Al Pacino and Robert de Niro hadn’t shared a film set until Heat came along in 1995. Duke and North Carolina, two emblematic college basketball teams and neighbours meet on Saturday for the first time in a Final Four, an event that has been held since 1939.
The rivalry has been coined as ‘The Tobacco Road’ which can only be compared in the United States to that of Celtics-Lakers or Yankees-Red Sox.
The Caesars Superdome in New Orleans will play host to the event, with a capacity for 73,000 spectators, who will witness a rivalry that began in 1920 with a 38-25 victory for North Carolina.
Duke is a private college, associated with those of a wealthy background while North Carolina (UNC) is a more open public institution. But above all, they are the headquarters of two mythical basketball projects, recruitment factories and titles.
Duke have five titles (1991, 1992, 2001, 2010 and 2015) in the NCAA division in 17 appearances in the final four while North Carolina have one more title (1957, 1982, 1993, 2005, 2009 and 2017) from 21 displays in the final phase of this competition.
Carta que le envió Krzyzewski a Jordan en 1980 tras elegir jugar en North Carolina
North Carolina has proven to be the springboard to the NBA for the likes of James Worthy, Brad Daugherty, Vince Carter and Sam Perkins, but it will forever be the college of a geography student named Michael Jordan.
Convincing Jordan was not easy. Michael wanted to go to the successful UCLA and despised North Carolina. Two of Dean Smith‘s assistants, Bill Guthridge and Roy Williams, used wit and insistence to sway Jordan.
Duke were late in the race to sign Jordan, and coach Mike Krzyzewski sent him a letter wishing him luck, and the rest is history, with the document that now resides in a museum that North Carolina fans gloat over.
Marca
