A Little Red Mixed With a Lot of Blue

Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough is as competitive a player as you'll find in college basketball. He gives as good as he takes. So with 14 seconds left in the Tar Heels 86-72 win over bitter rival Duke, he did what he does, what comes naturally to him, he went after his missed free throw like a dog after a bone, like the game was still in jeopardy. You bet he got the ball and went back up only to have Gerald Henderson's right elbow land right on his nose.

It was a bloody scene to be sure. Blood flowed from his nose to his lip to the floor of the Smith Center. Hansbrough, the man they call "Psycho T," was immediately back up, his face covered in blood, wanting to take on the whole Duke team, but cooler heads prevailed and the big man was quickly escorted to the UNC dressing room before further damage could be assessed. If all the Tar Heels were like Hansbrough, Carolina's toughness would never be in question.

Meanwhile, Henderson was ejected from the game for what was called a "combative" foul. He will be suspended for Duke's first game of the ACC tournament.

It's another one of those plays that will go down in the lore of college basketball's fiercest rivalry. The play, of course, was the talk of the postgame.

Billy Packer, who was broadcasting the game for CBS, said he didn't think Henderson meant to hurt Hansbrough. I'm not a mind reader, but I don't think he meant to hurt Hansbrough either. But I tell you what, it was definitely a hard shot to the nose. All Roy Williams would say is he thought that "Tyler got hit" and he is right about that. He was waylaid.

Henderson said it was just an unfortunate, hard foul.

"He got our guys in the air and I came down on him," said Henderson, who scored a career-high 16 points."It's unfortunate that it turned out like it did, but I wasn't trying to hurt the kid or anything. It just turned out worse than it was."

Hansbrough, whose nose is not broken, came out with cotton stuffed in his nose to help cut down the nets in celebration of the ACC co-title, but didn't talk to the media. However, his teammates say he's OK.

"Just a little bump and bruise," said senior Reshawn Terry, who had 15 points in his final game at the Smith Center. "Nothing a little ice can't handle."

Bobby Frasor said Hansbrough was even laughing about the possible confrontation with the Duke players.

He said, "Did you see me get up?" Frasor recounted.

Lucky for Carolina that this didn't happen earlier. Hansbrough was a bear with 26 points 17 rebounds. Duke had no one who could handle him. He was just too strong, too aggressive. When he gets the ball consistently down low, the basketball is his and there are very few in college basketball who can stop him.

His play and the fact that Carolina's depth just wore Duke down is the reason Carolina can call themselves ACC co-champions along with Virginia. They'll be the top seed in this week's ACC tournament.

They could have been seeded fifth depending on what happened this weekend which would have been a stunning story, but Carolina got some help with Virginia losing yesterday and Virginia Tech and Boston College losing Sunday. And they helped themselves by beating Duke.

Nobody really thought 11-5 would be good enough to win the ACC, but that just shows what a tough, balanced league the ACC is. Nothing was easy for anybody was it?

Carolina was the unanimous pre-season pick to win it all. This young talented team hasn't turned out yet to be the super team many thought they would be and they have to share the championship, but the Heels are hoping that this will be the springboard for a successful March run. They are capable of that. There are few teams in college basketball who approach North Carolina's talent level. Talent is not the issue, desire and toughness at times are.

Meanwhile, Duke which was picked second in the pre-season has to settle for a seventh seed and the Devils, winners of an unreal 7 of the last 8 ACC tournaments will now have to put together an unlikely four-day run to win another.

This was Mike Krzyzewski's youngest team ever and many times it played like it. And let's face it, Duke talent level -- despite the McDonalds All-Americans -- is not on par with past Blue Devil teams.

However, Coach K sees hope because he always liked the way his team competed. He hasn't faulted that.

"We've played a hell of a schedule, especially in February," Krzyzewski said. "Sometimes you can't see much improvement because the team you're playing against is better. Carolina is better than we are. That doesn't mean we can't win. Maryland, at this point, is better than us. That doesn't mean everything is wrong. By playing these people, we should get better and I think we have."

So another chapter of Duke-Carolina has been written. The tide, once so dark, is flowing back towards the light blue. Carolina won four of the last five in this storied series. But that's what makes this a rivalry with little comparison. No one will dominate for ever. There's too much pride at work, on both sides.

Carolina knows not to be complacent and you know Roy Williams will never be that. They have the upper hand for the moment, but he knows there's a Hall of Fame coach eight miles away who's mad as heck and he'll be working hard as heck to turn things back to royal blue.

Sunday proved beyond a doubt that UNC-Duke really is a blood rivalry.