After the Virginia Tech game, Coach K addressed the technical
J.J. Redick got, saying that while Redick is going to be a target, retaliation
is never the right thing to do. He's right about that. But on the
other hand, Redick is taking a beating almost every game. Last year Duke
had to replace his jersey because he was held so much it was stretched out of
shape. If you look in the ACC Handbook, in the Duke section, there is a
picture of him with an ugly gash on the inside of his arm. Last night he
had a cut on his face, and obviously was frustrated.
Clearly lashing out was a dumb move. But if this is a
year when rough play is supposed to be cleaned up, and a perimeter player is
taking that level of punishment, what are his options?
Certainly Duke could complain to the conference, and for all
we know may have already done so. So what to do?
Well, Gary Williams' bright idea of blaming his inadequacies
on the officials seemed to work, so maybe Duke fans should just ape him and try to argue the point on TV, through Cameron. Maybe the Crazies could call everything - "J.J. just got fouled! J.J. just got fouled! J.J. just got fouled!" - when the officials missed it. Maybe if it is heard constantly the announcers will pick up on it and who knows. It worked for Gary. Maybe it'll work here.