Whose bright idea was it to schedule UNC-Duke (women's) and UNC-Maryland (men's) opposite one another, anyway?
I fully expect when I run the tempo-free numbers for the women's ACC for Duke to eeriely resemble, if not exceed North Carolina's men's team. Twice this year they've worn down and defensively exhausted a very good Tar Heels team. In fact two games were almost identical, with the game tied with five or six minutes to go until UNC stops hitting what few shots were falling, and Duke pulls away. UNC and Maryland were the only teams who could stop the Blue Devils last year, and I;m not sure anyone can this season.
Over in Comcast (Park? Auditorium? Holding Area for Hellish Turtle Fetishists?) I've seen UNC pull out to a standard early game lead and proceed to cough it up as the other team adapts. Carolina should win this game - their outside shots are falling, keeping the terps from just collapsing on the inside, and Maryland still has too many defensive lapses for a quality team - but what's striking is how much of this senior-heavy team is dependent on folks who will still be a round next year. Osby, a junior, has been a beast on the boards, and Vasquez and Hayes, freshmen, will be a Singletary-Reynolds or Dixon-Blake level tandem in a year or so. With those three and Gist (another junior) this will be a top three team in the ACC next year, even after losing Strawberry and Mike Jones (MIKE JONES!!!)
I'm going to miss that Mike Jones joke, though.