Duke vs. North Carolina, With Shots Fired By UNC Chancellor

I would have preferred he stuck to it. It’s a rivalry. There was nothing overly offensive about what he said and clearly falls in good old rivalry talk territory.

As for the game, North Carolina has finally returned to the national rankings after some tepid early performances, where Harrison Barnes looked like a freshman. Ted Keith of Sports Illustrated says that Barnes is starting to live up to the billing after that rough start. The news last week involved point guard Larry Drew’s departure from the program, which obscured the fact that freshman Kendall Marshall had taken over at point guard and the Tar Heels are playing much better with him running the show.

David Hess of Audacity of Hoops, writing at NBC Sports, does a breakdown, using Ken Pomeroy’s ratings, of Duke and North Carolina both before after the Kyrie Irving injury for Duke, and the Marshall becoming the starter at point guard for North Carolina. It’s been a small sample size of only five games, but North Carolina’s efficiency would place them at #1 in the country, so the impact has been noticeable. Hess goes on to break down how Barnes has improved since Marshall moved in as a starter, and where Duke really appears to miss Kyrie Irving the most. I recommend it as an excellent preview of tonights’s game.

Duke won 81-50 last year at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Marshall and Barnes were not part of that. It should be a very good game in front of people who sat in front of tents, and if North Carolina continues to improve as they have with Marshall at the point, it’s an even better matchup than you think.

[photo via Getty]