Duke hasn't had a lot of guards in general that are much better, but to be more specific white guards better than Jimmer. Dude won the Naismith award for the best player in college basketball. I wouldn't say they have had a LOT better than him. As far as college guards go, Jimmer was top notch and his numbers I am sure could compare with most that Duke has put out. In addition, he often did it through double-teams unlike any player at Duke. No doubt they have had their share of excellent PG's, but Jimmer is up there with the better ones that Duke has put out.
Jimmer doesn't have dick on JJ Redick, in my opinion.
Jimmer is better than JJ Reddick every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Reddick ran in a circle the entire game and came off screens for every shot. Jimmer can create his own shot.
I'll take Redick. He scored his points in the confines of the offense for the most part, and didn't run a one man show where he dominated the ball and chucked 30 foot 3 pointers all game. JJ played for some much more talented teams with more scoring distribution and still averaged 20 a game for his whole career. I'm just not a fan of the ball dominating/ hero chucker style Jimmer plays. If we could recruit a Jimmer clone or a JJ clone to join St Johns right now, I would take Redick. Maybe not the pure talent, but played in the style of the offense and din't run a one man show.
Think the respective supporting casts of the two teams had something to do with the divergent styles of play?
Sure, but it also makes the fact that Redick was such a steady source of his teams offense for 4 years all the more impressive when you consider the talent he had around him. MCNPA said that Jimmer was better then Redick because he could create his own show but there are two problems with that. One, Jimmer is "creating his own shot" against vastly inferior competition to what Duke faced, not to mention a lot of his created shots are really just 25 foot pull up jumpers where of course he isn't going to be guarded, and two, we don't know if Redick could have created his own shot at the college level because was never called upon to do so, but I do know that he could stop on a dime and bury a jump shot, much as we have seen Jimmer do. MCNPA said that all Redick did was run circles around the court all game and come off screens, as an indictment of his game, but this is an immensely important skill to have as a shooter. It takes incredible stamina to run around like that and then rise up and knock down shots, while also fatiguing the defense.
So, while Jimmer may be able to create a shot for himself, Redick can too, by moving without the ball and using his teammates to create space for himself. What will come at the professional level (for Jimmer) is anybody's guess, but as college players, they were very similarly productive, sure they did it in different styles, and Redick did it mostly by running circles and releasing quick jumpers, but that's exactly the M.O. of Ray Allen, and who wants to guard Ray Allen?