rivalries

Rivalry Weak? Duke Should Roll North Carolina

John P. Wise — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 09:15:07 -0800

Evan Turner wasn't necessarily a highlight reel Sunday, but his overall play was instrumental yet again in Ohio State's most recent triumph.

The visiting Buckeyes blasted a pretty good Illinois team riding a five-game winning streak, including a pair of victories over Big Ten heavies Michigan State and Wisconsin.

But OSU, enjoying its own five-game trend heading into the game, got splendid perimeter play from juniors Jon Diebler and David Lighty, and Turner was more than comfortable setting them up.

The trio combined for 51 points, including ET's 16, part of a near-triple double that also included 11 rebounds and eight assists.

Outside of maybe Kansas' Sherron Collins, no player is more valuable to his team than Turner. For some reason, OSU's huge game against Purdue on Wednesday is not scheduled to be televised, but if you watch the Bucks play at Michigan State -- another large conference clash -- on Sunday (Noon, CBS), you'll see he does everything for his team. Not only leading the offense and sharing the basketball, but also energizing an increasingly active defense. Illinois had absolutely no answers for OSU's zone on Sunday.

Turner and the Buckeyes kind of remind me of Francisco Garcia and the 2005 Louisville Cardinals, who started to peak in February and rode a balanced offense all the way to the Final Four. Garcia was clearly the most dangerous weapon on that team, but his supporting cast was more than capable, and his unselfishness only made them better.

Further proof of Turner's value to his team comes next season, when he'll probably be playing in the NBA and the Buckeyes, who bring back every other starter, likely will struggle without him.

BIG UPSETS IN BIG EAST: Speaking of Louisville, the Cardinals got a huge resume win at Syracuse Sunday, and now with two winnable games up next, Rick Pitino's bunch appears headed for an NCAA bid.

As hard as Louisville tried to give the game away -- the Cards missed five free throws and turned the ball over in the final 1:41 -- the visitors held on to beat the Orange for the fifth straight time. The teams meet again in the season finale for both in Louisville on March 6.

And although Rutgers isn't headed to the NCAA Tournament, the Scarlet Knights earned a nice win over visiting Georgetown on Sunday. A Jekyll-and-Hyde stretch that includes wins over Duke and Villanova has seen the Hoyas drop three of their last six games. Georgetown has Syracuase and West Virginia on its remaining schedule, so the Hoyas will still be able to bolster their resume for a favorable NCAA seed.

FINAL FOUR PICKS: It seems like more teams are playing themselves out of top seeds than into them. Kansas and Kentucky could be a delicious championship game, but Syracuse, a team I've liked all season, struggled at home to beat a weak Connecticut squad before losing at home to Louisville. Just a February bump or a sign of something bigger?

+ EAST: Villanova (Duke)
+ SOUTH: Kentucky (West Virginia)
+ MIDWEST: Kansas (Michigan State)
+ WEST: Syracuse (Gonzaga)
+ SLEEPER: Siena

DePAUL OFFERS SCHOLARSHIP TO 14-YEAR-OLD: DePaul has offered a basketball scholarship to 14-year-old Jahlil Okafor, and that doesn't sit well with ESPN analyst Bob Knight.

"If I were a parent, I wouldn't want anybody talking to my son about going to college until he's on his way toward finishing high school," he said on SportsCenter on Monday morning. Didn't Knight do just about the same thing with Damon Bailey 25 years ago?

TUBE TIME: I still can't get over the Purdue-Ohio State game not being televised, but there are a few good ones coming up later this week:

+ Thursday: Syracuse at Georgetown, 7 p.m., ESPN2
+ Saturday: Illinois at Purdue, 4 p.m., ESPN
+ Saturday: Kentucky at Vanderbilt, 6 p.m., ESPN

John P. Wise is the editor of OneGreatSeason.com. He can be reached at jpwise3@hotmail.com.

UNC-Duke: The Rivalry Continues

Kevin McNeill — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:44:16 -0800

On Sunday, two arch-rivals will play each other in their final regular season game. Both teams will be ranked in the Top 10, with nothing less than a possible #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament at stake. It promises not only to be a great game, but also to boast the single highest television ratings of the college basketball season.

Just another day in the UNC-Duke rivalry.

Year in and year out, message boards and talking heads debate endlessly over which rivalry in college sports tops them all. Every year, the Tar Heels and Blue Devils seemingly put an end to that debate, if only for a moment.

What makes it such a great rivalry? To start, you have two of the winningest programs in history. Only Kentucky (1,966 wins) has more victories than North Carolina (1,950), while Duke is right there with the fourth most victories ever (1,846), behind Kansas (1,943). The two programs have a combined 31 Final Fours and 7 national titles, behind only UCLA. Both current coaches are in the Hall of Fame, and each program has consistently produced great NBA players - some of the greatest in basketball history. There are thrilling, nail-biting games between the two that seems to happen every year. But there's one other reason that this rivalry towers above all others.

These guys really hate each other.

Who could forget Coach Dean Smith, responding to Cameron Crazies holding up signs proclaiming "J.R. can't Reid", by announcing the less-than stellar SAT scores of a couple of Duke players - something that was not thought to be public information.

My personal favorite moment came in 1984, when Coach Smith tried to sound the horn himself after not being allowed to make a substitution by the refs. Only he pushed the wrong button, giving North Carolina an extra twenty points on the scoreboard. Smith never received a technical for his new scoring strategy, and UNC went on to win - which led Coach K to make his infamous "double standard" remark after the game.

Over the years, Duke and Carolina fans would go at each other over everything from beer ads, the cleverness (or lack thereof) of the Cameron Crazies, Sam Cassell's "wine and cheese crowd" comment, academics, partying and everything in between.

And then there are the games themselves.

In 1974 North Carolina stunningly came back from eight points down with 17 seconds on the clock and eventually won the game in overtime, widely considered the greatest comeback in history. There were the classic battles of 1984, Michael Jordan's last season in Chapel Hill, where UNC won in double overtime at the end of the regular season to go undefeated in ACC play, only to be toppled by Duke in thrilling fashion in the ACC Tournament a week later.

There was the ultimate "throw-out-the-record books" game in 1995, when a Coach K-less Duke team (who was out due to back surgery) that was 0-7 in the ACC took the second-ranked Tar Heels to double-overtime in a 102-100 thriller. Ten years later, the two would split their regular season games by a combined three points, with both contests decided on the last play of the game.

There was a bloody Eric Montross carrying his team to victory in 1992. An even bloodier Tyler Hansbrough needing to be held back from charging Gerald Henderson two years ago, after Henderson broke his nose with less than 15 seconds on the clock and the Tar Heels up by double digits. The list goes on.

So, if history is any indication, Sunday's matchup will be yet another chapter in that storied rivalry.

Amazingly, as great as this rivalry is, the two schools have never once met in the NCAA Tournament. In fact, they haven't played each other in the ACC tourney since 2003, a game won by the Blue Devils 75-63. Just as a college basketball fan, here's hoping both of those streaks end this year.

The Best Rivalries in College Basketball: Question of the Week

Shawn Siegel — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 11:21:26 -0800

Each week I pose a Question of the Week for you the reader to chew on (masticate if you prefer) and digest..

This Week's Question: What is College Basketball's Best Rivalry (Besides Duke/UNC!)

Wednesday is ESPN's favorite night of the year, when Duke & UNC face off for the first time. But although fans in the Tobacco Road might not know this, there are other college basketball rivalries, some of which are highly entertaining. So today's question is: What is college basketball's best rivalry besides Duke/UNC?

Some personal favorites include Kentucky/Louisville, Cincinnati/Xavier, and Kansas/Missouri.

Even if you know your favorite rivalry isn't necessarily the biggest going, still discuss it below.

Lets hear what you have to say.. Post your comments below!

-- Question of the Week Archive:

Feb 4 - Will Ernie Kent Get Fired in the Off-Season?

Jan 26 - Who is the Country's Most Overrated Team?

Jan 19 - Can Someone Outside the ACC/Big East Win the National Title?

Jan. 6 - Can Arkansas Win the SEC?

Dec. 29 - Who is UNC's Best NBA Prospect?

Dec. 22 - Will Kentucky Make the NCAA Tournament?

Dec. 15 - Will Gonzaga Finally Get Past the Sweet 16?

Dec. 9 - How Good Will Stephen Curry be in the NBA?

Dec. 2 - Who Will be Arizona's Next Head Coach?

Nov. 26 - Did the NCAA Come Down Hard Enough on Kelvin Sampson?

Nov. 19 - When Will UNC Lose For the First Time?