By: Ben McCormick
October 20, 2023
With the second year of the Scheyer Era kicking off tonight at Countdown to Craziness, it feels like the perfect time to reflect on some of the greatest moments in the history of the event.
This will be the fifteenth countdown (including the digital CTC in 2020 — "Countdown the Movie"). There have been quite a few player introductions in those 15 years, and now I'm going to present my top five of all-time.
Some of the main considerations are creativity, showmanship, and crowd reaction and involvement. Hopefully, with any luck, we'll get an intro later tonight that makes its way on this list — there are high expectations for TikTok star Jared McCain, as well as senior Jeremy Roach, who told Ryan Young on "The Brotherhood Podcast" he might break out some live rap for his intro.
Without any further ado, here are the top five intros:
5.) Grayson Allen (2017)
In his final Countdown to Craziness, Allen beautifully summed up his storied, yet up-and-down, career as the only player to ever use "Everytime We Touch" by Cascada as an an intro song.
The crowd involvement was electric and the full-team involvement is always a plus. In modern college basketball, and especially at Duke, there aren't many four-year players of Allen's stature. He chose the perfect song for his final Midnight Madness.
4.) Amile Jefferson (2016)
Much like Allen, Jefferson went out in his final player intro surrounded by his teammates in a very memorable fashion. While the entire team dancing to "Juju on That Beat" by Zay Hilfigerrr was great in itself. The dance circle that broke out around Frank Jackson and Allen was the greatest part of this intro by far.
3.) Frank Jackson (2016)
I hereby dub Jackson as the King of Duke Dance. The moves he broke out to "This Is How We Do It" by Montell Jordan were absolutely legendary, without question. His dancing earned him third on this list, and with his major role in Jefferson's intro, he basically has two appearances on this list.
2.) Chase Jeter (2016)
There's no doubt in my mind that 2016 was the greatest Countdown to Craziness of all-time in terms of player intros, and nobody did it better than Jeter. He aced a water bottle flip live on the first try in front of the entire stadium. Although Jeter transferred out after the 2016-17 season, his water bottle flip will forever be engrained in Duke basketball lore.
1.) Stanley Borden (2022)
Borden walked out in a trench coat looking like Inspector Gadget, and then he pulled out a saxophone and played the famous riff from George Michael's "Careless Wisper". It doesn't get any more legendary than that. Borden raised the bar las year, and it's hard to imagine anyone topping it this season, but we will just have to wait and see.
Ben McCormick | @Duke_Wisdom
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