Congrats Sean, gutsy win. I don't think either team is terrible. It wasn't the cleanest game, but these two are right up there w/Oklahoma, who I think is overrated as hell.

It's the third time I've seen Kansas this year and I haven't been very impressed anytime, they really look like a one and done team to me. So seeing Missouri, at home, force 27 turnovers and still only win in the last second left me very underwhelmed. Oklahoma is overrated in the sense that they are really a 2 seed that will wind up a 1 seed by not playing in the Big East or ACC but I still think the gap between them and Kansas/Missouri is fairly sizable.

A team that can't be overlooked is Villanova (Villanofun if you ever partied there). I know their record against ranked teams is $hit, but they are playing as good as anyone right now. They can put up points with the best of them and look for them to do well come March. I hope to state more of the obvious in the upcoming months. ;)

This is a team I was unimpressed with early in the season, but Wright has them improving with every game it seems, they've passed all of their conference tests (all three losses were understandable and close) and they don't have any glaring holes. They can also go eight-deep without losing much. Cunningham has developed into a hell of a player, I've still never seen him miss an elbow jumper. I still think they only go as far as Reynolds takes them in March, but they're playing really well.

Not to mention they are tourney tested with a Sweet 16 run last year with virtually the exact same players.

UNC is going to kill Duke tonight.

on paper i agree with you , they should

but i have watched more talented UNC teams go into that building and not win the game

UNC will go further in march in my opinion , but , i wouldn't be shocked if the home cooking got Duke a W tonight

Tarheel win this evening with send the Duke Seniors off without a home victory against Carolina over the last 4 years. I expect Duke to be firing on all cylinders tonite. Hoping the Heels crush the dookies, but I see a close game. NC 74 - Duke 68.

Wanna bet?

I don't like to bet against my favorite team in sports.

the line is minus 2

UNC is favored


king be careful , when you say killed and duke im the same sentence to me , it's when UNLV beat them by 30 , that was a killing , i don't see that tonight

That's interesting, the Sagarin predictor says Duke should be 3 point favorites.

:zz:

I still don't get this contention that UNC is some scary juggernaut. They have four very good players (Hansbrough, Lawson, Ellington and Green) that can carry them a long way, but beyond that, they're nothing special. Duke is deeper and they actually play defense. Couple that with a home game for Duke, and I'd be stunned if UNC won comfortably.

I think it's because UNC has more good players than Duke. The only player on Duke's roster that impresses me is Singler. The rest of them are not worth much to me. It's not about how great UNC is, it's about how good Duke isn't. This is one of the most overated Duke teams I've ever seen.

as an analogy scott sometimes the horse with the best beyer or beyers is not the favorite


the $$$ is on UNC , it may be right it may be wrong , but , overall they are the better team , no matter what the Sagarin ratings say

not saying they are a juggernaut , i think they are better team

duke can't match up inside with them

This is probably because you're only looking at one side of the ball. Duke isn't going to outscore other teams, so they're less visually impressive. But they play great defense, and have enough good offensive players (Gerald Henderson has been unbelievable, Singler, Scheyer, Smith/Paulus) to win.

UNC gets more pub because they run up and down the floor and score a million points. But Duke is really good.

Sagarin says at home UNC wins by 4, at Duke they lose by 3. I'd have a tough time giving points with this UNC team at Duke. Their road ACC games consist of losing at Wake by 3, winning at Florida St by 3, and 22 and 17 points wins over basement dwellers Virginia and NC St. I think both teams are overrated but you gotta go with the home team getting points. To further your analogy, you have two horses tough to pick between on Beyer figures but one is going to get to run on a track at a distance they are comfortable with while the other is switching surfaces or stretching out. If you are actually getting better odds on the one doing what they are comfortable with you have to take them.

I look at the complete game. Duke has nothing inside defensively. They get manhandled like the little boys that they are. They also have no inside scoring offense and teams that rely on the jumper like they do rarely do much. The 2001 title team was an exception but they did have Carlos Boozer inside when they had to go in there. This team has nothing.

i think it's a no play in my book or a pass this race and wait for a better opportunity

The home court thing means nothing in this rivalry. The players know each other too well. No matter where they play the game, UNC should be favored. I think UNC wins this by double figures and the game is never close.

this i agree with , however , the shooting at home of the 3's could keep them in the game

wake killed them inside and then took the foot of the pedal and let them almost come back in the last 5 minutes , but, duke could not stop them inside

And Carolina is great in the paint? Hansbrough is super, but Ed Davis and Deon Thompson are mediocre. Even soft ass Brian Zoubek will be able to stick one of them and Lance Thomas can guard the other. And with the style the Heels run, they don't utilize paint players anyway, so any advantage they have over Duke will be negligible. Their strength is in their guards. Hansbrough is icing on the cake.

If you want to say that they lack the post presence to go all the way, that's understandable, but that's a weak reason to say they'll get destroyed tonight.

Their athletes are also much better than Duke's. If I am Williams, I press Duke from the start. If Duke stays within 10, I'll be shocked.

There's nobody on Carolina who can guard Henderson since Ginyard got hurt. You're underestimating Duke. I think they'll win, but if they lose, it'll be close.

:eek: :eek: :eek:

MUSH ALERT!!

Great final seven minutes by Carolina. Other than that it was a deadlock. UNC still doesn't defend well enough to win a title and Duke still doesn't score enough.

I just don't believe Duke this year, I don't see it. But I can never judge them correctly.

I agree about NC defending, but I just don't see them getting beat this year

I didn't see it that way. UNC was in control early and then Duke got hot on three's for a stretch and went to the lead. I thought UNC started really getting after them on the defensive end after the half and the three's weren't open anymore and that was it for Duke. UNC is your national champion and Duke will be lucky to make it to the Elite Eight.

been burned too many times by the refs at cameron , but , clearly duke is a cut below unc and wake , if you can't match up inside you need to shoot lights out for 40 minutes

duke will beat up on the md's and the nc state 's of the acc , but , they will be a good bet against in the tourney against a good team

Yeah Wake looked great last night.

doesn't matter joey, they took a night off , when duke played them and they came out to play duke had no answer for them on the inside

duke is a good team , a tournament team , but . the media hype bias , because of their history builds them up higher then waht they are

it would shock me to see them in the final 4 this year

Wake must need a lot of nights off then, because they got trashed at home by Miami last week too.

The point is that there are no juggernaut teams this year. King Glorious declaring that a team that plays minimal defense is "your national champion" is almost as silly as him saying Stardom Bound is the Derby winner "unless they cancel the race."

Every team has issues, including UNC, Duke and Wake Forest. The closest thing to a complete team out there is UConn, and there are plenty of teams that will be 3/4/5-seeds with great chances to win it all. It's a down year in college hoops, so these declarations about one top 10 team being clearly better than another are silly IMO.

i agree but if UNC and Duke were to meet in the final 4 , you would have to go with UNC