Andy Katz names Duke-UNC the best game of the week

Duke and UNC will meet on Saturday in Durham, and ACC supremacy will likely be in the balance in front of the Cameron Indoor crowd. For one college basketball writer, that’s enough to call it the game of the week.

Duke might have a game on Monday night, but it’s Duke-UNC week, and in the college basketball world, nothing else matches that.

College basketball reporter Andy Katz announced his top 10 games of the week on Monday and the looming battle between the Blue Devils and the Tar Heels was of course on top of the list.

“You already knew what number 1 had to be,” the NCAA tweet about the rankings read.

The two squads (barring something unexpected from the Monday ranking releases) will likely meet as top-10 teams for the 50th time in the history of their rivalry and the second time this season after February’s battle in Chapel Hill ended with a 93-84 North Carolina victory.

The ACC regular-season title will probably hang in the balance on Saturday as well. The Tar Heels, currently 15-3 against conference opponents, cling to a one-game lead over Duke (14-4).

Should the Blue Devils defeat NC State on Monday, a win over UNC would give them at least a share of the conference crown.