DALLAS — As Duke took the court before Friday night’s Sweet 16 matchup with Houston, the large contingent of NC State fans who stuck around after their own Sweet 16 win let out a collective boo.
But down in the tunnel, there was a cute moment as NC State’s band walked past Duke’s band. They each said “A-C-C!” to each other. One Duke band member even did the Wolfpack hand gesture.
Two years after Duke and North Carolina met in the Final Four for that rivalry’s biggest game, Duke and NC State will meet Saturday in the Elite Eight, the biggest game in this rivalry. It’s the first NCAA Tournament matchup between these two schools less than 25 miles apart. But everyone involved seems to feel differently about this one. For the fans, it absolutely means more to have the rivalry aspect of this game. For the teams, the stakes of the Final Four are enough. At least that’s what they said Saturday. No one would take a bite and create and bulletin-board material.
“I was sitting with a group of friends watching the game last night, and of course everybody wants to know who you want to play,” NC State coach Kevin Keatts said. “I just said, when you get to this point, you’re blessed to play and take the opportunity to play whoever you get a chance to play. … I know for a lot of NC State fans, they were hoping it would be similar to ’83 and playing Houston.”
Duke’s coach echoed the same sentiment.
“Growing up as a player and as a coach at Duke, you learn very quickly it’s the best area in college for basketball,” Jon Scheyer said. “You have the triangle, and you add in Wake Forest all within an hour of each other, I think that’s unique. For me, it hasn’t gone into my mind at all about the fact of a rivalry, about the battles in past years against NC State. I think it’s just the respect level. We’ve always had big-time games against them, very competitive. They’ve had their style of playing. So have we.”
NC State has held its own in the rivalry recently, going 2-2 in the past four, 1-1 this year and 4-6 since Keatts took over as head coach.
But this is where Duke expects to be, as one of the most historic programs in the sport. The Blue Devils are looking for their second Final Four in three years. For NC State, in its first Elite Eight since 1986, this game is historic.
“It means everything to me,” NC State forward DJ Burns Jr. said. “Being from those two schools (Duke and UNC) is cool and everything, but you can do the same thing here. People can realize that.”
