Hi,
Duke is NOT in second place at the moment, but in 1st place by itself. The Devils have already beaten UNC. Before worrying about UNC, let's both enjoy and worry about Senior Night this coming Wednesday. I am already a bit teary-eyed thinking about it. Nolan and Kyle (along with Casey) were great ambassadors for both the basketball program and the University as a whole.
I, for one, am not willing to count Duke out against either Clemson or UNC. Don't forget Tyler was injured early in the UNC contest and was not able to play. The kids know how to beat the Heels and they first need to take care of business against Clemson.
GO DUKE!
Yes, thank you everyone, I and everyone else knows Duke is still technically in first place in the league. However, we aren't playing the best basketball and if UNC holds serve as I believe they will since we do not have a third scorer then they will win the league on Saturday. This is what I am referring to. Since Larry the cancer Drew left, they've been playing winning ball. Sans Kyrie, we are not head and shoulders above them as we were in December or early January.
I just believe they will win out and win the league, and if anyone saw that coming in mid-January you are a liar.
I'm not sure they will win out because FSU is going to give them all they want. I think we'll give them all they want as well, but it's really tough to beat another solid ACC team on their home floor. The good thing is we will have a chance to win the regular season title outright by beating them again. You can't ask for much more than that.
Go Duke!
I expect that we will win, but recognize that a loss is a real possibility, even with Singleton out. We are a young team playing on the road against a good team with Duke on our horizon- I'm definitely concerned that we might play with less than full concentration and drop one.
Well, since Drew left, UNC is 6-1, with zero wins over top 25 teams and two of the wins coming by a mere 2 points. In the same time frame, we are also 6-1, with two wins over top 25 teams and the only even moderately close win coming in our head to head victory over UNC. In what way are they playing better basketball than us?
In most cases, I would agree, although if I had an overall rating that would be the best indicator for me, rather than an unscientific comparison of good/bad wins vs. good/bad losses. However, in this case, since the OP is comparing UNC to Duke and saying UNC has played better the last 7 games, the fact that we beat them head to head during that period should be a factor in our favor rather than the other way around.
Fact is, if BC's last three had gone in and one of Kyle's wide open threes had scored, we wouldn't even be having this discussion, and whether those shots went in or out has absolutely nothing to do with how the respective teams are playing.
Does anyone else think that UNC will be vulnerable in the ACC tournament? They only have three big guys, and Marshall has been playing over 35 minutes a game since taking the starting job. Fatigue will be an issue, as could foul trouble (though they appear to have been able to stay out of foul trouble, probably by not playing defense). Their freshmen have never played in the postseason and are, well, freshmen.
I guess you could say that we're equally as vulnerable as our big two play virtually the full 40 minutes every game, but we've proven that we can play pretty well for stretches without them (see Maryland, Miami).
In that case, I disagree with your ability to label a thread.
"Carolina Now Tops in ACC" strongly suggests that they top the conference standings, and not that they are playing the best ball. The fact that most of the responses have gone into tangents about head-to-head records, FSU, Clemson, and tiebreakers tells me that pretty much everyone interpreted the thread the same way.
Is Carolina playing the best ball? Maybe, maybe not. That might have been a thread worth exploring. But it's not the one you started.
A 6-point loss on the road to an ACC team that will make the NCAAs and a 4-point loss on the road to an ACC team that will make the NCAAs are not radically different. Kenpom had VT ranked as the #30 team in all of college b'ball. Duke and UNC are top 3% teams this year and VT is top 10%. It's not like we lost to GT.
In a sport where nobody has gone undefeated for 35 years and counting, where Duke has all of three losses total this year (all on the road), where UNC has two road ACC losses as well ... I just don't see the radical difference in these two ACC road losses. Is Duke a radically different/better program than VT? Sure, Duke's in the stratosphere. But VT is a good team this year. And there are lots of ACC road losses every year by one good team to another. I wanted to find the conference game road records for everybody in the ACC this year but couldn't immediately. Anybody have that?
I fully agree with your post; we're going to be even more prepared going into this week and based on history, we bounce nicely after a bad loss (which I think VT was...don't shoot me, it's just my opinion and you know what they say about opinions). K is the master at rejuvenating the team and there is no one I'd like more in there with them getting them ready to rebound! I'm excited to see what's going to go down this week, and I do see Duke winning the ACC outright and getting the #1 seed in the ACC tourney, at least.
dukestheheat.
As if yesterday wasn't l-o-n-g enough, since Sat night, this thread is surely putting a downward spin on my Monday morning. Living in VA is going to be treat today as fellow employees file into work, ugh.
Let's bury that mess and march forward! Come on people, move towards the light!
LET'S GO DEVILS!!!!!
Can somebody please change the thread title? Not only is it wrong but it's stinkingly offensive to have to look at every time I drop by.
“Coach said no 3s.” - Zion on The Block