The first matchup between Carolina and Duke this season has finally arrived, and the stage looks set for an exciting evening.
Both teams are ranked inside the top 15 and feature projected top-five NBA draft picks. On paper, it’s a game that could very well end up among the highlights of college basketball’s greatest rivalry.
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That brings me to today’s discussion question. I want to know which Carolina-Duke games are among your highlights. I’m asking for your top three because I feel like #1 will either be unanimous or very close to it, and I want to see some variety here.
I’ll list mine below. Bear in mind that I’m 27 years old, so my memories only go back to around the Tyler Hansbrough era.
#3: The Zion Shoe Game (February 20, 2019)
It was a top-10 matchup in Cameron Indoor between the #8 Tar Heels and the #1 Blue Devils, who were already being billed as the greatest college team of all time. The headliner was Zion Williamson, whose star power was such that Barack Obama and Spike Lee were among those who made the trip to Durham to see what he would do against UNC.
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As it turned out, he didn’t have a chance to do anything. In the first minute of the game, his left shoe blew out as he dribbled inside the top of the key, causing him to sprain his right knee.
I was watching in my living room with my mom (a Carolina alum), and I remember us both marveling at how lost the rest of the team looked without Zion. Duke had three other five-star freshmen on the floor that night, so there should have been more than enough talent to pick up the slack.
Instead, the Tar Heels rolled, building a 10-point halftime lead that ballooned to as much as 22 in the second. I was as bewildered as I was happy.
#2: Crashing Coach K’s Party (March 5, 2022)
The man Carolina fans most love to hate was capping off his season-long farewell tour with one last game in Cameron Indoor against the Tar Heels. Duke pulled out all the stops, bringing back close to 100 former players and turning the whole night into a made-for-TV production. There didn’t seem to be any concern that all the ceremony would distract from the game. Why should there have been, considering the #4 Blue Devils had beaten the unranked Tar Heels 87-67 in their own gym a month before?
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I also watched this game in my living room, and I’ll never forget seeing the crowd shots full of stunned faces as the game completely got away from Duke over the last five minutes–nor will I forget witnessing Coach K’s postgame crashout live on ESPN. I still watch that clip whenever I need a pick-me-up.
#1: The Final Four (April 2, 2022)
Do I even need to say anything for this one?
I watched this game in my friend’s apartment on our college campus, and I think I laid on the floor for about 15 minutes after it was over.
I yelled “NO!” when Caleb Love shot that three, and it was the last negative thing I’ll ever say about him.
