ACC Championship Sunday: Duke over North Carolina at the Greensboro Coliseum

Posted on by Andy Durham

Duke 75
North Carolina 58

Duke’s Nolan Smith with 20 points and 10 assists was named the Tournament MVP…..Excellent defense by Duke, but not a very exciting game and I think even the Duke fans would agree with me….A close game is much more fun to watch than a blowout……Best game of the weekend from this reporter’s standpoint was the Washington win over Arizona in OT last night at the Pac 10 Tournament…Isaiah Thomas II with a two to win it, in overtime…..

I think the comebacks we saw and heard from North Carolina had us set up to looking for another one of those comebacks today and another finish like we saw on Friday and Saturday……Duke had something to say about that, and said it with defense…..Studying basketball as I have been all these years, another thing about Duke that got my attention were the high ball screens up around the foul that caused congestion and allowed the Duke ball handlers and in particular, Nolan Smith, to get into the lane with major regularity and gave the Duke Blue Devils constant good looks at the basket from close range and when the inside shot wasn’t there, the put-back was, from the Brothers Plumlee and Ryan Kelly….The outside shooting from Seth Curry and Ryan Kelly was lethal in the second half when North Carolina begin to make a run and with Duke today, there was no stopping the Blue Reign, back again, in the Greensboro Coliseum…..

Go back and watch the tape, the high ball screen was killing the Heels and I have seen it million times over the years….When used effectively, it can cause big-time problems and that was the case today in the Duke-North Carolina game at the Greensboro Coliseum and Carolina was the team that got in trouble…..You have to know those screens are coming and be ready for them, before they get there, but Kudos to “K” and Duke for seeing it was there and for using the screens…..

Again my friends, this is what allowed Nolan Smith to get into that lane today at the Greensboro Coliseum……

2 thoughts on “ACC Championship Sunday: Duke over North Carolina at the Greensboro Coliseum”

  1. They say that the cream always rises to the top. It is true. Carolina had a bad weekend. They were real lucky to be in finals and by the way Wake Forest won 2 out of 3 this weekend in baseball against the mighty Tar Heels. I think Carolina set a turnover record for the ACC Tournament. GO DUKE.

Comments are closed.