words // Zack Schlemmer
When hearing the word "dynasty" in relation to college basketball, it's pretty much a guarantee that you'll think of the Duke University Blue Devils. Synonymous with winning in the sport, Duke has amassed ten NCAA championship game appearances in their history, winning the title in four of them—along with a whopping fifteen Final Four appearances. In other words, they know how to win.
Duke had been relevant in the sport of men's basketball since the 1960's, but it wasn't until Mike Krzyzewski took over as head coach in 1980 that the team really began to flourish. You may not be able to spell his name (or even say it) correctly, but Coach K will go down as one of the greatest minds ever in basketball, and the nucleus to one of the winningest teams—of any NCAA sport.
The college basketball equivalent to the New York Yankees of baseball—who seem to always win and somehow acquire the best players—Duke is a team you either love or love to hate. One thing nobody can hate on, however, is the team's rich sneaker arsenal throughout the years. Duke rocked adidas throughout the 1980's and early 1990's until switching over to Nike who they've been with ever since. Being one of the winningest teams definitely has had its advantages since their Nike era began, as the team always seems to be laced up with the best kicks every year. From the Air Flight Huarache and the Air Unlimited in the early 90's to the exclusive PE and iD models of recent years, Duke is always winning in the sneaker game. (Worth noting: Contrary to the popular nickname of the Air Max2 Uptempo, Duke players rarely wore the shoe. We can't even find any photo evidence!)
Let's now take a look at all of the best shoe's in the team's history.
Danny Ferry - adidas
Christian Laettner - adidas Artillery Hi
Cherokee Parks - Nike Air Flight Huarache
Grant Hill - Nike Air Unlimited
Kenny Blakewey - Nike Air Up
Steve Wojciechowski - Nike Air Way Up
Air Flight Turbulence, Roshown McLeod - Air Max Uptempo, Ricky Price - Air Max Uptempo III
Roshown McLeod - Air MZ3
William Avery - Nike Air Penny IV
Mike Dunleavy - Air Garnett III
Mike Dunleavy - Shox BB4
Nate James - Air Jordan XVI, Shane Battier - Air Garnett III
Jayson Williams - Air Flight Determination
Duke Huddle, 2000
Carlos Boozer - Air Flightposite II
Matt Christensen - Air Flightposite II
Daviel Ewing - Air Jordan XVII
Air Jordan XVII
Dahntay Jones - Air Jordan XVII
J.J. Reddick - Air Ultraflight
Sean Dockery - Air Foamposite Pro
Sean Dockery - Air Jordan 12 Retro
J.J. Reddick - Zoom LeBron III
Zoom Flight 2K3, Air Jordan 12 Retro, Air Raid Retro
Daniel Ewing - Air Trainer Max Retro
Duke Huddle, 2007
Gerald Henderson - Hyperdunk 2008
Nolan Smith - Zoom Kobe 4, Miles Plumlee - Zoom Soldier 3
Huddle, 2010
Zoom Kobe 5 PE
Autsin Rivers - Zoom Huarache 2K4 PE
Air Sharkley iD, Hyperdunk 2011
Zoom Rookie, Zoom Hyperforce
Air Penny V, LeBron X iD
Rasheed Sulaimon - KD VI
Jabari Parker - LeBron X Elite iD
Alex Murphy - LeBron XI iD
2014 Team
Images via Yahoo!
