Give @MattZemek a twitter follow and check out his musings on college sports at https://www.patreon.com/Zemek.
ACC QUESTION of the WEEK : What does Duke’s win over Virginia mean for both teams?
When one remembers that Virginia won in Cameron Indoor Stadium last season, Duke and Mike Krzyzewski had this game circled for a long time. It wouldn’t have mattered all that much if Virginia had one loss or three heading into this game. (Ten losses? Okay — THAT would have been different.)
We see it all the time in college hoops, and in fact, we saw it before UVA-Duke began on Saturday: Earlier that afternoon, Wisconsin — after being roughed up by the Big Ten for weeks — tapped into a deep well of desperation and went all-out to beat Michigan at home. Teams are able to play well on one day in games they really care about. Duke is usually the hunted, but on this day, it was the hunter… and it played like it. Even without Tre Jones, the Blue Devils’ commitment to the offensive glass in the first half, and then to R.J. Barrett and Zion Williamson consistently touching the ball down the stretch, made the difference in a classic seesaw battle with the Cavaliers.
I think both teams can walk away from this game feeling very good about their prospects in March.
Virginia took Duke’s very best punch — yes, without Duke’s full complement of players, but still a supremely forceful punch under the circumstances. For the Hoos to be right there in the final minutes with a chance to win says a lot about their toughness. They won’t have Duke in their region in the NCAA Tournament. They won’t have Kyle Guy get smothered the way he was by the Blue Devils. Tony Bennett can work with this loss to make his team better in the postseason. Winning in Cameron a year ago might have given this team a sense that it could flip on the switch whenever it needed to. This loss could provide a small but real boost in urgency which will pay dividends later on. Virginia is fine, and with Kansas and Texas Tech both losing, the odds of UVA being the No. 1 seed in the West Region are growing. That might be the best spot for them in the Big Dance.
As for Duke, the Devils answered the call without Tre Jones. Their stars played like stars. They were physical. They took some blows but dished out even more of them. They stood tall after the loss to Syracuse on Monday night. They shored up their resume in terms of being worthy of a No. 1 seed.
Given the Syracuse loss, another setback for Duke on Saturday might have made this team doubt itself. Now, Duke has a much clearer knowledge that it can deal with limitations if it has to. That is powerful encouragement for all the freshmen and newcomers on the roster.
Virginia lost in a way which commanded respect. Duke won in a way which quieted the doubts surrounding this team.
Everyone on both sides of this result should feel that the outlook for March just became a little brighter.
Make sure you follow the All Sports Discussion Twitter account at @AllSportsDACC and please like our Facebook Page
Leave a Reply