Man, was I pulling hard for Duke against Notre Dame.

The Blue Devils were grabbing their shorts, gasping for air and holding on for dear life as their 16-point lead in the second ACC Tournament quarterfinal disappeared Thursday. Duke lost, and I was pissed, which is generally not the response from the Carolina crowd when that happens.

Had Duke hung on, it would have played its third game in three days against the sharper, fresher and deeper Tar Heels. The Devils had nothing left at the end of regulation and in overtime against the Irish, and they would have had barely 24 hours to get their legs back for the first semifinal tonight. Wasn’t happening, sports fans.

So instead of wearing Duke down and out and further avenging that gift of a game in the Smith Center on February 17, the Heels will face a Notre Dame team that also had a double bye and has beaten them three straight times, including for the 2015 ACC championship with a rally like the one against Duke.

The Irish aren’t quite the team they were last year, having lost two starters, and the Tar Heels are supposedly better. But Mike Brey, the former Duke assistant who is now 5-1 against his old boss, also knows how to play the ex-arch rival, and Zach Auguste may be the best big man UNC has faced all season. Carolina is a slight favorite to win, but I don’t like the smell of another Notre Dame game.

Much rather would have faced masked Marshall Plumlee and the bushed Blue Devils.

The Tar Heels were terrific for most of their win over a rough-and-tough Pitt team, playing some of their best defense of the season in erasing an early deficit and taking control in the second half. Their depth showed up, as Roy Williams used 11 players in preparing for a three-day tournament. All of them except Luke Maye scored, and most of them contributed mightily behind Brice Johnson’s customary double-double. Three other players were in double figures and two more had 9 and 8 points, respectively.

Playing more relaxed after winning pressure-packed games against Syracuse and Duke that secured the regular season title, Carolina might have wiped the slippery Verizon Center floor with the Dukies in a third match. We’ll never know, but I was sure counting on it. Now, it’s Notre Dame instead. And you can’t count on anything against the Fighting Irish. Can you?

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