WRAL Sports Fan

WRALSportsFan

Preview: #8 North Carolina Vs. #14 Duke

By By: Ryan Craig

Mar 4, 2007

Tradition. Rivalry. Excellence. It’s Duke vs. Carolina, and it’s here again.

For the second time this season the teams will add another episode to perhaps the most intense rivalry in all of sports, and like the previous game, the stakes are high for reasons other than bragging rights.

Sunday’s contest represents a chance for both teams to get back on track after recent struggles. Duke lost its fourth home game of the year last Wednesday to perhaps the nation’s hottest team, the Maryland Terrapins. Carolina is in the middle of their first and only losing streak this season after dropping back to back games to those same pesky Terps and a backs-against-the-wall Georgia Tech squad that showcases two of the nation’s best freshman in Javaris Crittenton and Thaddeus Young.

Mind you, you won’t find any of those defeats in the “bad losses” column on anybody’s NCAA Bracketology predictions, but for two teams that demand, and quite honestly, expect greatness, any game in which time runs out when they are behind is a wake-up call.

For the Heels there is something even more tangible at stake than redemption. A win for Carolina keeps them in the hunt for the ACC regular season title, as Virginia lost their chance to clinch by going down to the lowly Demon Deacons in Winston-Salem on Saturday afternoon. While a win wouldn’t necessarily guarantee them the top seed in next week’s ACC Tournament, a loss to their arch-rival would extinguish the possibility altogether.

As for the game plans, Roy Williams and his Hall of Fame counterpart, Mike Krzyzewski, will employ vastly different strategies. Duke, as they have all year, will look to slow the game down, to grind out possessions and rely on their trademark, stifling man-to-man defense. The Devils are the number one team in the ACC in scoring defense, allowing just under 60 points a game.

Carolina, however, has the potential to be an offensive juggernaut…and they know it. They are the highest scoring team in the ACC and the second-most potent offense in the nation, putting up 87.1 points a game. They will look to exploit the advantage they have in athleticism and depth by pushing the ball in transition. In Durham last month, Carolina simply wore down Duke in their own building. They ran the Blue Devils ragged with their never-ending bench and a commitment to pushing the ball at every opportunity. Eventually Duke lost their legs, and the shots they were hitting at the beginning of the game started to catch iron instead of nylon.

Ironically, on Senior night for Reyshawn Terry, Wes Miller and Dewey Burke, it will likely be the underclassmen that determine the outcome of this one.  In their last match-up, it was the first year players that stole the show for both teams. Brandon Wright fell one rebound short of a double-double with 19 points and 9 boards, while Ty Lawson added 15 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists of his own, including a late 3-point play that all but iced it for the Heels.  For Duke, Jon Scheyer showed everyone in attendance why many basketball minds around the conference think he could become the best player out of the highly touted Duke freshman class, as he had a career-best 26 points.

In the uncertain world of college basketball, Carolina and Duke are about as close as you can get to a sure thing. The players are some of the best in the country and the coaches are some of the best in the world. For about three hours on Sunday afternoon, the eyes of the nation will turn to watch another edition of the most intense rivalry sports has to offer, and they will not be disappointed.

Notes: Sunday’s game will be the 123^rd straight in the series in which at least one of the teams is ranked in the AP poll…the streak dates back to 1960…The Carlyle Cup, the annual all-sport competition between Duke and Carolina is currently tied at 7.5 a piece…Sunday’s game is worth one point.

• Web Editor: Ryan Craig