It’s no less than incredible how the last 10:31 of the second national semifinals Saturday night might affect Duke, the ACC, Carolina and the blue blood rivalry from history to tomorrow to the future.
Imagine how many Tar Heel fans turned off the broadcast in disgust when the Blue Devils held a 13-point lead over never-say-die Houston more than midway through the second half in San Antonio (the site of perhaps UNC’s most disappointing Final Four loss back in 2008 as a top seed), missing an epic comeback. And while the celebrations in Chapel Hill and along Franklin Street for whoever watched to the end did not match those of Carolina actually beating Duke, the sky was definitely a brighter blue when the sun came up Sunday.
There’s no denying how overlapping such losses can be for the opposite program. Both fan bases remember the highs and lows of each rivalry game, but also how their foe did on the national stage in the NCAA tournament.
This loss will live forever for the Dukies, who last suffered through something similar three years ago in New Orleans when the Tar Heels ended Mike Krzyzewski’s Hall of Fame career in the second semifinal. The panicked look of their fans in the last few minutes was similar to the Cameron Indoor crowd in the second half of Coach K’s last home game — when the Tar Heels stormed back with an offensive blitzkrieg that left the program despondent afterward, only to recover and reach the 2022 Final Four.
Coach K may decide not to attend another (with or without Duke playing) after returning to a Duke NCAA game for the first time since his career ended in the Big Easy on the hot shooting of R.J. Davis, Caleb Love and Brady Manek. His protégé Jon Scheyer was on the verge of doing something his mentor took six years to do (reaching Monday night) and 11 to win it all (1991).
The rivalry may have new names and faces, but the facts never change. This morning felt better to be a Tar Heel than in a long while, and Carolina men’s basketball had nothing to do with it after losing all three games to Duke and going out meekly to Ole Miss in the first round of the Big Dance. It does not minimize the frustration of those results, but we know how badly the Dukies feel because of the pain from UNC’s 1977 loss to Marquette, the 1981 loss to Indiana, the 2016 loss to Villanova and a half-dozen semifinal sufferings.
And it makes tomorrow look slightly better after Hubert Davis landed the 7-foot big man he’s been seeking in Henri Veesaar on Friday, getting the Tar Heels off to a good start rebuilding their roster. Duke, on the other hand, must beat this hangover.
Houston players celebrate after beating Duke in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in San Antonio. (Photo via AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough.)
Anyone who watched Duke from early in the season knew this was a special team. Cooper Flagg was unveiling his extraordinary talent and savvy for the game. Fellow freshman Kon Knueppel looked almost as good and 7-foot-2 center Khaman Maluach appeared a monster in the making.
One-and-dones have been on championships teams for both schools, and they always seem forgotten by fans relatively quickly. For all the spectacular shots Flagg made this season, he will be remembered for the last 8-footer he short-armed in the lane.
Saturday was an opportunity to completely put his stamp on college basketball — but instead, Flagg’s celebrated season will stand out as a one off, as eyes always turn quickly to what’s ahead in the pros. This was clearly looking like the start of Scheyer’s own dynasty with those three first-round NBA draft projections and another 5-star class coming in to try to live up to what the 2025 team accomplished. Now, it starts over without their legacy like some of the great teams before them.
To some devotees of the rivalry, the Dukies were somewhat lucky to go back-to-back as champs in 1991 and ’92, the first time since the UCLA glory days. Bobby Hurley’s gutsy three-pointer against undefeated and top-ranked UNLV sparked the startling finish over the Rebels as Duke went on to defeat Roy Williams’ Kansas team and win its first NCAA title in hoops. The next year, Christian Laettner’s dramatic shot on a long pass from Grant Hill beat Kentucky in the regional final and Duke became dynastic and a household name with a second straight national championship.
Williams got UNC back into the game by hanging three banners in the Smith Center over his 18 years compared to the two for Coack K (2010 and 2015) during their head-to-head period. And, of course, the Tar Heels still own the most recent NCAA championship (2017) and the last advance to the title game (2022). Duke has fallen short of where Carolina has been three times in the last 10 years: the Monday night glamour.
For the ACC, which had only three teams outright make the field of 64 this season, it was a devastating blow to its flagging ego and reputation. Commissioner Jim Phillips wore a lifeless look from his courtside seat as a sure victory disappeared. The ACC was humiliated in the early season inter-conference challenge by the SEC, which eventually sent 14 teams to the Dance and two to the Final Four. The first-line players transferring out of the ACC dwarfed the number of those coming in, and with conference realignment always on someone’s drawing board somewhere, the league needs to overcome its label as tenuous and do more than bring in teams from the Southwest and West Coast to prove it won’t collapse like the Pac 12 in years to come.
Duke has established itself as a combination of the smartest and wealthiest in power sports with growing success among all of its programs. Had the Blue Devils hung a sixth banner and Scheyer established himself as the golden boy of a school that continues to grow more valuable in the eyes of suiters, Duke would have unlimited options. Scheyer will be unfairly criticized by his alumni and fans for failing to close what looked like a sure ticket to Monday night. And while the ACC added to the most Final Fours of any conference (60), it missed a chance to take the lead in winning NCAA championships (tied with the Pac 10/12 with 15 total).
In a 10-minute stretch of being outscored 28-9, the Blue Devils slipped back from looking unbeatable to one-and-done normalcy. And their future returns to being up in the air as much as their rivals and the ACC.
Featured image via AP Photo/Eric Gay.
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
If you count Cal as part of the ACC, the ACC now has more championships…Go Bears! 🐻🐻🐻
Lol are you really a journalist, you’re a blind tarholes Homer. Duke smoked your pitiful progra. 3 times this year. The tarholes aren’t even irrelevant anymore. Amd you know they shouldn’t have even been in the tournament your going say blah blah blah but it’s just the truth you know it in your heart. Only good thing the holes did was get.rid of Cadue. I can’t believe Michigan coach would take.that trash. Straight trash. Or maybe he won’t go since the holes have such poor academics he probably ca t get in. See Caleb Love. Just pitiful I know
.alot of.Carolina fans and most are as dillusional as.you, and on par w virginia tech fans thinking they are still relevant same w holes basketball.