By TORI ADDISON
Staff Writer
Some call it the best rivalry in college basketball; others go as far to say that it is the best rivalry in the history of sports.
Regardless of your take on the topic, whenever the University of North Carolina plays Duke you know it’s going to be a more than just a great game. With their first matchup of the season going down this Wednesday, it will be interesting to see how ESPN handles broadcasting the game after all the hype the station created when Duke went into the Carrier Dome to lose to Syracuse in what most are already calling a classic. Although Syracuse may have beat UNC by double digits, it is still completely unfair to claim the Orange as Duke’s new biggest rival.
It is no secret that UNC and Duke are top of the ACC in terms of basketball fame and glory, but once you add a team to the conference that has one of the winningest coaches in the game, the definition of the word “rivalry” begins to change.
While it is completely legitimate to create public attention for a game that pits two of the greatest coaches in college basketball history against one another, it is taking it a bit far to declare it a rivalry just for that reason. Yes, I am talking about the Syracuse/Duke game in case you were wondering. I mean, the last time I checked, rivalries are built from history, not created by cable broadcasting.
Syracuse has not even been a member of the ACC for a full season yet and analysts are already boosting their ACC reputation, strictly because of Jim Boeheim’s coaching record.
Let’s not forget that Syracuse’s history of one national title and less than a handful of players sent to the NBA is extremely insignificant compared to the combined nine national titles and countless players turned pro that UNC and Duke have produced. Although Syracuse’s undefeated streak has been a major contributing factor to the hype surrounding their every move this season, I highly doubt that they will continue to flourish in the ACC once UNC and Duke bring in their top notch recruiting classes next season.
It is quite honestly a disgrace to declare Syracuse a rival of Duke in their first matchup as ACC teams simply because of their notorious coaches and it is a huge slap in the face to even think that Syracuse will replace UNC as Duke’s biggest rival. Every little detail of the UNC/Duke rivalry has been created by history and nothing is going to cause it to change now.
The UNC/Duke rivalry is more than just a battle between two great schools with infamous coaches whose fans hate each other. The schools are literally miles apart which makes the rivalry that much better. When else in the season do you hear of fans camping out in tents on their campus lawn the night before two teams play? Exactly, you don’t.
The fans are a huge part of why the rivalry is so huge and college basketball viewers sincerely thank them for that. Not to mention, when UNC and Duke face each other it is for more than just bragging rights, it is to declare who is the king of Tobacco Road. The intense matchups that have occurred throughout history are just part of what makes this rivalry so great.
How can you not get amped every time you see Tyler Hansbrough scowling with blood pouring from his nose after he took an elbow from Duke Guard Gerald Henderson when they matched up in 2007? Or how about when Austin Rivers drained a three with seconds left to beat UNC in 2012? The monumental sports moments that have been created by these two teams are endless and the best part is that the games never fail to disappoint.
So Syracuse, while being undefeated is nice and all, talk to UNC and Duke fans about what it means to be a rivalry when you catch up with their two-hundred plus matchups. If anything, rivalries are not built overnight.
They are the product of two teams who forget about every other statistic from the season as soon as that ball tips, because once it does, all that matters at that moment is beating the team who you hate most.
