Duke-UNC: the best rivalry in American sports

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Duke and North Carolina delivered again. The basketball juggernauts proved that when these blue bloods get together to expect the unexpected, and that whatever transpires at times might not make much sense. But at least it's usually thrilling. That's exactly what happened in Duke's shocking 85-84 buzzer-beating victory over the No. 5 Tar Heels in a stunned Dean Dome on Wednesday night. There was no way the struggling Blue Devils could come into this massive hallowed hall and beat perhaps the most talented team in the nation playing its best hoops of the season. Not this Duke squad fresh off a home loss to Miami its second home defeat to a school from Florida in three weeks and one its Hall of Fame coach had openly criticized the past few days. Are you kidding? These Devils admitted three days earlier to taking playing at home for granted, and their coach had taken tactics to jell his team off the court, knowing if they liked each other enough they just might play for one another more on the court. Duke took a bus to Virginia Tech last Thursday and the team had shut down all uses of social media. And after Sunday's loss to the Hurricanes, Mike Krzyzewski said his team needed to understand what it takes to play for a banner. They needed to know the commitment and degrees of intensity required to live up to the program's standards. That resonated with his club. "We came in with a cockiness and an attitude knowing we were going to win," Duke junior guard Seth Curry said. "We came in with that swagger "We came out with energy from the start. A lot of games we weren't really coming out with the passion an intensity we need early, but we did tonight." Duke opened strong, hitting half of its first 10 3-pointers and leading for the first 19 minutes of the game. But UNC closed the half with an 8-1 rush, and conventional wisdom suggested Carolina would pour it on in the second half. After all, this was a Duke team that began showing signs of doubt in its body language late in the half, and all UNC had to do was seize the opportunity. It appeared Carolina was well on that track with its largest lead at 57-44 with 15:08 to play. The building was in a frenzy and Duke was on the ropes. At one point, UNC had put together a 47-29 stretch of hoops that was positively breathtaking. The Heels displayed what makes them so incredibly difficult to defend during the run. But Carolina, sometimes questioned about its toughness, failed to put its foot on Duke's throat. The game hovered around the 10-point mark until just 129 seconds remained. That's when the Blue Devils made their final move. A 3 by Tyler Thornton, a 3 by Curry, a soft baseline jumper by junior forward Ryan Kelly, and another jumper by Kelly brought the Devils to within 84-82 with 14 seconds left. UNC senior Tyler Zeller (23 points, 11 rebounds) points, made just one of two free throws, and just before the horn sounded, Duke freshman Austin Rivers (29 points) drained a 3-pointer to win. As Duke's players stormed the floor, convening in a royal blue pile opposite UNC's bench, the Tar Heels and their legion of fans stood in total disbelief. Duke had just stolen one right out from under the Tar Heels' nose. But don't tell the Devils they stole it. "We won, we won," Duke junior center Mason Plumlee said. "That wasn't no lucky shot." Carolina point guard Kendall Marshall agreed with his rival. "I don't want to say they stole it," he said, with red in his eyes. "They made winning plays to win the game." Duke really didn't steal it, though it sure seemed that way. Perhaps Carolina's benevolence was too hard for Duke to pass up, so the Devils took it. But Duke won this like it has so many games in this series have been settled. The winner made one more winning play than the other. The ebbs and flows sometimes give the feel these games are headed in one direction when they quickly change course, like a tornado on the plains often has no course. But the one constant was that Duke carried a mindset throughout that has helped it win gazillions of games before. The players understood the temperament of these affairs. "Coach always talks about like a boxer, you don't win every round," Plumlee said. "For us, we didn't win every round, but we were at our best at the end, and that's a heck of a win." It was a heck of a win and a heck of a game. But what else would you expect from the greatest rivalry in American sports?