While it’s unfortunate that we won’t be able to wipe the floor with Duke the way the Women’s team did Sunday night, the tides have begun to turn since these two teams last faced.
On February sixth, Blue Devils came to the Dean Dome at their peak against the inconsistent and suddenly shorthanded Tar Heels. In the four weeks since Duke has been reeling, with road losses to Wake Forest and Miami and escaping an upset at the hands of NC State by the skin of their teeth (and arguably a bad foul call, which allowed Demarcus Nelson to hits the game-winning free throws; but that is another topic altogether). Now Saturday’s game carries, in all likelihood, the outright ACC regular season championship and the inside track to the #1 seed in the East Bracket. To put it simply, Jon Scheyer picked the wrong month to quit sniffing glue.
Once again, we look to the Scheyerface thread for inspiration.
Meanwhile, the Tar Heels have yet to lose since the Duke game despite injuries to Ty Lawson, Deon Thompson, Marcus Ginyard, Quentin Thomas, Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green, Rameses, assisstant coach Steve Robinson, several members of the Amis Chapel Baptist Church concession stand, and the very kind 80-year old man in the fifth row of the Smith Center who has paid thousands of dollars in scholarships for the privilege of his seat and will shout when he feels like shouting, dammit!
Now Lawson’s back (sort of) and Q and the rest of the Heels will be far more confident in their abilities than the last time these two teams faced each other.Then again, Q’s never played more than 10 minutes in a game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, something that he will certainly have to do this Saturday.
It’s Duke-Carolina, and it’s for all the regular season marbles (barring an inexplicable loss to Virginia and/or Florida State midweek, but stranger things have happened). Should be loads of fun. Let the hate begin!
Tar Heel Mania 