SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
Ah, Tobacco Road, the most important industry in the 11-mile stretch of real estate between North Carolina’s cathedral of hoops, the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill and Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham.
Well, these two long-time rivals have taken to the basketball court 257 times since the year 1920 of World War I, the last time at Duke’s Cameron venue where retiring Mike Krzyzewski was coaching his final home game and it just happened to be against the Tar Heels. It was the usual packed house but a disappointing night for Coach K, his homecourt fans, his family and friends, when North Carolina came away with an impressive 94-81 triumph.
Of course that’s old news tonight when the schools are engaged in a first-ever Final Four that is considered the most titanic meeting of all their times on the court. Imagine all those games between them finally bringing them together in this huge event.
But that’s the closer of this semifinal played at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, and you can’t overlook the opener matching Kansas, the only No. 1 seed remaining in the men’s field, against 2nd-seeded Villanova, which is missing its injured second-leading scorer Juluan Moore. This one is scheduled for a 4:09 p.m. tip-off and features two outstanding head coaches in the Jayhawks’ Bill Self and the Wildcats’ Jay Wright. The latter is looking for his third national title and Self his second.
Despite the key loss of Moore, Nova can always call on its bench, its teamwork, its confidence, and the savy of Wright. It sports a 27-7 overall record and arrived here after routing 15th-seeded Delaware, and ousting 7th-seeded Ohio State,11th-seeded Michigan, and 5th-seeded Houston. As for Kansas, it comes in at 32-6 and includes romping past 16th-seeded Florida Southern, eliminating a pesky 9th-seeded Creighton, 4th-seeded Providence, and after falling behind 10th-seeded Miami at halftime, took the court after intermission to make a quick 12-0 run and leaving the Hurricanes in a storm the rest of the way.
The Big East has Villanova’s men and Connecticut left in the women’s field, Kansas’ men the only one remaining from the Big 12, South Carolina’s women from the Southeastern Conference, and from the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Duke and North Carolina men.
Now for decades, a win, a loss or any given matchup between the Tar Heels and Blue Devils has had the power to shape the next week or month or year for the thousands of fans who wear different shades of blue and have two worldviews to one of the most intense rivalries in sports.
Except that Krzyzewski and first-year NC head coach Hubert Davis, who played under Roy Williams and appeared in the NCAA Tournament, and after Wiliams retired, took over as head coach, had similar words.
“It’s just another game,” said Kruzewski, “but most important it’s against North Carolina, and that’s because if you win, you get a chance to play for the national championship, and that has to be your focus.”
Davis feels the same, a big, big test but two teams familiar with each other to settle things on the court.
“Phone, family, friends and fans,” he said, “but none will help either team prepare for this meeting.”
Yet, there are some things that simply cannot be avoided. Namely, the idea, baked into the DNA and geography of Tobacco Road, that these teams and these schools don’t really like each other. They often jab at each other. On the other hand, they both need each other, and the reason it’s great is because both are so successful.
For then Tar Heels, this marks a record 21st trip to the Final Four. For Coach K, it’s a record 13th trip to college basketball’s biggest stage, and this break a tie with the late UCLA legend John Wooden for most appearances by a coach.
This comes four weeks since North Carolina walked into Cameron Indoor Stadium, handled the boos, and put a beatdown on Duke in its head coach’s final game there.
After the game, Krzyzewski apologized and calling his team’s performance “unacceptable” Some said It was a contest that was the most consequential game the teams have played through all these years.
Bottom line is, these are two great schools with two great basketball programs, each of which has the power to make the other’s life much less pleasant at any given moment. And this is a very special moment.
Drum roll … Next comes game No. 258. Yes, there will always be next year. But given the stakes, the setting and the people and history involved, don’t expect anything like this again.
But remember game one tonight, for Kansas and Villanova are also a pair of stellar teams, just not arch rivals like the guys from Tobacco Road.
