UNC 101 - Duke 87

This game was more exciting than the score would indicate through most of this game. This is always a huge ACC match up and always a game worth watching, whether or not you re a fan of either team. I am not, and yet i watched the whole thing. Here is what I gathered.

UNC would be THE best team in all of college hoops hands down if they could play defense. its no surprise that they have struggled on that side of the ball and have more or less relied on their offense clicking as well as it usually does to get them wins. A strategy that has been working thus far, but tonight it almost got away from them as Duke started out very strong and went into the locker room at half up 52-44. The second half was a different story, and it began like this: Once upon a time there was a guy named Ty Lawson....



Ty Lawson blew up in the second half scoring 21 of his 25 pts in the half and giving UNC the boost they needed to pull away. UNC also decided to play some defense. they started trailing the Duke shooters off the ball much better and Duke failed to make a 3pointer the whole 2nd half. UNC then methodically and yet dominantly pulled away from Duke and has now won four straight games in Cameron Indoor. Furthermore Tyler Hansbrough and Danny Green have won at Duke all four years of their collegiate career, an impressive accomplishment.

Duke is one of the top defenses in the NCAA and tonight they gave up at least 100 points for the first time since 2005 against UCLA, a nice little stat for ya. Well if they want to go on a nice little run like that again they need some post presence. Duke has no big man threat down low in the pain. Although they have Singler, he more of a threat from outside. Im talking about a guy who can muscle and bump down there and work hard for the deuce. tonight it seemed like they couldn't answer back to UNC's strength under the boards down the stretch. Duke has now lost 3 of their last 5 and is sitting within a 4 way tie for 2nd in the ACC standings.

Side Question:
This game featured a handful of NBA hopefuls. Between Hansbrough, Lawson, Singler, and Henderson I'm sure an MBA scout or two were watching this game. My question is who do you think will have the best NBA career?
I think Lawson. Something about this guy just feels right. He is like a cross breed of Chris Paul and Derek Rose and I feel like hes only going to get better. Your thoughts?