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Special Seasons for the Blue Devils
4/2/2015 2:40:00 PM | Football, Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball
DURHAM, N.C. – What began as a year of Duke Athletics optimism has turned into a record-breaking campaign for the Blue Devil football and basketball programs.
For the first time in Duke history the football team played in a bowl game, the men's basketball team advanced to the Final Four and the women's basketball team made a Sweet 16 appearance. Within the ACC, only North Carolina can claim such success within the same campaign. The Blue Devils and Tar Heels are also the lone league programs that have multiple men's Final Four and bowl trips in the same year.
Duke is the only school in the NCAA this season to have 30 or more men's basketball victories, 20 or more women's basketball wins and nine or more football triumphs.
The 2014-15 success did not stop at team accomplishments, as Duke produced consensus All-America selections in all three sports for the first time with Blue Devil football offensive guard Laken Tomlinson, men's basketball center Jahlil Okafor and women's basketball center Elizabeth Williams. The only year Duke can claim consensus All-America accolades in football and either basketball program was in 1989, with Clarkston Hines representing football and Danny Ferry men's basketball.
Tomlinson, a two-time first team All-ACC selection, served as a team captain in 2014 and helped the Blue Devil offensive unit become the first in school history to average 180-plus rushing yards and 210-plus passing yards per game. Okafor, a consensus first team All-America and the National Freshman of the Year, also became the first freshman in league history to be named ACC Player of the Year. Williams, who was named Associated Press All-America for the fourth straight year earlier this week, is the first ACC player to receive AP honors each of her four years and just the eighth overall player since 1995 to earn the award four times.
Williams earned second team accolades in 2014-15, after receiving third team honors each of her first three years. A native of Virginia Beach, Va., Williams is the first ACC player to receive AP honors each of her four years and just the eighth overall player to earn the award four times.
Living up to the standards of Duke's academic expectations, the football program placed a league-high 13 student-athletes on the Academic All-ACC Team while men's basketball had a program-record five selections. The women's basketball squad had two representatives on the ACC's academic team.
Duke also produced two of the ACC Scholar Athlete of the Year winners for the three sports with Williams receiving the honor for women's basketball and David Helton for football. Helton was also the National Football Foundation William V. Campbell Trophy recipient, given to the top scholar-athlete in all of college football. Williams and Helton were both CoSIDA Academic All-America selections. In addition, Tomlinson was named to the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team for his positive impact on the community and the lives of others through service.
The trio of teams enjoyed immense success in Durham during the 2014-15 campaign as the three combined to go 37-4 inside Wallace Wade and Cameron Indoor Stadiums. The basketball programs lost one game in Cameron once the calendar flipped to 2015.
This weekend in Indianapolis, the men's basketball team will try and put the finishing touch on the 2014-15 year for the three sports with its fifth NCAA Championship, and second in the last six years.
But why stop the successful seasons with just those three sports? There is plenty of reason for continued excitement in Durham as we transition to full-time focus on spring sports with Duke's women's golf (No. 4), men's tennis (No. 5), women's lacrosse (No. 5), men's lacrosse (No. 7) and women's tennis (No. 24) programs are all ranked within the top 25.
And don't worry – the cycle is about to start again as football's 2015 season opener is just five months away.
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Players Mentioned
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