With North Carolina’s blowout victory over Maryland, the rematch is set. UNC and Duke with an ACC Regular Season Title on the line. There is an NCAA number 1 seed in play, rivalry bragging rights, and oh year they are both ranked in the top 5. Just another typical game in college basketball’s biggest rivalry, and I think some fans of other ACC teams are getting sick of the pre-game hype.
The picture I have here was taken from the ACC’s Facebook page, but that isn’t the sentiment of just this fan. If you look there you’ll see others like “Dear ACC – We exist Sincerely the other 10 teams in the conference”. Every time you turn on ESPN they are talking Saturday’s game.
Tuesday’s Duke\Wake Forest contest was basically a Duke\UNC game preview. My twitter timeline was filled with remarks about how ESPN barely discussed the actual game, and focused in large part Duke\UNC. I have to admit, it was a disservice to Wake Forest who fought hard to get back in the contest to play third wheel to the Duke\UNC preview show. I thought about though, do these fans have a legit beef? Yes and no…
The ACC is not just Duke and UNC and to hear that game promoted non-stop can be frustrating to non-Duke\UNC fans. You don’t like the ACC’s lack of football respect? Are you tired of Duke\UNC being talked about non-stop in ACC basketball? Do you wish the ACC made SEC type TV money? Want more fans in the stands? Here’s the solution and it’s the solution I always give to everything that ails the ACC. Win and win some more. You know why Duke and UNC are playing the biggest game of the year? They win and they win a lot. 3 weeks ago you heard about Duke, UNC, and Florida State in the same sentence and do you know why? It’s because Florida State beat UNC and Duke.
Maryland basketball under Gary Williams proved in the late 90s and early 2000s that you can break through and be just as big a story in the ACC as Duke\UNC. I would venture to say Maryland\Duke was one of the fiercest rivalries in the ACC in the last 20 years.
It can be done, but right now Duke\UNC basketball is the biggest story going in the ACC.
