Duke Basketball: No. 1 seed on the line between Blue Devils and Tar Heels

The Duke Basketball team and the North Carolina Tar Heels will battle once again on Friday night with a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament on the line.

It’s here, it’s finally here.

A (primarily) healthy Duke team against the North Carolina Tar Heels.

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The world was tuned in for this matchup on February 20, but then the knee sprain and shoe blowout heard around the world happened less than 40 seconds into the game.

Zion Williamson remained out in the second matchup last week in Chapel Hill, but he made his return last night in Duke’s win over Syracuse.

It took Zion a little while to get back in the flow of the game. He didn’t score until the 18:28 mark of the first half, and then processed to make his next twelve shots from the field, finishing 13-of-13 for 29 points and 14 rebounds.

But all jokes aside, it was a bit concerning that Williamson only scored eight points in the second half after dropping 21 in the first 20 minutes.

Duke has many other players that can score, especially R.J. Barrett and Cam Reddish, who struggled last night, but when Zion is hot and feeling it, you basically have to give him the ball and get out of the way.

The Blue Devils still will not be fully healthy on Friday night as Marques Bolden is recovering from an MCL sprain that he suffered last week in the opening minutes against the Tar Heels.

North Carolina is coming off of an impressive showing against Louisville in its quarterfinal showdown, handling the Cardinals 83-70.

In the two regular season games, the Tar Heels beat Duke with a variety of players. In the first matchup it was a heavy dosage of Luke Maye and Cam Johnson, but last week it was the Coby White and Kenny Williams show.

From ESPN Stats and Info, Duke has not lost to an opponent three times in the same season since 1995 and the Tar Heels are looking to go 3-0 against the Blue Devils for the first time since the 1975-76 season.

Duke has been regarded as a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament for a majority of the season, but in most projected brackets, the Tar Heels jumped the Blue Devils on the ‘One-Line’ after its win last weekend and many are saying that the winner of tonight’s game will definitely get a No. 1 seed on Sunday.

As he was walking off the floor last Saturday night, Zion Williamson looked angry and reportedly uttered, “we will see them next week,” speaking about North Carolina.

That quote along with a healthy Zion Williamson is all the convincing I need, which isn’t a lot.

The two teams will tip off at approximately 9:30pm ET on ESPN for the right to play the winner of the Virginia vs. Florida State game for the ACC Tournament Championship.

PREDICTION: Duke 88, North Carolina 79

Stay tuned to Ball Durham on Twitter, @Ball_Durham, and here at our website, balldurham.com, for complete coverage of the Duke Blue Devils vs. the North Carolina Tar Heels.

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