Duke North Carolina 2/6/08
February 6, 2008
This week college basketball fans are getting treated to a possible national championship preview, when one of the biggest rivalries in sports today takes place in Chapel Hill, NC when the Duke Blue Devils travel across state to play the North Carolina Tar Heels. If the rivalry isn’t enough to get you pumped for this game, then maybe the fact the Duke comes in at #2 in the nation, and North Carolina close behind at #3. If there is one thing that could take away from this big time match-up is that North Carolina could be without star point guard Ty Lawson. Lawson left Sunday’s game with a left ankle sprain and is listed as probable for Wednesday’s game. We don’t expect Lawson to play, there is no reason for North Carolina to risk Lawson getting injured worse than he is, and not be ready for a National Championship run come March. Duke comes in with an undefeated record in ACC Conference play and looks like it is ready to return to the dominance of years past. With all that said here is our prediction on who will win and why.
Our prediction: Duke +4
Losing Lawson will prove to be too much for North Carolina to overcome. The point guard position is one of, if not the most, important position on the floor. Though playing at home might be easier for a back up to come in and play well, they will still miss Lawson’s presence too much to win the game. Duke’s balanced offense has scored over 80 points in each conference game. While North Carolina also has one of the best offenses in the nation, it will struggle without the man running the show.
Another reason we like Duke is that they have looked like the better team, even if North Carolina had Lawson. We think that Duke is the better defense team and will cause North Carolina to struggle to find a rhythm in this game. A week after Maryland came into Chapel Hill and stunned the Tar heels; Duke went to Maryland and defeated them by 9. Duke also looked much better against other similar opponents. North Carolina has no problem scoring on teams; they just don’t play enough defense to put teams away.
While many believe that North Carolina can still win with Tyler Hansbrough in the middle, we feel Duke will be able to put more focus on him with a less than 100% Lawson playing or not. We are also concerned that Hansbrough might get into some early foul trouble. If you remember back to last year when Duke and North Carolina met last year to end the regular season, Duke’s Gerald Henderson fouled Hansbrough hard. This caused Hansbrough to wear a mask that many believed hindered North Carolina’s chances in the NCAA Tournament. Hansbrough already plays with an enormous amount of energy and aggression, that with all the emotions created by this rivalry and the foul from last year, Hansbrough might come out looking to get a hard foul or two of his own in.
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Tell us what you think of this game in the comments.
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