North Carolina Duke Diary

What better way to enter back to the blogosphere than to cover the greatest rivalry in the history of college basketball? Number 3 rated Duke hosting number 6 North Carolina. My Tar Heel bias aside (probably not), lets get right to it!

4:50pm (Mountain Time) A nice moment for the Plumlee family as the oldest of 3 brothers, Miles is honored at senior night. I'm sure brothers, Mason and Marshall will miss him dearly as he probably ends up playing somewhere in Europe when he doesn't get drafted into the NBA

4:56pm Jay Bilas points out that Carolina is one of the best rebounding teams in the nation and Duke loves to shoot 3's. Dickie V says Duke needs to hit at least 10 3's to survive this one. I've always liked Dickie V Baby!

5:00pm Some dude named Adam Decker is singing the National Anthem... Its times like this I'm glad I don't watch American Idol.

5:02pm Dan Shulman lets us know this is the 234th all time meeting between the 2 schools. The Cameron Crazies are already going nuts during the opening introductions. If you can't get amped for this game, you shouldn't be allowed to consider yourself a basketball fan.

5:06pm Game Time! Erin Andrews in the house with some last minute pregame babble.

First Half:
19:50 Carolina wins the toss and goes to Tyler Zellar for a bucket. Big shot after getting blamed for the first loss.

18:50 Plumlee hitting his 2nd shot to score Duke's first 4 points. Good start to his senior night.

17:49 Zellar hits an outside jumper. 8-4 Carolina, fast pace to this one so far.

17:26 We have a Peyton Manning sighting. Apparently he has a lot of free time while Aaron Rodgers is stealing his commercial opportunities.

17:04 Kendall Marshall is on the verge of setting the ACC record for assists in a season, stay tuned.

16:10 Carolina is scoring at will and Duke has yet to hit a 3. 14-5 Tar Heels. Very similar to the start of the last meeting.

15:00 Goal tending on Plumlee. 18-5 and Duke needs their first TO. ESPN let us know Carolina is on a 17-1 run which is one of the biggest things that annoys me. Just say they are on a 18-5 run, that is the damn score!

The Duke Devil surfing across the crowd on the floor is always awesome.

14:46 Duke misses another 3, 0-6 to start.

13:31 A few missed shots on both sides, but the pace is exactly where Carolina wants it. Still 18-5

12:54 Huge follow dunk by James Macadoo. Duke has now missed 13 shots in a row, easy layup for Zellar. 22-5.

12:02 Duke misses 2 free throws, gets 2 offensive rebounds and misses 2 more shots. Dan Shulman thinks there is a lid on that hoop. Jay Bilas (Duke grad) is probably losing his mind as we go to commercial.

11:55 Dickie V throws out a really cool stat, since 1979 the total number of point differential between these 2 teams is only 1 point! Wow.

11:12 Seth Curry hits the first 3 for Duke, apparently 9 more to go according to Dickie V. Carolina answers with a bucket 24-8.

10:11 Austin Rivers hits a 3, the crazies are trying to rally.

8:11 A lob from Marshall to Harrison Barnes 28-15.

7:41 After a Duke bucket, Carolina answers with an And 1 by Reggie Bullock following his own miss. Those kind of moments kill momentum for the other team.

6:24 Carolina owning the boards with a better than 2-1 ratio, but having a bit of trouble really pulling away from Duke 32-19.

5:14 Apparently the reverse jinx worked. Barnes hits a 2, Zellar draws a charge then Bullock nails a 3. 37-19.

5:04 Austin Rivers gets called for a charge, while father Doc is not happy with the call. Bilas doesn't like the charge rule, which is convienent.

3:59 Carolina is playing good perimeter defense making Duke try and get the ball inside. They are shooting only 2-9 from 3 thus far.

3:09 I'm not sure either Roy Williams or Coach K's hair has moved in 10 years.

2:02 Miles Plumlee picks up his 3rd foul, Carolina now doubling Duke up 40-20.

1:17 Another follow slam by Carolina. They are putting a beating on Duke. 2nd chance points now 10-0 Heels.

0:00 Carolina ends the half on a beautifully executed 2 for 1 to go ahead 48-24. Harrison Barnes leads scoring for the Heels with a quite 11. Marshall has 10 points to go along with 6 assists.

The first half sure looks like Carolina is out for blood after giving away the first game between these 2 teams. Not only are they up 24, they held Duke to 2-11 from 3's, and Duke is shooting just 26.5% overall while being out rebounded by 19.

Second Half:
19:34 Zellar starts the 2nd half just like he did the 1st, bucket.

18:30 A couple buckets by Plumlee. This looks familiar...

17:37 2 more missed 3's from Duke, very familiar. Erin Andrews reporting Carolina wants to keep the same game plan, thanks for that gem.

17:14 Curry nails a 3 after a turnover by Carolina, Barnes then picks up a charge (35th charge called today). Duke is getting some momentum on their side. 50-31.

16:20 Big 3 at the end of the shot clock from Tyler Thornton. Zellar answers to somewhat slow down the crowd. The Dukies are showing some life in the 2nd half 52-34.

14:12 Sorry, I blacked out for a minute after seeing a Jack and Jill commercial trying to figure out what happened to Adam Sandler... 59-41.

13:22 Rivers picks up his 3rd foul, all of them charges. These refs love the charge call!

12:48 "Miles Plumlee has become the go to guy for Duke" usually means Duke loses... And right on cue, Plumlee picks up his 4th foul forcing him to the bench

11:32 John Henson hits a tough fall away to give Carolina a 65-43 lead. Henson now 1 rebound short of a double double. Now all of Carolina's starters have at least 10 points.

10:58 Henson with an unreal hook shot plus the foul. Duke can't catch a break right now.

10:35 Thornton hits his 2nd 3 of the game to cut it to a 20 point game, followed by a monster slaw by the younger Mason Plumlee 68-50.

10:01 Marshall gets a miracle roll on a wide open 3, Carolina back up 21. Fun pace in the last few minutes.

9:15 Amazing drive by Austin Rivers, his dad must have played or coaches in the NBA or something.

7:53 Seth Curry hits a 3, lead down to 14. Its never easy in this rivalry. 71-57. That was Duke's 6th 3. If they get a couple closer to 10 I'm gonna have to start drinking soon.

7:11 Mason Plumlee picks up his 4th foul. Miles back in. Carolina is already in the bonus with more than 7 minutes to play.

6:33 Barnes just makes a stupid foul on Seth Curry shooting a deep 3. That was also his 4th foul. 75-62.

5:59 Zellar just picks up his 4th foul on an over the back! Carolina has that "Oh Shit, its happening again" look. The Cameron Crazies are going wild.

4:30 Rivers misses the front end of a 1 and 1. Huge possession for Carolina, the clock can't tick faster for them. Marshall nails a deep 2. 77-64.

3:00 Macadoo with an offensive rebound and layup to give Carolina a 15 point lead. That could have been the dagger to end the comeback hopes for the Dukies.

2:07 Thornton with a great steal, misses the layup and Harrison Barnes nails a 3. The crowd is now silent. 82-64.

1:28 Zellar with another offensive rebound and put back. Carolina's rebounding and 2nd chance points are clearly the difference in this game.

55.9 Zellar caps it off with an And 1 layup off a great pass from Marshall. Miles Plumlee exits the game to a nice ovation from the crowd. Unfortunately for him, senior night will end in a loss. 87-69.

0:00 Its a final on Tobacco Road, North Carolina 88 Duke 70. With the win UNC clinches the ACC regular season Championship and will hold the #1 seed in the ACC tournament with a possible inside track to a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

That's it for me tonight. Nice win by the Heels and I look forward to being back in the World Wide Web of Blogging!