YouTube Gold: Kyrie Irving’s Best Game At Duke? Michigan State

Duke had an excellent chance of going undefeated in 2010-11. With a backcourt of Nolan Smith and Kyrie Irving, and a frontcourt of Kyle Singler, Mason Plumlee, Ryan Kelly, Miles Plumlee, and Seth Curry and Tyler Thornton off the bench, it was poised to be vastly better than the 2009-10 championship team. A lot of that was due to Irving. Now he’s a surefire Hall of Fame player, but as a freshman, there were doubts. People thought that he wasn’t that athletic. He put a lot of that to bed early after lighting up Michigan State for 31 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Unfortunately, he suffered an injury just a few games into the season and ultimately played just 11 games. It was enough, though: Irving was the #1 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft and went on to become the Rookie of the Year. His career has seen some controversies, but no one seriously argues that he’s the best ball handler the game has ever seen and is bound for Springfield, home of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
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