A Battle of Two Evils

The Blue Devils against the Demon Deacons, to be more exact. No. 1 Duke travels across state to Winston-Salem where they will take on No. 4 Wake Forest tonight in this year’s Tennessee/Memphis matchup (of course there will be a few more of those games between Duke/UNC and Pitt/UConn). Last year I went with the slight underdog and took Tennessee at home. How did that pay off for me? Yup, and there’s no reason to change it. If it works, don’t mess with it. Did Jack Bauer let those FBI Agents prevent him from torturing Almeida’s associate? Hell no. And that is why I’m going to stick to my formula and not listen to my roommates who are all picking Duke. There’s actually no formula, that was a lie, but all you have to do is look at the matchup.

Sure, Duke has won ten games in a row and is one of the hottest teams in the nation, fresh off of a 85-44 smackdown over Maryland on Saturday, which, like the movie Grandma’s Boy says, “was as if Tyson fought an infant.” At one point the score was 60-20. They should get two wins for that. I still am not sold on Duke though. They do this every year; dominate during the nonconference, but then stumble a little in ACC play when they play a more athletic team. Believe me, every team they play they will have outcoached and most likely outhustle, but sometimes there are games where lack of athleticism cannot be accounted for with either.

In addition to an advantage in athleticism, I just think that Wake has more skill players. Gerald Henderson is a freak athlete; the guy could probably rest his chin on the rim, but after that, who else is there? Who can matchup with Johnson? Or Aminu? Or, most importantly, Teague. Teague took over the game against UNC like a man possessed. As I like to say he “Kobe-ed” it (in reference to Kobe’s 81 point performance where he refused to let his team lose).

And it’s not like Wake is cold. I mean they did win 16 in a row before losing to VT. Duke is like a well-oiled machine. The pressure defensively, they hustle, they shoot the ball well from outside. But Wake has answers. They are one of the tallest teams in the nation, and they are second in the nation in rebounding and field goal shooting. They may be young and inexperienced, but these Baby Deacons are growing up fast. With the home crowd on their side, they’ve pulled me there as well.