One shining moment
For much of the day, J.J. Redick was anything but a superstar, taking ill-advised shots, committing silly fouls, trying to do too much. "I wasn't playing with a lot of poise," he said. But with the game on the line, Redick made sure his feet were behind it, and knocked down the biggest shot of the game.
The score was tied 56-56 when Luol Deng emerged from a tussle with Xavier's Justin Doellman to secure the rebound of a Chris Duhon missed layup. Redick, standing unattended near the top of the arc, called to Deng, who was in danger of falling out of bounds. Deng whipped a pass to Redick, who, upon seeing his feet were just inside the arc, did a quick tap dance backward, stepped up and, despite having missed 10 of his first 13 shot attempts, drained the 3 that would put Duke up for good with 2:56 remaining. "I had a really poor shooting night," Redick said. "Hopefully [the shot] made up for it with my teammates."
Player who impressed me
Deng won the regional's most outstanding player honor, and rightfully so. But a player from the other team was well on his way to the hardware before a fateful five-second sequence that surely will live in Xavier infamy. With 12:27 to go, Musketeers center Anthony Myles had scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Going against two former McDonald's All-Americas in Shelden Williams and Shavlik Randolph, Myles, whose accolades in high school were more on the Hardee's level, was holding his own in the battle. "He [Williams] is a good player, but I'm a good player, too, and I don't think anybody ever gave me that respect," Myles said.
But in the blink of an eye, Myles' quest for respect was prematurely halted. With Xavier leading 44-41, Myles picked up his fourth foul while fighting with Williams for position in the lane. Coach Thad Matta, in what he admitted afterward was a mistake, began arguing for a three-second call on Williams and, in the process, failed to get a sub in for Myles before play restarted. Sure enough, seconds later, Myles went up for a rebound and was flagged for his fifth, stunning the Muskies' crowd. It's not like Duke immediately ran away from Xavier, but in a game that went down to the wire, and the way Myles was playing, there's no telling how much impact he would have had. "Maybe if he's in the game, we get an extra rebound, or a shot we need," guard Lionel Chalmers said. "You never know."
Courtside confidential
Duhon put on a defensive clinic this weekend. Two days after holding Illinois star Deron Williams to seven points on 3-of-13 shooting, Duhon matched up against Xavier's Romain Sato in the first half, limiting him to 1-of-5 shooting, then switched at halftime to Chalmers, who had 13 points in the first half, and promptly held him to 2-of-7 the rest of the way. "Whoever was hot," Mike Krzyzewski said, "I put him on the guy and he got not hot." ... With hometown team Georgia Tech's Elite Eight game going into overtime, hordes of fans scattered around TVs in the Georgia Dome concourse for the finish, which delayed the start of Duke-Xavier by five minutes. ... Duke's Randolph received a tongue-lashing from assistant coach Steve Wojciechowski after a first-half sequence in which Myles drove right around him for consecutive layups. It was not a banner night for Randolph, who fouled out after playing just 15 minutes.
Championship formula
Despite becoming the only No. 1 seed to advance to the Final Four, Duke likely will be the underdog in San Antonio against second seed Connecticut. Why? For one, the Huskies are on fire, having steamrolled their first four tourney opponents. But more than that, the Blue Devils did not play their best basketball this weekend, particularly in the one area that will matter most against a team with Emeka Okafor: inside toughness. Williams, despite putting up decent numbers (12 points, 13 rebounds) did not establish himself with authority against Xavier, even after Myles went out. Williams attempted only five field goals, though part of that was because his teammates didn't look to him. Redick, for the second straight game, was largely a non-factor until the final minutes. Duhon was magnificent defensively but, perhaps due to his lingering rib injury, has become passive on offense.
The one major bright spot was Deng, who had two monster games and, like he does against most people, will create matchup problems against the Huskies. But unless the big men step up drastically -- or if Okafor is limited by his own injuries -- the Blue Devils' run could come to an end two wins short of their ultimate goal.
