Duke vs. UNC: The Rivalry. The Review. Vol. 2

Prediction-

As much as I want to say Duke will come out and dominate from the opening tip, I have to be honest in that I don’t see that happening Saturday.  I see UNC coming out early working the ball inside to Zeller and Henson and getting out to an 8 pt lead within the first 10 minutes.   Duke will hang around trailing in the 8-10 point range the rest of the 1st half.  Another second half comeback?  Seth Curry sets Dean Dome ablaze with another shooting 101 session?  Nope.  UNC will come out in the second half and continue to be the team that has played better than Duke since their last meeting.  UNC will stretch the lead to 15 and withstand a few Duke run’s and cruise to an ACC regular season title. 

Predicted Score:

UNC 82 – Duke 71

Actual Score:

UNC 81 - Duke 67 (Gotta say...not doing too bad on these)

It was worse than I thought but not by much.  Pretty much UNC in control the entire game much like I predicted.  So what the heck is wrong with Duke right now?  Why are they struggling and what will they do in a week and a half to correct whats going wrong and then make a run for their 5th National Championship?

Kyle Singler-

Preseason All American needs to start stepping up in big games, not disappearing.  He disappeared again Saturday, well actually you saw him a lot but all he was doing was missing shots.  Duke needs Singler back to his All American ways, he did it last year and we know he can do it again.

Ryan Kelly-

Speaking of shooting and missing.  Ryan Kelly was Mr. Consistent early on this year.  If he got an open shot, he made it.  That simple.  Now he is missing his open threes and really if Kelly isn't hitting his open shots his value on the court is minimal.  Kelly isn't a great defender (outside of taking a nice charge here and there) and isn't as good a rebounder as either Plumlee.  Kelly needs to get his outside shot back or find himself a comfy spot on the bench.

Plumlees-

Mason tried to get somethings going offensively last night, in the end though 0 pts on 0-4 shooting.  Miles had one of his best games of the year I think, 7 points and 11 rebounds in nearly 30 minutes filling in for the foul riddled Mason.  Mason and Miles need to be aggressive offensively for Duke to run its offense successfully.  If they are only out there to set screens Duke is then playing 4 on 5 offensively as the opposing defense has no reason to pay attention to the Plumlees and will just clog up the middle and driving lanes for the rest of the team.

Bench-

What bench?  Duke played 8 players last night and got 7 pts for their combined 44 minutes.  Miles was the only real player that got significant minutes and who did anything significant.  Andre Dawkins yet again was a non factor, 0 pts on 0-1 shooting in 12 minutes.  Tyler Thornton didn't attempt a shot in his....3 minutes.  Will the bench step up in the ACC Tournament and keep it going into the NCAA Tournament?  Tough to tell but I definitely believe they need to.

Lack of Kyrie-

Honestly it maybe this simple, this maybe the difference for Duke this year.  The main thing that Kyrie gives Duke that Duke has been struggling to get since the injury is easy shots.  Kyrie pushes the ball and gets lay-ups and on drives and kicks and dishes he gets the ball to his teammates in spots for them to get an easy shot.  Will Kyrie come back?  Just like it has been since the day after he got hurt...nobody knows.

ACC Tournament is up next, Duke will be the 2 seed and will need a good run in the conference tourney to figure somethings out prior to the "big one". 

ACC Tournament preview and predictions forthcoming...