“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” — William Faulkner

Whatever you took away from Duke’s 63-57 win over North Carolina on Saturday night, 1 thing is for certain: Faulkner remains right.

The past is never dead. It’s not even past.

Consider the way Caleb Love was roundly booed by the Cameron Crazies on every touch in the opening half. Do you think they’ve let “The Shot” go just because it is a new season? Consider the way Jon Scheyer and his staff celebrated, lingering on their home floor a bit longer than usual, thanking fans and shaking hands.

Do you think Scheyer has put his mentor Mike Krzyzewski’s final game in the rearview?

Saturday might have been Game 1, AK (After Krzyzewski) for the best rivalry in college basketball, but nothing about the Coach K years is in the past any more than what happened under Dean Smith is “in the past.” There are signs everywhere, from the head coaches who played for Coach K and Dean to the ESPN analyst on the call (Jay Bilas, of course), to the game’s hero (Jeremy Roach, who was on the floor in the Final Four when Love hit “The Shot”).

Roach was a big reason Duke won, of course, but the bigger reason, both physically and statistically, was Dereck Lively II, whose splendid defense on Armando Bacot was tone-setting. Lively blocked 8 shots — a patently absurd number — and hauled in a game-high 14 rebounds. But it was the fact that Bacot, a surefire All-American, went 0-for-6 with Lively guarding him (and 6-for-6 with other Blue Devils guarding him) that won the game for Duke.

Lively’s 34 minutes were a career high and a reminder that the prize jewel on paper in Scheyer’s 1st recruiting class can still be the prize jewel on the court, too. It’s just taking longer than anticipated. Prior to Saturday’s win over Carolina, Lively’s previous game highs were 24 minutes (at Georgia Tech), 10 rebounds and 5 blocks (vs. Miami).

As a result, Lively had gone from lottery pick to late 1st-round pick, per ESPN draft expert Jonathan Givony. Thanks to the surprising readiness of Kyle Filipowski, another 5-star, Duke had not been hurt terribly by Lively’s lack of readiness. But it doesn’t mean he wasn’t “missed.”

To say Saturday was unexpected for Lively is underselling it.

He had struggled for minutes until earlier this month. He had not played an MVP-caliber game at the collegiate level. That he chose this stage, this rivalry, to put it all together?

Astounding.

The 8 blocks were a record for a Duke player against UNC and while Lively scored just 4 points, 1 bucket was a putback with 95 seconds to play that put the Blue Devils ahead for good.

“At the start of the season, I was a little shocked by the physicality of college basketball, but you’ve just got to learn,” Lively said after the win. “You’ve got to hit first before you get hit.”

On Saturday, Lively took all the contact, banging with Bacot for much of the Carolina big’s 34 minutes. In the end, it was his defense that made the difference.

With Lively playing well — he was 1 of a few bright spots in Monday night’s loss at Miami as well, posting 11 points, 6 rebounds and 5 blocks — the ceiling for Duke changes. Yes, the Blue Devils need to figure out how to win on the road.

But let’s not punish them too much for a loss to Miami in Coral Gables, especially 1 during a quick Saturday-Monday turnaround. Let’s see what happens over the next month, as Lively continues to play more, Dariq Whitehead likely returns and Duke readies for that March moment when those star-studded freshmen suddenly don’t seem to play like freshmen anymore.

Is Miami “Final Four good?”

The Hurricanes sure looked Final Four good in decimating Duke, 81-59, on Monday night.

The game was never close. Miami jumped out to a 10-1 lead and by the time Jon Scheyer called timeout to wake his young team up with 17:43 to go in the 1st half, the game was already too far gone for Duke to recover. The closest the Blue Devils would get would be 8 points, at 15-7. That’s how comprehensive a win this was for The U.

Is this roster Final Four good?

The guards certainly are. Miami has more guards than Everglades Correctional and the top 2, Isaiah Wong and Nijel Pack, are of the All-American discussion variety. Pack and Wong weren’t good Monday night, shooting a collective 6 of 20 from the floor and 1 of 3 from deep, and Miami won by 22 points anyway. That’s how good Miami’s supporting cast around them can be.

There’s also a thought going around that Miami is “too small.” But Norchad Omier was the best big on the floor Monday night, scoring 17 points, adding 10 rebounds, blocking a shot and picking up 2 steals.

The big man now has 11 double-doubles, giving Miami the balance that last season’s Elite 8 team lacked, especially in the regional final loss to eventual national champion Kansas.

Jim Larrañaga has won about all there is to win. He’s won AP National Coach of the Year and the Naismith Coach of the Year award at Miami. He’s taken George Mason to the Final Four. He’s won 3 different conference tournaments (Colonial, MAC and ACC). He’s won nearly 60% of the games he’s ever coached at the collegiate level.

Is this his best team?

Larrañaga would argue that, at least right now, it is still the 2013 team, which won the ACC regular-season title and the ACC Tournament, and then advanced to the Sweet 16. That team was also rated higher than this team in KenPom, thanks largely to better defensive metrics. But this team is starting to show signs of growth in that area.

Just 3 weeks ago, we wondered if the inability to guard was this Miami team’s fatal flaw.

Larrañaga has addressed that by packing the defense in a bit more, protecting gaps to seal penetration and helping Omier by firing the post with double teams. The results Monday night were phenomenal. Duke star Kyle Filipowski was 4 of 12 from the field, and the Blue Devils’ Ty Proctor and Jeremy Roach, masters at attacking the bucket, were a combined 4 of 13 from the field. Duke scored just .86 per possession and much of that was in garbage time, which started very early in Coral Gables.

Miami is 13-0 at home and won at Clemson, which was previously unbeaten at home, last weekend. Larrañaga’s team is playing its best basketball, and with a win over Virginia in hand and no rematch on tap, it needs only 1 more Clemson loss to control its own destiny in the ACC regular-season title race.

If you can win a league as deep as the ACC, you can make a Final Four.

Bubble Games to watch

The ACC has a host of teams on the NCAA Tournament bubble, including Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, preseason No. 1 North Carolina and league leader Clemson. Here are the games that will impact the bubble picture in the ACC this week (all times are Eastern):

Wednesday, Feb. 8 — Boston College at Virginia Tech (7 p.m., ACC Network): The Hokies have been outstanding at home this season. But a loss to the Eagles would all but eliminate Virginia Tech from at-large consideration. At 4-8 in the ACC already, Mike Young’s team has underachieved and has little margin for error. The Eagles beat league leader Clemson last week and can really defend.

Saturday, Feb. 11 — Clemson at North Carolina (2 p.m., ESPN2): Not many years ago, it would have been preposterous to think Clemson could win in Chapel Hill. It just didn’t happen. Now, the Tigers are in 1st place in the ACC and North Carolina has just 1 Quad 1 win and finds itself on the bubble. This game will be a huge feather in the cap of either team, though from an at-large bid perspective it matters more to the Tar Heels than the Tigers. The battle between PJ Hall and Armando Bacot down low will be appointment television.

Saturday, Feb. 11 — Georgia Tech at Wake Forest (5 p.m., ACC Network): The Demon Deacons still harbor NCAA Tournament dreams, but they can’t afford to keep dropping games at Joel Coliseum. Losing back-to-back games to ranked Clemson and Virginia teams last month hurt; losing to a bad Georgia Tech team would be disqualifying.

Monday, Feb. 13 — No. 19 Miami at North Carolina (7 p.m., ESPN): The Tar Heels close a brutal week-long stretch that includes 3 games against NCAA Tournament-caliber teams with a Saturday-Monday turnaround affair against the Hurricanes. A win would give either team a Quad 1 victory. The Tar Heels can’t afford to squander too many more of these chances if they want to stay on the right side of the bubble. The guard battles between Isaiah Wong, Nijel Pack, RJ Davis and Caleb Love should be sensational.