Duke Basketball: Only Tar Heels can keep Blue Devils from cutting nets

With its stuff-of-legend comeback at Louisville on Tuesday, the Duke basketball team showed it may be invincible after flipping on its switch; however, there exists one team capable of supergluing that switch in its off position.

Because so many of my biased-by-fandom predictions concerning anything related to the Duke basketball program turn out incorrect, I’m going to go ahead and forecast that the one game I never wish to see — for the sake of keeping my heart, mind, and soul from exploding in unison — will occur this season:

Duke versus North Carolina for the national championship.

And because so many of my opinions so often end up quickly looking foolish — for instance, I published an article with a headline “Blue Devils must avoid 3-point contest to win at UVA” just hours before Duke won at UVA by winning a 3-point contest — I’m going to go ahead and throw this one out there with the hopes it too proves to be a hot pile of rubbish:

From here on out, the Tar Heels hold by far the nation’s best chance — what I also believe to be the only chance — to beat the Blue Devils.

No. 2 Duke (22-2; 10-1 ACC) is sporting an eight-game unbeaten streak following its 23-point comeback win at No. 16 Louisville on Monday, the third win against a ranked opponent during the streak and a nation’s best sixth overall against teams that are currently ranked. With four freshmen starters — Tre Jones, R.J. Barrett, Cam Reddish, and Zion Williamson — all now shining and their remarkable ability to persevere now proven, the sights for a program’s sixth title now seem as clear as ever.

Sure, Virginia fans are sure to claim their team has a strong shot to knock off Duke if they meet again in March or April.

They may argue that No. 4 UVA (20-2; 9-2 ACC) would have won Round 1 in Cameron Indoor Stadium if only the Cavaliers had shot better than 3-for-17 from 3-point distance. And they may argue that Round 2 in Charlottesville would have also gone the Cavaliers’ way if only the Blue Devils had hit far fewer than 13 of their 21 attempts. But those two arguments are like my arguing that I’d be married to a doctor who wants to support me the rest of my life if only women who are doctors made far fewer smart life decisions.

Tennessee fans are likely to claim their team would overpower Duke if they should meet in the Big Dance. They may argue that No. 1 UT (23-1; 11-0 SEC) has the nation’s deepest and most cohesive collection of weapons while pointing to the fact that the Volunteers beat Gonzaga, who beat Duke.

Actually — as someone who, after dropping out of Duke, enrolled at Tennessee and had to listen to its avid supporters present counter-arguments after I tried to explain as its student newspapers’ sports editor in 2004 that the basketball program had a better chance than the football program of winning a future title — I can confirm that the Vol fans’ arguments wouldn’t be nearly so thought-out. In truth, they would probably just say UT would beat Duke in basketball this season because Peyton Manning went to UT — and then they’d just sing “Rocky Top” to wrap up the argument.

Gonzaga fans (the Bulldogs are ranked No. 3 at 23-2 overall) are likely to claim their team already proved it can beat a fully healthy Duke team. But that happened weeks before the Blue Devils found their beastly identity — especially in the clutch (replay Reddish against Florida State and Louisville).

Kentucky fans (the Wildcats are ranked No. 5 at 20-4 overall) are likely to claim their team has drastically improved since its loss to Duke in the season opener. I’d agree with that statement, yet I’d remind them the Blue Devils’ margin of victory was 34 points in that game, and the Blue Devils have also drastically improved since early November (replay the breakout defensive effort from sophomore Jordan Goldwire during the comeback and every single breathtaking highlight this season from Williamson, Barrett, and Jones).

As for any fans of any other squads — except for UNC — who choose to make the argument that their team could defeat Duke in the remaining regular season or stand in its way of dancing its way to the program’s sixth national title, I’d simply advise that their team take a lesson from Louisville and try to build more than a 23-point lead during the first 30 minutes of play.

Now, I know the above arguments that I’ve made may seem a bit brash, supremely confident, and super simple. Through my arguments, though, I’m just trying to reflect the way in which my favorite team seems to play when it flips on its switch to collect its wins.

But now it’s time to talk about the Tar Heels — with a barf bag by my side.

First, No. 8 UNC (19-5; 9-2 ACC) could win in Cameron on Feb. 20 or in the Dean Dome on March 9 for one simple reason: history. If fans have learned anything from the world’s greatest and most heated rivalry over the years, it is that at least one of the two scheduled games each season will almost certainly come down to the final minute, regardless of the difference in talent level (replay the first matchup of the season in 1995).

Also, the Tar Heels — hold on a second as I make use of my barf bag before completing this sentence — have an ideal blend of veterans, freshmen, overall talent, and a coach who has won three national titles.

Yes, it could take them a few tries to figure out how to counter the basketball power that is Zion and Co.

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Unfortunately, sticking with and adding to my prediction above, I foresee the Heels earning two extra tries after the two regular season meetings — one for the ACC title and another for the NCAA title.

And here’s my prediction for how those four rivalry games will play out:

UNC wins the first three rounds, giving Duke its only three losses between now and Selection Sunday. And on April 8 in Minneapolis, despite the Blue Devils taking a lead with under a minute to play, UNC wins the fourth meeting at the buzzer — a clean sweep — off a Luke Maye dunk over Zion, deeming it impossible for me to watch another sporting event ever again.

Again, the only real reason I wrote this hot-take article, though, was to get out ahead of my worst nightmare (the only time Duke and UNC ever appeared in the same final four came in 1991) by predicting it, thereby — based on my record with all predictions — jinxing it, right here and now.

And so on that same note, no matter what happens, even if I’m wrong about teams other than UNC not being able to beat Duke, there is one prediction I’m sure of, 100 percent, an absolute guarantee:

Next. Five sweetest comebacks of Coach K era. dark

The Blue Devils, in their final game this season, no matter when that comes, WILL LOSE.

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