Hubert Davis, in his first year as UNC's head coach, is taking the Tar Heels to the Final Four in the men's basketball championship. | Keith Johnston/Pixabay
Hubert Davis, in his first year as UNC's head coach, is taking the Tar Heels to the Final Four in the men's basketball championship. | Keith Johnston/Pixabay
The University of North Carolina (UNC) Tar Heels missed the chance to play the Duke University Blue Devils in the Atlantic Coast Conference men’s basketball tournament as Virginia Tech went on a tear to down them both so the Hokies could earn a bid to the Big Dance.
This Saturday, though, they’ll get their match-up in the NCAA Men’s Division I Final Four in New Orleans.
The nation will see what East Coast hoops fans have long described as one of the best rivalries in college sports.
UNC got there by beating upstart St. Peter’s, 69-49, in a game that was never in doubt as Carolina opened an early lead and never looked back.
“The only thing on my mind is celebrating with the rest of the players on what just happened today,” UNC Coach Hubert Davis said after Sunday’s win, as reported by ESPN. “Next week will be next week. And we’ll deal with that next week.”
The contest will take the teams beyond the normal rivalry, and this game is getting more attention than the Villanova University-University of Kansas one for good reason.
"North Carolina Coach Hubert Davis clinched a Final Four bid in his first season on the sideline at UNC,” ESPN.com reported, “and his climb onto the national stage as a head coach creates another bit of basketball providence.”
It will be Davis' first Final Four as a head coach and Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s last as he is retiring this season after leading the Blue Devils to the Final Four a record 13 times.
The teams split their two regular-season meetings this season. Davis thinks the Heels will be ready for the rubber match, much like they used the season’s second meeting to pay back the Devils for an embarrassing loss a couple of weeks earlier.
“Shared experiences and the time that we've spent on and off the court has allowed us to grow together, to understand each other, to accept each other, to see the gifts and talents that... allow us to collectively be the best that we can be, and we're settled now,” Davis said. “We’re in a place of togetherness because of time shared together.”
While Duke and Carolina fans don’t really need another reason to hate each other when it comes to college hoops, this will nonetheless be a feather in the cap of the winner.
"The confluence of the teams, stakes and Krzyzewski's career potentially ending at the hands of North Carolina creates the opportunity for generations of bragging rights for the winner,” ESPN.com said.
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