RALEIGH, N.C. — This is the Big One, some 70 years in the making, the unthinkable and the unimaginable.
When Duke and North Carolina unexpectedly resume their rivalry Saturday in the Final Four, that 258th game unavoidably and unquestionably becomes the biggest sporting event in the history of the state, inside or outside these borders.
Which is, given the sporting history of North Carolina, a high bar to clear.
But taking one of the greatest rivalries in sports, playing it on this stage and garlanding it in a flurry of firsts and lasts elevates the first-ever meeting of the two in the NCAA Tournament, and in the Final Four no less, above the rest.
That it will be played three states away in New Orleans is almost immaterial, given that the entire state will be sucked into this game in some way, partisans and neutrals alike.
It’s No. 1, just because of the eternal stakes, regardless what happens next.
A review of the other contenders leaves little doubt.
Start with N.C. State and Maryland in the 1974 ACC basketball tournament in Greensboro, still one of the greatest games ever played, managing even to outshine the Wolfpack’s wins over UCLA — ending UCLA’s run of seven straight titles — and Marquette in the Final Four on the same court a few weeks later. In a state that lives and dies with college basketball, that game was its shimmering peak, until now.
Another championship is up for discussion, from a newer generation: the Carolina Hurricanes’ Game 7 win over the Edmonton Oilers secured North Carolina’s first major league championship, and on home ice no less. North Carolina may not have the same pedigree in hockey as hoops, but the Stanley Cup transcends those boundaries. It’s still the shining moment for pro sports in the state.
North Carolina has also played host to some epochal events that still maintain their own place in history, like Duke’s loss as the home team in the transplanted wartime Rose Bowl in 1942, or Payne Stewart’s stunning win at Pinehurst in the first U.S. Open on No. 2 in 1999, even if that only had one real local tie, Stewart’s caddy Mike Hicks.
But given that finish still stands out in the annals of a tournament with no shortage of dramatic finishes — not only Stewart’s pose on the 18th green or the hug with imminent father Phil Mickelson, but Stewart’s tragic death months later — not to mention the role that week played in re-establishing Pinehurst’s reputation as the epicenter of American golf, it’s hard to top that one as the greatest single game ever played within the borders of the state on a national and international scale.
Once you get outside the borders, there’s no question this game is bigger than either Panthers appearance in the Super Bowl, although if you had to pick one, the first probably looms larger, given the novelty of it, the opponent and the fact that the Panthers damn near won the thing. On a darker but no less influential note, there’s also Dale Earnhardt’s tragic death at Daytona in 2001, which dove the state into mourning and shook the foundations of a sport that started here.
And perhaps nothing resonates beyond sports than the 1944 “Secret Game” that saw a team from the Duke School of Medicine cross town to play North Carolina College (now N.C. Central), an illicit basketball matchup that illegally crossed the racial boundaries of segregation and was kept quiet for 52 years.
Then there’s all the other basketball, and the many Final Fours in which teams from North Carolina changed not only the course of their programs but in some cases the sport itself — Lennie Rosenbluth and the Tar Heels administering a B-12 shot to college basketball in the state by knocking off Wilt Chamberlain and Kansas in 1957, N.C. State’s title run in 1974, Michael Jordan delivering Dean Smith his first title in 1982, Jim Valvano, Dereck Whittenberg and the Cardiac Pack capturing a nation’s imagination in 1983, Duke fending off first Kentucky and then the Fab Five to repeat in 1992.
This one trumps them all, no matter what happens against Kansas or Villanova on Monday.
To play this game in Mike Krzyzewski’s final season, in Hubert Davis’ first season, and play it on the grandest of stages for the very first time, absolutely nothing can compare. A North Carolina win would be the ultimate rivalry smackdown. A Duke win would give Krzyzewski the ultimate farewell game, one way or another, not to mention relegating the Tar Heels’ win in Cameron to a historical footnote.
Even if the two schools someday play for a national title, even if it’s held in some future TepperDome — purchased by the good taxpayers of Mecklenberg County, no doubt — it’s going to be impossible to top this. You always remember your first.
Evaluating the vvents
N&O sports columnist Luke DeCock’s ranking of the biggest North Carolina sporting events.
— 1. UNC-Duke Final Four, 2022
— 2. NC State-Maryland ACC championship, 1974
— 3. Carolina Hurricanes Game 7 vs. Edmonton, 2006
— 4. U.S. Open at Pinehurst, 1999
— 5. UNC in 1957 Final Four
— 6. NC State in 1983 Final Four
— 7. UNC in 1982 Final Four
— 8. Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII, 2004
— 9. Rose Bowl in Durham, 1942
— 10. Duke in 1992 Final Four
