everything that's on my mind
(as if there's not already enough people doing this)Sunday, February 19, 2006
2557
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.
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.
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