When all four of North Carolina’s ACC basketball teams are playing well, it makes for significantly more exciting basketball.
The issue is, not all four North Carolina ACC schools have always been good at the same time. Duke and NC State played well last year, both making the NCAA Tournament, but such wasn’t the case for UNC and Wake Forest, who both barely reached .500 in conference play.
With significantly improved on-court play and significantly more experience for each program, UNC and Wake Forest are among the ACC’s best teams this year. They’ll actually face off on Monday, Jan. 22, with Carolina (15-3, 7-0) hosting the Demon Deacons (13-5, 5-2) at 7 p.m.
The Tar Heels are both an offensive and defensive juggernaut, holding the ACC’s top-scoring offense and a Top-7 scoring defense. RJ Davis looks like one of the country’s best players, Armando Bacot is finally in a rhythm we need and – best of all – head coach Hubert Davis is dipping deep into his bench.
Wake Forest has come back down to earth a bit, with Florida State ending its 9-game winning streak on Tuesday, Jan. 9, but that’s not to discredit a dangerous scoring offense. The Demon Deacons have four players averaging at least 14 points per game, led by 17.8 from Central Michigan transfer Kevin Miller.
I expect several members of Deactown will travel to Chapel Hill for this game, but I also expect the Dean Dome to be mainly baby blue.
What should you be looking out for in this game?