Some quick thoughts before the No. 3 Duke Blue Devils take on the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes at 9:30 p.m. tonight at the Jerome Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio:

1. Pay attention to the crowd's dynamic. Ohio is my home state, and I can tell you that there are weirder things in the Buckeye State than the weather. In many ways, Ohio State is the polar opposite of an ACC school. Football is the end-all, be-all for Ohio State, and basketball is looked at as something that takes place in the time period without football. (It's the opposite for nearly every other school in Ohio. Cincinnati, Akron, Kent State and Ohio care more about hoops). The Buckeyes regularly have 90,000-plus fans in their football stadium, regardless of who they play. Basketball is a different endeavor. Last season, Ohio State and Purdue were both ranked in the AP Top 10 for a game in Columbus, and more than 2,000 tickets were available shortly before tip-off.

Also keep your eye on the crowd's balance. There are many, many people in Ohio who root for Duke and North Carolina. I know many people who root for Ohio State, or Michigan, or Notre Dame in football, and the Blue Devils or Tar Heels in basketball. (Why they don't root for the same school in everything, I have never come close to figuring out.) Trust me: There will be no shortage of blue in the crowd tonight.

2. Don't fret over Jared Sullinger. The Buckeyes' big guy is an absolute force who will assuredly play in the NBA, but if you're a Duke fan, he's not the one to worry about. The Devils have the frontcourt to keep Sullinger from going crazy. Instead, be afraid of Ohio State guard William Buford. At 6-foot-6, 220 pounds, Buford is at least two inches taller and 20 pounds heavier than every Duke guard. Buford possess the athleticism to cut like a small forward, but his jump shot is lethal. His mid-range and three-point game is as good as anyone in the country. He's averaging 17.7 points per game and shooting 50 percent from behind the arc.

Buford and I are from the same hometown (Toledo, Ohio), though he's a year younger than me in school. I can attest that he's had a killer jumper since he was 11. I watched plenty of times from the losing end of the stands while he was at Libbey High School.

3. November KOs. Duke has won 35 consecutive times in the month of November. They've lost only 10 times in the year's 11th month under Mike Krzyzewski. The last time Duke lost in November was to Marquette in 2006. That number wouldn't mean much if Duke were scheduling cupcakes, but they're regularly facing the best in the nation from the jump. Even the mid-major teams it plays (like Belmont and Davidson) aren't slouches. If the Devils win tonight, they'll have completed their fifth straight perfect November.