Duke Basketball: What would you do in a Blue Devil switcharoo?
JJ Redick 2003-04 and Cam Reddish
Most people look to JJ Redick’s senior season and the 2006 Duke basketball team as the one that got away with their loss to LSU, but the 2004 team was the closest JJ ever got to winning his own title in Duke blue. Again it was UCONN who would deny the Devils a shot at the championship that year in the Final Four.
Duke Basketball had Chris Duhon as the senior leader. Luol Deng was the freshman stud this time against the Connecticut Huskies. Daniel Ewing was in his junior year, while JJ and Shelden Williams rounded out the starting five as sophomores. They were good, to say the least.
UCONN turned out to be one point better that night, but the Duke basketball squad was up eight with a little over three minutes left to play and would have faced the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the final. That was a team they beat twice that year, including by 14-points in the ACC tournament a few weeks before. Sorry, I’m going to yell at a cloud for a minute.
Even though JJ almost reached his scoring average for the season, one point less at 15, he only shot 33% overall and from 3-point range. He had trouble with the longer, more athletic Husky defenders who were contesting his shots the whole night.
That Duke basketball iteration lacked size on the wings, with three starters under 6’4″, and secondary play-makers as no one averaged over two assists except Duhon. Despite the criticism that Reddish endured during his Duke playing career, he would have been perfect for this team. His blend of size, defensive ability and point forward capabilities would have been just what the Devils needed.
His length and quickness would have bothered Rashad Anderson and Ben Gordon more than the three guards on that Duke basketball team and his 1.6 steals would have allowed some easy transition points. He averaged two points less than Redick, but Reddish had some big moments and didn’t shy away from trying to make an impact.
The 2018-19 Duke basketball monster would have gotten the best shooter in Duke basketball history. I’m using the eye test here, but his 40% career mark would have been just what the Devils needed. That season, they had four victories over the three other Final Four participants outside of Michigan State, and two over the eventual champion Virginia. Hold on a sec, me and that cloud aren’t done yet.
Much like Matthew Hurt in the first switch, the defensive liabilities of Redick are covered up by all the plus defenders on that roster and JJ would have gotten to bomb away at will and we all know how that turned out for a lot of Duke basketball opponents. Redick was almost exclusively a shooter back then and the 2019 team would have been lethal with the open looks from three or the extra space to drive since defenders couldn’t sag off Redick.
Those are my five greatest switches that could have meant quite the reconfiguration of banners in Durham. Since this is Mike’s question, let’s see what he would say and why he would say it.