OPINION

By Mike DeCourcy

updated 3:13 a.m. ET Dec. 5, 2008

Mike DeCourcy

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - What are you doing Feb. 11? Shopping for Valentine's Day? Recovering from Ground Hog Day? Admit it. Your Blackberry shows that date as wide open. It looks like any other bleak mid-winter day, too long after Christmas for visions of sugar plums, too far from springtime to daydream about hitting the first tee.

Well, here's an entry you might want to mark down:

9 p.m.: North Carolina at Duke, Cameron Indoor Stadium, ESPN.

February should seem a little brighter now.

What Duke demonstrated Tuesday night is that this season is not going to be over as quickly as a lot of people were starting to believe. A team does not go into a venue has harsh as Mackey Arena and play a team as capable as Purdue under a spotlight as hot as the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and depart with a 16-point victory — 76-60 — if it is not serious about playing championship basketball. Duke may not be on North Carolina's level, but we all can afford to wait a couple months before jumping to that conclusion. No one has been closer than the Blue Devils to the epicenter of North Carolina's early brilliance and the reaction to those performances. But you don't have to be eight miles up the highway to have caught been caught up in the euphoria.

Twice in the past week, I've gotten texts from high-level basketball figures that simply stated: UNC ... Wow! Those notes came from two people with different jobs living in different parts of the country, both of those gentlemen reaching the conclusion that North Carolina's performance through the season's first few weeks was breathtaking. And that was before the Tar Heels defeated Michigan State by 35. It's quite possible there is no one that can compete with the Heels.

If there are any, then one was wearing blue uniforms Tuesday night and kicking Purdue on the boards, 49-29. Duke aimed nearly all its defense at Boilermakers stars Robbie Hummel and E'Twaun Moore, and during the 30 minutes when the game was being decided those two shot 3-of-14 from the field. That each finished with double-figure scoring totals is a credit to their fortitude, but they were empty numbers.

"We played well against a really good team," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "It made us feel good. We thought we could play well on the road, but until you do, you don't know. It gives us a certain confidence level. I thought our preparation for this was really good. I think that's something our team can learn from."

A year ago, a lesser Duke team took North Carolina to the final day of the ACC regular season before the Tar Heels claimed the title with a road win at Cameron. It's obvious North Carolina has improved since then, but there can be no doubt that the Blue Devils' advances have been profound.

This Duke is deeper. Krzyzewski regularly employs nine players in his rotation, and he is bringing two seniors (guard Greg Paulus and forward David McClure) and one junior (big man Lance Thomas) off the bench.

This Duke is bigger. Thomas and center Brian Zoubek combined for 9 points and 13 rebounds in 33 minutes against Purdue. Last year's undersized team was only 0.1 better on the boards than its opponents.

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This Duke is vastly improved on defense. Purdue shot 22-of-59 from the field and never found an answer for Duke's aggressive defensive gameplan. "You have to attack Duke. You have to match fire with fire," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "We did not match their intensity."

This Duke is experienced. "For us, I think, especially early in the season to get a test on the road — I think this team was ready to do that," guard Jon Scheyer said.

The Blue Devils have 68 days to get ready for North Carolina. They'll probably need every minute, but it appears they'll put that time to good use.

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