Player of the Year Candidates Set to Explode Again in Duke-Notre Dame Rematch

You again?

For the second time in a span of 10 days, two of the leading candidates for college basketball's Wooden Award will lead their teams into battle as Jahlil Okafor and the No. 4 Duke Blue Devils host Jerian Grant and the No. 10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Saturday.

If the second round is anything like the first, we'll be treated to an uptempo, high-scoring affair worthy of an extensive highlight reel.

Let's make one thing clear up front: This should not be viewed as a head-to-head battle between Grant and Okafor. There might not be a single possession in which one is guarding the other, so to think of this as a joust in which one man wins and one man loses would be silly.

Rather, this is more of a bodybuilding competition designed for both Grant and Okafor to flex their muscles and strut their stuff, as each will be facing a defense that really allows him to shine.

After the first game, ESPN's Dana O'Neil had an intriguing take on the awards these two studs should win (Okafor is the implied National Player of the Year front-runner):

Grant has had a remarkable college career. When all is said and done, the senior lead guard is going to amass roughly 1,750 points, 700 assists, 350 rebounds and 175 steals. Those aren't quite Shabazz Napier numbers, but if Grant hadn't been ruled academically ineligible for more than half of last season, his career totals would likely be pretty comparable to Napier's.

Out of more than 100 games in a very good career, though, it's not hard to argue that Grant's best performance came last Wednesday against Duke.

Grant either scored or assisted on 21 of Notre Dame's 29 field goals, finishing the night with 23 points, 12 assists, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks, including a crucial block of a Quinn Cook layup attempt in the final 20 seconds of a four-point game.

It was one of those magical nights where even ridiculous circus shots were falling, like this late-in-the-shot-clock dagger captured in a Vine by Matt Norlander of CBSSports.com:

That individual shot might have been a fluke, but his outstanding game against Duke was not.

As noted near the end of last week's preview of the game between Duke and Virginia, the Blue Devils have a knack for bringing out the best in opposing lead guards. Add to that list the 16-point effort by Georgia Tech's Chris Bolden on Wednesday. It was Bolden's highest-scoring night in 54 games since March 2013.

A few weeks ago, Miami egregiously exposed Duke as a defense that struggles with ball screens on the perimeter, and Notre Dame might run more pick-and-rolls than any team in the country.

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

"It's a simple formula," Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey told Rob Dauster of NBCSports.com. "We want some initial movement and eventually a ball-screen for Jerian."

Facing Duke was a match made in heaven for Grant, and we somehow doubt that has changed in 10 days. Another 23 points and 12 assists might be a bit much to expect, but there's no good reason for him to tally less than his season averages of 17.3 points and 6.4 assists per game.

But Grant isn't the only one with a perfect pairing in this game.

Okafor had 22 points and 17 rebounds in the first game against Notre Dame's one-on-one coverage. And really, he should have had at least another 10 points. He missed five free throws and had several relatively uncontested layups and finger rolls simply refuse to go through the hoop.

The Fighting Irish had no answer for him whatsoever.

For a stretch of 4.5 minutes near the end of the game, Duke exclusively ran its offense through the big man. During that window, Okafor attempted three field goals and five free throws. No other Blue Devil even tried to put the ball through the hoop.

It was the type of game plan we have long begged to see more often.

If there's a play or player the defense cannot stop, why would you try anything else until the opposing team finds a way to slow it down?

Okafor attempted 18 field goals in the first game, but he might as well take 38 shots in this one if Notre Dame is going to try to defend the best 6'11" player in the country with a 6'5" freshman again. Bonzie Colson had a couple of respectable defensive stops in the game, but he also routinely looked helpless, like he was in this Vine captured by Dauster:

What will be interesting to see in this game is whether Notre Dame learned anything from Virginia's defensive scheme against Okafor.

As Sam Vecenie broke down for CBSSports.com earlier this week, Virginia did an extremely effective job of holding Okafor in check (10 points on just seven field-goal attempts). The Wahoos kept him from catching entry passes within eight feet of the hoop and immediately double-teamed him when he did touch the ball.

The problem, though, is that Virginia is quite possibly the most disciplined team in the country when it comes to help defense, and Okafor's court vision is more than good enough to tear the Fighting Irish to shreds if they aren't properly rotating to accommodate the double-team.

Because that type of defensive movement isn't Notre Dame's forte, Okafor was blessed with dozens of one-on-one opportunities in the first game and figures to get more of the same Saturday as Notre Dame more or less just plans on outscoring Okafor in lieu of stopping him.

So, who wins the game?

If both Okafor and Grant have a field day—which they should—it makes for a great entry on each of their Player of the Year resumes, but it also means they effectively negate each other.

USA TODAY Sports

The outcome of the game will likely be determined by the other individual matchups, and Justise Winslow versus Pat Connaughton figures to be the biggest of those.

Slowing down Connaughton—a 44.4 percent three-point shooter who averages 8.2 rebounds per game—has been nearly impossible for most teams, but a three-guard lineup with Winslow at power forward just might be the perfect foil.

That's especially true now that Winslow is playing as well as he was in the first two weeks of the season.

In the game prior to the last pairing between these two teams, Winslow played 10 minutes with one rebound and no points against St. John's. It was the lowest point of this season. But this time he's on fire, tallying 30 points and 21 rebounds over his last two games.

This Winslow—the one who can shoot like a guard, defend like a small forward and rebound like a power forward—could really swing the game in Duke's favor.

But don't worry about the final score. Both of these teams will earn high seeds in the tournament, and it's unlikely that either one will catch Virginia to win the ACC regardless of who wins or loses.

Instead, view this Saturday as a chance to watch two of the best players in the country go to work against defenses that aren't very well equipped to stop them.

With that perspective, everyone wins.

Kerry Miller covers college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @kerrancejames.