Duke-Carolina: Both Want It, but Only One Can Have It

I saw my first Carolina-Duke basketball game in person on Feb. 4, 1961. I was 12 years old, and it’s still one of the most exciting and memorable games that I’ve ever seen. I got to go with my Dad, his friend Dr. Horne and his son, Steve. It’s just one those things in your life you don’t forget.

It was electric. It was Frank McGuire and Vic Bubas, York Larese, Doug Moe and Art Heyman. The Indoor Stadium rocked that night, just like it rocks these many years later.

It was the night of the famous fight involving UNC’S Larry Brown and Donnie Walsh and Duke’s Heyman, the brawl that cleared both benches with the Duke students pouring on to the court. I can still see Doug Moe at mid-court taking on all comers.

It was Duke-Carolina at its fiercest.

Forty-six years later, the rivalry is still fierce—the hottest in college basketball. Not just in the state of North Carolina but across the nation. It is Duke-Carolina and it means so much to so many. This game has made and ruined many a good person’s day.

Since 1999, Duke has dominated the series and the ACC. The Blue Devils have won seven of the last eight ACC championships and 16 of the last 20 from the Tar Heels. Despite UNC’S national championship in 2005, Duke still remains the ACC benchmark, and that does irk the Tar Heel faithful. Duke took it from them and they want it back.

Carolina fans believe the series is about to change. UNC comes into Wednesday’s game at Cameron Indoor Stadium ranked fifth in the country while Duke is 16th. Tar Heel fans think the tide is turning in their favor. They’ve been waiting for this one.

Both teams are young, but Carolina is much deeper and, I think, more talented. Carolina has the ability to steamroll its opponents. Duke doesn’t get steamrolled, do they?

Both come in hungry and a little desperate. The Blue Devils more so.

Duke is coming off two league losses by a total of just three points.

“This is a very critical moment for out team’s success, Duke junior DeMarcus Nelson says. ”The game is bigger than just playing North Carolina for us. It’s about our season.”

Duke is 18-5 because of their defense. The offense sometimes can turn your stomach. They had the lead and lost it against Virginia. They had the lead and lost it against Florida State. They had good shots at the end to win both and fired blanks.

Duke is 5-4 in the conference. A loss to Carolina will leave them at .500. That hasn’t happened to Duke in February in a long while.

“When you’re in a hole like this, it’s not just about Duke-Carolina anymore,” says freshman Gerald Henderson, who’ll go up against high school teammate and friend Wayne Ellington. “It’s about your standing in the league and your season, because the NCAA tournament is not just given to you.”

Duke also knows it can’t get in an up-and-down game with the Tar Heels. Running with Carolina is like to trying to out-quick a mongoose. The odds aren’t in your favor.

“We do have to do a good job of controlling tempo,” knows Duke point guard Greg Paulus. ”We’re not trying to get in a track meet, that’s what they specialize in. We want to play good, solid defense.”

Now, Carolina is coming off what Coach Roy Williams feels is a dreadful loss at N.C. State. He gives the Wolfpack all the credit, but will admit he was disgusted with his team’s effort—or lack of it. He says they played fat and happy. That’s never acceptable if you’re Roy Williams.

Just observing the Tar Heels players before that game, I too felt they were overly cocky, like their very presence was enough to subdue the Pack. It doesn’t happen that way when the other team competes, and Williams knows it.

He expects better against Duke. “I really believe they’ll play exceptionally hard,” Williams says of his team. “I believe they’ll have great passion Wednesday night. I really believe you’ll have a group of kids playing their tails off.”

And that is, of course, always the case when it’s Duke and Carolina. You can expect both teams to play this game with everything they have.

“We’re gonna go out there and try and compete our butts off,” says Williams. “And I got a feeling they’re gonna do the same thing."

Duke does feel the same way. “We just have to come out here Wednesday and play with an extreme chip on our shoulder,” says DeMarcus Nelson.

But because of this drama and this emotion that is this game and the fact that both teams want it so badly, Williams believes the game won’t be a thing of beauty.

“My guess is it won’t be a very pretty game because it will be two teams competing like crazy, and I’m hoping my team will be up to the task.”

Mike Krzyzewski expects the same thing. He’s been disappointed with the two tough losses, but he never faulted his team’s desire. He says his kids played their hearts out. That’s Duke basketball, and it’s also Carolina basketball. That’s why this game is always so special. No one will take the court at Cameron cocky on Feb. 7. Confident yes. Cocky no, and respectful of each other.

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Duke and Carolina is one of those magical games. It’s a game kids grow up dreaming about. It’s a little boy in the backyard pretending to be the announcer and all 10 players. It’s a game that creates the legends of a life time.

To this day, I can see York Larese’s smooth jump shot with the touch like velvet and Art Heyman bulling his way to the basket, knocking people around like pin balls. You bet there is many a youngster who would give almost anything to one day be a part of it. It’s imagining and wanting the ball in your hands to win the Duke-Carolina game.

“Adrenaline like nothing else,” Paulus will tell you. “These are the games that you see on TV growing up. You want to be a part them. You dream of making the kind of plays that will help your team win."

That’s Duke-Carolina.

There’s a blank page staring back at us. The next chapter in the Battle of the Blues is waiting to be written.