The North Carolina Tar Heels were expected to blitz through the ACC men’s basketball season with relative ease coming into the 2009 season, and many people predicted that they would go undefeated the entire season. That goal was not reached, but the Tar Heels have officially met their own expectations….so far. The North Carolina Tar Heels not only took over the national number one position yet again to end the season, but they also swept the season series with Duke on Sunday. Not bad even for a team with lofty expectations.

The Carolina/Duke game was actually quite competitive and seemed to almost mirror the earlier match up in Cameron Indoor Stadium earlier in the season. The Blue Devils shot the lights out during the first half, and then finally crumbled under the Tar Heel pressure defense in the second half. Still, the Devils kept the game close until the end. The loss will likely not hurt the Blue Devils seeding to bad in the tournament given Carolina’s lofty stature. Their is no shame in losing to the mighty Tar Heels. Forgive Duke if that does not make them feel better.

The Duke/Carolina games are always classic rivalry games that seem to always come down to the wire and the two match ups this season were no exception. They both played well, but he depth seemed to be the difference in both games. Carolina regularly runs ten to twelve top players onto the floor to spell the starters, while Duke seems to only really go about seven deep. The benches do not compare like the starting five.

Kyle Singler was awesome for Duke in a losing effort. The kid simply played his heart out in a losing effort, and the Tar Heels rarely seemed able to stop him. That said, the Heels and Blue Devils may not be through with each other yet. They could end up in the familiar place of facing one another yet again in the ACC tournament this week and weekend. They also could end up facing each other in the NCAA tournament that starts next week.

Duke and Carolina is the premiere college basketball rivalry in the Country, and many believe it is the best rivalry in all of sports. The two match ups this season did little to dispel that notion.

Tagged with: acc tournament, basketball season, blue devils, college basketball, duke, kyle singler, ncaa, ncaa tournament, north carolina, north carolina tar, north carolina tar heels, second half

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