It looks like we may be getting past the down years in the Duke-North Carolina rivalry.
For the first time this decade, the Blue Devils and Tar Heels will both be top-10 teams when they face each other on Saturday night at the Dean Dome in Chapel Hill. The last time both teams had single-digit numbers next to their names was the 2019 ACC Tournament, when No. 5 Duke beat No. 3 Carolina, 74-73.
That game was Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett against Luke Maye and Cam Johnson. It seemed like the rivalry was at its peak. The first clash of the two teams that season attracted Barack Obama and Spike Lee in what became the exploding shoe game. There were two Hall of Fame coaches on the sidelines and a total of three top-10 matchups — two of them top-five — in a 23-day stretch.
Little did we know that the rivalry was about to enter the doldrums. The start of the 2020s would see both teams have their worst season in a generation, each school hand the keys to the program over to rookie coaches and, over the next nine Duke-Carolina games, only four times would even one team be ranked in the top 10.
By the time both teams found their way back at the same time, Barrett would be playing ball back home in Canada, Williamson would have missed more games than he played (something also true during those 23 days in 2019) and Maye would be best known as Drake’s brother.
That’s not to say that the rivalry slipped off the sports world’s radar. There were some memorable moments over the nine games in the 2020s: There was Tre Jones’ missed free throw and the miracle comeback and overtime win for Duke at the Dean Dome in 2020, Carolina pulling out a comeback win in front of just about all of Coach K’s former players in his final game at Cameron in 2022, and, of course, the Final Four showdown in New Orleans.
The nine games also featured 43 ties, 54 lead changes and a sense of desperation not seen in any other sports rivalry. And that was during a slump.
After all, of the 18 teams that lined up for the tip in those games, 13 had the (NR) next to their name for “not ranked.” That’s the same number of (NR)s in the previous two decades — eight in the 2000s, five in the 2010s — combined. From 1980 to 1999, an era spanning the start of Coach K’s tenure and the end of Dean Smith’s, there was a total of 15 unranked teams participating in the 49 games.
That’s the price of being in the best rivalry in organized sports — the bar has been set so high that even a five-year stretch that most people who lived through it would call unforgettable just doesn’t quite measure up to history. And this year, with the loss of two of the biggest names in the annals of Duke-Carolina — Eric Montross, who spilled blood in 1992 and then returned to the floor after getting stitched up in the locker room; and Walter Davis, whose buzzer-beater capped the “eight points in 17 seconds” comeback in 1974 — the rivalry is more in need of a reboot than ever.
All of which brings us to Saturday. Duke has won 11 of 12. Carolina had won 10 straight before losing Tuesday at Georgia Tech. The Heels are No. 3 in the nation. The Blue Devils are No. 7.
One team has a big man who is among the best in the nation. So does the other. One team has a senior guard who is the team’s heart and soul as well as its closer. So does the other.
The game will feature last year’s ACC Player of the Year — Duke 7-footer Kyle Filipowski — and the odds-on favorite to win this year’s award — UNC’s RJ Davis. We also stand a good chance of seeing the ACC Freshman of the Year. UNC point guard Elliot Cadeau and Duke sharpshooter Jared McCain are two of the top candidates as well as key reasons behind their respective team’s success.
There are also X-factors aplenty, from Duke veteran big man Ryan Young, who always seems to make the hustle plays at key times in the game, Mark Mitchell, an enigmatic talent who appears to be putting things together in his sophomore year, and Tyrese Proctor, who is rebounding from an ankle injury that slowed his progress toward becoming one of college’s best playmakers, to UNC’s trio of transfer impact players — Swiss Army knife Harrison Ingram, shooter Cormac Ryan and defensive force in the paint Jae’Lyn Withers. There’s also Seth Trimble, who coach Hubert Davis has called the best defender on a team that has shut everyone down in recent weeks.
They have stars, depth, veterans and phenoms, as well as the top two records in the ACC. Just as importantly, they have two slightly different shades of blue and arenas that are separated by a $12 Uber ride.
Even when the rivalry is in a downturn, those two factors make it great.
It’s that time again. Buckle up.
