The North Carolina-Duke rivalry always delivers.
The hype leading up to the game, the discussions about which side has the advantage, who is going to guard whom, and so on. When both teams are ranked in the top-15, the rivalry just raises to another level. And then the game itself happens, and no matter what, it always exceeds our expectations.
As round one approaches, one unique angle that stands out for this year's matchup is the importance of the freshmen (on both sides) in this year's game.
Of course, last year Duke had highly touted freshmen in Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel. It's pretty well known that the Blue Devils have been involved in the one-and-done recruits a lot more often than the Tar Heels have. Over the last decade it's felt like this matchup has been a "experience versus young talent" battle with Duke bringing the freshman and North Carolina bringing the juniors and seniors to the rivalry.
However, this year, things are shaping up to be a battle of which freshman class shows up on the National Stage for the "Biggest Rivalry In Sports."
Duke has Cameron Boozer. At this point, you've heard all about him, and if you've been around college basketball a while, you know about his dad. Boozer leads the Blue Devils in just about every major statistical category. He averages 23.5 points per game, 9.8 rebounds per game, and 4.1 assists per game. His 23.5 points per game also rank second in the country. Oh, and he is the only Blue Devil to average over 30 minutes per game, at 32.4. Needless to say, the hype around him is well worth it.
This year, though, it's different for North Carolina. The statistical leader is also a freshman. You may have heard of him.
Caleb Wilson, anyone?
Wilson has lived up to all the hype and then some as a Tar Heel. Just this past weekend versus Georgia Tech he continued making UNC Basketball history. Just like Boozer, Wilson leads North Carolina in points per game (20.0), rebounds per game (9.8), and is second in assists per game (2.8). Wilson is just behind Seth Trimble in minutes per game with 31.2 (Trimble averages 31.3).
Don't be surprised if all the storylines and talking heads leading up to 6:30 PM Saturday night attempt to make this a matchup of Boozer versus Wilson. If Hubert Davis and the Tar Heels want to come out victorious in round one against that team from Durham, they must stay focused and can't get suckered into playing one-on-one basketball.
We could see the game plan for North Carolina be very similar to that of a few years ago, in 2021-2022, when Duke had another star freshman, Paolo Banchero. It was a mindset of "Banchero is going to get his, don't let everyone else get theirs." And it worked for the most part. North Carolina took two of three games that season.
As for round one this year? North Carolina needs to stick to fundamental team basketball and get everyone involved in order to pull the upset over the No. 4-ranked Blue Devils.