Is this the year for Duke-Carolina IV? Jay Bilas thinks so. Most college basketball fans cannot believe, with the schools going to the post-season virtually every year, that Duke and UNC have never met in the NCAA tournament. The Blue Devils and Tar Heels did play in the NIT semifinals back in 1971, with Carolina winning at Madison Square Garden on the way to the championship.

But in the NCAAs, never. It hasn’t been as easy as you might think, with the top 16 teams rarely having five from the same conference, so the highest seeded teams are assigned to different regions and would have to meet in the Final Four. With the Power Five getting five, six, seven bids, teams from the same leagues have occasionally played in the tournament, but not to Blue Bloods.

It could have happened back in 1979, the infamous year of Black Sunday, when the top-seeded Tar Heels and second-seeded Blue Devils were placed in the East Region. After receiving first-round byes, both played unranked teams from the Northeast at Reynolds Coliseum on the N.C. State campus. Shockingly, Carolina lost to Penn of the Ivy League and Duke lost to St. John’s. Had they both won, they could have met in the Elite Eight game at the Greensboro Coliseum and played for a Final Four berth.

Photo via Todd Melet

Since then, UNC and Duke have never been assigned to the same region as high seeds. Both made the Final Four in 1991 at the old Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis. The Heels were upset by Roy Williams’ Kansas Jayhawks and the Dukies stunned No. 1-ranked and unbeaten UNLV, before beating Kansas Monday night for Duke’s first-ever NCAA title. Duke was a No. 1 seed in the 2004 South where Carolina was a No. 6 before the Tar Heels lost to third-seeded Texas in round two.

Inevitably, the programs will play in the Big Dance, but while they are both high seeds they can only square off in the Final Four. ESPN commentator Jay Bilas predicts this is the year. Bilas published his winners for every tournament game Monday, and his picks are dramatic, to say the least.

Bilas has Duke defeating NC Central, Central Florida, Virginia Tech and Michigan State to reach the Final Four, where it will avenge the loss in Maui to Gonzaga. Bilas has Carolina beating Iona, Utah State, Auburn in the Sweet 16 and Kentucky again to make a third Final Four in four years and will edge Virginia in the other semifinal.

Of a fourth Duke-Carolina game, Bilas writes, “If Coby White gets another chance at the buzzer, he makes it this time. UNC wins.”

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Related Stories
‹
NCAA, Leagues Back $2.8 Billion Settlement, Setting Stage for Current, Former Athletes to Be Paid
The NCAA agreed to pay nearly $2.8 billion to settle a host of antitrust claims, likely setting up a revenue-sharing model in college sports.
Art’s Angle: NIL Hypocrisies
Carolina’s annual athletic budget exceeds $100 million. It is zero-based because UNC takes in as much as it spends on full scholarships, coaching salaries, recruiting expenses, operations and facilities, etc. The revenues come from Rams Club donations, tickets sales, lucrative TV payouts and rights fees from Learfield/IMG, which sells sponsorships to local companies and major […]
Chansky's Notebook: Almighty Dollar Wins
Now, a 12-team college football playoff makes sense. Sort of. We all figured a super conference would be coming someday, but weren’t sure how football realignment would go to form it. The ball began moving down the field when Texas and Oklahoma decided to bolt from the Big 12 to join the Southeastern Conference. That […]
Ball in Their Court: Justices Take on NCAA Restrictions
Written by JESSICA GRESKO The NCAA and former college athletes are getting ready to play ball at the Supreme Court. With the March Madness basketball tournament ongoing, the high court will hear arguments Wednesday in a case about how colleges can reward athletes who play Division I basketball and football. The NCAA says if the former college students […]
ACC Coaches Back Idea of All D-I Teams in 2021 NCAA Tourney
Atlantic Coast Conference men’s basketball coaches are pushing the idea of having next year’s NCAA Tournament include all eligible teams in Division I. Numerous league schools and coaches released statements Wednesday after the coaches held their weekly call to discuss the proposal, which was first reported by Stadium. There are 357 Division I programs in […]
NCAA to Allow Student-Athletes to Display Social Justice Messages on Uniforms
The NCAA announced on Thursday that its Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved rules to allow student-athletes in all sports to wear patches on their uniforms to support social justice issues. Student-athletes will be allowed two places on the uniform, one on the front and one on the back, to express support and voice their opinions. […]
NCAA Board Supports Name, Image and Likeness Compensation
The NCAA is moving forward with a plan to allow college athletes to earn money for endorsements and a host of other activities involving personal appearances and social media. The NCAA announced Wednesday that its Board of Governors supports a plan that gives athletes the ability to cash in on their names, images and likenesses […]
Chansky's Notebook: Double Dominance
Two of Carolina’s Hall of Fame coaches did it for the 22nd time Sunday. Granted, Mack Brown and Roy Williams get most of the national attention because they coach the two biggest sports at UNC. But while both the football and basketball Tar Heels were not playing over the weekend, Anson Dorrance and Karen Shelton showed again they’re the […]
Roy Williams on California Student-Athlete Compensation Law: 'It's Dadgum Complicated'
When asked about California’s Senate Bill 206, UNC head coach Roy Williams evoked a phrase said often by the hall-of-famer. “I have no idea,” he said. “It’s dadgum complicated, and it’s going to be coming in 2023. Hell, I hope I’m alive in 2023; I hope I’m still teeing it up.” Williams is right: it […]
Chansky's Notebook: Monday Night Showdown?
Is this the year for Duke-Carolina IV? Jay Bilas thinks so. Most college basketball fans cannot believe, with the schools going to the post-season virtually every year, that Duke and UNC have never met in the NCAA tournament. The Blue Devils and Tar Heels did play in the NIT semifinals back in 1971, with Carolina winning […]
›