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Comparing one Duke basketball team to another is a sport in itself, and as the Blue Devils celebrate a third national title there’ll be inevitable speculation about how this 2001 squad might stack up against previous editions.
Even with the possibilities of computer simulation, we’ll never know how they would fare against a Grant Hill or a Christian Laettner or other stars of yesteryear. And it really doesn’t matter. It wasn’t another Duke team that stood between them and the national championship; it was Arizona, and these Blue Devils proved themselves more than equal to that challenge.
We’ll leave it to the Cameron Crazies and ESPN commentators to debate where this team stands in terms of talent and pure athleticism, or whether basketball history should accord them the label of “great.” But their gutsy performance against the Wildcats in the NCAA tournament made one thing clear: In terms of determination and intensity, they stand second to no one.
As of Monday night, they stood alone at the top of the collegiate ranks, and there’s really only one word you need to describe them: winners.
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