CHAPEL HILL — Good stuff – no, great stuff – here from Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com. Goodman recently visited Chapel Hill and spent some time with Dexter Strickland, the North Carolina senior guard.

The pair talked about Strickland’s injury last season, about how things might have been different had he remained healthy. And, oh yes, the topic of N.C. State came up. The Wolfpack, after all, were picked to win the ACC for the first time since coming off their national championship season in 1974.

But Strickland isn’t exactly buying the N.C. State hype.

“They talk those guys up every single year and we beat them every single year,” Strickland told Goodman. “They are the least of our worries. Beat us one year and then they can talk smack. Until then, you can't put them in the mix.”

That right there is awesome, folks, and exactly the kind of thing that should make this season so fun to cover and watch. And it’s not like Strickland is wrong, either. The Pack was receiving some positive buzz before each of their three games against the Tar Heels a season ago, and UNC won all three – two of them convincingly.

Overall, UNC has defeated N.C. State 13 consecutive times and in 19 of the past 20 meetings.

Jan. 26 can’t get here soon enough.