One of the best rivalries throughout college basketball will be showcased once again on Wednesday, February 9th at 9pm on ESPN nationwide. The North Carolina Tar Heels and the Duke Blue Devils will battle for the 213th time since 1920. North Carolina leads the all-time series 122-90. There are only eight short miles that separate Chapel Hill from Durham, the Dean Dome from Cameron Indoors, ACC’s good from evil. Only eight miles separate these warriors, only eight miles separate mutual hatred, and only eight miles separate victory from failure. The college basketball world will be watching closely as these two titans of the hard court meet in Durham, North Carolina for the first of two season match-ups. The history books tell us that Duke has 3 national championships and 12 Final Four appearances, most accomplished during Mike Krzyzewski’s reign. North Carolina has also 3 national titles but has 15 final four appearances, one national championship on Dean Smith’s watch. But fans will tell you to throw the stats and paper out the window because every game is just as important as the last.
After following this rivalry for over 10 years, and listening to accounts of great games in the past by elders, there are four games that stick out in my mind. Although trying to narrow down the focus from 212 games to just 4 seems impossible, even unfair, but I’ll try it anyway.
The first game that really exemplified the Duke-Carolina rivalry was without a doubt a regular season game in 1974 in which North Carolina defeated Duke in a double-overtime thriller by the score of 96-92. Some call this the “Miracle in Chapel Hill”. Down 86-78 with 17 seconds left, the Tar Heels rallied for a stunning 8-0 run to force the game into overtime. Walter Davis capped this amazing rally in regulation with a 35-foot bank shot at the buzzer.
The second game to consider was the 1984 ACC tournament semifinals when Coach Mike Krzyzewski, otherwise known as Coach K, made his mark known in the ACC. He led Duke to a 77-75 victory over the Tar Heels who featured superstars such as Michael Jordan, Brad Daugherty, Sam Perkins, Kenny Smith and Matt Doherty.
More recently, there was the 102-100, double-overtime Tar Heel win in Cameron. This game featured spectacular plays including an amazing reverse dunk by Jerry Stackhouse and a running one-hander by Duke’s Jeff Capel which forced the second overtime. Rasheed Wallace played with ice in his veins in this game, hitting 10 of 11 field goal attempts, with the majority of them in crunch time. The Tar Heels finally won it on a long jumper by Donald Williams and a steal and layup by Jeff McInnis.
To top off this 85 year old rivalry, there was Roy Williams’ first game in this exuberant environment. Williams led an undermanned and timid North Carolina team as they forced overtime and pushed the No.1 ranked Blue Devils against the ropes. With the final seconds winding down, and the score tied 81-81, Duke’s Chris Duhon went coast to coast and stomped out the Tar Heels with a last second layup. That was Duke’s fifth win at the Dean Dome in their last six tries, evidence of a weakened Carolina franchise but evidence of a Carolina franchise that was on the rise.
This year, the tables are turned a bit. North Carolina, experienced and with unbelievable depth, are ranked No. 2 in the land while the Blue Devils remain in the top 10 even with 2 recent losses, both in the ACC, sitting at No. 8. For the existence of this rivalry, while the names and faces all change, the feeling stays the same. North Carolina hates Duke and Duke hates North Carolina. That’s the way it has been, and forever will be. However, who will strike first blood in 2005? Will there be another buzzer beater? Who will be the hero? Those questions will have an answer in 48 hours, but for now, we can only wait and see.