NEW ORLEANS — On the eve of the highest stakes game in the history of college sports’ most iconic rivalry, Duke players tried to act like they’re not out for payback.
They insisted they’re approaching Saturday night’s Final Four showdown against North Carolina as nothing more than a stepping stone to the men’s national title game.
“It doesn’t matter who we play,” Paolo Banchero said.
“We’d have the same mindset,” Mark Williams argued.
“They’re in the way of us getting to Monday,” Wendell Moore Jr. explained.
Credit the Blue Devils for perfectly parroting Mike Krzyzewski’s message from earlier this week, but those answers seem too well rehearsed. They’re no more believable than Krzyzewski was when he told reporters Tuesday, “I haven’t looked at it as us against Carolina. I’ve looked at it as we’re playing in a Final Four.”
It was only four weeks ago when Duke threw Krzyzewski the ultimate farewell party to commemorate his final home game. Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Silver and dozens of famous former Duke players sat courtside. So did legions of crazies, the blue-painted ones who secured their seats sleeping in tents for weeks and even bigger lunatics who plunked down tens of thousands of dollars for tickets on the secondary market.
Duke meticulously planned out every aspect of the evening, aside from the one element that could not be scripted. An improving North Carolina team ran circles around Duke late in the second half, emerging with a party-spoiling 94-81 victory that quieted a frenzied crowd and left Krzyzewski embarrassed and apologetic.
“Today was unacceptable,” a fuming Krzyzewski told the crowd after he and his players returned to the floor. Then he sat stone-faced through a series of postgame speeches and video tributes as though he was a dental patient waiting for a root canal.
Further inflaming emotions that night was a slow-motion viral video clip of Duke assistant Chris Carrawell snubbing North Carolina head coach Hubert Davis in the handshake line. Carrawell told the Raleigh News & Observer that he didn’t shake hands with Davis because Davis didn’t shake hands with members of the Duke staff before the game.
All of that adds to the stakes when Duke and North Carolina clash in the NCAA tournament for the first time in the history of the rivalry. Compared to the average Final Four game, Saturday’s matchup is bursting with compelling storylines, historical significance, mutual hatred and begrudging respect.
For North Carolina, it’s a chance to double down on the bragging rights attained four weeks ago. For Duke, it’s an opportunity to avenge last month’s ignominious loss and move one win closer to sending Krzyzewski into retirement with a sixth national championship.
“The rivalry is real,” said Davis, who is in his first season as Tar Heels head coach. “You have two elite programs 7 miles apart, same conference, consistently putting out great teams.”
Davis, like Krzyzewski, has downplayed the rivalry aspect to his players. He wants the Tar Heels to approach this game the same way they would if they were playing Villanova or Kansas, the other teams in the Final Four.
“What helps us Saturday is our preparation, our practice, and how well we play,” Davis said. “The historical factor of us, for the first time, meeting in the Final Four, the rivalry, Coach K’s last year, my first year, that’s insignificant to us.”
Eternal bragging rights, of course, aren’t insignificant to Duke and North Carolina fans. They’re the biggest reason why the 74,000-seat Superdome is sold out, why the cheapest tickets on the secondary market are well over $200 and why fans on both sides are going to great lengths to clear their social calendars.
Country music star Eric Church canceled a concert in San Antonio slated for Saturday night so that he can watch his beloved Tar Heels. Couples getting married on Saturday in the Raleigh-Durham area and beyond are hunting down projectors so their guests can watch the game.
“Just being in the Final Four brings that attention,” North Carolina forward Brady Manek said, “and then Duke-North Carolina, it just brings it even more.”
Whether the game lives up to the week-long hype might depend on either team’s ability to string together defensive stops.
Duke’s multifaceted offense has carved up two of the nation’s top defenses the past two weeks, shooting 71% in the second half against Texas Tech and then blitzing Arkansas from start to finish. Defenses can’t fixate on any single player with Banchero creating shots for himself and others, Jeremy Roach playing the best basketball of his career, AJ Griffin and Moore spacing the floor, and Williams cleaning up the glass and finishing at the rim.
Either North Carolina will have to slow down Duke the way Texas Tech and Arkansas couldn’t or the Tar Heels may need to approach the 94 points they scored in Durham. On that night, they relentlessly attacked Duke in transition and with a series of high pick-and-rolls, scoring 1.25 points per possession and getting 20-plus points from Manek, Armando Bacot, R.J. Davis and Caleb Love.
“Carolina beat us at home, and, like coach said that day, that was unacceptable,” Moore said. “For us to win this time, it has to start at the defensive end.”
So is Duke pleased to get another crack at North Carolina? Or do the Blue Devils truly view the Tar Heels as a light-blue speed bump on the way to Monday’s title game? To get a truthful answer, perhaps we have to go all the way back to the ACC tournament.
When Duke defeated Miami to advance to the ACC title game, Banchero was asked if the Blue Devils preferred to face North Carolina or Virginia Tech. Without hesitation, the Duke freshman responded, “UNC.”
Two weeks later, after Duke had just beaten Arkansas in the Elite Eight, Banchero fielded the same question again: Would he rather see North Carolina or Saint Peter’s in the Final Four? This time, a grinning Banchero told Tracy Wolfson of CBS, “You’re not getting me this time!”