Duke v Carolina TODAY- Would We Win?

[BlueintheFace]

UNC is currently in the process of embarrassing MSU. In fact, they have embarrassed every team they have played this year. Duke is just coming off a dominant performance against Purdue. It is still early, but we are starting to see trends and personalities for these teams, so....

If Duke were to play Carolina today, would they win?

[roywhite]

Duke would be the underdog, but definitely could win.

[jacone21]

Duke would play a LOT better defense than the Spartans are playing. Duke would need to avoid the ridiculous unforced turnovers that the Spartans are making. They're just throwing the ball to tarheels left and right. Duke wouldn't try to run run run with the heels. That was a pitiful game plan and pitiful execution by the Spartans. Somebody was overrated a bit. That said, it will take a great game, but hell yeah Duke will beat them! It's called defense.

[jipops]

As long as Roy is coaching, Duke always has a chance. But this year Duke looks unlikely to get a W vs. the dreaded heels. There is just way too much talent, depth, experience and balance over there to overcome. It's almost a joke, they're just so much better than everyone else in college ball this year, partially due to the fact that the college level is as watered down as we've ever seen it.

[Ben63]

I do believe Carolina is the better team this season, an would probably beat us 7-8 times out of 10. But we most certainly can win. Rivalries are tough to call anyway, and a game RIGHT NOW would be no different.

[Jumbo]

Blueintheface,
This isn't directed at you, but the board in general. I don't understand the obsession with Carolina recently.

Well, I take that back. Obviously, I understand the obsession so far as the rivalry is concerned. But, darn, we don't play Carolina until Feb. 11th, and there are a lot more important things to worry about than the Heels between now and then.

Yes, they are an excellent team. Yes, They are the favorite to win the national title. But they aren't any more dominant compared to the rest of the country than a host of other teams over the last decade. Things have a way of evening out. Wasting so much time worrying about whether they'll go undefeated, who can beat them, whether we could beat them right now -- it just seems like a futile exercise to me.

[KenTankerous]

With the way Kentucky took apart WVU last weekend, and WVU ending Duke's season last year, and with Duke beating down Purdue, if I follow the op logic, it follows that Kentucky could beat Carolina, no? But last weekend shoots that right out the salad spinner, doesn't it?

Next play is a real popular call around here. I think it'd be a good idea to concentrate on THIS play. Carolina will come. And Duke may well win. But that is a long way from Lafayette.

[juise]

I think we could take them today... they'd be a little fatigued after whooping up on MSU so badly. They'd never know what hit 'em.

Seriously, though... UNC looks scary good. I hate to be cliche, but you can pretty much throw out the records when these rivals meet. I want Duke to be on a trajectory toward becoming the best team in March... who would win today is not as important to me.

[Duvall]

Blueintheface,
Yes, they are an excellent team. Yes, They are the favorite to win the national title. But they aren't any more dominant compared to the rest of the country than a host of other teams over the last decade.

It's early, of course, but I'm just not sure this is true. There have been years when we've seen similar gaps between the top two or three teams and the rest of the country, but I honestly can't recall the last time there was one team that stood alone like this. We shall see.

Wasting so much time worrying about whether they'll go undefeated, who can beat them, whether we could beat them right now -- it just seems like a futile exercise to me.

Well, yes. Most of fandom consists of futile exercises, though, and rivalries are no exception.

[dukelifer]

Blueintheface,
This isn't directed at you, but the board in general. I don't understand the obsession with Carolina recently.

Well, I take that back. Obviously, I understand the obsession so far as the rivalry is concerned. But, darn, we don't play Carolina until Feb. 11th, and there are a lot more important things to worry about than the Heels between now and then.

Yes, they are an excellent team. Yes, They are the favorite to win the national title. But they aren't any more dominant compared to the rest of the country than a host of other teams over the last decade. Things have a way of evening out. Wasting so much time worrying about whether they'll go undefeated, who can beat them, whether we could beat them right now -- it just seems like a futile exercise to me.

I have watched them early to see if there is an obvious weakness. They are playing D and their O has always been outstanding. Lawson is playing under control and Hansbrough is able to turn it on at well. Many of us were curious how they would look with all the off season drama of the big three having to go back to college etc. I think it is clear they are not going to have any drama or problems on this team. Roy is not going to go apoplectic any time soon and bench the starters in the middle of a game. Last year they had some troubles away from the Dean dome. Not this year. The only thing to do now is simply wait until the end of the regular season and see who catches up - which should happen. This is a team that is not going to get better because they are not going to get pressed and may get a bit bored. So I am done with Carolina until Duke plays them. I now know what I need to know about them.

[BlueintheFace]

Blueintheface,
This isn't directed at you, but the board in general. I don't understand the obsession with Carolina recently.

Well, I take that back. Obviously, I understand the obsession so far as the rivalry is concerned. But, darn, we don't play Carolina until Feb. 11th, and there are a lot more important things to worry about than the Heels between now and then.

Yes, they are an excellent team. Yes, They are the favorite to win the national title. But they aren't any more dominant compared to the rest of the country than a host of other teams over the last decade. Things have a way of evening out. Wasting so much time worrying about whether they'll go undefeated, who can beat them, whether we could beat them right now -- it just seems like a futile exercise to me.

Well, part of it is just entertainment value. When the best team in the country is 8 miles away, you play these little games.

Should we care right now? Probably not.

Does the Duke Basketball team and staff care right now? Definitely not

Is it interesting to talk about? Of course!
our rivals are blowing quality teams out of the water by 20-30+ points, and we are slowly rounding in to a heck of a team (fingers crossed). How can you not make these comparisons?

Jumbo, I disagree with you about the level of their dominance. The disparity in talent level between Carolina and the rest of the country appears to be a fixture for the season... they are just so far out in front, and that is with quite a few injuries. Barring more health issues, I believe this Carolina team can easily be compared to the repeat Florida team, Duke 1999, or UNLV 1991 (which obviously doesn't guarantee a championship). I do not foresee the discrepancy "evening out," but I do see Duke closing the gap as much as anyone... hence the interest in this topic.

plus, this is a new question...
Other more relevant questions like:
Should we post up G more?
Should we work E-Will into the rotation more?
Should we run more set plays?
How can we better free G to use his athleticism?
How can we improve ball movement?
What is the best lineup to have on the floor with Greg?
etc...

...are addressed many times over after most games... or at least that is how it feels to me.

[smklin]

duke would have no chance. i hate to say it but this year is carolina's year. they're absolutely stacked. they can go 10 deep and just run duke into the ground.

[dukelifer]

duke would have no chance. i hate to say it but this year is carolina's year. they're absolutely stacked. they can go 10 deep and just run duke into the ground.

I wonder what the Vegas odds are now for UNC to win it all? Perhaps the govt should put up the 700billion- for an absolute lock that is.

[BlueintheFace]

I wonder what the Vegas odds are now for UNC to win it all? Perhaps the govt should put up the 700billion- for an absolute lock that is.

The Big Three in Detroit should have put all the chips on Carolina tonight. Then we wouldn't have such a mess on capitol hill over this auto industry bailout... everyone wins ... except Izzo. He hasn't won in a while.

[JDev]

I do agree with Jumbo in that there is an overabundance of UNC talk, but I do enjoy talking basketball in general. To answer the question at hand: I know that UNC is good and certainly right now the best team in the country. I think that by March several teams will close that gap, including Duke, UConn, and Pitt, among others. That being said, I do not know if they are as good as they appear to be, if that makes sense. Their two main pre-conference tests have not been what they were once thought to be. Notre Dame was playing less than a day after an absolute battle with Texas, and had no practice days to prepare for UNC, and you will not beat them without that. Meanwhile, UNC exerted very little effort in pummelling a mediocre (at best) Oregon team. And MSU is clearly not as good as their preseason ranking, if the Maryland loss did not show that already. In addition, they were without their starting center. MSU will probably still win enough games in an average, or below average Big Ten. They will not beat Purdue in the two or potentially three times they play, and they will drop some other games, probably at Michigan and some others. They will probably be a 6 or 7 seed that bows out in the first round. UNC's schedule from here on out until conference play is garbage, so who knows.

[Heelkiller1]

To early to tell,but as a die hard Duke fan,Duke would win and send those silly holes back to Crapel hill kicking pebbles and mumbuling to them selfs .

[Lulu]

This poll makes me sick.

[NYC Duke Fan]

This poll makes me sick.

There are too many issues in the world today to get sick over...this should not be one of them...Relax a little

[umdukie]

It hurts me to say this as a Duke fan but Carolina at full strength(with a healthy Ginyard) is capable of beating every other team in the country by 20 points without too much problem as long as they stay focused this year. That's the harsh truth.

Hansbrough>>>>>>>>>>>Zoubs
Lawson>>>Smith
Thompson>Thomas
Ellington=Scheyer
Henderson=Green

Result: We would be lucky to only lose by single digits.

[Lulu]

Well I'm very wary of posting this here now, and if I really wanted to help Duke I'd probably head over to IC with this (I really don't even think that's a joke), but if you guys think you can hop off the Carolina bandwagon for a moment there's a poll over at ESPN about whether we can beat them just once this season. It's currently 49%-51%, with Duke losing.

I understand that most people here would prefer to be right at any cost, but Duke could use a little support from their fans (and the ESPN poll is pretty much anonymous).

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/index