Memphis Grizzlies: Looking back at Duke’s 2015 NCAA National Championship

You may be wondering what Duke basketball has to do with the Memphis Grizzlies.

This Grizzlies roster actually has three of Duke’s top players from their 2015 national championship team and they’re all active contributors.

In fact, these guys all came to Duke University as a part of the same freshman class, which seems completely unfair for the rest of college basketball in hindsight. And it would be unfair, as this team would go on to finish the year 35-4 and win the NCAA Tournament.

The insane thing is that none of these three guys were even the best freshman on that team. Rather, the best freshman on the team was Jahlil Okafor, who would go on to win ACC Player of the Year and National Freshman of the Year.

How did current Memphis Grizzlies perform throughout the 2014-15 season?

I’m glad you asked. The Memphis Grizzlies are currently rostering three players from Duke’s 2015 National Championship season. Those players are Grayson Allen, Justise Winslow, and Tyus Jones, all of whom are significant contributors to this team.

Justise Winslow and Tyus Jones were key contributors for the Duke Blue Devils all season, while Grayson Allen didn’t have much of an impact until later in the year. That said, he made his name known to all college basketball fans down the stretch.

The trio accounted for 28.8 points per game, with 24.4 of those coming between Winslow and Jones.

Somehow, six years down the road, these guys are all playing basketball together again in the NBA. Let’s get into how each of them performed for Duke during their championship season.