Carolina and Duke showed their cultural divide Saturday night.

What is it that makes a team win a game like that and allows the other team to lose what it had won – twice?

Was it the missed opportunities in the first half that kept a game dominated by Carolina from becoming a truly unbelievable blowout, given the respective seasons of both teams?

Or continually giving Duke chance after chance down the stretch, when one more free throw or one less turnover could have spelled the difference between a brutal loss and one of the greatest upset wins in Tar Heel history.

As it unfolded, I wondered if Robbie West realized that Carolina was about to return a 48-year-old favor? West, now probably 70, hit a 15-footer from the foul line area in 1972 to give the then-struggling Blue Devils a home win for the ages over the third-ranked Tar Heels headed for the regular-season and ACC championships and Final Four.

On the fifth-anniversary weekend of Dean Smith’s death, Duke’s winning culture that Mike Krzyzewski credited to his old adversary snatched victory from the pit bull jaws of defeat.

“He made our program better by us competing against him,” Coach K said after the 98-96 overtime thriller. “A lot of that stuff we tried to emulate from him.”

That stuff. You never give up, despite trailing the entire game, in a wild hostile house trying to will its team to victory, down 13 points with less than four minutes to play, down 10 with 2:18 left, down three with six seconds remaining in regulation and, in overtime, still down a point without the ball ten ticks from defeat.

Unfortunately, Carolina is in the middle of rebuilding that culture with a team depleted by personnel losses and decimated by injuries. Christian Keeling and Justin Pierce finally stepped up, giving Cole Anthony room to operate. Every Tar Heel who played scored and until the last few minutes, UNC was the better team.

All those wearing Nike throwback unies played their hearts out, but only those who had the fortitude to make the free throws and possess the ball when it counted were winners in the end.

 

Coach K’s complete remarks about Dean Smith

Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski, when reminded that it was the fifth anniversary of Dean Smith’s death, made the following comments after his team defeated Carolina 98-96 in overtime Saturday.

“We became really good friends. It took a while. Once we started winning at the level he won all the time, I understood him. And he knew I understood him.

“You don’t break a sprint record or any record unless you’re running with the best. And I think both of our programs made each other better. He made our program better by us competing against him. And I’ll be ever grateful to him.

“He was the guy in the room when they were choosing the Olympic coach who said ‘Mike should have it.’ I’m gonna start crying   . . .  

“As good as we are, number of wins, we might have more, but as a man we should all aspire to be who he was.

“I recognize that, and the other thing I recognize is the loyalty of his players, which we have now, too. A lot of that stuff we tried to emulate from what he did. And now we have two programs that do it.

“And they both played tonight in a magnificent game.”

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