Okay, Let’s Start Clearing The Decks For An Epic Saturday

So things are going to get interesting around Cameron for the next few days. Mike Krzyzewski is about to coach his last game at home, against UNC no less. Apparently about 80 former players will be back. Tickets are going for incredible sums. People are making the pilgrimage from all over the country and the entire place is going to be emotional and electric.

As much as all of us love Duke Basketball, and for many that love goes back decades, to the Foster era, the Bubas era, even the Dick Groat era in some cases.

Typically, but also wisely and correctly, Coach K is focusing his attention on the game and wants more attention there.

Good luck with that.

It’s going to be a combination of celebration and appreciation, with a large dose of melancholy tossed in.

Just face it: we’re all going to cry at some point, possibly even Krzyzewski himself, who has always kept his more personal emotions to himself.

But first things first. This is going to be a very emotional day and it’s entirely possible that that could blow up in our faces.

We need to keep a couple of things in mind. First, UNC is really improved since Duke gave them a severe beating in Chapel Hill. Second, they’re going to be heavily motivated to kill Duke after that beating. And third, you know they’d love to spoil not just Senior Day but they’d love to turn K-Day into D-Day.

In other words, they’re going to come in sky high and ready to pillage and plunder. We’ll talk about that more in our preview. And don't forget this either: the Tar Heels really need this win to buff up their not very impressive resume. A loss to Duke would just about do them in, barring a huge run in Brooklyn (prediction: if Duke wins, Coach K will say that UNC should be an NCAA team).

So as emotional as everyone is going to be, Duke fans, and especially you Crazies, need to focus on the task at hand, which is beating Carolina. Whether that’s by one point or the 20 point beating administered in Chapel Hill doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is getting that done. If we focus too much on it being K’s last game in Cameron, we’re going to screw up.

So we need to make it the usual raucous, carnival atmosphere it usually is, but more than ever.

• Why farewell isn’t goodbye for Duke’s Coach K when it comes to Cameron Indoor Stadium
• As new era began, Jim Ramsey remembers facing Duke in Coach K’s first game at Cameron
• Coach K vows to keep Cameron finale about his players, wants to ‘be in their moment’
• Cameron Crazy | Fans from all over spend, share and sacrifice to see Coach K’s last games
• Can Duke basketball establish a recruiting pipeline with Va. school?
• The love and loss driving Coach K’s final season
• Report: Duke asks to play in Chicago region of NCAA tournament, Mike Krzyzewski’s hometown