I'm discrediting the final twenty minutes of the Tussle for Tobacco Road that swarmed over the Duke campus Wednesday night, not because what the North Carolina Tar Heels did in the second half wasn't impressive, but because North Carolina's 101-87 victory over Duke doesn't capture the emotions I felt after watching that basketball game. 

I know, that's an entire half of a college basketball game, so lets go over it quickly. North Carolina looked like a good team in the first half, but the played like a championship team in the second half. Ty Lawson exploded for 21 of his 25 points in the second twenty minutes and single-handedly took over the game by being able to penetrate the paint at will. There wasn't a person in the building who could stop him.

Lawson had five assists, but his drive-and-kick style makes it seem like he could easily spring for 12-15 dimes per night. When the story was supposed to be all about Tyler Hansbrough, Lawson was the center of attention and it is clear the Tar Heel offense goes where he goes.

Hansbrough made his mark, for sure, dropping in 17 points to go along with 6 rebounds and draining one dagger-three in the second half, successful sucking all of the remaining oxygen out of a muggy Cameron Indoor. Hansbrough, Danny Green (15 points, 5 boards), and Bobby Frasor (3-4 from 3-PT) will end their UNC careers without ever losing at Duke. Four games in front of the Cameron Crazies, four Chapel Hill-style knockout punches. 

Kyle Singler led the way for Duke with 22 points, 6 rebounds, and one vicious elbow to the jaw of Hansbrough. Duke hung in there, but North Carolina showed why they are the class of the ACC and the deserving No. 1 team in the country. When they are clicking, there's no team in the country that can beat them. They are tough, they play good defense, they can hit from downtown, they make open shots, and they run. They run you out of the game, out of the gym, and out of their conscience. They are relentless.

But forget all of that because it didn't highlight this night, a night where we got to see college basketball at its best. A fourteen point win is a borderline blowout, and this game really didn't feel that way at any point. It wasn't until the second half after North Carolina started imposing its will on Duke that we saw the disparity between these two teams.

The first half was some of the most entertaining college basketball you will ever see because everything aligned perfectly. It was two premier programs, two hated rivals, taking the game right at each other and neither team was budging. Every shot had a rebuttal, and every defensive stop resulted in an emphatic rebound and a point guard pushing the ball up court.

With eight miles between these two campuses, how are there not midnight pick up games during the off season? That's how much fun it was to watch Wednesday night's game, and I wasn't even there. The majority of people are going to rail on Duke today and say how they aren't even close to North Carolina's level and that they aren't serious national title contenders, and whatever else.

I won't dispute those claims, because they are probably true. There was a distinct talent difference between the Tar Heels and the Blue Devils on Coach K Court last night. But, I'll admit, I was very impressed with how Duke played in the first half. They played like they desperately wanted to defend their home court with the No. 3 team in the nation coming into town. You could see it on the players' faces, they didn't want to see Hansbrough win four times in his career in their home. That's a personal insult.

I felt the pain for Duke senior point guard Greg Paulus and I have no Duke ties or any connection to Paulus. The kid just plays his heart out every night and he's never going to be able to beat North Carolina at home in his college career. You feel for a guy like that. There's something to be said about emotional leaders in college hoops, just before the game ally-oops to a corporate level. Greg Paulus put on a display about everything that is good about college basketball and NCAA athletics.

Will Paulus play in the NBA? Maybe, but he isn't the prospect that Lawson is. Paulus doesn't compare with the elite point guards in tools and talent, but he overwhelms them with heart and tenacity. That's the underlying beauty of this rivalry. We get to see the future businessman or future doctor whoop on the future pro player. You don't have to live in North Carolina or be tied to either one of these programs to appreciate that.

The most mesmerizing thing about these Duke-UNC games is that the stage is set for anyone to be a hero. There cannot be more energy in the crowd, there cannot be more taunting oozing from the student section, and there cannot be a better time for a role player to supply the dagger. Where else do we see that? Where else can Dick Vitale scream for two hours and still fail to match volume and the passion of the Cameron Crazies? 

These nights aren't only for Singler, Hansbrough, and the ridiculously gifted Gerald Henderson. These nights are for guys like Deon Thompson, who scored 12 points with 4 rebounds after starting the game out on fire. For guys like Ed Davis, who contributed 8 points and 4 boards in fourteen minutes.

What about Lance Thomas, who gave Duke 6 rebounds and 5 points in twenty minutes? Or how about Jon Scheyer, who picked the North Carolina game to go off for 20 points, nearly seven more points than his season average?

While watching the first half, we got to see firsthand what makes these two teams elite programs and perennial national title contenders. They play a notch above the very good teams throughout college basketball. Does pressure mean anything to Duke and North Carolina? Apparently not. Both sides were knocking down the open looks like a top-secret sniper. Bang, bang, bang. Precision. Nothing to it.

North Carolina stormed out to an early lead with Thompson's hot hand leading the way, and they just looked fluid. They got the ball inside and were hitting mid-range jumper after mid-range jumper. When Duke began to collapse on the key and tighten up their defense, North Carolina would kick it out to the perimeter, usually Frasor at the three-point line, and he would drill it. How do you defend  that?

Duke closed the first half with an atomic bomb of momentum, suddenly catching fire from the outside and taking advantage of a short North Carolina cold streak. In reality, UNC controlled the opening minutes and turned the second half into their own welcome mat. But for that eight minute stretch to go to the locker room, Duke showed us what is so special about these meetings. They were the underdog, definitely, but they unloaded their arsenal and threw the grenades they had at their neighbor in powder blue. No moment is impossible between these two teams. I'm convinced.

We have to wait until March 8 for Duke to head to Chapel Hill for one last shot at unfinished business, and there's a good chance that contest won't be able to top the exhilarating performance we saw in Round One. But, on the other hand, there's a chance we will see a battle unbeknownst to this rich rivalry, a student picking the perfect exam to ace. 

Wayne Ellington? Nolan Smith? Whose next, fellas? The Dean Smith Dome is calling, and it's less than a month away.

You can reach Teddy Mitrosilis at tm4000@yahoo.com.