Get A Bucket Show

Duke vs UNC: Rivalry Recap + ACC & NCAA Tournament Predictions

• Tré

Share episode

Send us a text

Duke defeats UNC 82-69 in an intense rivalry matchup that fulfilled my pre-game predictions almost perfectly. Conference championships are heating up with the SEC, Big 12, and ACC tournaments showcasing the most elite teams in college basketball.

• Duke's 13-point victory over UNC (82-69) closely matched my prediction of a 10-15 point win
• Cooper Flagg delivered with 15 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, and 4 blocks
• UNC now likely needs to win the ACC Tournament to make March Madness
• Duke showed vulnerability when Flagg was in foul trouble, raising contender status questions
• Conference championships are crucial viewing before March Madness begins
• The SEC features five top-10 teams, while the Big 12 has three top-10 teams
• Duke faces tough competition from Clemson and Louisville in the ACC Tournament
• Next season's rivalry continues with the Boozer twins joining Duke and Caleb Wilson heading to UNC

Please like, subscribe, comment, and tell anyone who's anyone about the show. Go Blue Devils!


Support the show

https://linktr.ee/GetABucketShow for more content!!!

Speaker 1:

What's up everybody? It's your favorite show's favorite show Get a Bucket. I'm your host, trey, and, as usual, hope you're all having a wonderful, wonderful day. I actually am having an ecstatic day right now. It is really good One. It's nice and sunny on a Monday morning, right, or Monday, it's just a Monday. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1:

Also, my George Mason Patriots won their conference championship. That's right. We won the 18. I'm saying we're doing big things. The men and women shout out to them. You know that's my alma mater. Got to give some, got to show some love, right? Also, I want to say before I start off the show you know we got to talk about Duke versus UNC, how we beat that tail, we mean in Duke. But I want to talk about Duke versus UNC and how we beat that tail we mean in Duke. But I want to talk about these conference championships.

Speaker 1:

I'm going to make sure I pay attention to these before March Madness hits and I hope y'all do as well. The Big 12, you got to pay attention to it. It has the second most teams in the top 10 rankings for college basketball. That's about three teams. You got to assume that's going to be some good competition, right? So you got to tune in. If you don't, you're going to be missing out. The next one, the SEC, that has the most teams in the top 10. So that's about five teams right there. That's half the top 10 rankings right there. That's going to be a really electrifying conference tournament. Definitely, make sure you want to tune in for that one. Now, this was biased. But the ACC, yes, it does boast some good talent, but it also boasts my team as well, my Blue Devils. You know I got to tune in as well for that one, but it has three of the top 15 teams in the NCAA top 25 rankings. You have to tune in. It's going to be some electrifying teams. Also, unc is there and they're playing with a big chip on their shoulder. Definitely, stay tuned and tune in.

Speaker 1:

But, ladies and gentlemen, let's talk about here the Duke versus UNC recap, because this also led to why I'm having such a marvelous day right. Not just the fact that we won, but my final predictions from the audio file that I gave y'all last time, and guess what? They came true. Like I was actually pretty spot on with those. So, like I'm him, let's talk about it.

Speaker 1:

For a recap, I did say Duke wins between 10 to 15 points, and we're going to get about. The score was going to be about 78 to 67. I put a question mark behind that, but those are the numbers I dropped. We did win by 13 points. The score was 82 to 69. That ain't far off. So again, talk to me.

Speaker 1:

I did say that our defense was going to be too much. Cooper Flagg was going to get about 17-plus points, eight rebounds, five assists, two steals, two blocks. He got 15 points, nine rebounds, six assists, zero steals, but four blocks. So he was close. You know what I'm saying. Like we were close across the board. I said RJ Davis, we're going to finish with 15plus points, because, again, this was his final farewell. He gave 20. So we're pretty good on the predictions, right?

Speaker 1:

But most importantly, I did say that Duke was going to win the matchup. Now I did say that UNC was going to punch us in the mouth early because, again, we won the first game. They're playing at home More pride. Duke's going to respond, though, and I'm curious how UNC responds to us punching them in the mouth. What actually happened was we punched UNC in the mouth, cooper Flag gets into foul trouble, so some stuff happens right, and then UNC responds and then in the second half they punch us in the mouth. Then we respond.

Speaker 1:

So we ultimately did cause a little. We do cause Duke fans some worry. I'm not gonna lie to you. There was a moment where I'm like, dang, will we lose this game? I was nervous for a quick second. I can't lie to y'all, but we did end up rallying back. Unc needed that game. They did, because right now their current position is that they don't win the ACC tournament. They miss March Madness. Isn't that kind of mad to hear. But it's wonderful to say as a Duke fan, I can't hold you. And most importantly too, we finally don't get to see RJ Davis. No more, this professional college basketball player. He's been here for like seven, eight years, I swear. Now they say he was only there for five seasons. Someone got to check that. I swear he's been there longer.

Speaker 1:

But UNC, there's a little bit of pressure on them. But specifically Elliott Cadeau that's that's their floor general going forward, right. And I think when you look at UNC right now, yes, they are getting next season a top 10. He's the number seven player in high school, currently in Caleb Wilson. So, yeah, you got to think he's going to produce pretty well, right, but Elliott Cadeau is still going to be viewed as the leader of the squad. So there's going to be some pressure on Buddy, especially right now, but definitely over in offseason too.

Speaker 1:

They have to win the, they have to win ACC tournament. They're not, I'm sorry, they're not. They're not, I'm sorry, they're not, based on what I just saw in the game. They're not like. They're going to try, they're going to compete, but there is a lack of talent, there is a lack of height like that helps out in terms of rebounding, right, rj davis is their best score. Who is undersized? Granted, in college you can get away with that, but still, outside of RJ Davis, who's going to help out? I don't have a consistent player for them personally. So now when I'm looking at UNC, I'm thinking it's short-lived, not just the conversation about them, but for me, short-lived in terms of their time this season. So it was a good season.

Speaker 1:

Unc fans. No disrespect, not talking trash, stating facts, just like with my Blue Devils At the start of the second half. I can't hold y'all. I started to worry about our contender status slightly because again we were up by like as much as 13-15. Then we were up by nine, with like three minutes of some change left before Coop goes out right Because he's in foul trouble. Unc closes the gap to be within one. So I'm thinking, hey, we're about to do something saucy in the second half. We've got to put belt to tail early on. And UNC actually starts beating our tail early on. They start pulling away early on and I'm like this is looking worrisome. Granted, it's a rivalry game, so emotions are high. I get that. That's part of the reason why I'm giving us a pass.

Speaker 1:

I do want to see, though, us be a little bit more diligent. And guess what? We were a little bit more diligent, a little bit more like a little bit more energetic in the second half, towards the second half of the second half. So if we can play like that every, every moment of every half, all right. Now I believe more in us as a contender, definitely vulnerable, and keep in mind too, I saw us look shaky against a team that I don't really have high expectations on, when Cooper Flag got into foul trouble. Are we just going to assume Cooper Flag's never going to get into foul trouble again? I think it's possible.

Speaker 1:

So again, my Blue Devils, you need to show us something during this ACC tournament, because it cannot just be Cooper Flagg leading the squad. We got to have somebody who can consistently step up, and I know the stats show oh well, we got Khan and we got Proctor. I see us in shaky moments wither away and that's troubling to me. So again, we play a little too lethargic sometimes. Sometimes we look like a second-half squad. I get it. I'd like to see us turn it up a little bit and maybe we will. Hopefully we will in the ACC tournament in March. Madness Next season right, I'm kind of liking us as well too. Just a quick little tidbit, because we do get the Boozer twins. But also, the Boozer twins played on the same AAU team as Caleb Wilson, unc's number recruit or top recruit, and Cameron Boozer, for us, is number three in the class. So you know it should be a nice little matchup, a nice little storyline again for the Duke rivalry.

Speaker 1:

I said that before on the prediction matchup, on the prediction episode. Y'all want to go to listen to that one as well, because maybe y'all don't believe me that my predictions were accurate. I'm not. I got no reason to lie. I'm him. But let's talk about the ACC tournament expectations. Real quick, right. Again I say UNC needs to win in order to reach March Madness. So that's pretty cut and dry. I'm sorry, I don't know what to tell y'all, duke, and maybe when y'all hear why I say it's cut and dry, but I don't think they're going to do it you'll kind of get the reason why Duke.

Speaker 1:

We have and I said we have two teams or two other teams to worry about, but they're in the top 15. That's Clemson and Louisville. Clemson actually beat us in the regular season and Louisville, well, we beat them, but when we play them again, if we do, that's a redemption game for them. They have a chip on their shoulder Now. Granted, both games were on the road. For Duke these will be neutral sites, so it's a different feel, but these are still quality teams and, again, clemson's already beaten us and, if I'm being honest, if they hit more of their free throws, the disparity might have been greater. So I do wonder, because of the neutral site, I do think Duke gets an advantage. Clemson still is going to play us aggressive. Louisville is going to play us with extra energy and if they can channel that properly and not cultivate that and that not result into being fouls right, extra fouls I think Louisville might be our toughest opponent. Clemson's already beaten us, so maybe they get a little cocky. I do expect us to execute a little bit more, because, again, it's a redemption game for us for Clemson. That's the reason why I might put Louisville higher, even though Clemson did win.

Speaker 1:

But you see how I'm talking about them in relation to UNC. I'm not even getting the X's and O's players, nothing like that, just the feel for the game, how I'm looking at them. We swept UNC. Unc looked crappy during the first game. They looked soft during the first game. They looked soft during the first game. The second game it just showed, hey, we're more talented than you guys and it might not matter. These other teams could actually beat us.

Speaker 1:

I don't expect UNC to win the ACC tournament. It could be tough to even get to the semis, but we'll see though. But Duke could be favored to win this ACC tournament, but again, it's no easy feat. It could be viewed as a tall task. So, boys, we got to sit up here and lock in, so I hope y'all do Fingers crossed.

Speaker 1:

I do expect us to win, but there is a part of me also that kind of wants us to lose, so that way we have a larger chip on our shoulder going into march madness. But you know, it would be nice if we could win across the board too. I'm just saying but, um, ladies and gentlemen, that's. That's about all the time I have. So again, if y'all don't believe that my predictions are what I said my predictions were, go listen to the last episode that I did. It was wonderful, and I also appreciate y'all for listening to this one. So let me know your thoughts. So please like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show. My name is Trey. I'm the host of Get a Bucket. Hope you all are having a good one. Go, blue Devils, take care.