This evening, Duke will send number 22 to the rafters. It's too bad that it can't send the jersey--with Jay Williams inside of it--onto the court instead.
Williams will be in attendance to watch Duke retire his jersey before tipping off against UNC. But when the game begins, he will be watching a team quite different from the one he left behind a year ago.
Gone is the player who made a 10-point Maryland lead disappear is under a minute. Gone is the point guard who can drive the lane, maneuver around two defenders and score. Gone is the player who could hit one clutch three-pointer after another. Gone is number 22.
Williams brought to Durham a sort of magic that only a handful of players truly possess. He was truly one of the great players to ever play college basketball, and Duke's performance this season stands as a testament to that. Granted, some point out the fact that Duke is struggling inside this season following Carlos Boozer's departure for the NBA. Others say that Mike Dunleavy's versatility would have been a big help this season. But what Duke misses most right now is not size, agility or experience--it's the intangible feeling that could galvanize the team just from watching number 22 handle the ball.
Entering this season, junior point guard Chris Duhon was asked to somehow fill Williams' shoes. As the team's lone captain, Duhon has performed admirably as a floor general and Duke's six freshmen frequently point out his role in the locker room as the team's leader.
But on the court, Duhon has not been able to match the ability to maneuver and score that Williams brought to the team. In all three of Duke's losses this season, Duhon hasn't been the one taking the final shots to try to bring the Blue Devils back into the game. Most recently, against Florida State, Duhon took only seven shots in 31 minutes of acton. This season, Duhon has averaged only 7.6 field goal attempts per game, while Williams put up an average of 14.6 shots per game in his Duke career.
Two seasons ago, much was made about the mentor-protege relationship that Williams and Duhon enjoyed. Now, the Chicago Bulls rookie will sit in the stands as Duhon tries to lead his team past its most storied rival, something that Williams did in seven of the eight games times he played against the Tar Heels.
Regardless of the game's outcome, thought, Williams' night will be capped off by the ceremony that makes his the 11th number to hang from Cameron's rafters. It's only a matter of time before the comparisons begin between Williams and Johnny Dawkins, a former Duke point guard and current associate head coach whose number 24 has also been retired.
But perhaps more fitting is a comparison to Christian Laettner, the center who hit the most famous shot in Duke history to give the Blue Devils a 104-103 victory over Kentucky in the 1992 East Regional Final. History remembers Laettner for the magic that possessed not only that night in Philadelphia but throughout his Duke career.
Tonight, as his number becomes enshrined in Duke basketball history, so too will the magic that Duke fans were fortunate enough to witness for the last three years.
Evan Davis is a Trinity senior and senior associate sports editor. His column appears every Wednesday.
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