The Rivalry!!

The greatest rivalry in all of sports it has been called, this is the North Carolina Tar Heels and Duke Blue Devils NCAA Division 1 college basketball game.  This game is one of the most watched and anticipated games in the NCAA men’s basketball schedule.  The University of North Carolina and Duke University are two colleges that are 8 miles apart and have been rivals sense day one.  The first meeting took place on January 24 1920 and North Carolina won by 11 against Duke the final score was 36 to 25.  There has been over 230 meetings between these two teams and in the all time series in between them is 131-101 UNC leading the Blue Devils.  The two teams are both in the ACC and North Carolina has 28 ACC regular season championships and 17 ACC tournament championships.  Even though Duke trails ACC regular season championships with only 19 they lead the ACC tournament championships with 19.  The teams are extremely close in talent and when it comes to the National level both teams have a combined 33 Final Four appearances and 9 NCAA tournament Championships between the two prestigious teams.  North Carolina has 18 Final Four appearances and Duke has 15, while North Carolina has 5 NCAA Championships and Duke has 4 both teams are in the top 5 all time Final Four appearances and Championships.  North Carolina has had amazing NBA talent come from the school while Duke on the other hand has not been known for producing NBA stars.  Some North Carolina players that turned into stars in the NBA are Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, Rasheed Wallace, Kenny Smith, Jerry Stackhouse, James Worthy, and the greatest Michael Jordan.  Some Duke players that were stars are much less known for example; Shane Battier, Christian Laettner, Loul Deng, Corey Maggette, Carlos Boozer, Elton Brand, and Grant Hill.  Duke however in my opinion has one thing North Carolina does not and that is Coach Mike Krzyewski, he is the most winningest coach in college basketball.  He recruits players that are committed academically and fit his system, they may not always be the best talent however Coach K turns his players into good all around basketball players.  Duke is my personal favorite team between the two teams and I have a book signed by Coach K called Leading with the Heart, I mailed the book down for my birthday and he was kind enough to sign it and write a little note inside.  The two teams matched up tonight to battle for bragging rights at North Carolina’s Chapel Hill, lets go DUKE!