bit. Well, maybe a little as he airballed his first free throw. Even the ref checked with Kyle to make sure he was okay as that was so uncharacteristic. Never the less, Kyle shook the miss off just like he had the fall and stepped up to the line to coolly sink his second free throw.

Here are the highlights from that game, unfortunately Kyle's show of toughness wasn't in here:





Second was when Kyle was going for a loose ball in the ACC Tournament Fianls vs. Georgia Tech and ended up flying over Dick Vitale and Dan Shulman, again shaking it off and going about his business.



Last, but certainly not least, was when Kyle got crushed by Matt Howard on a screen on the last shot of the '09-'10 College Basketball Season.



These were all emblematic of the team the entire year, as Zoubs would battle for rebounds, and Nolan would dive after the ball on the floor at a crucial moment during the Final Four matchup with West Virginia. Coach K’s teams are nothing but tough on defense, and it really showed throughout the year last year.
Stay tuned to Duke Hoop as we chronicle our 10 favorite moments from the magical season of ’09-’10.

--Adam