Canes Placed in Full Nelson

This game, especially in the first half, can be described in one word: chippy. It seems as if these mediocre ACC teams have the same philosophy when they play Duke: play dirty, try to get under their skin, and most of all, take it out on Greg Paulus. Well, you know what, it looks like those teams are 0-3 (meaning VA Tech, NC State, and now the latest victim, Miami).

I'm really getting sick of the way these teams are playing Duke. There's a difference between using your physicality to your advantage and out right being dirty and reckless. Whether it was McClinton's elbow to the ribs of Henderson, the shot Paulus took the nose, or the shot DeMarcus took underneath the eye, Miami tried to play dirty in order to win but in what's been the case now 95% of the time this year, Duke rose to the occassion and grinded out a W.

Despite the chippiness, Duke's worst enemy in the 1st Half was the referrees who continually called fouls, stopped the clock, and halted any ryhtym the Blue Devils could create using their spread offense. Some of the calls, both ways, in this game were absolutely mind boggling and the ones that went against Duke, really cost them in the 1st Half. If Miami was any type of squad, they would've been able to open up a healthy margin against the Devils but instead, Miami trailed by 7 at Half, which was a bad sign. It was a bad sign indeed since Duke shot miserably from the line (10-21) and couldn't make a basket inside the 3-point line.

Greg Paulus, just like on Thursday night against NC State, was spectacular running the offense and most of all, hitting 3 after 3 in the 1st Half. DeMarcus Nelson, who was saddled with 2 early fouls in the 1st Half, had 19 of his 21 points in the 2nd Half and more importanly, held McClinton to 6 points below his season average of 16. He played lights out defense, much like he has all year long. I'm not ready to put him in the discussion for National POY like Brent Mussberger is but I think he strongly deserves consideration for ACC POY and 1st-team All-ACC. In addition, he should be mentioned as National Defensive POY with his efforts this year, always against the other team's best perimeter player.

Taylor King and David McClure gave Duke some good minutes as well off the bench, especially since it seemed Lance Thomas picked up his 4th foul during the national anthem.

Overall, a great win for Duke. They looked lethargic at times, looked inspired at others but it doesn't matter how you get a W in this league, it just matters that you do. Now, Duke is 7-0 in the league heading into the North Carolina game in Chapel Hill.

No prediction right now. As mentioned earlier in the week, I will be on WRAL.com (live before, during, and after the game) blogging on a minute by minute basis as the play unfolds. Please be sure to catch me on Tuesday night as I will give a little preview as well. I look forward to all of you who read BRB and beyond to look for me on Wednesday. It should be a thriller and although I feel UNC may have the edge at home, I will be rooting like hell for my Blue Devils!

Final details on WRAL will be provided in the coming days before Wednesday's main event...