everything that's on my mind
(as if there's not already enough people doing this)Thursday, February 23, 2006
It's always nice to share
Unless, of course, you're talking about the ACC regular season championship. Duke clinched a share of the title on Sunday, and needed either one more win or an NC State loss to win the regular season outright.
Last night, they got both, as Duke beat Georgia Tech 73-66 and UNC hammered NC State 95-71. (By the way, UNC is starting to play really well, it seems. I'm also predicting Hansbrough will be playing for ca$h next year instead of in Chapel Hill.) Georgia Tech folded up in the last 10 minutes in much the same way that they did against UNC last week (which is the only other time I've seen Tech play this year.) After shooting near 70% in the first half, Duke's defense clamped down and when Redick finally started to score, Duke was on it's way to 14-0 and the ACC title. No sharing this year.
Shelden Williams had an outstanding game last night with 26 points and 11 r
ebounds. He is often overshadowed by the high-scoring and overall great play of J.J. Redick, particularly among sportscasters and other media types, but he showed last night why he's so important to this team. With Redick having an extremely rare 5-21 shooting night, Williams came up huge. I think he had at least 5 dunks in the game. He was just magnificent on both ends.
Shelden is now third in career rebounds for Duke, and will move into second place past Christian Laettner this weekend at Temple. He is one behind Laettner, and if they play the maximum post-season games, he could possibly catch Mike Gminski for number one, although I think it's unlikely.
Redick could not hit anything last night. Krzyzewski mentioned Tech's defense in the post game comments, but while they did a good job, J.J. missed several shots that he normally makes, including some open shots he normally knocks down. He even missed a wide open layup. I would consider that the pressure of the record he could have broken might have gotten to him, but there are two reasons I won't buy that. One, he hasn't let pressure get to him at all this year, and two, he just did the same thing in the last game, i.e. breaking a record. My feeling is that it really was just an off night. It could've been the arena - sometimes, when playing on the road, a shooter just can't get the right feel and get in a groove.
He did, however, come up big in the last 10 minutes, scoring 18 points to finish with 22 on the night. He hit a bucket to put Duke up by 2, and then followed it with his only 3-pointer, which gave Duke a 5-point lead and they never looked back. He now needs 10 more points to become the all-time leading scorer in ACC history, and that should happen at Temple this weekend. I also noticed he is 19th on the list of assist leaders at Duke. He should move into 16th place by season end, with an outside shot at passing Chris Carawell for 15th place.
Talk is now shifting to whether Duke can win it's last two ACC games and go undefeated. It's certainly within reach, but these could be their two toughest games in a few weeks. FSU played them well in Cameron. However, FSU has lost some home games this year, and while Virginia Tech played Duke close at Cameron, Duke won easily in Blacksburg. So, maybe they will repeat that in Tallahassee. UNC, on the other hand, is looking very good and, even though the game is at Cameron, there's never a guarantee in a Duke-UNC game. If Duke beats FSU, UNC would love nothing more than to spoil Duke's perfect season, as well as spoil Duke's Senior Day (especially for Redick), so this will be no easy task. If they do it, then great. But the goal is not going undefeated. It's winning the last game of the year. Anything else is nice, but not the primary target.
Just a side note for those keeping score in the player of the year race - Redick's 5-21 field goal shooting was his worst for the season. Adam Morrison's worst, while slightly better, was in a recent game when Morrison went 7-20 from the field.
On a humorous note, an interview with current ACC scoring record-holder Dickie Hemric (who played for Wake Forest) was aired during the game (which I did not see), and according to Duke Basketball Report, Hemric said of Redick breaking his record, "Better a Devil than a Tar Heel." Even after 50 years, he still hates the Tar Heels. You gotta love this guy.
As if there needed to be more articles about J.J. Redick, here's a very good one written by Pat Forde this week on espn.com.
Last night, they got both, as Duke beat Georgia Tech 73-66 and UNC hammered NC State 95-71. (By the way, UNC is starting to play really well, it seems. I'm also predicting Hansbrough will be playing for ca$h next year instead of in Chapel Hill.) Georgia Tech folded up in the last 10 minutes in much the same way that they did against UNC last week (which is the only other time I've seen Tech play this year.) After shooting near 70% in the first half, Duke's defense clamped down and when Redick finally started to score, Duke was on it's way to 14-0 and the ACC title. No sharing this year.
Shelden Williams had an outstanding game last night with 26 points and 11 r
ebounds. He is often overshadowed by the high-scoring and overall great play of J.J. Redick, particularly among sportscasters and other media types, but he showed last night why he's so important to this team. With Redick having an extremely rare 5-21 shooting night, Williams came up huge. I think he had at least 5 dunks in the game. He was just magnificent on both ends.Shelden is now third in career rebounds for Duke, and will move into second place past Christian Laettner this weekend at Temple. He is one behind Laettner, and if they play the maximum post-season games, he could possibly catch Mike Gminski for number one, although I think it's unlikely.
Redick could not hit anything last night. Krzyzewski mentioned Tech's defense in the post game comments, but while they did a good job, J.J. missed several shots that he normally makes, including some open shots he normally knocks down. He even missed a wide open layup. I would consider that the pressure of the record he could have broken might have gotten to him, but there are two reasons I won't buy that. One, he hasn't let pressure get to him at all this year, and two, he just did the same thing in the last game, i.e. breaking a record. My feeling is that it really was just an off night. It could've been the arena - sometimes, when playing on the road, a shooter just can't get the right feel and get in a groove.
He did, however, come up big in the last 10 minutes, scoring 18 points to finish with 22 on the night. He hit a bucket to put Duke up by 2, and then followed it with his only 3-pointer, which gave Duke a 5-point lead and they never looked back. He now needs 10 more points to become the all-time leading scorer in ACC history, and that should happen at Temple this weekend. I also noticed he is 19th on the list of assist leaders at Duke. He should move into 16th place by season end, with an outside shot at passing Chris Carawell for 15th place.
Talk is now shifting to whether Duke can win it's last two ACC games and go undefeated. It's certainly within reach, but these could be their two toughest games in a few weeks. FSU played them well in Cameron. However, FSU has lost some home games this year, and while Virginia Tech played Duke close at Cameron, Duke won easily in Blacksburg. So, maybe they will repeat that in Tallahassee. UNC, on the other hand, is looking very good and, even though the game is at Cameron, there's never a guarantee in a Duke-UNC game. If Duke beats FSU, UNC would love nothing more than to spoil Duke's perfect season, as well as spoil Duke's Senior Day (especially for Redick), so this will be no easy task. If they do it, then great. But the goal is not going undefeated. It's winning the last game of the year. Anything else is nice, but not the primary target.
Just a side note for those keeping score in the player of the year race - Redick's 5-21 field goal shooting was his worst for the season. Adam Morrison's worst, while slightly better, was in a recent game when Morrison went 7-20 from the field.
On a humorous note, an interview with current ACC scoring record-holder Dickie Hemric (who played for Wake Forest) was aired during the game (which I did not see), and according to Duke Basketball Report, Hemric said of Redick breaking his record, "Better a Devil than a Tar Heel." Even after 50 years, he still hates the Tar Heels. You gotta love this guy.
As if there needed to be more articles about J.J. Redick, here's a very good one written by Pat Forde this week on espn.com.
Comments:
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I pointed this out to my sons several times last night that even in the throes of his worst shooting night in a long while, J.J. never once showed any frustration or emotion, he just kept shooting until things started to click. A couple of years ago it would have showed on his face, but not last night--a sure sign of his maturity and confidence under fire.
Yes, Shelden was magnificent. My favorite play of the night--when he split the two Ga Tech defenders after receiving the inbounds and threw home a monster slam.
Second favorite play of the night--Josh McRoberts' back-to-back behind the back dribbles to elude two defenders.
Hemric was a hoot. Indeed, "Better a Devil than a Tarheel" any day my friend!
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Yes, Shelden was magnificent. My favorite play of the night--when he split the two Ga Tech defenders after receiving the inbounds and threw home a monster slam.
Second favorite play of the night--Josh McRoberts' back-to-back behind the back dribbles to elude two defenders.
Hemric was a hoot. Indeed, "Better a Devil than a Tarheel" any day my friend!
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