Four teams take different paths along Tobacco Road

— -- They came to the land of the blue, two stubborn packs of red-clad fan bases convinced they could leave a scorched-earth path on this 10-mile stretch of Tobacco Road.

The Maryland crew gathered on Tuesday night at Spanky's, a popular eatery at the corner of Franklin and Columbia streets in the heart of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. They hung out around the bar a few hours before tipoff, they bro-hugged as more of their brethren bellied on up, belting out a few, " Let's goooo, Maryland" chants when the spirit moved them.

"It's cute,'' one North Carolina patron whispered to another diner at a neighboring table. "They haven't been good in so long, they don't know how to act.''

A night later the Indiana faithful brazenly stood two rows deep on the baseline, candy-striped and right in the middle of the Cameron Crazies. The quartet had come from Chicago and Denver, scoring tickets thanks to Aaron Mitchell, a one-time IU-undergrad-turned-Duke-graduate student.

But unlike their fellow fanatics in red, they were more nervous than cocky. Indiana's meltdown in Maui, a horrific loss to Wake Forest followed by an even worse defeat at the hands of UNLV had left the Hoosier Nation uneasy at best, angry at worst.

"Oh I'm about to be boiling over if something big doesn't happen here,'' said Caleb Arnold, who grabbed a cheap flight out of Denver to make the game. "But that's true of every Indiana fan. We need a win, a signature win.''

Turns out neither Maryland nor Indiana got what they came for, the Terrapins leaving with an 89-81 loss to UNC, Indiana slinking back to Bloomington after a tail-between-the-legs 94-74 hurting from Duke.

But if 24 hours of Big Ten/ACC Challenge hoops deep in the heart of basketball bedlam can prove anything, it is that not all losses are created equal.

Four teams played 80 minutes of basketball. Three left feeling pretty good about themselves. Only two were victorious.

And one departed desperately reminding folks it is only Dec. 3.

Tuesday night

The line wrapped from the back of the building all the way to the front, stuffed with students anxious to claim their seats.

Their patience was rewarded with free T-shirts upon entry and, later, the presence of rapper J. Cole in the building.

Why was this game so big? Some of it, no doubt, was because of what was. There's no need to rehash it all. We all know by now. Maryland left the ACC to join the Big Ten, and yet another litany of long-standing rivalries died, leaving fate in the hands of the Big Ten/ACC scheduling gods who granted their faithful their wish.

But it was more than that, too. Were it not for a triumphant homecoming for  Marcus Paige gone awry -- Paige, with a broken wrist, was unable to play, and preseason No. 1 North Carolina, out of sorts, was unable to win at Northern Iowa -- this would have been the No. 1 team in the nation vs. No. 2, or worst case, No. 1 vs. No. 3. Instead, it was No. 2 (Maryland) vs. No. 9 (North Carolina).

"This is a big game for us,'' Maryland fan Mike DiMayo admitted before tipoff.

DiMayo and 10 of his buddies met in Chapel Hill. Some drove, others flew, all wished that the Terrapins would pass their first test.

North Carolina's loss to Northern Iowa stung, but the Tar Heels are still the Tar Heels. Plus the loss came with an asterisk: no Paige. Maryland, on the other hand, is more than a decade past its run of glory. The Terrapins had yet to lose before coming to Chapel Hill, one of the few Top 25 teams to hold serve. Yet their near-loss to Georgetown, and worse, their near-loss to Rider and struggles against Illinois State, left plenty of cynics questioning whether all of the hype for a Turtle Resurrection was merited.

And so in theory, North Carolina's win ought to signal the Tar Heels' return to form and the Terps' return to reality. Except that's only half right. North Carolina appears again to be the team we thought it was -- arguably the best in the country. Four players in double figures and 53 percent shooting. Nine made 3-pointers. An alley-oop, toss-back dunk. Fun basketball. Pretty basketball. A rotation that goes nine deep.

And most of all, a star.

His coach likes to call him "little rascal." Or simply "No. 5." A more apt description for Paige, though: difference-maker. His return changed everything for the Heels -- their energy and direction, their fluidity and confidence, and perhaps most of all, the expectations surrounding the team once again.

"I like my team,'' Roy Williams said. "But I like it a lot better with No. 5 in there.''

But what of Maryland? Coach Mark Turgeon isn't exactly the sort to enjoy moral victories. Yet there he sat, disappointed in defeat and yet somehow rejuvenated. His team hadn't played foolishly in those wins against Georgetown, Rider and Illinois State. It was worse. They had played lazily, uninspired and lacking the spunk that great teams all have.

Down 13 in the first half to North Carolina didn't seem terribly inspired, either. Down just three before the first TV timeout of the second half? That's a different story.

Maryland has issues still. Its defense needs a boost. Turgeon would like to develop a third guard. From where? Well, that's a good question. But the comeback effort in a crazed Dean Dome, a Maryland team fueled by Rasheed Sulaimon and Melo Trimble, left even the tough-to-satisfy Turgeon feeling good in defeat.

"I didn't love my team until tonight," he said. "I liked them, but I didn't love them.''

Wednesday night

His khaki pants neatly pressed, Jim Harbaugh sat two rows behind his brother-in-law's bench. This season, Harbaugh's Michigan football team ranked fourth in the FBS standings in total defense, allowing just 281.3 yards per game. The stingy Wolverines also gave up only 17.2 points per game.

Let's just say it's not a familial statistical trait.

To say Tom Crean's Hoosiers played matador defense against Duke would be insulting to the matador who at least on occasion gets close to the bull. The closest the Hoosiers got to a Blue Devil all night was when Max Bielfeldt inadvertently bumped Mike Krzyzewski while clearing the floor at the half.

The problem is simple and yet complex. It is not that Indiana doesn't want to defend. The Hoosiers try. They just can't. Crean tried everything -- man-to-man, zone, even junk defenses.

Nothing worked. The Hoosiers committed just nine turnovers, shot 50 percent ... and still lost by 20. That should be almost statistically impossible.

It will only fan the flames already simmering under Crean's chair. His Hoosiers were mauled in Maui, losing to Wake Forest and UNLV. Indiana has already tumbled out of the Top 25.

Now it is in danger of falling out of the public consciousness.

After the loss, Crean sounded the only refrain he could. Taking but three questions in his postgame news conference, he said, "It's Dec. 3. It's early in the season. We're going to continue to work hard and to get better. I think we will get better, and in time, learn from this and continue to improve in all aspects of the game.'''

And then: "It's Dec. 3. We're eight games in. I think we'll get better. That's the bottom line.''

Really, what else could he say? But what reason is there to believe it?

Minutes earlier, Krzyzewski sounded a similar, but altogether more believable tune. This is not a great Duke team. These freshmen aren't those freshmen. The Blue Devils are something of a defensive liability themselves. They don't really have a point guard.

But this also wasn't the same team that was manhandled by Kentucky three weeks ago.

"The last game against Utah State, we didn't play well but I thought we started to see everybody playing the whole game together,'' Krzyzewski said. "And this was a carryover to what we can do. It's learned. It's learned.''

Funny how two men can say almost the same thing but one comes with an air of desperation, the other an air of confidence.

Sort of like how four teams can play two games in 24 hours.

Two win, and yet only one seems to be headed down the wrong path.