Duke's Naismith Award winner — two-year career that made him the first overall pick.
Elton Brand was born in Cortland, New York in 1979. He attended Duke University under coach Mike Krzyzewski and won the Naismith Award as national player of the year in 1999 after two seasons. He averaged 17.7 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. He led Duke to the 1999 national championship game — losing to Connecticut — and was one of the tournament's most dominant interior players. He was the ACC Player of the Year. Chicago Bulls selected him first overall in the 1999 NBA Draft. His two-year Duke career — one championship game, one Naismith Award — is the blueprint for the one-and-done era before it truly began: a player so clearly ready for professional competition that remaining for additional college seasons would have made no financial or developmental sense. He went on to a 15-season NBA career with seven double-figures scoring seasons. His Duke career — brief but decorated — represented the early wave of players who demonstrated that two college seasons could be sufficient preparation for the highest professional level.
Naismith Award (1999)
Career Honours
- Naismith Award (1999)
- ACC Player of Year
- Tournament MOP finalist
- National Championship runner-up