Duke Basketball

Few collegiate sports programs are as well known or as honored as Duke basketball. Duke University is a private learning institution located in Durham, North Carolina, and is home to approximately 6,500 undergraduate students. The school's hoops team, playing under the Blue Devils moniker, has emerged as one of the sport's premiere basketball clubs. Year in and year out, Duke is loaded with young, talented players who always have a shot of winning the NCAA Championship. From 1988 through 1992, the team made the Final Four five consecutive times, and from 1999 to 2003, they won the ACC Tournament five straight years. In the past 20 season, six Duke basketball players have been honored as the Naismith College Player of the Year, and they stand alone as the only team since the NCAA Tournament field expanded to include 64 teams to have won a trio of college basketball titles.

The Origins of Duke Basketball

The Duke basketball program's roots can be traced back to the early 1900s. Back then, Duke University was known as Trinity College. At this time, basketball was still a fairly new sports, having been invented by Dr. James Naismith just 14-years beforehand. According to legend, there were many individuals who though the game would never catch on, but one person with ties to the Durham school became enamored by the game. His name was Wilbur Wade Card, and he was both a graduate of and the physical education program director at Trinity College. In 1905, Card was asked to play a game by Wake Forest coach Richard Crozier. After getting the gym ready and recruiting a makeshift team, Trinity played Wake Forest, losing 24-10 in the first basketball game in team history. Card would go on to coach basketball at the college for seven years, finishing with a 30-17 lifetime record and more importantly, serving as the catalyst in the creation of what would eventually become a men's basketball powerhouse.