Duke All-Decade Team (Lifer Edition): Kyle Singler
It might be a bit of a grey area to call Kyle Singler a member of the Duke Lifer All-Decade Team.
There’s no question that he’s a Duke lifer, playing four years and finishing in fourth place on the school’s scoring list, behind only Duke royalty JJ Redick, Johnny Dawkins and Christian Laettner.
There’s also no question that he deserves a spot as one of the top Duke players in recent memory. The only trouble is that only the final year and a half of his Duke career were in this decade. So his 2008 ACC Rookie of the Year Award can’t be counted, nor can his 2009 All-ACC Tourney First Team.
Even without that, however, Singler did plenty in this decade to earn his spot, serving as the heart and soul, as well as best player, on the 2010 ACC and NCAA championship team and playing a key role on the 2011 team that repeated in the ACC Tournament.
Singler was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2010 Final Four as well as ACC Tournament MVP. He was All-ACC first team both seasons and repeated as first-team All-Tournament.
He finished his Duke career in the school’s top 10 in a wide variety of categories, from double-doubles to three-pointers. He was also the quintessential Duke player on defense, finishing fourth in school history in charges drawn and spending as much time on the floor and courtside tables chasing loose balls as he did at the free throw line.
Eight years after he left Duke, prospective freshmen are still shown video of one Duke basketball player when they arrive for a college tour—Singler, hitting a variety of trick shots from the top of Duke Chapel and elsewhere around campus.
