Duke Blue Devils News

Duke had 17 former players appear in NBA games this year. That’s down from last year’s school record of 19. The Blue Devils had seven players appear in playoff games, also down two from last year’s school record. 

North Carolina saw a similar pattern. Fifteen former Tar Heels played in NBA games this year, down two from last year’s school record. Seven appeared in the postseason, down two from last year, although the school record of 10 was set in 1993. 

North Carolina has had at least 10 alumni in the NBA each of the last nine seasons, and “only” eight NBA players in 2005 snapped a string of 15 straight years in double figures for the Tar Heels. 

Duke has had at least 10 former players in the NBA for the last decade. 

The other 13 schools in the ACC have had a total of six double figure seasons. Georgia Tech is responsible for five of them, in a six-year span from 1995 to 2000. Notre Dame had the other one, in 1990. 

Here’s a look at the BEST years for NBA representation at the other ACC schools during the Tar Heels’ and Blue Devils’ current double-digit streaks: 

The last time Duke didn’t have multiple NBA players was 1981. North Carolina has had multiple players in the league since 1968. Ten of the other ACC schools have had at least one year with no NBA players during that span.

It’s worth noting that, before getting shut out this season, Notre Dame had an NBA player every season since 1959.