A number of things happened tonight in the Duke-Miami game. First of all, Duke beat Miami 92-71. That was the most important thing of all. Miami is a dangerous team with some very good guards. They're capable of biting you if you're not ready to play them. They won earlier this year in Chapel Hill against a young, but very good, North Carolina team. They weren't going to be afraid of playing at Duke. But Duke won rather easily (despite a lot of silly turnovers in the first half), and should now be #1 again in the polls this week after UConn's loss this week.
Secondly, Duke won at least a share of the ACC regular season title (one more win, or an NC State loss, and it will be theirs alone.) This is their seventh regular season title in the last ten years (finishing below first in 2002, 2003, and 2005). They have also won the ACC tournament six times during that stretch - hoping to make it seven this year. At 13-0 in conference play, they're also looking to match the 1999 team's feat of a perfect record in conference play at 16-0 (and 19-0 including ACC tournament games). I believe it will be difficult for them to match that with their remaining schedule, and especially the tournament. They play at Georgia Tech and Florida State, before finishing at home against Carolina. (They also play out of conference at Temple this weekend - so they have three straight road games ahead of them.) So, we'll see.
And, the most celebrated thing that happened, of course, was J.J. Redick's 30
points, which meant he passed Johnny Dawkins' Duke record of 2556 career points and made him the all-time leading scorer in Duke history, with 2557 points. Redick set yet another record, just one game after breaking the NCAA record for 3-point baskets made. He needed 30 to pass Dawkins, and 30 he got. He started off the game with 11 points in the first four minutes, and it looked for a while like he might get the record by halftime. He ended the half with 22 (which put him on pace to match Adam Morrison's 44 points from Saturday), but Miami's defense slowed him down in the second half. He was often double-teamed when touching the ball and did not get very many shot opportunities. But he did make them count when he did. With a little over four minutes remaining in the game, Redick hit a 3-pointer from the corner to break the record. Cameron erupted. Associate head coach Johnny Dawkins stood briefly at Duke's bench, smiling and applauding Redick's accomplishment.
Redick's next record to set will come this week - either Wednesday at Georgia Tech, or this weekend at Temple. He is now 30 points away from becoming the all-time leading scorer in the ACC as well, and he shouldn't have trouble reaching that quickly. I'll be a little surprised if he doesn't drop 30 on Georgia Tech, but even if he doesn't, it should happen early in the Temple game. He's scored 30 or more in five straight games now, and seven of his last nine - including games of 40 and 41 in that stretch. It amazes me that he continues to put up these numbers in ACC games. Everyone knows he is the first man they need to stop, but nobody can stop him.
It's just been incredible to be able to watch him this year, and I will miss watching him play for Duke when this season is over. He's gone from being a good freshman, to a better sophomore, to a very good junior, to a great senior. I honestly thought he might not be able to get 30 on Miami's guards - whose defense was much better in the second half - but that just shows what kind of player he is. He knows how close he is, and everyone is asking him about it, but the pressure doesn't affect his play. He went out and did it anyway - not because he wanted the record, but because he wanted to win the game, and he played his game the way he always does, and the record came because he did.
One
thing that has come up in recent commentary on this record, and came up in the post-game interviews tonight, is whether or not we'd be having this conversation if Johnny Dawkins had had the 3-point shot available to him when he played. When asked about it in a post-game interview, Dawkins sort of laughed and then didn't answer the question, instead saying that nothing should detract from J.J.'s accomplishment. It was a good answer, but considering the question, I would say that I'm not sure how much difference it makes.
If you wanted to compare them, you could take all of Redick's 3-pointers and c
ount them as 2-pointers. As of now, he has around 420 for his career, so you could take away 420 points from Redick's total. He's still close. Then, you consider he still has games to play and points to score, and at his current average of 29 ppg, he could end up with another 300 or more by years end. You could also consider that, without the 3-point shot, Redick's shot selection would be different - probably fewer long-range shots - and he might actually have scored as much as he has, or more.
On the other hand, you give Dawkins a 3-point shot, his shot selection would've been different as well. He would've taken the three's and probably hit a lot as well, but being a lower percentage shot, he might not have any more points than he does now. Some of those 2-pointer's he made may have turned into missed 3-pointers. And, considering again that Redick might score 300 or more additional points in the coming weeks, they would still likely be neck and neck anyway. On top of all of that, you consider the game overall is quite a bit different than it was 20 years ago. So, in the end, it may or may not be a valid comparison, but the record is based strictly on points scored, not on how they were scored, and so we have what we have. Dawkins was proud of the record while he held it, and he's also proud of J.J. - having coached him for four years - and what he's done to set the new record.
In related news, freshman and Melbourne, Arkansas native Jordan Davidson (whose older brother Patrick is also on the team) scored his first Duke points, hitting a 3-pointer in the final minute. It was nice to see a fellow Arkansan get in the books for Duke.
I watched Arkansas beat Florida in overtime on Saturday. Arkansas was in desperate need of a good win if they have any chance of making the NCAA tournament (and Stan Heath was equally desperate if he has any chance of keeping his job.) It was a good, exciting game which was at times ugly, but it was still nice to see the Hogs win a big game again. It's been a really long time...
Evidently the NBA All-Star game was this weekend. I had no idea. Is there anything more irrelevant these days than All-Star games? I haven't watched an All-Star game of any kind in years. I remember in college the NBA All-Star weekend was always a big deal. We watched Dominique and Michael compete in the slam dunk contest. And watched Spud Webb win it one year. We watched Larry and everyone competing for 2nd place in the 3-point contest. It was great.
But those days are past. I have no idea who won the contests - assuming they still exist. And could care less who won the "game" - if you can call it that. From the few highlights I saw, it looked like any other NBA game, except with less defense (if that's possible.) Any time you have a guy throwing a pass off of the backboard so that a teammate can catch it and dunk it - with a defensive player standing in the lane watching it - there can't be much of a game going on.
Duke had little trouble last night with a Wake Forest team that has completely gone south this year, winning 93-70 at Cameron. I'm still not sure what has happened to them. Granted, they lost Chris Paul, but with returning seniors Justin Gray, Eric Williams and Trent Strickland, a lot was still expected of them, and I'm more than a little surprised that they're last in the ACC right now with only 1 win. There have been those who suggest that Skip Prosser may be interested in the Cincinnati job, and I have to wonder if he's not completely committed to this team. If so, I feel bad for the seniors, because they should be having a better year than this.
One note for the conspiracy theorists: Duke had 18 fouls, Wake 17, at Cameron. Wake also shot 2 more free throws. Granted, a small difference, but with all of the talk the last 2 weeks, you'd have expected Duke - playing at home - to have only 2 or 3 fouls, and Wake to have 37. So much for that...
During the game, J.J. Redick passed Curtis Staples (Virginia) for the record of career 3-
pointers made in the NCAA. Redick now has 416 made, passing Staples' previous record of 413 made. He scored 33 on the night, and he's now scored 30 or more points in 12 games this season, and this is the 4th in a row (a school record). He will pass Johnny Dawkins to take over first place on the Duke career scoring list either this weekend or next week, and will soon become the all-time scoring leader in the ACC as well (also, likely next week). And, as his college career approaches it's end, he is still the NCAA career free throw percentage leader as well.
Duke also moved to 12-0 in the ACC, with 4 games remaining, and Redick scored 30 or more for the 4th straight game, and 12 times this season. Duke plays Miami at home this weekend, before going on the road to Georgia Tech and Florida State, then finishing at home against North Carolina, all of which will be difficult games to win. Also, they play at Temple in the middle of those four games. A win against Miami this weekend would likely move them back to #1 in the polls, with Connecticut losing this week to Villanova.
Redick continues to amaze me. Equally amazing are the people who continue to claim he's not that good. Surely, no matter how much one hates Duke basketball, they will at some point return to reality and admit he is a great college basketball player having an unbelievable year. But then again, some people are just stupid.
Tony Kornheiser is pro-J.J. Here's a good article from a yesterday.
Olympic UpdateI have successfully avoided watching any of the
Winter Olympics thus far. I did watch about 5 or 10 minutes of the opening ceremonies, during the time when the teams from each country were walking in. However, when the
Uzbekistan team came out with
The Trammps "
Disco Inferno" playing in the background, I was forced to turn it off.
My wife went out this afternoon to run some errands and do a little shopping, an
d came back with a gift for me. When she told me, she appeared as though she was trying to avoid laughing. With a big smile on her face, she told me to close my eyes, and so I complied. Then, I was told to open them, and this is what I saw in front of me - the Napoleon Dynamite Talking Pen.
I love this movie, so I was thrilled. It says the following 7 phrases from the movie:
Yesss!!
I caught you a delicious bass.
Sweet!
I told you, I spent it with my uncle in Alaska hunting wolverines!
Lucky!
Whatever I feel like I wanna do, gosh!
Freakin' idiot!
I have no idea how long this will last, but I figure I'll enjoy it while it does. Sweet!
Still "not our rivals"I watched
Duke beat Maryland for the second time this year earlier today in College Park. Duke never trailed in the game. Redick had 35 again, just like in the Carolina game a few days ago. He didn't score until nearly seven minutes into the game, and only had 11 at the half, I think. Then he took off in the second half. Shelden had a huge game, too, with 26 points and 13 rebounds.
The great news in today's game, however, is the help. Redick and Williams are going to get theirs most games, but when they have help, Duke is hard to beat. Today, Paulus had 16 points, including four 3-pointers, and Dockery had 15 points, with three 3-pointers. On top of that, Josh McRoberts also had 12 rebounds. Considering McRoberts big scoring against Carolina (17 points), and his rebounding today along with Paulus' and Dockery's play, I'd say Redick and Williams are starting to get more and more help. If Lee Melchionni can find his shot again, and Nelson continues to get back in the flow of things, Duke is going to be very hard to beat in March.
Just found out last night that the Winter Olympics start tomorrow. I'd completely missed that, and now that I know, it changes my life in no way whatsoever. I will likely watch the same amount of Olympic coverage as I would have if they were not being televised.
I heard a local radio show co-host mention that the Winter Olympics would be much more interesting if they released some grizzly bears at the games. Now that would probably get them some ratings, and I'd definitely tune in for that.
Here's a story from The Onion about the upcoming games:
Americans Disappointed To Learn Olympics Will Be TelevisedNEW YORK — Although American citizens are proud of the athletes representing their country at the Turin Olympics and wish their team the best of luck, their patriotism does not translate into a desire to actually watch the events, according to informal studies conducted by NBC, the network that will televise this year's Winter Games. "It's important to almost 100 percent of the viewers of NBC, MSNBC, and our partner networks that Team USA does well, especially in high-profile sports such as hockey, figure skating, and skiing," said NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol, whose network will provide 416 hours of coverage to as many as five times that number of people. "However, almost all those we spoke to said that they would be perfectly satisfied to see highlights and scores during commercial breaks on Law & Order, Fear Factor, and Late Night With Conan O'Brien." Although Ebersol admitted that the estimated numbers were low compared to the legendary Winter Games of the 1980s, he said they were almost double those from the 1998 Olympics in Nagano.
It reminds me of a previous Onion headline:
Several Gearing Up For 2006 Winter Olympics
I think that about says it all.
Bilas on Duke and the officialsOne last comment on the "controversy" regarding officiating at Duke games, this from
Jay Bilas:
I listen respectfully to all reasonable people, and I do so with an open mind. However, I am growing weary of the illogical and unsupportable "Duke gets the calls" discussion.
The "no-calls" at the end of Duke's close games against Boston College and Florida State have spawned another specious debate about whether Mike Krzyzewski's team gets special treatment from officials. The last time I recall this discussion was when Duke won the 2001 National Championship over Arizona, and a play made by Jason Williams was reviewed about as closely as the Zapruder film.
It is perfectly reasonable to question whether a particular call was correct. I believe that the officials missed a foul when Tyrese Rice drove to the basket on Shelden Williams at the end of the Boston College game. But to suggest that the no-call was part of some loose plot to give Duke a leg up is absurd and insulting to fair-minded people.
I may actually end up saying more at some point, if this nonsense continues, but I thought that Jay's comments were a good way to end it for now.
Well, okay, maybe
one more article.
A few thoughts... 
I mentioned the McRoberts-Hansbrough comparison in my last post. Perhaps McRoberts has heard some of the same remarks about Hansbrough. Josh came to play and ended up with at least equal numbers, probably slightly better. He ended with 17 points, 7 rebounds (6-8 FG, including 1 three-pointer, and 4-4 FT) compared to Hansbrough's 14 points, 9 rebounds (4-11 FG, 6-9 FT). You can't read anything into that either, except that maybe McRoberts was trying to make a point.
Duke, despite shooting 49% from the field, went on a few stretches where they couldn't score, and also had a number of unforced turnovers. A more consistent game and they win easily. UNC also was inconsistent, but I thought Duke's defense bothered them a lot. I thought much of Duke's problems were shooting themselves in the foot.
So much for getting all the calls. Fouls: Duke 20, UNC 19. UNC shot 29 free throws to only 24 for Duke.
Lee Melchionni didn't score. That's not really good. And Nelson only had 2. The good news, McRoberts, as I mentioned, had 17.
Also good news, after failing to hit 20 in three years at the Smith center, Redick exploded for 35 tonight. He's now 1 point behind Christian Laettner, and 96 behind Dawkins. He should be the all-time Duke scorer in a couple of weeks.
Once again, as in the BC game, a big lead evaporated. I thought BC did more to initiate the comeback, but when Duke left the door open for UNC, they seemed to hit three's during those times. Also, as in the BC game (and FSU, too, I believe), they nearly gave it away in the closing minute. A couple of missed free throws, subsequent foul (what was Dockery doing???) and another bad turnover gave Carolina new life after Duke was up 7 with around :50 left. A more experienced team (than UNC) would've won this game. But, Duke knows how to win, and the young UNC team is still learning. Their day will come, though.
A win is a win. I'm too tired to try to think of anymore comments, so I'm going to bed...