One shining moment
As the final minute of the first half ticked down, Duke had gone more than
three minutes without scoring. Seton Hall's J.R. Morris had just bottomed out a 3-pointer from the left corner, pulling the Pirates within nine. That's
when Blue Devils guard J.J. Redick chose to nail a long 3 from the right
wing. Redick's shot pushed the lead back up to double digits, and a decisive half
ended with the Devils leading by 14 en route to their rout.
Player who impressed me
See above. Redick was at his pure-shooting best. With his light feet, tight
curls off screens and confidently launched shots from all over the forecourt,
he scored 17 of his 21 points in the first 20 minutes. With six and a half
minutes gone, Redick had already scored 10 points -- and Seton Hall stood at only
nine. A knot of Duke students, transplanted to the RBC Center but proudly
wearing their Cameron Crazies T-shirts, began a chant of "J.J.'s winning!" Redick is
a Duke bellwether, if only because a credible outside game sets up frontcourt
players like Shelden Williams, Luol Deng and Shavlik Randolph -- and indeed, as the game progressed and Pirate defenders had no choice but to run at him,
Redick tossed out three assists.
Courtside confidential
On the eve of Saturday's game, several Duke players recalled the recruiting
visit of Seton Hall's Andre Sweet. During that visit, it seems that his hosts
briefly lost Sweet, who wound up transferring to South Orange after spending the
2001 NCAA title season as a Blue Devil, at 4:30 one morning. ... On the
game's opening possession, the Devils lost Sweet again, as he got loose for a
3-pointer ... Halftimes of NCAA games have been pushed to 20 minutes (from
15), perhaps to help CBS squeeze in a few extra commercials to recoup more of the
billions it has invested in the tournament. That would be little comfort to
Duke's Chris Duhon, whose bruised rib is more likely to tighten up as a result. Duhon shot only 2-for-5 from the field and seemed constrained in his upper-body
movements.
Long-term prospects
Even as the Blue Devils advance to the Sweet 16 for the seventh year in a row, they're still in the Atlanta bracket, the tourney's toughest. Whether their
regional semifinal opponent is Illinois or Cincinnati, both have superb
backcourts that will call for a healthy Duhon. And Mississippi State, lurking on
the other side of the bracket, may have the best guard play of all. Its No. 1
seed notwithstanding, Duke will need a major break or two to reach San Antonio.
