Duke-Louisville: Let The Mind Games Commence

It’s pretty clear that Duke has caught the imagination of the basketball world. When LeBron James shows up - we’re pretty sure he didn’t go to Charlottesville to see Virginia’s scintillating offense - something big is going on. Everyone wants to see Zion OMG Williamson, RJ Barrett, Tre Jones, Cam Reddish and, well, what we’ve taken to calling The Show.

Fair enough. It’s pretty amazing to watch, especially when it hits high gear.

However, while Louisville may be wary of the Blue Devils, they may have paid attention when RJ Barrett said this after the Virginia win: “We love road games. That’s why we wear black—[because] it’s their funeral.”

Well they won’t be wearing black Tuesday night: Louisville is going to take the funereal color away from the Blue Devils and wear it themselves.

Duke will (most likely) wear home whites.

We’re not sure if the blackout (fans are asked to wear black too) was planned before or after Barrett’s comments but it may not matter. Coach K has long been a motivational genius and this team seems to be able to motivate itself pretty well regardless. It won’t surprise us if they take it as a slight whether it was intended as such or not.