Afternoon Baseball

Normally, I write very little on college basketball, my projections on Gonzaga (and the Cleveland Cavaliers) being an exception. (I'm reserving judgment, still, on both until the postseason, though I hope both do well)

Anyways, Duke somehow lost to Florida State tonight. FSU is not the doormat they once were, and Duke is still a gaudy 27-2, so no walls of Jericho were tumbled. But it does raise the question -- again -- of whether Duke can win without perfection from J.J. Reddick.
In the past, the question was, in big games, will Reddick step up? 35-40 points in January means nothing in March. I'm a doubter of Reddick, you might say, but I'd be shocked if he didn't produce this month. Tonight was a terrible game for him, yet he still had 30 points (albeit on 10-28 shooting) and hit all six free throws. If that's a worst-case scenario, I think Duke'll take it.
But it leads to a larger question: Why the hell does Duke need anyone to ever take 28 shots, half of them from beyond the very short arc? This is a shallow team, with a freshman point guard (as good as he's been) and a stellar but vastly overrated Shelden Williams (think William Avery, but three times as important). Duke's more fragile than one might think, and even a heroic Reddick effort (such as his 12-24 FG, 6-11 3pt, 11-13 FT, 3 assist effort in a Georgetown loss) might not be able to save them.

In case you're wondering how Reddick's done in the tournament, he was dismal last year (7, 16, and 13 on 10-38 shooting), 16 ppg as a sophomore (15 pts, 4 reb. on 4-12 shooting against UConn), and 17.7 ppg as a freshman (but a Diana Taurasi-as-a-freshman-like 2 for 16 against Kansas in the loss).

OK, so maybe Reddick does need to prove he can light it up in the tourney against the best teams.