Rowan Kavner 
Digital Content Coordinator
LOS ANGELES – It took a conversation with an old coach to put into perspective for J.J. Redick the time that had passed since he left Duke as the national player of the year and school’s all-time leading scorer.
This year marks the 10-year anniversary since Redick won nearly every major national player of the year award, including his second straight Adolph Rupp Trophy, following his final season of an illustrious four-year college career.
“I hadn’t really thought about it,” Redick said. “It was my high school coach, his daughter was born during our state tournament my senior year, and she’s turning 14 this week. I was like, ‘Oh my God, that was 14 years ago?’ That kind of put things in perspective.”
Redick averaged more than 21 points each of his final two years at Duke, where he eventually got his number retired. He went to the NCAA Tournament all four seasons, including three trips to the Sweet 16 and one to the Final Four.
He returned for his senior year to try to capture what North Carolina and Villanova are hoping to grab Monday night – a national championship – though that dream never came true for Redick, who said he almost felt a sense of guilt accepting some of the national college player of the year awards his senior year.
“I was more concerned with winning than I was with that,” Redick said.
But, there was no doubting Redick’s place in NCAA lore.
Redick will go down as one of the best – and most hated – college athletes of all time, something Clippers head coach Doc Rivers likes to joke about.
“If it wasn’t for Christian Laettner, J.J. would’ve been the most hated Duke guy,” Rivers said. “It would’ve been a show called, ‘I Hate J.J. Redick.’”
Redick admittedly played into that hate, and it didn’t affect his ability on the court, as Chris Paul remembers well playing against Redick while at Wake Forest.
“You see how he shoots the ball now, he was like that in college,” Paul said. “Think about it, the 3-point line was closer. Every play down, it was for him. He was a competitor, still is now.”
While Redick won nearly every national college player of the year award – from the Rupp, to the Naismith, to the AP, to the J.R. Wooden and Sporting News – some people still remember Redick as a co-national player of the year during his 2006 season, splitting the Oscar Robertson and NABC awards with Gonzaga’s Adam Morrison.
It was fitting, then, that Redick had Morrison on his podcast this week to talk about their 2005-06 seasons and their lives since college. Morrison edged out Redick during Redick’s senior season to become the NCAA Division I scoring leader, despite Redick winning the majority of player of the year awards (and, as Morrison joked, all the good ones).
“It’s crazy, crazy to think that was 10 years ago I was a senior at Duke and he was a junior at Gonzaga and we were battling for a national championship, national player of the year awards and the national scoring title,” Redick said on the podcast.
There was a friendly rivalry between the two players, despite them never actually playing against each other that 2005-06 season. Redick said that started the day he scored 41 points against Texas and Morrison hit a buzzer-beater later that night.
“At the start of that night, it seemed like we actually brought the best out of each other, which is pretty cool,” Redick said.
Morrison said he would check Redick’s box score at the end of every game to see what Redick had and to see if he was still ahead in the scoring race. Forever linked with each other, after their stellar college careers ended, both players would still hear hecklers harken back to their college days.
Redick said he’s shocked Morrison’s now out of the league and believes if he had gotten the chance in the right situation, he would’ve flourished. Morrison talked about what prevented him from sticking in the NBA, what he’s done since and where his love still remains for the game on the podcast, which you can listen to here:
Meanwhile, Redick parlayed his successful college career into a now 10-year NBA career, and his numbers continuing rising each season. At 31 years old, Redick’s experiencing the best year of his NBA career, averaging 16.5 points per game and leading the league with a 47.1 3-point percentage.
While many people will always remember Redick as a Duke star, Paul believes Redick’s already established himself more for what he’s done in the NBA.
“It’s probably different for us because we play in the NBA, so we have a different perspective,” Paul said. There’s some people just that engulfed in college basketball. That’s part of it.” </span