The Duke-UNC rivalry is nationally regarded as heated, intense and among the best in sports. It was no surprise that this season’s first meeting between the rivals ended up as ESPN’s highest-rated game in over a year, despite the fact that the game was televised locally on Raycom. In other words, enough fans nationally tuned in to produce the high rating when typically it is the local markets boosting the ratings.
If you live in the North Carolina area or visit certain Internet message boards, the rivalry often creeps beyond heated and intense. Perceptions, misconceptions, and assumptions lead to negative emotions that take away from what the rivalry is really about: the excellence and tradition of two of the best programs and universities in the country, separated by only nine miles.
From a basketball standpoint, one could argue that Duke and UNC are the nation’s top two college hoops programs today. When the schools meet, the outcome is never a sure thing, but you can always count on one of the greatest environments in sports and amazing players playing with unmatched passion. As Coach K stated, “You don’t talk about an individual team — remember when that team won? You talk about what North Carolina or Duke have won. In all those teams, the trademarks have been good kids, playing hard together, playing good defense and doing it clean but hard, and understanding their places within their universities. You could say that, and then say, well he’s talking about Carolina; he’s talking about Duke. No, I’m talking about both of them. People want to watch that.”
Indeed, this great rivalry should be defined by the players and the efforts they have given over the years, not by the local media or the broad generalizations you often hear tossed around.
In order to help define and promote the rivalry and what it is really about, I believe the two programs should consider staging a Duke-UNC doubleheader hoops showcase in the offseason at a neutral venue (possibly at a staged outdoor site to take the game back to its roots for many players who grew up playing on playgrounds and driveways). The game could feature the current Duke and UNC players actually playing together, with alumni captains (such as Jason Williams, Christian Laettner, Michael Jordan and Dean Smith) privately choosing the respective teams and then coaching the squads. Imagine a frontcourt of Tyler Hansbrough and Kyle Singler going up against a team boasting a backcourt including friends Gerald Henderson and Wayne Ellington. The basketball would be intriguing and more importantly would showcase that the student-athletes from each school get along and respect one another — a terrific message this rivalry needs.
Following that, the NBA alumni of each team could face off, with Duke’s NBA players battling UNC’s guys in the league. Since each school has over 10 former players in the NBA, it would be easy to fill two squads even if a few players were injured or unavailable. I would love to watch a Duke lineup of Carlos Boozer, Elton Brand, Luol Deng, Shane Battier and Grant Hill take on Rasheed Wallace, Antawn Jamison, Jerry Stackhouse, Vince Carter and Raymond Felton, with terrific players coming off the bench for both sides. If you think the squads wouldn’t play hard to earn bragging rights, you probably haven’t watched enough Duke-UNC games.
I would assume you could secure national TV coverage of this whole event and it would be easy to sell out any North Carolina arena or stadium for such a spectacle. The respective programs could split the proceeds, each giving half and providing significant national exposure to a charity of their choice.
In general, the Duke-UNC rivalry prides itself on setting the standard and an extravaganza like this would set the bar even higher. Moreover, it would help establish that the rivalry’s greatness is defined first and foremost by the young men who have worn the respective blue jerseys with tremendous pride over the years.
