Rivalries
Duke-Carolina, but also KU-MU, IU-PU, UK-UofL, etc.
It’s funny. The last Duke-North Carolina game resulted in the No. 2 Devils turning in an impressive 89-78 road win against the No. 3 Heels. A month later, UNC hasn’t lost since and is ranked No. 1. Duke lost back-to-back games and is now ranked sixth.
As a result, Saturday’s showdown includes some crucial details.
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College basketball’s regular season gets tagged as blasé, but even naysayers should be pumped about Saturday.
After all, No. 1 vs. No. 2 just doesn’t happen that often. Top 10 games, sure. But this’ll be the 38th time since 1949 when the top teams face off in what should be the regular-season’s best game.
In this instance, the SEC’s best team, Tennessee, travels to No. 1 Memphis.
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Duke looked every bit like a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament in an 89-78 road victory against North Carolina on Wednesday.
The Blue Devils (20-1) hit 13-of-29 three-pointers, made five fewer turnovers in a raucous Dean Dome and their defense hounded UNC’s Wayne Ellington (16.2 ppg) and Danny Green (12.1 ppg) into a nightmarish shooting night. Combined, they were 4-of-24 from the field for 11 points. Without point guard Ty Lawson, UNC’s offense never got on track despite 28 points from Tyler Hansbrough.
But that brushes over the nagging thought from Wednesday’s game: If Duke played that great and UNC only lost by 11 points, does that mean Duke’s hit its ceiling?
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Return to this space at 8:50 p.m.ET. I’ll be doing a live blog of the Duke-UNC game. I'm trying something a little different than a normal post, which will allow readers to post comments in-between my in-game thoughts. Anyway, more details to come then.
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It’s not as if Duke-North Carolina needs any extra hype. The two teams enter Wednesday’s game as No. 2 and No. 3 in the rankings, 3 and 4 in the RPI and 4 and 7 in kenpom.com’s ratings. Duke (19-1) hasn’t lost since Dec. 20. The Heels (21-1) won their first 18 games.
UNC’s Tyler Hansbrough is the leading candidate for Player of the Year, while only Kansas and Memphis have a deeper bench than Duke (maybe UConn and Tennessee, too). That alone would make it a monster matchup. Throw in the history between the two schools, and it’s MEGA.
Yet, what happened to our beloved traditional rivalries? How long until they again garner national attention?
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Tuesday was the Kentucky we expected to see this season. It always should’ve been a tough, defensively sound team with flashes of brilliance, despite a young roster led by a new coach.
But until a win against No. 3 Tennessee it was unclear if we’d see this Kentucky team this year. But UK seems to have figured it out.
So what to make of Kentucky now? And Tennessee, for that matter?
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It’s been nearly two months since Kevin Love and O.J. Mayo ended up in my mailbox together. Glad I finally get to see them on the same court Saturday.
As a West Coast resident, I had USC-UCLA as my Sports Illustrated college basketball cover this season, which was a result of the nation’s most hyped recruit landing in the same city as the sport’s most storied program. Not a bad angle.
It’s just too bad Mayo’s Trojans haven’t been in the same league as Love’s Bruins. But by season's end, that could change -- IF a couple things work out.
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Ah, rivalries. The best part of college basketball’s regular season.
Whether it’s Duke-Carolina, Kentucky-Louisville or any of the more regional – and perhaps even more heated – matchups like Kansas-Missouri, Indiana-Purdue, Arizona-UCLA or Philly’s Big Five provide fodder for hoops fans to argue about and cheer for.
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