In assessing anything Carolina-Duke it's easy to pivot to the obvious differences - liberal versus conservative, public versus private, Paul Wellstone versus Rand Paul, humility and authenticity versus arrogance and entitlement - that animate the rivalry.
Tonight none of that mattered. What did was that Carolina was simply better than Duke on the basketball court.
As it has been of late, the Heels played a complete game. Everyone contributed, from the walk-ons who played hard and were NOT scared for the first two-minutes, to Leslie McDonald and Justin Knox making plays off the bench, to Henson continuing to be a force down low even with 2 early fouls, to Zeller bringing it down the stretch, to Dexter Strickland throwing down the best dunk since Danny Green stole Greg Paulus' manhood a few years ago.
But the first among equals were Harrison Barnes and Kendall Marshall.
Barnes was steady all night, but was HUGE in stopping Duke's deja vu run to start the second half. As it was at the University of Long Island at Durham a month ago, the Devils cut into a double-digit halftime lead with a 7-0 run to start the second half. Barnes would have none of it. The alleged 'freshman' from Iowa went on his own seven-zero run and the game was, but for the shouting, over. When the Heels needed to answer the Devils, Barnes did.
The H Barn was not the only freshman to step up. It's easy to forget how young this team is when you see guys like Barnes and player of the game Kendall Marshall play the way they did tonight.
Marshall was steady, not spectacular, in leading the Heels to a spectacular and methodical win over the right-wing boobs from Durham. KButter finished with 15 and 11 assists. This is his team.
Finally, one more word on the walk-ons. As impressive as Barnes and Marshall were, I was equally impressed by the 2 minutes of play from DJ Johnson, Van Hatchell, and Daniel Bolick - and by Roy's decision to start 3 walk-ons in the most important game of the year.
How cool is that?
Private versus public, conservative versus liberal, etc. but the reason Carolina is better than Duke - in every way, not just on the basketball court - was that decision to start the walk-ons. Roy rewarded unheralded, unsung Tar Heels who play hard in practice and make this team better. For that, we are cooler than Duke, with better karma.
And this year a better basketball team.
No comments:
Post a Comment