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Duke Blue Devils

Duke Blue Devils

Great Duke Blue Devils Seats Great College Basketball Seats
Thursday, 22 June 2006
Duke J.J. Redick Sits Out Three NBA Try Outs

Duke senior guard J.J. Redick will resume NBA draft workouts next week at Orlando, Boston and possibly New Orleans after sitting out this week with a bad back.

Redick's agent Arn Tellem told ESPN.com on Wednesday that Redick canceled his workouts set for Orlando (Wednesday) and Boston (Saturday) on Monday because he needed to rest his aching back.

Early Tuesday morning, Redick was arrested in Durham for driving while intoxicated and making an illegal U-turn.

Tellem said that Redick didn't fail a physical in Orlando at the pre-draft camp.

"He's fine, it's nothing serious," Tellem said.

Boston general manager Danny Ainge told ESPN.com that the bad back was a reason given for Redick's decision to cancel the workout.

Tellem is confident that despite the DWI and this latest back issue that Redick will go high in the draft. The projected number is somewhere between 7-14 in the draft. Redick has already worked out for No. 8 Houston, No. 9 Golden State, No. 10 Seattle and No. 14 Utah. Boston picks No. 7, Orlando No. 11 and New Orleans No. 12. Tellem said there could be one more team that Redick works out for before the June 28th draft.

Still, the DWI could cause concern for some.

"I think it does affect [Redick] in the way that you just have to dig deeper now," said Utah general manager Kevin O'Connor about researching Redick before making the selection. "There was no back issue when he was here. He was fine. He was in great shape."

Tellem reiterated that Redick simply needed to rest his back this week. He was in Orlando over the weekend at the pre-draft camp going through the extensive physical testing before returning to Durham on Monday. Redick had been training out in Los Angeles the past two months.

posted by: dukebluedevils at 19:42 | link | comments |

Top NCAA Player of the Year's Fall From Grace/Duke

J.J. Redick, a likely first-round pick in this month's NBA draft, was arrested early Tuesday on charges of drunken driving.

Redick, The Associated Press Player of the Year, also was charged with unlawful use of highways for making an illegal U-turn.

Redick, who has a Virginia driver's license, lost his driving privileges in North Carolina for 30 days, police spokeswoman Kammie Michael said.

The 21-year-old Redick was released on $1,000 bond shortly after being taken before a Durham County magistrate. He is to appear in court July 17. The arresting officer wrote in his report that Redick had "very glassy eyes, strong odor of alcohol coming from breath."

Redick had a blood-alcohol level of 0.11. The legal limit for drivers in North Carolina is 0.08.

"I regret what happened last night, and want to apologize to my family and the Duke community for the incident," Redick said in a statement issued by the university.

Redick finished his career as the leading scorer in Atlantic Coast Conference history.

"J.J. knows he made a mistake and regrets it," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said in a statement. "He represented the very best in college athletics and exhibited outstanding character at Duke the last four years. He is and will continue to be a credit to the Duke basketball family. As his friend and his coach, he has my total support."

Redick's agent, Arn Tellem, added: "J.J. is an outstanding student athlete of the highest character. He is an exemplary role model and a credit to his family and the entire Duke community. This is nothing more than an isolated incident. Everyone who has come into contact with J.J. as a student and an athlete knows the quality person he is and will continue to be."

Redick was arrested soon after 1 a.m. when he turned around as he approached a license check point near the Duke campus, Michael said. He pulled into a parking lot of an apartment complex after police pursued him.

"There wasn't a chase. He didn't run from them," Michael said. "He was pretty cooperative."

Redick, who won the 2006 Wooden Award as the nation's top college player, shot 47 percent from the field, 42 percent from 3-point range and 85 percent from the free throw line in leading Duke to a 32-4 record. He finished his career with 2,769 points and 457 3-pointers. Redick holds the NCAA career record for 3-pointers.

posted by: dukebluedevils at 19:38 | link | comments |

Duke's Coach K Dines With Resigned LaCrosse Championship Coach

DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski called the past few months the most "trying time" he's seen at the school, and he withheld comment on the lacrosse scandal until now because he felt it was the right thing to do.

The Hall of Fame coach has won three national championships and reached 10 Final Fours. He has been at Duke 26 years and is considered by many the face of the university.

"If you're going to be in here for the long run, you're going to have trying times," Krzyzewski said Tuesday. "That's just what happens, whether it's a business, a family or a university if you're in it for the long haul."

Krzyzewski said during his annual summer meeting with reporters that he has been trying to "lend whatever guidance or insights I might have into the situation" to school officials, including president Richard Brodhead.

The case, in which three men's lacrosse players are charged with sexually assaulting an exotic dancer at an off-campus party in March, placed the school under intense scrutiny.

Earlier this month, Krzyzewski stood in the back of the room during a news conference to introduce former lacrosse assistant Kevin Cassese as the team's interim coach. Krzyzewski said Tuesday he waited to talk about the case because "I think it's important for me to remember my place."

"I am the basketball coach. I'm not the president, I'm not the athletic director and I'm not on the Board of Trustees and don't want to be," he said.

"What I've tried to do behind the scenes is say, 'We're with you. We'll see what happens, and whatever happened if you did it, you should be punished,'" he added. "Giving support does not mean you're choosing sides. Giving support is what a university should do ... because we're in the kid business."

In April, a grand jury indicted team members Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty on charges of rape, kidnapping and sexual offense. David Evans, a co-captain, was indicted on the same charges in May.

Mike Pressler, who spent 16 seasons as Duke's lacrosse coach, resigned in April. Krzyzewski said he and his wife, Mickie, welcomed the Pressler family to their home and took them to dinner as a show of support.

"I don't know what Mike Pressler did wrong in this case," he said. "Whether he's judged on a whole other thing, that's another matter. He's a good man."

Pressler, in his first comments since the investigation began, told Sports Illustrated he felt he could have fixed any problems within the lacrosse program. He went on to mention a university investigation that found he was one of two people at Duke who took misconduct by members of the lacrosse team seriously.

"It's on the record: Anytime I'd been aware of something, I took care of it," Pressler told the magazine in a story appearing on newsstands Wednesday. "But the administration felt that wasn't going to be the case. For me to buck that would not be in the best interest of those 47 kids and all the alumni. Take a bullet? I'd do it again."

Krzyzewski added: "A year ago he was playing for the national championship and almost won it. You have to have empathy for people in those situations."

Pressler said he hoped people would remember more than just the scandal when recalling his time at Duke.

"I'm certainly not proud of what happened on March 13," he said. "But in the end you're not judged by one game or one season. You're judged by the body of your work. And in the end I think our body of work has been very positive for a lot of people."

posted by: dukebluedevils at 19:32 | link | comments (1) |

 

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