Trajan Langdon led the Blue Devils in scoring during the 1996-97 season, averaging 14.3 points per game. With the injury to Elton Brand, Duke will need another stellar season from Langdon in order to have any hopes of a national title.

A junior guard from Anchorage, Alaska, Langdon is a two-sport star. During the winter months, he studies and plays basketball. His summer job is professional baseball, where he is a minor league player and San Diego Padres draft pick.

Langdon was an All-American in high school, leading East High School of Anchorage to three state championships and setting a state record for scoring with 2,200 points. In 1994, he was a member of the USA Junior team which won the gold medal. He was a finalist for numerous prep awards, including the Naismith Award for the top high school player of the year.

He had an immediate impact on the Duke squad when he joined the team in 1994. He started in 24 of Duke's 31 games during the 1994-1995 season, ranking third on the team in scoring with 11.3 points per game. He wasted no time showcasing his three-point talents. He hit a three-pointer in 27 different games, including six in a 23-point effort against North Carolina on March 4. The Tar Heels have had problems stopping Langdon: on Feb. 2, he collected five three-pointers and 20 points against them.

Langdon was forced to redshirt the 1995-96 season due to a knee injury he sustained playing summer basketball for the USA Junior National Team. He returned to the team for the 1996-97 season and led the Blue Devils in scoring with 14.3 points per game. He set a new school record for free-throw percentage and was named a first-team All-ACC selection.

Career Highlights

First team All-ACC, 1996-97

High School All-American

Naismith Award finalist

42.5% three-point shooter

34 points against Clemson, 2/18/97

Perhaps his best game so far in a Blue Devil uniform was January 29, 1997. The Blue Devils stepped onto the court that night as the 12th ranked team in the nation, seven spots above the Tar Heels in the polls. Duke hadn't beaten Carolina in their last seven meetings and needed a victory to inch closer to an ACC title. Langdon provided the offense, scoring 20 of his 28 points in the second half. Twenty-one of his points came on three-pointers, including one with just 42 seconds remaining that sealed an 80-73 win for the Blue Devils. His seven three-point shots tied a school record for three-pointers in a single game.

Just a little over two weeks later, on February 18, he tallied 34 points in a victory over Clemson. It was the largest scoring output against an ACC opponent since Johnny Dawkins scored 34 against Carolina in 1985. After the game, Clemson coach Rick Barnes called Langdon's play "outstanding."

Entering his third year as a Blue Devil, Langdon has certainly been outstanding. The Blue Devils will rely on his leadership and his lethal three-point shot as they make a run at the Final Four.