OK, forget classic. In fact, just forget this Duke-North Carolina ever happened.

The Blue Devils (20-4) may have walked away with a 64-54 and ended a three-game skid to UNC, but it'll go down as 2½ hours where neither team could hit a shot and viewers wondered if it was some kind of bizarro UNC-Duke game.

Hey, even the coachspeak afterward wasn't pretty.

"I thought it was a gritty performance," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. "The ball was not going in and they blocked a lot of shots. ... For us to keep up our defense and rebounding when the ball wasn't going in the basket was a big thing."

Coach K better hope those shots fall on Saturday when Maryland comes to town. As the best ACC game of the week, perhaps we'll be treated to a throwback showdown from the early 2000s when the Devils and Terps were both making Final Fours. We can only hope.

As for hope, the Tar Heels probably don't have any when it comes to defending their title. At 13-11 overall and 2-7 in ACC play, UNC's more than a longshot to reach the Big Dance. It has no shot. Sure, it could win the ACC tournament, but who's gonna believe that?

At least there's this: It can't get any worse for the Tar Heels, right?

Mike Miller's also on Twitter, usually talkin' hoops. Click here to see more.