Good vs Evil, part II
UNC vs Duke (GoogleSearch)
Tonight the rivalry between North Carolina (16-14 & 4-10 in the ACC) and Duke (25-5 & 12-3 in the ACC) starts up again at Cameron Indoor Stadium, tip off at 9:00 p.m. EST (televised by ESPN) following GameDay. It’s what could be described as “Good vs Evil” and depending on who you talk to you will be told who is good and who is evil. It might not have the same significance that other UNC/Duke games have had in the past, but on the other hand this is definitely a game that means a lot to both squads. For the Blue Devils a win means the ACC title all to themselves, while for the Tar Heels this win would mean five in a row in Durham, three in a row in the Atlantic Coast Conference, 17 wins going into the post season tournament. Add to this the fact that UNC is coming to this game off of a couple of wins, while Duke plays his Senior Night coming off a loss, throw in that most of the times in a rivalry records don’t really matter, and you could truly say that you have the making of what could be a classic. And there is just one more thing this game has at stake, but I will go into it a bit later.
Rising freshman star John Henson thinks this of the game tonight:
“In our minds we aren’t underdogs but in the nation’s mind we’re underdogs,” said Henson “You know, it’s going to be fun. It would be nice to knock them off their throne. It would be nice—probably one of the best feelings of this season.”
It surely would be nice for this team that has gone through problems of gelling, injury problems, as well as being the team that brought home the 2,000th win of the program. Talking about injuries still no word on whether or not both Deon Thompson and Will Graves will start, play, or be spectators for this one. They are both game time decision, but from the sounds of it the senior power forward isn’t going to miss this game:
“It’s Duke-North Carolina. You’re definitely going to be excited to play in a game of that magnitude,” he said. “I don’t plan to miss it at all. No matter how I feel, it’s Duke-North Carolina.”
Then adding:
“It’s one of the biggest rivalries in all of sports, so no matter how I feel, I’ll definitely be out there in the starting lineup ready to help my team win.”
For those of you that do not know much about this rivalry, shame on you, you been missing out on something that has been going on for a long time, with two programs eight miles from one another that are always fighting for national recognition and titles. It’s about more than winning, it’s about more than doing the best you could, it’s about pride. Pride in your team (coaches and team mates), in the program, in your school and of course, in yourself. This is why these young men come to UNC (or Duke), to play in this game twice a year. It’s why when it comes to players both programs get some of the best and why they are willing to put it all out there even if hurt (like Thompson and Graves are).
The line is huge in this one, with Carolina being a double digit underdog (14.5 points) to Duke. A lot of people see this game ending up in the 80′s for the home squad and in the 60′s for the visiting team from Chapel Hill. On ESPN both Jay Bilas and Bobby Knight didn’t have much good to say on how this was going to end for Carolina. How can that be changed? Well, first off Graves (if he plays) needs to hit his shots from the outside, bringing at least 15 points for the Heels. Larry Drew and Dexter Strickland need to score at least 20 points and have 10 assists combined, while having less than 5 turnovers on the night. Thompson, John Henson and Tyler Zeller need to own the boards on both side of the court, getting at least 20 amongst the three of them while adding about 35-40 points to the scoreboard. Marcus Ginyard does not need to score that much, 10 points would be fine, but he needs to have one of those vintage Ginyard defensive games that we all remember from years past.
But after saying all of this, the reality of it all is that North Carolina needs to do go on offense and even more on defense. They need to make the top three players Duke has have the hardest night of their career when shooting. No open three’s, no easy drives to the basket, no transition points. The closer the Tar Heels can stay to those three categories the higher their chances of winning goes up. For once Carolina is in a season where being underdogs is not a surprise, they can use that to focus and put it to their advantage, since the pressure is going to be on Duke to win, not on Carolina. This brings me to that point I didn’t talk about in the first paragraph, a fifth win in a row by head coach Roy Williams’ team not only would rob Duke from having an ACC title, but it might just take them out of the running for being a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament.
My heart says UNC, my mind says Duke, unfortunately if I was on web board or twitter I would scream UNC, but since I am writing this trying to be unbiased I will go with Duke 83 UNC 76 in a game that is tight until the end. And we end the regular season on the “it is what it is” motto once again.
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