Pete ThamelESPN
PHILADELPHIA – North Carolina and Duke have played each other 257 times since 1920. They have competed in No. 1 vs. No. 2 lightning matches and often fought in the ACC tournament and even competed once in the NIT. 1971 semifinals. The 258th race will be the first to ever take place in the NCAA tournament, a cosmic clash that’s seemingly taken away from the imagination of Tobacco Road fans. North Carolina and Duke are eight miles apart and have combined for 248 NCAA Tournament victories, but their meeting at the Final Four in New Orleans will have the highest stakes in the history of rivalry history. The No. 8-seeded North Carolina’s 69-49 seed of St. Peter’s 15 seed on Sunday sends the Tar Heels to the Final Four for the 21st time in the program history, extending its all-time lead over UCLA (18). With a week of accumulation before the age-old opponents come out on the field, expect the game to be described as the most anticipated meeting in the history of Duke-UNC rivalry. North Carolina coach Hubert Davis has made a bid for the Final Four in his first season on the sidelines at UNC. And his rise to the national stage as head coach creates another basketball provision. Davis’s first Final Four as head coach is fatally crossed with the previously announced departure of Duke Mike Krzyzewski, who is retiring this season after leading the Blue Devils to the Final Four for the 13th time in his career. The contribution of Krzyzewski’s teams, bets and career that potentially ends up in the hands of North Carolina creates the opportunity for generations with bragging rights for the winner. There are two different possibilities: Either the UNC ends Krzyzewski’s career this Saturday on the biggest possible stage in the hands of his fiercest opponent or Duke has the opportunity on April 4 to play the winner of Kansas and Villanova to send Krzyzewski with its sixth national title. . 2 About This game comes in the wake of the stunning UNC Duke during Krzyzewski’s last home game at the Cameron Indoor Stadium, which at the time was considered the ultimate rivalry ambush. Now the kismet gift of the bracket gives UNC the opportunity to brag about bar stools and t-shirts across the state for decades. Two programs combined to play 334 NCAA tournament games have never faced each other on all of these trips. (The national tournament match was not possible until 1975, when the NCAA began allowing more than one league team to participate in the tournament.) They only went to the Final Four together again, back in 1991, when Krzyzewski won the first championship. While Krzyzewski’s farewell will continue to absorb a significant amount of oxygen, the work Davis has done deserves much attention. The UNC spent much of the first three months of this season, including losses to everyone from Kentucky and Wake Forest, at home to Duke and even in Pittsburgh. But Davis consistently led the Tar Heels from the wrong side of the bubble in the Final Four after that defeat in mid-February by Pitt. Doing so and winning four games in his first NCAA tournament, Davis became the first coach in his first season to reach the Final Four since the late Bill Guthridge led the Tar Heels there in 1998. “The shared experiences and time we spent on and off the field allowed us to grow up together, to understand each other, to accept each other,” Davis said on Saturday, “to see the gifts and talents that … to be collectively the best we can be, and we are tidy now. We are in a place together because of the time we share together. “ As for Sunday’s game, midnight struck for Saint Peter’s shortly after the revelation, and the charming course of the small school from Jersey City, New Jersey, ended with a loud bang. North Carolina took a 9-0 lead and never felt threatened – with superior size, a distinct athletic edge and enough courage to never give the Peacocks a glimmer of hope. Saint Peter’s historic run in the NCAA Tournament came more from collective ability than from offensive precision. And on Sunday, they scattered so badly in the first half that they managed to silence an electric crowd at the Wells Fargo Center that came eagerly to see the story again. Saint Peter’s 1-for-11 shot from the 3-point range in the first half and its futility was better summed up after coach Shaheen Holloway took a time-out just 2:30 in the game and the Peacocks had already lost 7-0. He designed a skillful game outside the break, which led to a wide-open lob by top scorer Daryl Banks III. Banks listened to the layup, setting the tone for Saint Peter’s 7-to-31 shots. Saint Peter’s fell at half time with 38-19, pushing Holloway constantly muttering to distort his facial expressions into inventive repulsive expressions. The Peacocks are leaving the tournament as the only No. 15 to reach the Elite Eight, a new model for underdogs. The cold reality for Saint Peter’s is likely to continue through the week, as Holloway is widely expected to become the new coach at Seton Hall. Holloway is a graduate of Seton Hall, one of the most important players in the history of the program, who also helped create the current iteration of the program by serving for eight seasons as an assistant to Kevin Willard. Holloway certainly did not want to go that way, with TV trucks racing for the Tobacco Road B-roll until halftime. UNC had it all: Armando Bacot grabbed 15 rebounds in the first half, finished with 22 and’s seemingly jaw-dropping as he split Saint Peter’s players like bowling pins. He also led the team to a score of 20. Brady Manek had 19 points for the UNC, as the 6-foot-9 senior who can score in and out (4-for-6 out of 3) showed exactly the type of player who Saint Peter’s had no answer for. Their performance helps create the third meeting between North Carolina and Duke this season. The Blue Devils won by 20 points in their first game at Chapel Hill on February 5, and the UNC returned with an impressive 13-point victory a month later at Coach K’s Cameron Indoor Stadium farewell in Durham. The third and final encounter, however, comes with a whole new layer of history, significance and attention, a delicious reversal of the plot in a competition that has been going on for more than a century.
