DURHAM, North Carolina -- The 263rd meeting between Duke and North Carolina was one-sided, an 87-70 Duke rout that felt twice as bad. Eleven miles and two realities separate the Blue Devils and Tar Heels this season: Duke has an argument as the best team in the game, while North Carolina is continuing its every-other-year trend of life on the NCAA Tournament bubble.
There was no blowout boredom at Cameron Indoor Stadium; the Tar Heels had won three of their last four here and swept last season's series. Highlight plays were aplenty. There were beautiful alley-oop lobs to Khaman Maluach. There was a a Kon Knueppel second half flurry of dunks and three-pointers. And of course there was a basketball masterclass by Cooper Flagg, who came within shouting distance of the first triple-double in the history of one of sports' greatest rivalries: 21 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, plus three steals and two blocks.
Here are more takeaways from Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Duke is a still-improving juggernaut
Before the second half began, Knueppel walked over to the Cameron Crazies at halfcourt and asked them, in fewer words, if they were ready to go for the second half (I know because I was seated right under the Crazies, with one of them even nearly busting my lip in the first half). Knueppel then opened the half with a two-handed dunk in traffic. He drilled a three-pointer on the next possession. Minutes later, he drove UNC's RJ Davis to the left block and converted scored easily despite the harm. It was a flurry of points.
As America comes out of its football thaw the next few and weeks turns its sports attention to March Madness, it is going to learn that Duke is far from just Flagg. There's Knueppel, the former five-star who is out of Wisconsin central casting. Maluach, the 7-footer out of South Africa who's still in his basketball infancy. Tyrese Proctor is out of his month-long slump. Sion James, the transfer out of Tulane and the point guard most likely to win Mr. Universe. The longer they play together, the better they get.
Pencil in any -- or all? -- of the non-Flagg standouts to have a moment or two as Duke rounds into Final Four form.
Cooper Flagg's POY case
Flagg led all scorers in the first half with 13 despite a near-15 minute stretch where he didn't score. He can just fill it up so quickly – a corner 3-pointer here, a transition three there, a silky-smooth turnaround jumper at the first-half buzzer.
With Zach Edey gone, the national player of the year race is finally interesting. It's Flagg vs. Auburn's Johnni Broome. Here's how CBS Sports college basketball analyst Kyle Boone handicaps the Flagg vs. Broome battle.
The case for Cooper Flagg as the Player of the Year in college basketball is the case for impact beyond the box score. He is not leading college basketball in points, or rebounds, or blocks, or assists. And his counting stats aren't quite touching the ceiling Zion Williamson produced in his one season at Duke. But he's leading Duke in every relevant statistical category on a Blue Devils team that now leads the nation with a 15-game winning streak and has both a top-three offensive and defensive unit in adjusted efficiency margins.
Advanced numbers tell the story of his impact in a way that counting stats don't quite do justice. He leads major conference college hoops players in Win Shares, which is an estimate of the number of wins contributed by an individual player. He's No. 2 in Box Plus/Minus, a stat that estimates the points per 100 possessions a player contributes above a league-average player. And his Player Efficiency Rating of 28.9 is just shy of the magical 30, which over the years belongs only to the elite of the elite.
Most important to Flagg's case is Duke's ascension with him leading the way. The team opened the season 4-2 with losses to Kentucky and Kansas, and it has not lost since. Its 15-game winning streak includes wins over now-No. 1 Auburn, which no other team to this point has defeated, and which Duke won with Flagg outdueling fellow Player of the Year candidate Johni Broome. Duke is only getting better as the season progresses and that has been a direct correlation to Flagg's rise to stardom. The best player on the best team isn't always the best choice for Player of the Year. But in the case of Flagg and Duke, it appears as things sit on Feb. 1 it is the correct one.
North Carolina's season is on the brink
You don't have to be a next-level basketball-knower to gather these two rosters are at different levels. North Carolina was a preseason top-10 team on the merit of what it accomplished last season in making the Sweet Sixteen as a No. 1 seed and returning players like Davis and Elliot Cadeau; it is now on the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble with a 6-5 record in ACC play and little relief coming: Pittsburgh, at Clemson, at Syracuse, home vs. NC State. A 2-2 mark in those four would be cause for relative celebration.
A more thorough examination of what is wrong and how it happened is required, but this much was clear Saturday: North Carolina was smaller, less skilled, on a different planet from Duke defensively, likely intimidated and perhaps totally outclassed on the bench. It's going to be a long week off for the Tar Heels.
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