When Duke travels to Charlottesville for tonight's contest, they are sure to face a hostile and emotional crowd in the new John Paul Jones Arena.  In fact, expect a much more vocal crowd than you saw on their trip to Atlanta.

The Hoo's are just as hot as the Blue Devils having won four straight games and they have victories over Gonzaga, Michigan State and Arizona to their credit, not to mention an identical conference record as Duke in ACC play, which is 5-2.

So, yes the only meeting they will have in the regular season is at Charlottesville and the word is that UVA is confident they can take Duke down.

If they are going to do so, tonight may be the perfect time to catch a Duke team that sports one junior and a bunch of freshman and sophomores.

Virginia starts with their super back court of All ACC player, Sean Singletary, who has openly stated that Duke will not be a problem and that they are very athletic.

His back court mate, J.R. Reynolds adds even more punch and the back court is the toughest Duke has faces since Marquette.

Te Hoo's have a deep, albeit young bench and Devil fans have to hope they do not have a Gonzaga like game, where nobody on the team could miss.  IOW,they can put some points on the board and this will be a test for the vaunted Duke defense.

A loss puts Duke in the middle of the pack, with the much talked about unbalanced schedule looming.  Yep, Duke gets Miami, Wake, State just one time and the heavyweights twice.

Duke must remain out of foul trouble and not let the crowd effect their play.  McRobert's will have to anchor the front line, and for that matter captains, Nelson and Paulus must have good games.

They must be aware that the Hoo guards penetrate and dish off quite often and that they must cover all pieces of an athletic team.

Duke hopes the freshman will handle the situation well.  Thomas showed his best play of the season and it would be nice to see Gerald Henderson break out in a similar way this evening.

I see another nail biter, which will keep fans from going to the facilities or the fridge too often.  One of those where you live on the edge of your seat.

Despite the moon aligning in what seems like a perfect time for an upset, I think the Devils will reach down and come away with a one point victory in a game that will likely go down to the last possession.

Duke and UVA prospect, Patrick Patterson will be watching the game with his family, so expect both teams to go all out for more than just the standings.  As for Singletary, he can talk the talk and walk the walk, but a good shift on defense may well be the deciding factor in a good old fashioned barn burner.

The Pick is Duke by1

The stats -

Duke Off vs. Virginia Def Virginia Off vs. Duke Def 69.7 Pts F 73.7 Pts A 47.5 FG% 41.1 FG% 34.5 Reb. 32.8 Reb. 81.2 Pts F 56.0 Pts A 45.1 FG% 38.9 FG% 32.8 Reb. 27.5 Reb.

-UVA comes in on a four game win streak. - Duke has won five straight conference games.

“The most pressure we will have faced all year defensively was at Clemson, and we were able to weather that storm,” said Singletary after Tuesday’s practice. “We know Duke is well-coached and defensive-minded, but they don’t have the athletes that Clemson does. We expect them to try to take us out of our offense, but we don’t think it will be as hard as Clemson.”

This writer talks about Lance Thomas and how important he is against Virginia.

Here is the local Charlottesville TV Station previewing this evenings game.

Kyle Singler had a monster game in another South Medford win.