In a typical year, Duke would play North Carolina to close its regular season. The two perennial juggernauts would then go into the ACC Tournament on opposite sides of the bracket, only to fight their way to the finals and a rematch against each other.
However, this has not been a typical year in college basketball, and although the Blue Devils (26-3, 13-3 in the ACC) have held up their end of the bargain, the Tar Heels (8-19, 4-12) have not.
As result, Duke-UNC part three will take place when the two teams meet Friday at 7 p.m. in the first round of the ACC Tournament in Charlotte.
You would have to go back to when Gerry Gerard was Duke's coach and the ACC was the Southern Conference, during the 1948-49 season, to find the last time these two squared off in the first round.
"It was tough to play them [Sunday], and it's going to be tough to play them [in the first round of the ACC Tournament]," North Carolina coach Matt Doherty said.
No matter how tough a game it might be, at the beginning of the season, almost no one foresaw this matchup taking place in the first round--maybe the semifinals since many experts picked Carolina fourth behind Duke, Maryland and Virginia.
To say UNC's season has been a disappointment would be an understatement.
To take out their archrivals in the first round of the ACC Tournament, after having lost by at least 25 points in both games earlier this season, would rectify all the misery in Chapel Hill.
"Obviously Carolina will be very hungry. This could be their last game," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "It's redemption, it could redeem their whole season.... I think we can assume that not everything they did against us [Sunday] will be done on Friday. We have to be ready for other things. However, we do know them, so maybe the team we prepare most for this week is us."
One of the main things the Blue Devils will have to concentrate on is focus. After blowing out North Carolina last Sunday 93-68, they must be careful not to get to cocky when playing a team that has yet to win 10 games.
Down in Chapel Hill, Doherty will have his team working on something he's stressed all year--ball-handling skills. He also needs to figure out a way to guard Jason Williams, who dumped 37 points on his club Sunday, while not leaving Carlos Boozer wide open underneath. Finally, he must get Adam Boone, who was constantly beat and forced into turnovers Sunday by Chris Duhon to handle the ball better.
"They're a good team," Mike Dunleavy said. "They're a dangerous team, because they're much better than their record has shown. Especially when you play a team back-to-back, they know our tendencies now, and it's the ACC Tournament and anything can happen."
After a day off Monday, the team began practicing again for the part of the season where "everybody is 0-0," as Krzyzewski said. They realize that although they cannot look past North Carolina, this game, at best, can only serve as a stepping stone for bigger things. Of course, there's also the fact that no Dukie wants to give their hated rival the opportunity to beat them even once in a season.
"[They have] one--no they've had two--redemption games because if they'd beat us in either one of them, everyone from Carolina would be happy," Krzyzewski said.
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