There may be worse ways to end your regular season than getting blown out by your biggest rival on national TV. But they probably involve an injury, alien abduction, a stray asteroid, something along those lines.
So, it could have been worse. But what happened to Duke Saturday night was pretty gruesome.
Which doesn’t presage a long stay in Greensboro this week. Teams just don’t snap back after something like that.
Right?
Not so fast.
No fewer than nine times Duke has played Carolina in its regular-season finale, lost that game and turned around and won the ACC Tournament the following week.