YouTube Gold: Duke’s Greatest Defender?

Duke has had some amazing defenders over the years. On Saturday, we saw a brilliant first half by Dame Sarr. In our estimation, it was the best half of defense by a Duke player since Tre Jones personally dismantled Syracuse for the first 5:30 before he injured his shoulder. Seriously. We’ve never seen a guard punk a whole team like he was doing. It was incredible (this was also the game that Marek Dolezaj, 6-10 and 201 lbs, decided to try to draw a charge on Zion Williamson. That didn’t end well).

If we had to list the best defenders Duke has had over the years, we’d probably do this as the shortlist: Shane Battier, Tommy Amaker, Grant Hill, Tre Jones, Chris Carrawell and Cooper Flagg.

And while we wouldn’t presume to speak for former coach Mike Krzyzewski, if you asked him, there’s a good chance he might put Billy King at the top of that list.

King played for Duke in the early K era, from 1984-1988. He had no meaningful offensive talent other than ballhandling, which he was not bad at, but his defense was at Mensa level. The guy was an absolute terror on defense.

At 6-6, King was strong, quick, could run non-stop and had superb balance.

He was a tremendous weapon for Duke and never more so than in the Elite Eight against Temple in 1988.

Mark Macon was a freshman who was drawing comparisons to Magic Johnson, or at least was before King was done with him.

Because King destroyed not just Macon but also his burgeoning reputation as a prodigy. He never got that back.

That’s how good Billy King was: he could steal not just your present, but your future as well. That guy was unbelievable.