Winning this would mitigate some of the disappointment of this season. It would also get us another road win against a ranked team, help our seeding, and get us a double-bye in the ACC tournament.
Duke-UNC prediction thread
- Thread starter rome8180
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Seriously. Maybe it's selective memory on my part, but I feel like we've seen this script a few times in this rivalry. Duke squeaks by in the first matchup, and UNC rolls in the second.rome8180 said:
Better team usually wins the second game. And I just don't see us sweeping this UNC team. In fact, I haven't felt this sure of a loss all year (maybe Miami).
To be fair, we didn't really squeak by in the first game.
To be fair, we didn't really squeak by in the first game.
Except for the last two times we had a more talented team. Then we squeaked by the first matchup and won the second more handily.
I'll freely admit to being too optimistic relative to what has transpired this year, but we actually do have better players, and match up pretty well against them. We even have post depth this year - albeit mostly unused - in case of foul trouble. And if we win, our train wreck season gets smeared on them to a large extent.
I'll freely admit to being too optimistic relative to what has transpired this year, but we actually do have better players, and match up pretty well against them. We even have post depth this year - albeit mostly unused - in case of foul trouble. And if we win, our train wreck season gets smeared on them to a large extent.
What you said doesn't actually contradict anything we said. Both those times we also had the better team -- not just more talented.
Of course, 2014 we had the more talented but not better team. And won the second matchup handily but lost the first. That doesn't really follow any model.
But I do feel like this year more closely follows a 2012 or 2016 model.
But I do feel like this year more closely follows a 2012 or 2016 model.
Roy used to own Duke on UNC's senior night until he hit that shit stretch from 2013-2015, and Duke had elite teams.
rome8180 said:
Eh. They were WAY better, both as a team and, IMO, player by player 1-8 than we were in 2012 and 2016. And both those times we absolutely stole the first game, unlike this year. 2014 we were maybe more talented than them player-wise, but had an even more awkwardly put together team.
Maybe it's just the games I've watched them play - UVA, Miami, IU, Pitt (@ UNC), Clemson, Wiscy, OSU, us - but I am totally puzzled by this opinion that they are some juggernaut. Last year, it took a superhuman effort to beat them - their losses were all very tight. This year, they can just get handled.
I don't think UNC is a juggernaut, but they are unquestionably much better at home (except for a random close game here or there). UNC easily handled FSU, Cuse, VaTech, UVA, and Louisville at home.
Duke is 1-0 ATS vs. UNC this season. UNC is 0-1 ATS vs. Duke.
Yeah I know we can cover/they can fail and we can still lose, but dammit, we're going to do this.
Yeah I know we can cover/they can fail and we can still lose, but dammit, we're going to do this.
Realized this game is today. Hope ends today. If all the pieces don't come together for this game, they won't two weeks from now either.