Duke 89, Carolina 78.

Ouch. Dick Vitale calls it the greatest rivalry in sports. I think he's right. Basketball in North Carolina goes beyond sport, beyond fun. It is pure passion.

Duke whipped Carolina like a borrowed mule last night in Chapel Hill. There is no getting around it: Duke was the better team. They played brilliantly.

The Tarheels played without their star point guard, Ty Lawson. The loss of Lawson was huge and, no doubt, the Heels are a different team without him. But there are no excuses at this level, and I was very disappointed with how the Tarheels played, even accounting for the loss of Ty.

Quentin Thomas had a terrible game. 6 turnovers. MANY really bad decisions. He actually did just fine when he played under control and focused on running the half-court offense. But he just made so many bad decisions. He tried way too many "cute" passes when he just should have stayed fundamental. He looked like a Freshman again.

Tyler Hansbrough's game would have been great for almost anyone, but really was only mediocre for Tyler. 4 of 9 free throws?? That's got to be a season low - both in attempts and percentage. He also had three turnovers.

Alex Stepheson might as well have been wearing a Duke jersey. Zero points, zero assists, zero-for-two from the line, only 4 rebounds (even Q had 3), and FIVE turnovers in 13 minutes. Terrible defense. He looked flat-out lost most of the time. I kept screaming TAKE HIM OUT OF THE GAME!!! He hurt us.

Danny Green and Wayne Ellington both had an absolutely horrendous shooting night: they combined to go 4 of 24 for 11 points total. With Lawson out, that was fatal.

The two bright spots were Marcus Ginyard and Deon Thompson. Both had very, very solid games. Marcus handled the ball well and shot better than expected (he was perfect 8-8 from the line). Deon had another great game that would have been even better if he could have stayed out of foul trouble. He's really coming along.

Thirty days hence, we get the rematch in Durham.

I guarantee it will be every bit as exciting as every other Carolina-Duke match-up. Greatest. Rivalry. Ever.