DURHAM -- A few final thoughts and observations after Duke’s 61-58 victory over Virginia late Thursday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium:

1. The Plumlee brothers were critical in Duke’s win

After Virginia’s Mike Scott dominated the Blue Devils in the first half, Duke switched its defense and put Miles and Mason Plumlee on the Cavs’ forward. Both brothers tried to put a body on Scott at all times, and the result was that Scott only had seven points in the second half.

“The Plumlees, I thought, were the key to the game,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Their physicality and then our defense – we played much better defense on Scott in the second half. That was both Mason and Miles.”

After holding on against Georgia Tech on Saturday for an 81-74 victory, Duke’s next game is an interesting one.

The Blue Devils (13-2, 1-0) will host Virginia (14-1, 1-0) on Thursday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium (ESPN, 9 p.m.). While the Cavaliers didn’t have the most rigorous non-conference schedule in the country, Virginia did manage to beat Michigan, Oregon and LSU while losing only to TCU.

With its slower tempo, Virginialeads the conference in scoring defense, yielding 50.5 points per game. The Cavaliers are also in the top three in the conference in field-goal defense (38 percent) and 3-point percentage defense (27 percent).

Duke has found a new way to go global: By sending its basketball broadcast to China.

The university will broadcast its Jan. 15 men's basketball game against Virginia in Mandarin Chinese.

(Image courtesy theduckstop.net)

The free broadcast will be available both live and on-demand at GoDuke.com Inside Access, and marks the first time in ACC history that a game has been broadcast in Chinese, according to a Duke news release.

Duke undergraduate student announcers Yunze Chen, John Sheng and Jesse Sun will call the action live from inside Cameron Indoor Stadium at 2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time/. That's 3 a.m. China Standard Time, for those hearty souls hoping to tune in.

Duke is home to more than 1,000 current students, faculty and staff from China, and more than 600 Duke alumni live in China.

Duke’s presence in China includes executive MBA residencies, DukeEngage sites, study abroad opportunities, global health and medical research projects, and numerous faculty research and engagement programs. In 2010, Duke announced plans for a campus to be built in partnership with the city of Kunshan, China. The campus is currently under construction and expected to be completed in the summer of 2012.

“Given the university’s footprint in China, Duke Basketball’s international brand, and the popularity of coach Mike Krzyzewski overseas following the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, this is a logical and intriguing step to take,” said Jon Jackson, Duke’s associate director of athletics for university and public affairs. “We are excited to merge campus and athletics resources to deliver Duke Basketball to a much larger audience.”

As you may have read in today's paper, tuition bills are headed to public university students this week, and they may be a good bit larger than many anticipate.

That's thanks to a supplemental tuition hike signed off on just last week by UNC system President Erskine Bowles. University leaders are raising tuition very reluctantly, and say it's the sole source of revenue critical to the day-to-day academic operations of the campuses.

Though parents may not see it this way, the UNC system remains a good deal when compared with other public institutions. And it is that comparison that campus officials at UNC-Chapel Hill were trumpeting this week.

Speaking to campus trustees, Carolina Provost Bruce Carney pointed out that, even with a sizable increase, tuition and fees at UNC-CH this fall will be $6,665 for undergraduate North Carolinians.

Here's how that compares with the university's public peers. This is what many of the public institutions with which Carolina most often compares itself charges for their own in-state undergraduates.

• Virginia - $10,808
• Michigan - $11,837
• UCLA - $10,781
• Texas - $8,618
• Florida - $5,020
• Wisconsin - $9,050

"We remain a very competitive deal," Carney concluded. "We're still an incredible bargain."

It's good information and an interesting look at how costly comparable institutions can be. But does it matter to students and parents?

Here's the thing: Virginia's in-state tuition rate doesn't matter to a high school senior in North Carolina because he or she would pay the out-of-state rate to go to school in Charlottesville.

That's $33,774 annually, so if a North Carolinian was choosing between Carolina and Virginia and cost was a key in the decision, Chapel Hill would probably be the winning destination.

And those public peer institutions aren't necessarily the top competitors for the students also considering Carolina, said Stephen Farmer, UNC-CH's director of undergraduate admissions.

In fact, talented North Carolinians considering UNC often also consider several private institutions in North Carolina like Duke, Davidson and Wake Forest, Farmer said. Others, like N.C. State, Virginia, Appalachian State and UNC-Wilmington, are often in the mix as well.

Farmer doesn't expect Carolina's tuition hike to have a significant impact in terms of how many applications come across his desk.

"Tuition is so low for North Carolinians, we'd have to increase increase tuition a ton to really affect a kid's decision to apply or enroll," he said.

Up at the University of Virginia, 99 percent of students have laptops.

Thus, why have public computers? 

That's the thought process behind a gradual phasing-out of the public stations. 

There's more to it, of course. As the Chronicle of Higher Education reports here, Virginia will save some money by closing those computer labs.

Okay. This public university rivalry stuff is officially out of hand.

You may recall last week I wrote about a "flash" dance party some innovative UNC Chapel Hill students put together to break up the monotony of finals week. Yes, 700 students dancing to techno music in the middle of the library at midnight.

Click here to view that video and read an interview with one of the students who organized it.

So, the plot thickens. Up at the University of Virginia, someone was clearly inspired by UNC's goofy youtube stunt. Imitation, as they say, is the finest form of flattery. If you watch the video to the end, you'll see that the organizers actually credit UNC for the idea.

Enjoy.

I love a good online petition story, so here's another one.

Up at the University of Virginia, some enterprising students have come up with this genius idea: time off to vote on Election Day.

Crazy, you say? Well, an online petition there has more than 2,700 signatures and this very convincing plea:

 "By expressing an understanding of the students' desire to part take in this election, the administration and faculty of UVA will be sending a message indicating the significance of students' actively participating in the electoral process. We do not wish to undermine the importance of attending classes; however, we are in fact acknowledging through formal means the necessity of requesting leniency towards students missing attending classes in the name of our civic duties."

I'm no expert in the electoral processes of county voting boards in Virginia, but here in North Carolina, voting seems pretty easy to me. There's the early voting option, going on now. Many campuses have polling sites for students, and for those who vote off campus, student governments often arrange free shuttle to and from the polls.

And I suppose public university students, particularly those that draw heavily from their own communities, may have a better argument than private colleges who students come from all over.

"I don't know how successful having a day off would be," said Jordan Giordano, Duke's student body president and a native of New Jersey. "So many students here are registered at home or vote early."

There is no campus push similar to the one going on at UVA at either Duke or UNC Chapel Hill. 

There is some Virginia precedent for the UVA idea. At the Rev. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, classes are cancelled on Election Day.  

Election Day is Nov. 4.