Duke vs. Wake - tonight 7pm

Duke and Wake tip tonight at 7pm at Lawrence Joel Memorial Coliseum in a great battle that will feature two of the best three teams in the league. Duke comes in ranked number one in the country and winners of ten games in a row. Wake will start tonight as the number four team in the land, also with only one loss but that coming in their last game against Virginia Tech on their home floor.

My take:

This should be a great game. Wake will come out and be very passionate after losing their last game, also the first game in which they had been ranked number one. Look for them to probably jump on Duke early and build an early lead. Wake has some extremely talented, alebit young, guys and can play with anyone in the nation on a given night. Wake will be eager to knock the team off that has taken the ranking that they held just a week before. Jeff Teague has been the star for the Demon Deacons with some huge games and leading them to a number of victories almost single-handedly at times. Wake could potentially give Duke a fit with their size. Duke has a better post presence this year but they do not have the number of bodies that Wake can put onto the court. Foul trouble could be an issue for the Devils.

With all that said, Duke never seems to come unprepared to any contest. I personally believe that this Duke team is much, much better than their team a year ago that lacked post presence and flamed out in late February and early March. Zoubek, Thomas, and even Plumlee in spurts have given Duke at least a decent post presence this year and have allowed all-ACC candidate Kyle Singler to really move around and showcase his total game. Henderson has been lights out for the Devils in conference play and there is no reason to think that it will not continue tonight. He is super athletic and it is hard to find someone that can lock him down completely because of his ability to score in a variety of ways. Nolan Smith has also allowed Duke to put unbelievable pressure on the ball and be probably the best or at least one of the best two or three defensive teams in the country. They will need it tonight as they go against a fast-paced, high scoring offense in Wake Forest that has a ton of guys that can put the ball in the basket.

I tend to lean toward Wake in this game as far as a prediction goes. They are going to be in front of a raucous home crowd, and have not played in a week since their loss. This is a point that I don't think is being talked about enough. They will have had one week to stew over their first loss, and a week to prepare mentally and physically for Duke. They are also a great team regardless of all of the other factors. This will be an extremely close game throughout. If Wake comes out and turns the ball over a ton under Duke's pressure, something that has been a problem for them at times this year, Duke will leave with a win. But I see Wake playing extremely spirited and trying to make a statement in this game that they are for real this year. It will be around a four point game with a minute or so to go and Duke will be forced to foul.

Final score:

Wake Forest 78 Duke 72