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| Is there any better venue in sports? Credit: Gerry Broome AP |
The best rivalries in sports are at the collegiate
level. This really isn’t debatable.
Watching Roger Clemens don the pinstripes and call Fenway home makes him the
living embodiment of the fatal flaw of pro rivalries. Rasheed Sulaimon not
withstanding, Charles Woodson would never wear the Scarlet and Gray. There is
no chance that Adrian Peterson would ever throw up the Horns. The idea of
Marcus Allen as a Bruin is physically nauseating. But among those collegiate
rivalries one stands above the rest—Carolina vs Duke Basketball is the pinnacle
of contentious competition.
To have a great rivalry, it is necessary to have
success. Loads of rivalries flutter out
because one of the teams loses its competitive edge. UNC and Duke have combined for 48 regular
season ACC titles and 36 ACC tournament
titles—both are more than the rest of the ACC combined. Over the last 25 seasons, they have each
reached the Final Four on nine occasions and have combined for eight national
championships. Not to mention the
numerous star players both teams have
featured on the college and pro levels.
This particular rivalry has the added bonus of proximity,
something that most college rivalries don’t have; and certainly not this sort
of proximity. Eight miles separate the
Duke University and the University of North Carolina. But more than just mere distance, the culture
and feel of the schools helps add to the flavor of the angst. Duke and its
snooty, pretentious, refined, quasi Ivy League private school is the perfect
foil for the hard-working, salt-of-the-earth, unassuming public
university-attending UNC students.
This Saturday, the rivalry gets renewed. UNC is currently leading the ACC and both are
ranked in the top 20 in the AP poll. As usual, the two teams will be locked in
the last contest of the ACC regular season.
Not only rankings and seedings are on the line, but with Duke having won
the last four contests, the Tar Heels will be looking to avenge a stunning and
heartbreaking loss they suffered at home.
There is no more hectic and electric environment in all of college
sports than Cameron Indoor Stadium when the Carolina Blue squad saunters in for
a battle.
The last game was an instant classic. After controlling the
game for most of the contest with its inside presence, Brice Johnson was
completely ineffective on the offensive end of the floor after dominating the
first 3 quarters of it. Coach Roy Williams heard plenty of criticism from the
peanut gallery after refusing to call a timeout on the final possession for
Carolina that ultimately resulted in a poor shot and mindless scramble drill. The pressure on the coach has ratcheted up as
Duke has continued to stockpile championships and lottery picks. In this rivalry, there is no such thing as a
moral victory or “good enough”. Iron
sharpens iron and each programs’ success acts as a catalyst for the other’s.
It is easy to be cynical in sports. This rivalry offers a nice reprieve to sit
back and enjoy one of the purest, most fun spectacles in all of sports. Enjoy
watching two storied programs strap it up and get back after it. They meet at
least twice a year, but it is always an event to be savored.
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