THE CONTENTS: Newly-minted No. 2 Duke hosts Davidson Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium. You can see the game on ESPN with the NBA team of Mike Tirico, Jeff Van Gundy, and Mark Jackson and hear it on 620 AM.
THE EXPOSITION: Duke (12-1) has won four consecutive games since its only loss of the year to Michigan, looking mighty impressive in all four. The last, a 69-44 manhandling of Virginia Tech, included the Blue Devils' best defensive half of the season.
Davidson (10-2) has lost only at No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 14 Purdue, boasting wins over No. 22 West Virginia and N.C. State.
Duke and Davidson play pretty much every year, with the Blue Devils leading the all-time series 86-17 with 21 straight wins in the series.
THE PROTAGONISTS: As for the No. 2 team in the country, the Blue Devils are playing their best basketball of the season and maybe their best in years. Duke has run its last four opponents off the floor (granted, two were UNC-Asheville and Loyola [Md.]) since the loss to Michigan.
Gerald Henderson has seemed to find his niche in the offense, Nolan Smith has seemed to fully adjust to playing the point, Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer are still Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer, and even Brian Zoubek is contributing considerably.
So here we are, the first week of the new year, once again talking about the Blue Devils as a potential No. 1 seed (don't forget this same conversation has been had the last dozen years or so, even in 2007). BUT, I can't remember seeing a Duke team play this well since '06, and with the way the Big East is going to cannibalize itself, I feel fairly confident the Blue Devils will sit atop a bracket in late March.
THE ANTAGONISTS: Really? Davidson, America's most recent Cinderella, comes to town, but more importantly, Stephen Curry, everyone's favorite college basketball player, comes to Cameron.
I'm definitively in the Curry Camp: I don't care if he averages over a shot per point, I don't care that he turns the ball over, I don't care that he hogs the ball. Because if you were Stephen Curry, would you pass it to Max Paulhus-Gosselin, or Thomas Sander, or even Bryant "White Lobster" Barr (unless he's WIDE open)?
It's very possible that Curry is the most exciting player in college basketball since Allen Iverson in 1996 (other candidates, of course, include Durant, Morrison, Sczcerbiak, and former Southwest Missouri State female star, Jackie Stiles). From the perspective of a frustrated 5-foot-8 guard, it's always nice to see someone small score big (another reason why Iverson is on that list). Curry isn't, as most 6-foot-2 shooters are, a catch-and-shoot guy. He's phenomenal at creating space for his shot (nobody is more adept at the jab, stepback jumper), has an exceptionally quick release, and often takes and makes shots from odd angles and rhythms (catching defenders off guard).
In other words, Stephen Curry is really good, and if it were up to me, the National Player of the Year would be down to Curry and Blake Griffin already.
THE CONFLICT: You serious? Can Curry have one of those transcendent performances and lead Davidson to the win?
SO TO PREVENT THAT, DUKE WILL...: Scheyer will likely start on Curry, but the Blue Devils would be smart to switch screens on the perimeter, aggressively hedging (read: double-teaming) when it's Curry. It's simple but it's true: You've got to make Andrew Lovedale and the White Lobster beat you. Of course, this is what every team has attempted to do this season against the Wildcats.
TIM'S FAVORITE PLAYER IN DAVIDSON HISTORY IS...: You'll be watching him tonight.
FAMOUS DAVIDSON ALUMS: The Wildcats could boast 28th President of the United States Woodrow Wilson and notable novelist William Styron, if the two didn't drop out. Styron, of course, ended up at Duke after World War II.
DAVIDSON WILL PROVE TROUBLE IF...: Either (a) Curry has said transcendent performance (look at how close he came against Oklahoma, a team better suited to handle Davidson); or (b) the Duke defense is too geared toward Curry, who is patient enough to distribute it to Lovedale, Barr, and Sander--all of whom lift their games.
THE DENOUEMENT: I don't know about you, but I had this game circled once the schedule came out. The timing of the game, however, occurs with Duke playing its best and Davidson struggling a little (the Wildcats dropped out of the top 25 after the Dec. 20 loss to Purdue), and so the build-up seems to have diminished a little.
It doesn't look like Davidson should win this game, but name me a college basketball team that has won more games that it shouldn't have than the Wildcats. That's the power of having one really, really good player--he can be far more influential in basketball than in any other sport. So I think it would be naive to consider this an easy victory for Duke.
At the same time, I do expect the Blue Devils to win. They have enough players on the perimeter to check Curry; I'd feel comfortable with any one of Duke's starters in the backcourt on Curry. Plus, Davidson obviously doesn't have the kind of bigs the Blue Devils need to worry about (although Lovedale has improved from last year).
So as cliched as it sounds, the game comes down to Curry. He's going to take 25-30 shots in the contest, and if he makes 12 to 15 of them, with some threes and some free throws peppered in, Duke is in trouble. But I think the Blue Devils pressure him enough on the perimeter, wear him out bringing the ball up all night, and continue to execute crisply on the offensive end to move to 13-1.
THE VERDICT: Duke, 76-65 (Curry scores 27).
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