It’s kind of strange to realize how many Duke fans were not alive when Bobby Hurley was a Blue Devil. And for those of you who weren’t, you missed a really special basketball player.

We’ve often said that Tyus Jones is the smartest point guard we’ve seen at Duke and his remarkable A/TO ratio in the NBA confirms it (he keeps breaking his own record and has led the league in that for five straight seasons. Last season he pushed it up to 7.3:1). He’s amazing.

But Hurley is the best point guard Duke has ever seen and part of the reason why is because he was such a daring player. He was small- his jersey at times looked like it belonged to an older brother – but no one played with more guts, as you’ll see here.

Or if that doesn’t prove the point, try this legendary shot from the 1991 semifinals game against UNLV. With the game very much in the balance, Hurley fired up a three that basically told the Rebels that they were in a dogfight. After that rematch, Hurley said he’d been waiting for that shot all night.

Having him come home to Cameron Sunday – even if Arizona State wins – is such a privilege. It’s an honor to see Duke compete against his team – Blue Devils vs. Sun Devils.

We saw this week that he hasn’t been back very often because – we’re paraphrasing here and hope we don’t get this wrong – his time at Duke was so brilliant and so much was taken from him in that 1993 automobile accident in Sacramento.

It must have been so difficult to have been on top of the world as a basketball player, to have won back-to-back national titles, to have Michael Jordan point you out after playing against the Select Team and say now he understood why Duke was so good…to see it all gone in the blink of an eye?

Devastating.

We’re glad that he found his way back to the game as a coach and we couldn’t be happier for him. He’s doing what Hurleys are born to do.

Welcome back, Coach. As much as it could be for anyone, Cameron is your home and always will be.