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The 2nd-ranked Blue Devils complete their regular season with a rematch against the North Carolina Tar Heels at the Smith Center this Saturday evening on ESPN (streaming link, listen, live stats). Duke is already 17-0 in Durham and 1-0 in Winston-Salem, so this is their chance to go undefeated within state lines, with a game in Chapel Hill, three games in Charlotte for the ACC Tournament, and two games in Raleigh for the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament. That's potentially a 24-0 record in the state of North Carolina. Then maybe they'll take a crack at finishing 2-0 in New Jersey and 3-0 in Texas. Geography!
Duke wore out Carolina in their first meeting on February 1 at Cameron Indoor Stadium (87-70: recap, box score, highlights, full replay). Kon Knueppel went 22-5-5 and Cooper Flagg added 21-8-7 in the win, while the Duke defense held RJ Davis to 12 points on 4-11 shooting, and Ian Jackson to 8 points on 2-6 shooting. Freshman wing Drake Powell, who also had 12 points, was the only UNC player to convert 5 field goals in their loss. Still, the undersized Heels managed to outscore the Blue Devils in the second half, 45-40, and somehow grabbed more rebounds in this game than their much taller hosts, 31-26.
After his Wake Forest team lost to Duke Monday night, head coach Steve Forbes offered a very specific form of praise in his postgame comments:
"Jon [Scheyer] did a really good job of roster construction. There’s the thing; you can’t just go sign a bunch of players that don’t fit, and Sion James is probably the biggest example of a guy that understands roster construction. He doesn’t need the ball. He runs the team. He looks like an NFL linebacker. He makes open shots. He’s a really good role player. That’s a credit to Jon, for not just signing really good players, but putting a really complete roster together that makes sense."
On the other side of this is UNC coach Hubert Davis, whose final grade on roster construction is probably Failing, or at least Incomplete. I've theorized before that his coaching staff looked more at third party rankings of the transfer portal more than actual fit, and it shows. Cade Tyson, for example, may have seemed like a great addition at the time -- as a Belmont sophomore he averaged 16 points and 6 rebounds, and shot 46.5 percent from three. He also has genetics on his side; his older brother Hunter Tyson is a Clemson-to-NBA success story. But the fit for Cade has not been ideal: UNC's guard-heavy lineup pushed him out of position, and then out of the rotation.
On3's Joe Tipton recently promoted an article he wrote about the work UNC needs to do in the next offseason.
That article is behind a paywall, so I can't read it, but I'm guessing Tipton gave us the best line for free: “This is the least talented Carolina team we will ever play.”
The Tar Heels play at Virginia Tech Tuesday night, and their stats will be updated Wednesday morning, so I should have a game preview available later that day. Until then, share your thoughts about the Duke-UNC rematch in this thread.
Duke wore out Carolina in their first meeting on February 1 at Cameron Indoor Stadium (87-70: recap, box score, highlights, full replay). Kon Knueppel went 22-5-5 and Cooper Flagg added 21-8-7 in the win, while the Duke defense held RJ Davis to 12 points on 4-11 shooting, and Ian Jackson to 8 points on 2-6 shooting. Freshman wing Drake Powell, who also had 12 points, was the only UNC player to convert 5 field goals in their loss. Still, the undersized Heels managed to outscore the Blue Devils in the second half, 45-40, and somehow grabbed more rebounds in this game than their much taller hosts, 31-26.
After his Wake Forest team lost to Duke Monday night, head coach Steve Forbes offered a very specific form of praise in his postgame comments:
"Jon [Scheyer] did a really good job of roster construction. There’s the thing; you can’t just go sign a bunch of players that don’t fit, and Sion James is probably the biggest example of a guy that understands roster construction. He doesn’t need the ball. He runs the team. He looks like an NFL linebacker. He makes open shots. He’s a really good role player. That’s a credit to Jon, for not just signing really good players, but putting a really complete roster together that makes sense."
On the other side of this is UNC coach Hubert Davis, whose final grade on roster construction is probably Failing, or at least Incomplete. I've theorized before that his coaching staff looked more at third party rankings of the transfer portal more than actual fit, and it shows. Cade Tyson, for example, may have seemed like a great addition at the time -- as a Belmont sophomore he averaged 16 points and 6 rebounds, and shot 46.5 percent from three. He also has genetics on his side; his older brother Hunter Tyson is a Clemson-to-NBA success story. But the fit for Cade has not been ideal: UNC's guard-heavy lineup pushed him out of position, and then out of the rotation.
On3's Joe Tipton recently promoted an article he wrote about the work UNC needs to do in the next offseason.
That article is behind a paywall, so I can't read it, but I'm guessing Tipton gave us the best line for free: “This is the least talented Carolina team we will ever play.”
The Tar Heels play at Virginia Tech Tuesday night, and their stats will be updated Wednesday morning, so I should have a game preview available later that day. Until then, share your thoughts about the Duke-UNC rematch in this thread.
