Chansky’s Notebook: Big Easy Again?

Will Carolina own Bourbon Street for the third time?

Some afterthoughts on the biggest Carolina-Duke game of all time in which the winner had every right to declare it the signature game of the storied rivalry.

Whatever happened in Durham when assistant coaches Chris Carrawell and Nolan Smith blew off the post-game handshake with Hubert Davis, a version occurred at the Superdome.

Duke took the narrow loss with the same arrogance as at Cameron last month. Did you notice that veteran Wendell Moore was the only player (or coach) in the handshake line behind Coach K? Maybe they’ll be better sports under Jon Scheyer.

Leaky Black was overcome with emotion leaving the court after Carolina’s 81-77 victory that sent the Tar Heels into tonight’s title game against Kansas in the battle between two schools Roy Williams was lucky enough to coach in his Hall of Fame career.

Black was a key to crippling Duke’s offense, once again locking up A.J. Griffin, who combined with Jeremy Roach to go 0-for-9 from outside while the Blue Devils won the battle for points in the paint, 48-26. Another was Brady Manek’s ability to stay with Paolo Banchero, whose 20 points were not dominating enough.

Now, Black will be assigned to Kansas All-American Ochai Agbaji. That will be one of the key matchups in the game. Will Armando Bacot’s tender ankle impede his battle with KU’s underrated 6-10 center David McCormack? Caleb Love will guard Chris Braun who shoots 39 percent from the 3-point line.

Eventually, Kansas sixth man Remy Martin will wind up in a track meet with R.J. Davis. The Jayhawks opened as four-point favorites after their easy win over Villanova, although there is no such thing against the physical Wildcats.

How UNC’s emotional victory over Duke will play out is debatable. The Tar Heels will be facing a deep and talented team that could outrun and/or overpower them and require a second Herculean effort in three nights.

Or they could feel far less pressure than against Duke, play loose, shoot the lights out and follow Hubert’s old coach, Dean Smith, whose two NCAA titles came in the Big Easy. We’ll see.

Featured image via Todd Melet

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