UNC had strung together three straight wins after returning from out west against Notre Dame, Virginia, and Georgia Tech and it looked like the Heels had turned the page from a rough patch in their season.

With Syracuse coming in, last night, and that being the last "dress rehearsal" before Duke on Saturday, what was a real point of interest was seeing if UNC for a second straight game could really put an inferior team away. It was also answering the question of which of these two recent stretches is the real UNC?

Syracuse has not quite had the season they wanted with a top ten recruiting class coming in this year. Hubert Davis made it very clear ahead of Georgia Tech that UNC was not even thinking about it being a "trap game". I believe him on that and UNC played like it. They did that again against the Orange, last night, in what would be an 87-77 win.

It could be very easy for a college team to be looking ahead to a matchup with Duke especially in the shoes of UNC with that being one of the most storied rivalries in sports. It also shows some real maturity with this Carolina team

Hubert Davis, after the game, when he was asked if he thought a reason Syracuse was able to cut a 32 point deficit down to 6 was because the team was looking ahead to Duke, he strongly disagreed. He added that he has not mentioned who they are playing Saturday one time and that he strongly emphasizes looking "straight ahead" at whoever the current opponent is.

Duke has established itself as the standard in the ACC. However, when UNC is clicking the way they can, they can play with anybody. When Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesaar are each getting theirs, UNC gets good guard play, and the bench, specifically Luka Bogavac and Jarin Stevenson, are hitting, that's when the Tar Heels are at their best.

UNC could not be surging at a better time. Duke, on the other side, is also red hot though. One thing's for sure, Caleb Wilson vs. Cam Boozer round one is sure to be must-see.