“Say something. Anything. Just do the very thing that made him famous. But Dick Vitale couldn’t. Tears welled up in his eyes as he imagined his beloved career crashing to an end. Then the doctor suggested he count to 10. And with the simplest of words, Vitale heard his own voice again for the first time in weeks.”

I couldn’t believe it either, but the loud and energetic Dickie V went nearly a month (Dec. 18 - Jan. 13) in silence.  And Wednesday night, Vitale will return to courtside where he will call his first game in over two months.

After suffering through many a game last season being hoarse and with a sore throat that would never go away, Vitale went to several doctors who told him wrong (only acid reflux they said) before a doctor found ulcers on one of his vocal cords.

It was later determined the ulcers were not cancerous, and they commenced with throat surgery.

After missing two months of commentating college basketball (after not having missed an assignment in his 28 years with ESPN) and being speechless for a month, having to scribble messages on a sheet of paper to communicate with even his wife, Vitale is undoubtedly excited to return to his courtside seat.

What game would Vitale happen to return for? None other than a top 5 matchup between the biggest rivals in men’s basketball — the #2 Duke Blue Devils & #3 North Carolina Tar Heels.

Two of the four winningest programs in men’s basketball history are separated in the polls by just 18 points in the ESPN/USA Today poll and just 8 miles on the highway will meet at Chapel Hill at 9 PM EST.

Duke (19-1) comes into the game with a nine-game winning streak since a one point overtime loss to Pittsburgh before Christmas. The Dukies (7-0) also have a one-game advantage in the ACC standings over North Carolina (6-1), a deficit UNC could erase with a victory.

North Carolina (21-1) enters coming off an overtime victory over Florida State. Four minutes into the game, the Tar Heels lost starting point guard Ty Lawson to an ankle injury, and coach Roy Williams isn’t optimistic of Lawson playing against Duke.

With backup point guard Bobby Frasor already out for the season with a knee injury, the duties could fall to third string point Quentin Thomas or starter Marcus Ginyard, who has been utilized as a point guard some since Frasor’s injury. However, Ginyard is battling turf toe issues.

If Lawson is unable to play, UNC will be a different team. He is the catalyst of the Heels run-and-gun-and-have-some-fun offense that is ranked second in the nation at 91 points per game. Without Lawson, this isn’t the same #2 versus #3 matchup, but then again it is still the same UNC/Duke rivalry where anything could happen.

Regardless of the outcome, it is a great matchup for Vitale to return to, and it should be interesting to see how he reacts to the first uber-exciting play.

Shotgun Spratling

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