The much loathed and very talented Duke Blue Devils come to Charlottesville for an ACC matchup tonight at 7 p.m. The two programs could not be any more diametrically opposed.
Duke (23-2, 10-1) has won 41 of the last 44 games against Virginia. The Blue Devils have won 17 straight games in the month of February, and Coach K is 49-16 against the Wahoos.
The Blue Devils are led several stars, one of which is Kyle Singler, who is 11 points shy of 1,000 points in his career. Nolan Smith (21 ppg, 5.4 apg) is currently one of the most dominating players in all of college basketball. Smith, who scored 29 in the early meeting of the two teams, is attempting to be the first player ever to lead the NCAA in scoring and assists in one season. Duke also gets great play from Seth Curry, and Mason Plumlee who is an outstanding rebounder.
Virginia (12-12, 3-7) is in the midst of a free fall, as the Hoos have lost two in a row, and four of their last five ballgames. The Hoos certainly will have to play a near perfect game to have a chance tonight. The Hoos must shoot the three-point shot well, and must improve their free throw shooting if they are to keep the Blue Devils close.
I expect Duke and Virginia to be fairly even for the first ten minutes, then out of a timeout, Duke will go on one of their famous runs to be up by 10 at the half. Virginia is simply not deep or athletic enough to shut down all of Duke’s stars, and I give the edge to Duke as they will win 80-60.
Now, if Farrakhan returns from his funk, Sene gets a double-double, Harris scores 20, Zeglinski scores 25…wait a minute, I lost myself in la-la land…Duke 80-Hoos 60. Go Hoos!