it'll be a duke in north carolina at
cameron we had a poll question where i
said you could i could give you tickets
to the national title game or tickets to
tonight's game make love and update the
poll results 62 want to go to the
national title game now i said the game
being at duke i'd rather see duke north
carolina at cameron a sure thing you
know the national title game will be in
an antiseptic building in minneapolis uh
you know in a dome and i don't know
who's going to be playing which one
would you take
i would take new carolina cameron uh or
i'd take it at the smith center uh
i'd love to go back to carmichael too
um where they used to play before the
smith center opened in 86 but you know
the national championship game is great
but it's 70 000 people and it's not a
great atmosphere it's just a great game
uh this is a this is an unforgettable
atmosphere and
you know dan you've been you've been
there before you can't you can't
describe the duke carolina atmosphere
because the air is heavier it's hotter
it's tangible you can actually feel it
in there and it's it's unlike any other
game and i don't know i almost don't
know how to describe it in words but
once you go through it
you'll never have another another
experience like it and uh and i think
it's even different than than playing at
carolina which is is just as loud it's
just bigger
um but but maybe because there's more
air in that bigger place uh it doesn't
seem as hot it doesn't seem as heavy
but that the the atmosphere inside of
cameron for the carolina game is unlike
anything else it's like
i don't even know how to describe it
it's just yeah and you had coach k
mentioned this yesterday at practice um
he said he goes do you remember he says
to me do you remember
uh you know how emotionally spent you'd
be just when you got to opening tip
because of the emotional energy and the
toll it takes on you building up for the
game
and uh and when he said do you remember
i think he was taking a shot at how old
i was but am i capable of remembering
i was also wondering about this jay at
the beginning of the year when espn sets
their schedule their broadcasting
schedule
how strategic is it that you would have
duke north carolina no nba following the
all-star break and it's on a wednesday
night sort of a standalone
is this on purpose by design by espn
i i i have not thought about that it
didn't occur to me dan until yesterday
that this is the latest that duke and
carolina have ever played except one
time when the game got snowed out and
they had to postpone it for like 10 days
so they've never they've never had their
first game this late in the year
and and i was listening to the radio
earlier today and a former carolina
player was asked about managing the day
for a nine o'clock game and i started
thinking about well i never played at
nine o'clock yeah i mean i played 30
years ago but but our games were always
in the afternoon on saturday
either in the acc tournament or or
regular season we played in the
afternoon so it's even harder for these
guys now because of television to manage
all they have to manage and i'm telling
you you wouldn't believe
the the buzz around here
you know it looks like the super bowl
around around cameron
with all the tv crews all the you know
the celebrities that are here
it's uh it's it seems like this thing
gets bigger and bigger and bigger and
just when you think okay it can't get
any bigger than this it gets bigger than
that and the tickets are i was reading a
little while ago on the internet you
know some of the tickets for tonight are
going for 10 000 bucks on vivid and the
average price of of a secondary market
ticket is is like 2 500 to 3 000 bucks
yeah i got 3 100 is like the average
just your get in price for this who are
some of the luminaries that are expected
to show up
well todd gurley was there at practice
yesterday and and by the way if it's if
it gets much higher than 3100
uh you could be here in tonight dan
shulman and some dude named fred sitting
in my seat
you're gonna sell your
pretty damn soon it's going to be it's
going to be worth selling
um
but i you know i've heard some rumors
that uh that president obama may be here
uh tonight i don't know if that's true
or not but that's the rumor i've heard
you think you could take him one on one
i know i could take him one-on-one but
it depends if his secret service guys
are going to be going to be screening
for him because those guys carry guns
we we're looking at this fascination
with this duke team and i know you've
said this on the air before we've
witnessed this and i i've said to the
dance you know it's one and done when
you get to the tournament it's different
if if this was a best of seven
could anybody beat duke in america in a
best of seven
no they would win the best of seven um
for duke to lose they have to have a bad
shooting night
and uh and sort of get in foul trouble
or have something something crazy happen
or have a performance like they had in
the first 30 minutes against louisville
or something like that
where they run into a hot team but that
was a game on the road um i just don't
see it dan but you know like you said
uh back in 2015 kentucky was the best
team uh back when i was an assistant
unlv in 91 was the best team they were
undefeated and they got clipped you know
so it can happen in that one game
scenario where you're the best team and
you may be the best team by far
but these guys are extraordinary i mean
this is the best freshman class i've
ever seen
uh it's clearly the best freshman class
coach k has ever had he's had some good
ones and it's not just their talent
they've got a maturity level
that is i that i can't fathom to be this
young and then and then zion puts it on
a different level i mean this dude
people thought i was i was you know
hyperbole whatever you want to call it
over hype when when you know they said
well how would you describe zion
williamson my response was oh my god and
and you know people get it now i think
they get it he's like he's like putting
a mack truck in a ballet performance and
you go hey it works man this guy's good
this guy's good at this
um you can't believe how how nimble he
is given his size and explosiveness he's
he's an incredible player and the
numbers he's putting up are historic
uh you know he's he's you know averaging
like 24 a game and conference play
shooting 70 percent uh it's crazy what
what he's doing and uh and he's i think
he's going to get better when he starts
shooting it better how are you going to
guard this guy like if you don't crowd
him dan yeah like you know let's say a
non-shooter you step off him a few steps
and give him some space
he he's taken up that space and you got
to crowd him uh like he could shoot it
because uh because he'll take that space
up and he'll be gone you won't have any
any way of stopping him i was talking to
chris webber you know when you had the
fab five in michigan he said well the
difference with the duke freshman
they're not facing veteran teams he said
when we came in to college at michigan
we're facing guys who had been in
college for two or three years you know
duke was a veteran team when they were
facing them so i i know it's hard to
compare and contrast but you know weber
does have a valid argument that that
team was just as talented because of
what they were facing night in and night
out as opposed to duke your best teams
you know you're probably facing one in
donors
so you think that this duke team
couldn't handle like kevin salvadori and
henrik rodel and
that group that said
henrik you don't think that you don't
think they could handle that nope i
don't think they could like look chris
chris webber is a hall of famer and to
to be able to say somebody is some class
is as good as them i don't think is
insulting to them because i do think
everything gets the idea that everything
in america gets better over time except
basketball players i find ridiculous and
i'll tell you one thing like
i don't think any member of the fab five
would entertain the idea that anybody
before them was as good as they were
do you think they would like if you said
wait a minute man the class the the the
freshman classes in the 1960s played
against better players and they played
against guys that stuck around they
would never entertain that they would
never listen to it um so the idea that
30 years later players players are not
or could not be better the average
player is better than ever
you can be better you can be more
talented but i'm saying michigan went
against veteran teams
where
no they actually didn't win at this
point in the season when michigan played
they'd lost eight games
and they didn't win the big ten those
years they were there they went to the
title game twice they were great like
nobody's arguing they weren't great
but but the idea that these guys like
it's not a crazy statement to say these
guys are just as good if not better
because i think they are and when they
have when they have a body of work with
them uh later on in their careers when
they're older
then people are going to realize just
how freaking good these guys are because
to have to have rj barrett average in 22
zion averaging like 23 24 in conference
play
the last game they played zion had 32
against nc state which has some veteran
players
and and rj barrett had had a
triple-double i mean without a turnover
uh that just doesn't happen that's
extraordinary what these guys are doing
and
uh look i i'm not i'm not trying to
diminish in any way the fab five what
i'm trying to do is say just how good
these guys are it's historic
and uh and i i've never seen anything
quite like it it's crazy but you know
when the season started i was watching
barrett and he felt like he was you know
a like a larger version of harden like
he could get his shot outside inside but
i also looked at the marketing of zion
williamson that i didn't know if he
would be better a better pro than rj
barrett but as you've seen them develop
in their freshman year going into the
nba
uh is zion obviously the best player you
can market but is he a better player
going into the nba than rj barrett is
that's that's the question and i have
not given up on the idea that rj barrett
would be the better number one pick i
don't i don't know that i would do that
but i i happen to think that that he's
built for the nba um he's a he's a much
better shooter and i think his shot is
going to improve kind of like hardens
did if you remember when harden came out
of arizona state we weren't touting the
fact that he was a great shooter and he
has certainly turned into that and a
spectacular offensive player he could do
everything well this guy can too and he
rebounds his position he can play the
point uh ridiculously talented getting
to the basket and finishing and and if
he weren't playing with zion williamson
he'd be the lead story in in everything
we were doing this year it's just
williamson is one of these
uh uh very few
times where you see somebody this this
extraordinarily talented and and a guy
that is truly unique that's taken all
the air out of the room and and to his
credit barrett has not one ounce of
jealousy in him uh which is which i
think is extraordinary that that he was
the presumptive number one pick coming
into the season and now it seems like
everybody's saying no it's not even
close it's zion which i don't agree with
i think it is close but but doesn't seem
to bother rj barrett one bit
have fun tonight jay if you decide to uh
go and take part in the broadcast
yeah
just like antonio brown if you if you
have an offer for my seat hit my phone
thank you jay that's uh jay bilas espn
college basketball analyst if duke loses
duke is going to lose from the perimeter
uh they are one of the best
as far as field goal percentage they're
fourth in the country they shoot 58
almost 59 from the floor three-point
range
they are 13th in the acc alone
now they don't
don't have to take threes they can beach
in transition they can get their shots
they can get to the hoop but if they
lose i feel like they're going to have
one of those
off nights shooting from three-point
range outside shots if you're able to
make them shoot outside which is not
easy
but if they are going to get knocked off
in the tournament i think it'll be
because a team is able to do that
you