Wake Forest vs. Duke

2/22/09

The ACC conference is really starting to heat with the North Carolina Tar Heels and Clemson Tigers looking unbeatable down the stretch towards tournament time and both Wake Forest and Duke trying to get a grip on their up and down seasons.

Early in the season the Duke Blue Devils and Wake Forest Demon Deacons looked like the elite teams in the country as they both got the distinction as the number team in the country at one point this year. There reign as best team in the nation didn’t last long though as they continue to go on hot and cold streaks while letting other elite teams in the country like UConn reach the top.

Although both Duke and Wake Forest have dropped some games that they definitely should have won this season, they have still been able to regain a ranking in the top ten teams in the country.

As the season quickly comes to a close the ACC has an undisputed leader in North Carolina. The Tar Heels proved that the Blue Devils were no challenged as they beat Coach K’s crew by 14 points on Duke’s home floor. The Demon Deacons on the other hand to get the best of all the top teams in the ACC this season by beating North Carolina, Clemson and Duke this season.

Oddly enough, Wake Forest’s problems haven’t come in the form of the best teams in their conference. For some reason Wake Forest superstar Jeff Teague and company have had trouble against teams like Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Miami and just recently North Carolina State.

The Deacons may have beaten the top three teams in their conference, but just couldn’t put away teams they should have had no problem with.

As a result of these two teams misfortunes this season both Duke and Wake Forest are considered very good teams, but with flaws that can’t go unnoticed which might cost them their season’s success in the long run.

Coming into this head to head ACC match up Wake Forest is at the number eight ranking in the country and Duke is just below them at number nine. Ironically enough these two teams shared similar position in the ACC conference standings with North Carolina and Clemson at the number one and two spots followed by the Deacons and Blue Devils at three and four.

As of right now the ACC conference title might be too far out of reach for both of these teams, but the winner of this game will have a slight chance of making a run at it.

As for who will win this match up, I believe that Wake Forest will be the one to come out on top. They may have struggled against less than impressive teams this season, but when it comes to games against the best teams in the country and their conference the Deacons always seem to be on their game. Duke will not go down without a fight, but I just don’t see them beating Wake Forest this time around.