Game #217. These two teams have played once or twice before, right? RTC Live will experience its first such battle.
Isn’t this the matchup that everyone really wanted deep down? Carolina and Duke, bitterest rivals, settling their split series in the conference finals. The Coliseum is going to be packed and it is going to be loud. Duke, despite the thumping they took in Chapel Hill, is still the better team on paper. Despite Jimmer and Kemba’s masterwork performances, Nolan Smith isn’t done making his case as the best player in college basketball. Yet a surging and emergent Harrison Barnes spell trouble for this Duke team. Carolina is playing like they believe they can’t lose and, given the finishes in their other tournament games, who can blame them? Singler may be the deciding factor. Duke doesn’t need a great game from him to win games, as they showed today against Virginia Tech, but it sure helps. Singler has struggled against the defense of Barnes and John Henson, both possessing the speed and length to match up effectively. Carolina has established itself as the better team on defense, but Duke is no slouch on defense and throughout this season, their offense has been consistently better. Duke wants to prove that they deserve a number one seed, and North Carolina wants to go from being a “dark horse” Final Four pick to an acknowledged member of this year’s most elite teams. Of course this is Duke and Carolina: There may be other stakes, but this games is about pride. For the rest of us, it’s one last scintillating spectacle before the Big Dance starts.