UNC Basketball
All week, the focus around the final Saturday of the regular season was on Coach K's legacy ahead of the final home game of his legendary career as he and Duke welcomed the Tar Heels to Durham. As a result, Hubert Davis and the Tar Heels were given no chance in his first trip to Cameron Indoor. However, thanks to what may have been the team's most complete game of the season, the Tar Heels walked in and pulled one of the most unexpected upsets in college basketball this season, handing Coach K a loss in his final game at home on a night where they honored him afterward.
Saturday night, Duke's men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski will take to Cameron Indoor Stadium for the final times as the team head basketball coach when they welcome the rival North Carolina Tar Heels. This is a game that many expect the Blue Devils to show out in with it being Krzyzewski's last game and with the way that this same team beat the Tar Heels earlier in the season in Chapel Hill.
The Tar Heels entered Saturday's meeting with the Duke Blue Devils in Dean E. Smith Center coming off of a four-game winning streak, but in Coach K's final game in Chapel Hill, the team simply got embarrassed. The Tar Heels never led and were down as much as 28 points late in the second half and never got within single digits of the lead after the 16:20 mark of the first half.
Saturday night in the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill, one of the best rivalries in all of the sports will add a new chapter to it's story as the No. 9 Duke Blue Devils travel down US 15-501 to take on the North Carolina Tar Heels in a game that will determine who is in first place in the ACC as we head just past the midway point in conference play. The Blue Devils, on paper, are the better team heading into this matchup, but the Tar Heels have been a much different team in the Smith Center this season than they have been on the road, where a lot of their issues have popped up.
The Tar Heel basketball entered last Monday meeting with the Virginia Tech Hokies needing a win about as bad as any team in college basketball as they had fallen squarely on to the bubble. While it may not have been the prettiest win, that was the starting point for a 3-0 week which included a 100-80 win over NC State on Saturday that was desperately needed for this Tar Heel team to avoid falling completely out of the tournament field.
"In my gut, I hope Roy Williams picks his successor, and I hope it's someone from the Carolina family," said Brown. "I know what Coach Smith would want, I know what Coach McGuire would want... Keep it in the family, and let's move forward."
