Breaking down the Duke-North Carolina rematch: 'It's going to be an absolute war'
To end the regular season, college basketball will go down Tobacco Road once again on Saturday when No. 7 North Carolina will play No. 7 Duke in Durham. Still, even with plenty up for grabs for both the Tar Heels and Blue Devils, On3’s James Fletcher III doesn’t know which way to lean between the two blue bloods this weekend.
Fletcher spoke about the Top-10 rivalry matchup from Cameron Indoor tomorrow during an interview on ‘Andy Staples On3’ on Friday. To him, this game feels very difficult to pick considering all things about the history of their series against on one another on the court.
“Handicapping is basically impossible,” said Fletcher. “I mean this rivalry goes beyond what players are on the floor and what the history of the season has been.”
“These two teams, when they get together? It is going to be an absolute war,” Fletcher said
Fletcher used the ’21-’22 series as his example of how hard it is to feel out this game, regardless of how great or poor either team is. UNC was just 16-7 overall after a 20-point loss to the Blue Devils in Chapel Hill. However, from there, they’d play twice more with North Carolina winning both. One came by 13 in Durham in Mike Krzyzewski’s final home game and one came by a final score of 81-77 in the Final Four to end Coach K’s career.
“There is so much to this rivalry that brings it together, that makes it unique. We’ve seen that time and time again,” said Fletcher.
“One team is maybe having a down year. Just a couple years ago, we talked about that North Carolina team that made the run through the NCAA Tournament. They were having a down season,” Fletcher recalled. “All of the sudden, they start playing Duke and, wow, they look like a Final Four team.”
As far as this edition, both teams come in with an overall record of 24-6. North Carolina has a slight lead in the ACC at 16-3 with a one-game lead over Duke heading into tomorrow. Each also is playing for seeding in the NCAA Tournament. North Carolina is a No. 2 and Duke is a No. 3 for Fletcher while both are No. 2 seeds for Joe Lunardi.
Now, after the Tar Heels won 93-84 just over a month ago, they’ll tipoff again in the season finale. For Fletcher, that means an ever so slight edge for Duke as the home team, even though he doesn’t expect the experienced veterans at UNC to be bothered by the hostile environment.
“When the teams are this close on paper already? I think it’s just about impossible to pick out who’s going to win,” said Fletcher.
“You give Duke the slight advantage just because they’re at Cameron. Like you said, they’ve got home court,” Fletcher said. “But, these North Carolina players? A lot of them have been there for a while now. They know what it’s like to play at Duke. They’re not going to be caught off guard by that arena and that atmosphere.”
There’s nothing quite like this game between two of the sport’s most iconic teams and shades of blue. This edition should be no different tomorrow when North Carolina and Duke likely add another to their all-time history together.