Duke vs. North Carolina Basketball Game at Cameron Indoor Stadium

The campuses of the Duke Blue Devils and the North Carolina Tarheels are separated by a mere eight miles of what some call “the Tobacco road,” fueling the fires of rivalry between the two teams like so much tinder at the bottom of a fire.

The rivalry has made numerous top 10 lists, and ranks number one on selected ratings. Beyond the benefit of familiarity and proximity, the two teams have not behaved consistently well throughout their history.

When they met in the early 60’s, Duke star and eventual player of the year Art Heyman got into an on-court brawl with a Tar Heel, resulting in suspensions for both players.

Of course there was also the fever pitch of the eighties, when Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and Tarheel head honcho Dean Smith rode the emerging wave of ESPN to corner the market on hot college basketball rivalries. Each man and his teams took national championships in the decade, and the new sports network fanned the fire, giving national audiences a steady diet of ACC games.