Okay, let's not go popping any crazy pills just yet but this guy from the Chronicle makes some good points. However, let's not forget JJ is the ACC All-Time leading scorer, the NCAA All-Time leader in 3-point field goals and a 2-time National Player of the Year. Also, let's not forget that his 26 point per game last year accounted for over a third of Duke's offense, not too shabby considering the Blue Devils were the 3rd highest scoring team in the NCAA last season. One thing I will take a major exception to from the article is his reference that JJ only going to one Final 4 in his Duke career is "unacceptable." How many teams over the last four years have made it to more than one Final 4? NONE! And, let's be fair, two of the four JJ teams had no business even getting tickets to the Final 4 let alone playing in it.
In 2003, Duke relied on the athleticism of Dahntay Jones and Chris Duhon, who had the most underwhelming season of his Duke career that year in addition to freshmen JJ, who only had a jump shot back then and Shelden "I had two fouls in the national anthem that year" Williams.
In 2005, Duke had to deal with the graduation of Duhon along with Luol Deng bolting to the NBA after only one season in Durham and lost Duhon's replacement, Shaun Livingston, to the pros without ever stepping foot on campus. They had Daniel Ewing playing out of position and had Lee Melchionni starting and playing the 4 on a team that only went 7 deep. The fact that they earned a #1 seed and won the ACC Tournament spoke volumes for how much that team overachieved.
In 2004, Duke had their best chance to win a title with JJ on the squad but they blew an 8-point lead with 2 minutes left to UCONN in the National Semifinal. Now, don't get me wrong, JJ didn't shoot very well in that game but he was mugged on a drive at the end of that game that would've sent him to the free throw line to win them the game.
Finally, last year, they went out unceremoniously in the Sweet 16 but what true Duke fan didn't see that coming last year? Sure, I expected them to go a little further but if you watched them all year, you knew they were a superior athletic team away from going home early and that came in the form of Tyrus Thomas and LSU.
Now, back to the original question: Is Duke better off without JJ? I won't go as far as to say they will be better but I do believe they have an opportunity to exceed the NCAA Tournament performances of the past two Duke teams. Why? Last year, if JJ got shut down, they either lost or needed a ginormous game out of Shelden. This year, if Josh McRoberts gets shut down, Brian Zoubek can carry the load. This year, if DeMarcus Nelson has a cold night, Gerald Henderson will be able to pick him up with his athleticism and driving ability. This year, if Greg Paulus struggles at the point, Jon Sheyer can distribute the ball more than adequately. Also, one thing the last two Duke teams didn't have that this team has is a healthy David McClure. McClure is the kind of guy Duke has missed to shut down the Al Thorton's and Jared Dudley's of the world. If David assumes that role, this team could go very far.
Listen, if I had a choice between JJ or no JJ, I would take JJ every day of the week and twice on Sunday but I do like this team's chances of doing something special. What do you think?
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