Duke-North Carolina is on the shelf for a season, at the very least. The two games between the hated, but respected rivals, will still have intensity and possibly some drama. But it's no longer the two games circled on a college basketball calendar, not this season.
Duke-Maryland has become the rivalry, the two games drawing the most interest on the national level each time these two ACC rivals take the court. Kentucky-Florida in the SEC will have some fanfare, but not like this. UCLA-Arizona? Not even close. USC-UCLA? Possibly this season, but it still doesn't have the national cache. Stanford-UCLA or Stanford-USC or Stanford-Arizona? Nope.
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They just keep playing great games and that's why it has become the best rivalry recently. And you know they don't like each other. ” |
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— Tommy Herrion,
Virginia assistant coach |
Kansas-Missouri could still end up being worth top billing, but only if the Tigers can become a Final Four contender again. Oklahoma-Oklahoma State has a chance, but it doesn't sell as much yet. Forget about the Big East, the A-10, MWC, MAC, WAC or anything in the Big Ten this season.
No, the home-and-home matchup that has not only a league title at stake as well as the potential preview for a national championship or a Final Four semifinal game seems to be Duke-Maryland.
The reason? Four tremendous games last season, four games in which Maryland could have won all of them, but Duke claimed three of four. Two matchups during the regular season were split -- with each team winning on each other's home court. Duke won the ACC tournament semifinal and then the national semifinal.
Maryland owned double-digit leads in all four games. The team that led at the half lost all four games. Think about the four games -- the 10-point comeback for Duke in the final minute of regulation for an overtime win at Cole Field House; an 11-point Maryland win on senior night at Cameron when Carlos Boozer broke his foot; a last-second tip-in at the ACC tournament and the Final Four matchup.
As they enter Episode I of 2002, both teams are obviously on a tear with Duke losing only one game at Florida State two weeks ago since that Maryland loss on senior night last season. Maryland has won 13 of its last 14 games and 23 of its last 27. Together, they've combined have win 50 of their last 56 games, with three of the losses to each other. Maryland's only other losses were to Arizona and Oklahoma since losing to Duke in the ACC tournament and Final Four.
Each team has superstar players this season -- Duke with Jason Williams and Mike Dunleavy, and Maryland with Juan Dixon and now emerging as one Chris Wilcox.
|  | | Like any good rivalry, Maryland and Duke respect each other, but don't care much for each other. |
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski seems to relish these big games but doesn't have to get into an obsession over beating Maryland. Like it or not, Maryland coach Gary Williams is obsessed with beating Duke. He said it's just two of the 16 league games, and the other 14 count just as much. But he knows and admits that the Duke games are bigger than playing Virginia or Wake Forest this season.
"This has become the rivalry because of what has happened the last two years," Dixon said. "We've played each other six times and had great games. Both coaches are very, very competitive and I'm sure Thursday will be another one of the great games."
Maryland has a remarkable two-game winning streak at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke's home record since 1997-98 is 61-4. That's right two of the four losses were to Maryland (the others were one to North Carolina and one to St. John's). If Maryland wins Thursday, it would be only the third team to do so since 1985. Wake Forest turned the trick with Tim Duncan in the middle from 1995-97, while the Heels walked out of Cameron with wins from 1994-96.
"They're not scared of us and we're not scared of them," Duke sophomore Chris Duhon said. "We've had great games against them but we've made the plays to win three of the four last season."
The rivalry is intense, but there is a sense from Maryland that Duke is the older brother that gets all the attention. But there is still a common respect.
Dixon spoke with such glowing affection for Dunleavy's game that it was as if they were close teammates.
"I can't say enough about Mike Dunleavy and that he reminds me a lot of myself in that he has worked so hard to get where he is," Dixon said. "I admire him so much. His father coached in the NBA and everyone penciled him in to be a great player, but he had to work at it. He does everything at both ends of the court."
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KNOCKING OFF NO. 1
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Maryland has six wins all-time against No. 1 teams, more than all but six other schools, but the Terps are 0-7 all-time against No.1-ranked Duke teams. |
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TEAM
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WINS
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Duke
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8
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North Carolina
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8
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UCLA
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8
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Georgia Tech
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7
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Ohio State
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7
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Maryland
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6
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The four games a season ago did breed familiarity between the two teams, so much that there are few secrets heading into the first meeting of 2002. Sure, Wilcox is more of a factor this season and so is Dunleavy. But that doesn't change the intent. Maryland will attack Duke, punish them inside and try to get them to take quick shots while grabbing the first board. Duke will push the ball and force Maryland into quick turnovers for transition points.
"They are contrasting styles," said Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt, who has lost to both teams this season. "Duke can force Maryland to turn the ball over, but Maryland could get Duke into foul trouble. The two potential player of the year candidates are in this game with Jason Williams and Juan Dixon. I know it goes in cycles, because at one point it was North Carolina and N.C. State in the '80s and then it was North Carolina and Duke in the '90s, and now it's Duke-Maryland in the ACC."
The respect from the other coaches, to almost stop and watch this series is understandable.
"They just keep playing great games and that's why it has become the best rivalry recently," Virginia assistant Tommy Herrion said. "And you know they don't like each other."
That's because they're both competing for the national title as well as the ACC crown. Dixon said earlier in the week he wants the ACC regular-season and tournament title, but knows he's got to get it through Duke.
Any complacency that Duke had is gone after Krzyzewski got into the team following the Florida State loss.
"Coach K was fired up," Duhon said. "He felt like we needed to see his intensity and then match it. We know we'll be fired up Thursday. We made a vow after that Florida State loss not to play defense like that. We need defense to create for our offense. It comes down for us getting a great start.
"We lost control of the game at our place last year and then Carlos got hurt. The shock of that got everybody down and Maryland kept playing hard. Every time we played them they got off to a 10-2 run or 18-8 or something and that gave them confidence that they could play with us. We've got to play well at the beginning and not give them that."
Hope? Confidence? It's too late. They've already got it and that's what makes this rivalry special. Maryland believes it can beat Duke, because it did, even if it was just once last season, twice in the past two at Cameron.
A rivalry isn't a rivalry if one team wins all the time.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.
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