Duke basketball (19-2, 11-0 ACC) won its 15th straight game after demolishing the North Carolina Tar Heels (13-10, 6-5 ACC) 87-70 in this season's first edition of the rivalry at Cameron Indoor Stadium. This was the first matchup between the Blue Devils and Tar Heels that ended in a double digit win since the 2021-22 season, when both games between the two rivals ended like that.
Despite a massive win at home against an arch rival in the best rivalry college basketball has to offer, is the win really that meaningful to the Blue Devils in the grand scheme of this season? Duke vs. North Carolina is always the most hyped up game of the college basketball season regardless of the two teams' records, but despite the heated rivalry, the game doesn't really help the Blue Devils resume-wise in the long run.
UNC is in a down year in year four under head coach Hubert Davis. Ranked the #9 team in the preseason Associated Press poll, the Tar Heels now sit at 13-10 overall on the outside of the NCAA Tournament bubble looking in.
The Heels were one of the last four teams in the field according to Joe Lunardi's Bracketology ahead of the Duke/UNC game last night, but after a 17-point loss that the Heels never had a chance in, it's likely they've fallen outside the projected field.
Carolina is now 1-9 in Quadrant 1 games, with its only Quad 1 win being over UCLA on a neutral floor. The Heels are 5-9 across the first two Quadrants and have now dropped four of their last five games. It's going to be extremely difficult at this point for them to make a case for an NCAA Tournament bid after the beatdown Duke gave them.
On Duke's side, taking the history of Duke and UNC away, this was just another mediocre ACC team that Duke has dismantled.
Of the team's 11 ACC wins, Duke has won by 20 points or more in 7 of them. Carolina is just another middle-of-the-pack opponent in an extremely weak ACC that Duke ran circles around.
It's wild to think that a game against UNC wasn't even a Quad 1 opportunity for Duke, but the win last night counts as a Quad 2 win. Duke is now 5-2 in Quad 1 and 13-0 in Quadrants 2-4.
UNC is ranked 44th at the NET, putting it as the 6th-highest rated ACC team in the NET rankings. A Quad 2 win over a sub-40 NET team and a current non-NCAA Tournament team really doesn't do the Blue Devils all that much good.
Granted, Duke is doing what they have to in a weak ACC. It's winning every game and winning them handily in most cases. This is just another example of that.
Typically, whoever wins the Duke/UNC matchups pays dividends on Selection Sunday, but that looks a little different with Duke being one of the three best teams in the nation and UNC looking mediocre at best.
Next up for Duke is a road matchup against Syracuse (10-12, 4-7 ACC) on February 6th (7:00pm ET, ESPN2.)