After a relatively easy first half, Virginia Tech decided to make a game of it in the second and really gave Duke all they had.

Here’s this week’s edition of DBR Radio with guests “The Playcaller” and DBR poster Jason Evans.  Carlos is on hand, but Julio wasn’t around for this week’s broadcast. He’ll be back next week. Check out why the Playcaller thinks the screen on Nolan Smith was illegal.

For Maryland, the Duke game was huge. It’s no less important for Virginia Tech.

Seth Davis has a lot of interesting things in this colum, but to us the two most interesting items are 1) his endorsement of Jeff Capel for national coach of the year, and 2) the comments from an NBA scout about Greivis Vasquez’s future and the quality of UNC’s defense:

Three big games in the ACC Saturday: Tech travels up to Chapel Hill, Clemson rumbles with FSU in Tallahassee, and Maryland takes on State in Raleigh.

We took a pass on ridiculing Jim Calhoun over his recent dust-up with a reporter because, let’s face it, it’s not the first time he’s made an ass of himself.

Before the season some wondered if North Carolina could go through its ACC schedule without a loss, a feat accomplished only once since the league went to a 16-game regular season. That was by Duke in 1999.

Obviously the big news is Nolan Smith’s status after the Maryland game. As you no doubt have heard, he suffered a concussion and is sidelined for the moment. It’s not clear how long he’ll be out. We’d be interested to hear from someone with medical training who might offer an informed opinion.

In Thursday night’s ACC action, State bowed to Wake Forest, 85-78, and Miami outlasted Virginia, 62-55.

For those of you who love keeping up with Duke players in the NBA, here’s a quick way to keep track. The widgets may or may not work in your browser, but if you click on the names, that’ll take you to their NBA pages with stats galore. Enjoy!