This Week in Duke Athletics History (June 15-21)

June 15

2015 – Men's Basketball – Former Blue Devil great Shane Battier was inducted to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame class. The 2001 consensus National Player of the Year, Battier also excelled in the classroom as the Academic All-America of the Year in 2001, a Verizon Academic All-America and a two-time first team GTE Academic All-America.

June 16

2018 – Men's Golf – Alex Smalley captured the 65th annual Sunnehanna Amateur title, finishing the tournament with an 11-under 269. One of the most notable amateur tournaments in golf, Smalley joined a historic list of winners that have taken the crown, including Duke alum Dick Siderowf, who won in 1961.

June 17

2003 – Men's Basketball – Danny Ferry, former NCAA Player of the Year for the Duke Blue Devils, became then the second player in school history to win an NBA Title, doing so as the San Antonio Spurs finished off the New Jersey Nets in six games on this date in 2003. Ferry finished off his third season with the Spurs, playing in 64 regular season games and 16 in the playoffs. In his time in San Antonio, he is the second-best three-point shooter in franchise history, hitting over 40 percent of his attempts as a Spur.
2017 – Women's Golf – Leona Maguire captured the 114th Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship at the Pyle & Kenfig Golf Club in South Wales by knocking off Ainhoa Olarra, 3&2.

June 19

2016 – Men's Basketball – Former Duke stars Kyrie Irving and Dahntay Jones became NBA champions in 2016 as the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Golden State Warriors, 93-89, in Game 7 of the NBA Finals in Oakland. The title was Cleveland's first major professional sports championship since 1964, when the Cleveland Browns won the NFL Championship Game. The Cavaliers also became the first team in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 Finals deficit to claim the title. Irving and Jones gave Duke five players that combined to win six NBA titles, joining Jeff Mullins (1975, Golden State), Danny Ferry (2003, San Antonio) and Shane Battier (2012 and 2013, Miami). Quinn Cook has since won two with Golden State in 2017 and 2018.
2019 – Men's Golf – Led by senior Alex Smalley earning the ACC's Scholar Athlete of the Year for men's golf, Duke placed a conference-leading five on the All-ACC Academic Team in 2019. Smalley became the second Blue Devil to garner the ACC's top academic award for men's golf -- the Rod Myers Award -- named in 2015 for the former Duke head coach from 1973-2007. Brinson Paolini was named the Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2013.

June 20

2019 – Men's Basketball – Zion Williamson, the consensus National Player of the Year as a freshman at Duke, was taken with the No. 1 overall pick by the New Orleans Pelicans in the 2019 NBA Draft. Williamson became the fourth Blue Devils chosen with the No. 1 overall pick, joining Art Heyman, Elton Brand and Kyrie Irving – as Duke became the first college to boast four overall top picks. The 2019 NBA Draft also saw Williamson's classmates – RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish – get drafted No. 3 and No. 10 overall to mark just the second time in draft history one school had three players taken in the top 10 (Florida).

The games noted above are not meant to be a complete listing of Duke's events on these dates, but a sampling of great moments as determined by the GoDuke.com staff.

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