This game isn't about Zion Williamson and it isn't about North Carolina's experience and it isn't about who's ranked No. 1 and it isn't about the nearly identical record in the series when both teams are ranked in the top 10, as fascinating as all of that is.
It's about two freshman point guards, one who apparently grew up a Duke fan in North Carolina, one whose brother won a title at Duke four years ago, one a stone-cold scorer, the other a lockdown defender.
Coby White will try to push things for North Carolina. Tre Jones will try to stop him. And to the extent Wednesday's game can be boiled down to a single factor, that's it: What North Carolina does better than Duke (push the pace with White leading the way) and Duke trying to stop it (with an elite on-the-ball defender who has single-handedly disrupted other offenses). Beyond the explosiveness of Williamson and R.J. Barrett, beyond the shooting of Cam Johnson and Luke Maye, the first meeting this season in the most heated rivalry in college basketball may very well pivot on the performances of two rookies at what may be the most difficult position to play as a freshman.
The tenor of this rivalry has changed somewhat over the years. The players know each other too well coming in (Joel Berry and Grayson Allen, most famously, were teammates for years before college) and don't stay long enough to learn to hate each other once they get there. The schools have a bond, each knowing only the other can truly comprehend what it's like to live in this spotlight, that transcends the games. Where Mike Krzyzewski and Dean Smith once sparred like politicians running against each other as Krzyzewski sought to dislodge Smith atop the ACC, there's now a genteel camaraderie between the coaches. Maybe there's something about shaking hands with that many rings on.
Which shouldn't be taken as a call for blood; there has been enough of that spilled in this rivalry over the years. The atmosphere remains incomparable, in Durham, N.C. or Chapel Hill, N.C., and the attention and excitement that surrounds the game tends to provoke a surge in competitive spirit. The stakes are just as high as they've ever been. It remains the most important game of the season, until the next meeting.
This year's opener may have been delayed by curious scheduling _ the teams will play twice in the final three weeks, and possibly three times in four weeks if they meet in Charlotte _ but the ACC regular-season title is still out there to be won. Even if the math is tough for UNC, which would lose a tiebreaker to Virginia, this result will set the tone for the final stretch.
All of which is to say, that's a lot to put on the shoulders of a freshman, a freshman point guard especially. Still. As much as it ever was.
It's not as uncommon as it once was to give a freshman at that position that kind of responsibility, a product of this generation's accelerated path to the NBA, but this is the type of game that can turn back the clock a little bit. This rivalry remains, and has always been, a crucible that brings out the best and occasionally the worst in these players. Both White and Jones have displayed uncommon poise and ability, but this is the kind of atmosphere that could trip them up _ or elevate their game to a new level.
Given the amount of raw talent on the floor, this has the potential to be an epic chapter in the rivalry, but it may come down to the freshmen at the point, coming in cold to the hottest game of the year. If they think they know what's coming, they don't. But that's the beauty of it.
