We were looking at last year's stats, and found a few interesting points.
- Despite his occasional streaks and his wild ability to shoot deep, JJ
Redick was not the leading three point shooter on the team. That would
have been Daniel Ewing, at .400. Redick was second at .399.
Dahntay Jones was nearly second at .398. - Redick attempted 7.2 threes per game, compared to Chris Duhon's 3.9.
- Discounting the guys who played mostly garbage time, or in Casey Sander's
case, just didn't shoot much, Shelden Williams, Shavlik Randolph, and Nick
Horvath claimed the best shooting percentages at .516, .504, and .500.
It's what you would expect from inside players, of course, with the
exception of Randolph, who shoots from anywhere. - Someone will get to win time for rebounding: with late-blooming Shelden
Williams only averaging 5.9, and Dahntay Jones and Casey Sanders taking 10.7
rebounds away, there's an opportunity for someone. It's not like Duke was
overwhelming on the boards last year anyway, with only a +0.2 advantage in
conference play. - Daniel Ewing was first in three point shooting, third in scoring, third in
assists, fifth in rebounding, and second in steals. - JJ Redick was second in three point shooting, first in foul shooting at a
remarkable .919 percent, second in ppg, second in assists, and third in
steals.
You can draw a few layman's conclusions from this. First, Redick and
Ewing are probably underrated, more so with Ewing. Second, Duke's
going to need a lot of help up front, meaning that Deng and likely Randolph will
have to step up. Nick Horvath has become a competent reserve and can fill
in for pretty much anyone at this point. Michael Thompson could make a big
difference depending on how fast he has developed over the summer. If he
cuts his fouls and continues to improve as rapidly as he did late in the season,
Shelden Williams could double his board work.