Duke has had many tremendous players over the years and many with strong personalities. Just for a quick list: Dick Groat, Art Heyman, Gene Banks, Kenny Dennard, Jay Bilas, Quin Snyder, Billy King, Robert Brickey, Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill, Chris Carrawell, Jason Williams, JJ Redick, Kyrie Irving, RJ Barrett and Zion Williamson, to name a few.
Yet Duke has never had another player quite like Shane Battier.
Battier was a legitimately great college basketball player but his personality was nearly as compelling. Once, when Duke had been out of first place briefly, someone asked him what it felt like to be back.