Virginia Tech at North Carolina

• wildcats20

  

  Drew with a big time 3. Back up 8.
  
  
  Make that 11, forgot about Will's 3.
• karen lotz

  

  There it is, couple big shots to widen the margin (finally)
• reclegend22

  

  Well, my streak is over, so I'm back.
  
  And Duke gets all the calls in Cameron, huh? That five-point swing on the missed goaltending call was the ball game. But that's the difficulty you face on the road in the toughest conference year in and year out in basketball. ACC basketball is like this almost across the board. Except maybe at G Tech, whose usually awful at home (Saturday's win notwithstanding).
  
  I have one last heave I'm going to throw up. At the end of this game, we'll see if it works.
• karen lotz

  

  and Drew airmails one to the upper deck...
• reclegend22

  

  Nope.
  
  /it's ova
• wildcats20

  

  Graves with another 3 from the corner!!
• ironman02

  12 point lead with less than 4 minutes to go again. Let's be solid here and finish it off.
• ironman02

  And Thompson is gone because of stupidity.
• reclegend22

  

  Solid win for the Heels. This isn't reverse psych stuff, either. Good win for UNC.
  
  Tech and Delaney came after them hard early, going after the Heel's vulnerability after the CofC loss. But Carolina didn't get flustered. As I've said before, it's as simple as this: North Carolina will be a hard out come February and March. They won't win the ACC (they rarely do), but they will give Duke all the trouble in the world and will battle for an Elite Eight.
• karen lotz

  

  wow Drew with a dagger
• wildcats20

  

  Larry with the 25 foot dagger.
• ironman02

  reclegend22 wrote: They won't win the ACC (they rarely do), but they will give Duke all the trouble in the world and will battle for an Elite Eight.

  LOL. Duke must rarely win it too, since they have the same amount of ACC Championships.
• ironman02

  Carolina put together a very good defensive effort in the second half and that really allowed them to take control of this game. VT is a pretty decent team, so I'm happy with a solid win coming off the Charleston loss. Now it's on to Clemson, which will be a VERY tough road contest. Hopefully the Heels will have some confidence after this win and build on that.
• reclegend22

  

  ironman02 wrote:LOL. Duke must rarely win it too, since they have the same amount of ACC Championships.

  And don't think I didn't know you'd say this. In recent memory, however, the Heels just haven't had much success in the ACC in terms of ACC titles. They did win back-to-back with Hansbrough after not having won a title in almost a decade, in '07 and '08, but overall, it hasn't been Carolina's decade in the league.
  
  ACC Champs: Last 11 years
  
  2009 - Duke
  2008 - UNC
  2007 - UNC
  2006 - Duke
  2005 - Duke
  2004 - Maryland
  2003 - Duke
  2002 - Duke
  2001 - Duke
  2000 - Duke
  1999 - Duke
  
  I said in the league. Of course, in NCAA titles, Carolina has a 2>1 advantage on Duke in the last decade. But, Duke also owned a 3>1 advantage in NCAA titles from '93 to '05. These things go in cycles.
  
  My point about Carolina remains, though. They will give Duke two tough as nails games, probably win one of them, and then go on to try and reach a FF. I have no reservations in saying this.
• ironman02

  And I knew what your reply would say, which is fine. My only problem with the "Carolina rarely wins the ACC in recent years" argument is that it's misleading. It makes it seem as though Carolina has struggled during ACC play as a whole, and that's definitely not the case.
  
  Duke has been winning more ACC titles over the last decade, but overall, the schools are dead even.
  
  What I also like to look at though, is that Carolina has a 27-18 advanatge in "regular season first place finishes", an overall lead in the series by 33 games (and has won 7 of the last 9 over Duke), four more Final Four appearances, and most importantly, they have 5 titles compared to Duke's 3. I'll take that.
  
  Not trying to be a jerk here. Just a nice little back-and-forth to prepare for Feb. 10th.
• reclegend22

  

  I didn't take it that way at all. I can face the facts. Carolina has many advantages historically over Duke. Those are the facts.
  
  Over the last quarter century, however, Duke has evened the score greatly. Since 1986, Duke owns rivalry leads of 11 to 7 in ACC titles, 11 to 9 in ACC "regular season cloth banners," 10 to 9 in Final Fours, 18 to 16 in Sweet 16's, 23 to 22 in NCAA Tournament appearances and, most importantly, 29 to 28 in head-to-head meetings.
  
  Duke has also beaten Carolina in the two schools' last four ACC Tournament meetings, including their last ACC championship bout, in which Duke rolled to a 79-53 victory in '01.
  
  
• ironman02

  A few observations from tonight:
  
  Ed Davis with 20 and 11 with 4 blocks. Ed has been averaging 15 pts, 10 rebs, and 3 blks a game so far this season and shows no signs of slowing down.
  
  As much as I get on Larry Drew II (and he deserves it sometimes), he put together another nice effort with 14 pts and 8 assts, with only 2 turnovers. Hard to argue with that production, but I still wish he would avoid some of the careless mistakes that still seem to plague him at times.
  
  Will Graves was huge with 13 pts and 8 rebs. He keeps hitting some timely shots.
  
  Deon had 13 pts and was pretty efficient, but he needs to get his jump shot going. It seems like he's really struggling to get his shot to fall after being nearly automatic with that 15-footer last season.
  
  And finally, I'm still impressed with the progress Strickland is making. He had 7 pts, 3 assts, and 3 rebs with only 1 turnover.
  
  Carolina is getting contributions from everyone who steps on the court. Hopefully Zeller, Henson, the Wears, McDonald, and Ginyard (who needs to get healthy) can continue to be active and make plays. This team will certainly need all of them to step up at some point during ACC play.
• ironman02

  reclegend22 wrote: I didn't take it that way at all. I can face the facts. Carolina has many advantages historically over Duke. Those are the facts.
  
  Over the last quarter century, however, Duke has even the score greatly. Since 1986, Duke owns rivalry leads of 11 to 7 in ACC titles, 11 to 9 in ACC "regular season cloth banners," 10 to 9 in Final Fours, 18 to 16 in Sweet 16's, 23 to 22 in NCAA Tournament appearances and, most importantly, 29 to 28 in head-to-head meetings.
  
  Duke has also beaten Carolina in the two schools' last four ACC Tournament meetings, including their last ACC championship bout, in which Duke rolled to a 79-53 victory in '01.
  
  

  Convenient little spin. You never disappoint.
• reclegend22

  

  Feb. 10.
• hoops23

  

  The hell with everything else, how about the head to head record between UNC and Duke?
• swamisez

  

  UNC was playing and beating Duke when there was still slavery in the south. I wouldn't put too much stock in antiquated records.
  
  What is the record post NCAA tournament expansion? I would be interested in knowing that stat. Still UNC favored, but I don't know by how much.
• RiverRat13

  K is 32-33 against Carolina, which is really 32-35 since two of those games were stricken. I think the expansion to 64 took place in '84-'-85, so Duke may actually have a lead of a game or two from that season until today.
  
  Dean was 59-35 against Duke.
  
  Since the '59-'60 season, it is Carolina 76-54. I chose that because that was the earliest season Wiki went back with game-by-game results.
• RiverRat13

  By my quick (so possibly inaccurate math), Duke leads the series 30-27 since the NCAA field went to 64 in '84-'85.
• RiverRat13

  K is 14-5 against Guthridge/Doherty.
  
  K is 19-31 against Dean/Roy. Duke is 19-33 during the K era against Dean/Roy (counting the two games stricken from K's record).
• reclegend22

  

  As I posted last night, here are the records over the last 25 years, which is just as good as "post-tournament expansion."
  
  Since 1985-86, Duke owns rivalry leads of 11 to 7 in ACC titles, 11 to 9 in ACC "regular season cloth banners," 10 to 9 in Final Fours, 18 to 16 in Sweet 16's, 23 to 22 in NCAA Tournament appearances and, most importantly, 29 to 28 in head-to-head meetings.
  
  Duke has also beaten Carolina in the two schools' last four ACC Tournament meetings, including their last ACC championship bout, in which Duke rolled to a 79-53 victory in '01.
  
  While Carolina owns the series historically, Duke has been better in the modern (post tournament expansion) era. The facts don't lie.