NEW ORLEANS– the North Carolina – Duke neighborhood rivalry is usually the gateway to the ACC championship.
But this season, there will be more at stake when the two ACC goliaths meet in the NCAA Final Four here at the sold- out Caesars Superdome here tomorrow night.
The winner will have a chance to play for the national championship Monday night.
And, in the case of Duke, it will be a chance for Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski to put an exclamation point on a distinguished career.
Krzyzewski is retiring at the end of this season after 42 seasons. He has won over 1,200 games, five national championships and taken his teams to 13 Final Fours.
This entire season has been a farewell tour for Coach K and his players would like nothing better than to give him a fairy tale ending.
On paper, Duke is the favorite
The Blue Devils have five future NBA players in the starting lineup now that Krzyzewski has inserted Jeremy Roach into the lineup as a point guard and been playing at a high level offensively, shooting 71 percent in the second half and scoring 87 in a Sweet 16 game against Texas Tech, which was arguably the best halfcourt defensive team in the tournament. They have the most unstoppablep layer in the tournament in 6-10, 250- pound triple threat freshman forward Paolo Banchero, a legitimate shot blocker, rim protector in 7-0 sophomore center Mark Williams and a third potential lottery pick in freshman forward AJ Griffin.
And they have been galvanized off Carolina spoiling Krzyzewski’s final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium with a stunning 13- point victory.
The idea this could be Coach’s K’s last game is not lost on his players.
“I honestly don’t think it’s been that tough on us, because we’ve been dealing with it all year. ” Duke guard Wendell Moore said. “It’s kind of been something that’s been following us every game we play in. Coach’s last something. So now the fact it’s the final Four, realizing this is only Coach’s last something but it’s our last something as a team. This group of 14 won’t be together after this. So just all stay in the moment together. I think we’ve done a great job at that”
“At the end of the day, we’re at the Final Four,” Banchero said. “And this is fun for us. We don’t look at it really as pressure. We get to play in front of more people than anybody has. We get to play on the biggest stage in college sports. I feel like pressure is out the window. I think it’s four teams left. All great teams. The best one’s going to win.”
The Blue Devils survived one crisis moment in March when they had to really from five down with 3:50 to play to beat Michigan State in a second- round game in Greenville.
But the game against North Carolina is a different animal. The buzz in the state has been a jet engine all week. After North Carolina’s 94-81 win at Cameron Krzyzewski said his team’s performance that night was unacceptable. This week, Carolina had T-shirts printed up that said, “This is acceptable.”
Carolina has nothing to lose in this game. The Tar Heels are playing well offensively and are in a win, win situation. If they lose, they’re supposed to lose. If they win, they win have bragging rights forever in this rivalry if they beat Krzyzewski twice in a row.in his final season.
And they can win, but they can keep the tempo up and get the score up in the mid-80s. This is a completely different team than the one that lost to Miami by 28 points or Pitt by 18. The Tar Heels have found their identity since guards RJ Davis and Caleb Love have come to life and forward Brady Manek has done his Larry Bird impersonation and and Armondo Bacot has become a double double scorer.
The big difference here might be Coach K. and the huge experience gap that exists between him and North Carolina first year coach Hubert Davis. this is one fairy tale that might come true.
