Who Died and Made North Carolina The Boss Of Basketball?

Fans of North Carolina and Duke are sorely mistaken—you are not the King of basketball. You have two of the top programs in the country, no doubt. But these are national programs that hardly rely on local talent to continue to live up to their billing.

In last Sunday’s victory for North Carolina over Duke, players hailing from North Carolina combined to score zero points. In fact a quick glance of the Duke roster and you will not find one player that is from North Carolina.

So what gives? Who died and made the state of North Carolina boss? And since when is North Carolina/Duke the biggest rivalry in sports?

Ever heard of Army/Navy? What about Celtic/Rangers in Scottish soccer. Both clubs hail from Glasgow and have hundreds of years of religious tension involved. Now that is a rivalry.

Sure, North Carolina/Duke is a big deal in college basketball. But calling it the best rivalry in sports is as asinine as calling North Carolina the best state for basketball.

Duke has won three national championships under Coach Mike Krzyzewski—definitely an admirable feat. North Carolina has won four titles, surprisingly only two under Dean Smith and one under Roy Williams with Matt Doherty’s players. Perhaps another subject for another day.

Let’s take a gander, for example, at the Duke teams of 1991 and 1992. Without question, two of the best teams in the history of college basketball. In 1992, not one player came from North Carolina. Christian Laettner was from New York, Bobby Hurley from New Jersey, and Grant Hill from Virginia.

The 1982 National Champions, yes, had two outstanding players from North Carolina. Michael Jordan came from Wilmington, while James Worthy hailed from Gastonia. Pretty good players to claim as yours.

What about the 1993 North Carolina title winners? Donald Williams was from Garner, N.C. However, he was the only North Carolinian to contribute to the national championship.

The 2005 Matt Doherty All-Stars weren’t overloaded with homegrown talent either. Only Reyshawn Terry and David Noel made significant contributions to this title effort.

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