6:50 p.m. ET
Pete Thamel ESPN
PHILADELPHIA — North Carolina and Duke have played each other 257 times since 1920. They have competed in No. 1 vs. No. 2 Thunder Clap matchups, fought frequently in the ACC tournament, and even once faced each other in the 1971 NIT semifinals.
The 258th matchup will be the first ever in the NCAA tournament, a cosmic collision seemingly nicked from Tobacco Road fan fiction. North Carolina and Duke are eight miles apart and have combined 248 NCAA tournament wins, but their Final Four clash in New Orleans will be tied for the highest stakes in the history of the rivalry.
No. 8 North Carolina’s 69-49 win over 15-seeded St. Peter’s on Sunday sends the Tar Heels into the Final Four for the 21st time in program history, extending their all-time lead over UCLA (18-18). ) the end. After a week of preparation before the age-old rivals enter the court, expect the match to be billed as the most anticipated meeting in the history of the Duke vs. UNC rivalry.
North Carolina coach Hubert Davis secured a Final Four bid in his first season on the sidelines at UNC. And his rise to the national stage as head coach creates another piece of basketball destiny. Davis’ first Final Four as head coach fatefully coincides with the announced departure of Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, who is retiring this season after leading the Blue Devils to the Final Four for the 13th time in his career.
The confluence of teams, stakes and Krzyzewski’s career, potentially ended by North Carolina, creates an opportunity to brag generations of winner rights.
There are two options: Either UNC ends Krzyzewski’s career on the biggest possible stage at the hands of his fiercest rival, or Duke gets a chance to play the winners of Kansas and Villanova on Monday to field Krzyzewski with his sixth national title send.
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This game follows UNC’s stunning Duke during Krzyzewski’s final home game at Cameron Indoor Stadium in what was then considered the ultimate ambush of the rivalry. Now, Bracket Kismet’s gift gives UNC a chance to brag on bar stools and tea boxes across the state for decades to come.
Two programs that have played 334 NCAA tournament games combined have never met in all of these trips. (The NCAA matchup wasn’t possible until 1975, when the NCAA began allowing more than one team per league into the event.) They were in the Final Four together only one other time, back in 1991 when Krzyzewski won his first championship.
While Krzyzewski’s departure will continue to suck up a significant amount of oxygen, the work Davis has done deserves a lot of attention. UNC stuttered for most of the first three months of this season, including blowout losses to everyone from Kentucky and Wake Forest, at home to Duke and even to Pittsburgh.
But Davis steadily led the Tar Heels to the Final Four from the wrong side of the bubble after losing to Pitt in mid-February. By doing so and winning four games in his first NCAA tournament, Davis became the first head coach in his first season on the sidelines to reach the Final Four since the late Bill Guthridge led the Tar Heels there in 1998.
“Shared experiences and the time we’ve spent on and off the court has allowed us to grow together, to understand each other, to accept each other,” Davis said Saturday, “to see the gifts and talents that make… possible.” us to be together the best we can be and we are now settled. We are in a place of togetherness because we spend time together.”
As for Sunday’s game, Saint Peter’s struck midnight just after tipoff, and the tiny Jersey City, New Jersey school’s adorable run ended with a wincing bang. North Carolina led 9-0 and never really felt threatened – overwhelming size, a distinct advantage in athletics and enough courage to never give the Peacocks a glimmer of hope.
St. Peter’s historic run in the NCAA tournament came about more through collective courage than offensive precision. And on Sunday, they stuttered so much in the first half that it managed to mute an electrifying crowd at the Wells Fargo Center eager to witness history again.
Saint Peter’s shot 1-for-11 from 3-point range in the first half, and its futility was best summed up after coach Shaheen Holloway called a timeout just 2:30 into the game and the Peacocks were already 7-0 down . He designed a skillful play from the break, resulting in a wide-open lob on leading scorer Daryl Banks III. Banks missed the layup and set the tone for Saint Peter’s 7-on-31 shot half.
Saint Peter’s went into halftime 38-19, prompting the constantly snarling Holloway to contort his facial expressions into inventive expressions of dislike. The Peacocks exit the tournament as the only No. 15 to reach the Elite Eight, a new standard for underdog runs.
The cold reality for Saint Peter’s is likely to continue into the week as Holloway is widely expected to become the new head coach at Seton Hall. Holloway is a Seton Hall graduate, one of the most important players in the program’s history, who also helped build the current iteration of the program by serving as Kevin Willard’s assistant for eight seasons.
Holloway certainly didn’t want to go out like this, with TV trucks racing around Tobacco Road B-Roll at halftime. UNC had it all working: Armando Bacot snagged 15 rebounds in the first half, finishing on 22 and seemingly doing chin-ups on the edge as he separated Saint Peter’s players like skittles. He also led the team by 20 points. Brady Manek had 19 points for UNC as the 6-foot-9 senior who can score inside and outside (4-for-6 from 3) represented exactly the type of player Saint Peter’s had no answer for.
Her performance helps set up North Carolina and Duke’s third meeting of the season. The Blue Devils won by 20 points in the first game at Chapel Hill on February 5, and UNC returned a month later with a stunning 13-point victory in Coach K’s farewell at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham.
However, the third and final meeting brings a whole new level of story, meaning and attention, a delicious storyline in a rivalry that has raged for more than a century.