The greatest rivalry in college basketball made its NCAA Tournament debut on Saturday night, and over 70,000 fans packed inside Caesars Superdome were treated to an instant-classic that somehow exceeded expectations. With a trip to the national championship game on the line, North Carolina outlasted Duke, 81-77, marking the dramatic end to Mike Krzyzewski's epic coaching career.
In a heavyweight bout that featured 18 lead changes, 12 ties, and clutch shot-making throughout 40 minutes of play, Tar Heels first-year coach Hubert Davis marked his legacy. Not only did he and the squad earn forever bragging rights over their longtime foe, but he also handed Krzyzewski a loss in his last home game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, in early March. The epitome of spoiler.
"I said this sort of facetiously, but maybe not -- they should build a statue of Hubert Davis outside the Dean Dome," Stadium hoops analyst Jeff Goodman told the Reiter Than You show on Monday. "He just had the two biggest wins maybe in the history of the Carolina program. Probably going overboard here, but he ended Coach K's career in the national semifinals, and beat Coach K on Coach K night in Durham. How can you be any better than that?...
"Whatever Duke does -- they could win every regular season game -- Carolina fans are just going to be like, 'We beat you on the biggest stage, and we beat you on Coach K night'... You know what I compare it to? It was like when the Red Sox beat the Yankees [in 2004]... Beating the Yankees in the ALCS was bigger than winning the World Series... Six weeks ago, I was questioning, as much as anybody, whether Hubert Davis was the right guy for the job..."
From the opening tip, there was no shortage of high-intensity action and no time for millions of college basketball fans to relax. The energy was palpable, and the tension never eased. Tar Heels star guard Caleb Love played the role of hero, scoring a team-high 28 points. And with less than 30 seconds left in regulation, he drilled a clutch three from the top of the arc to extend the lead to 78-74. Three other Carolina starters also added double-digit points.
The Tar Heels, which have reached the national title game three times since 2016, will face top-seeded Kansas on Monday (9:20 ET tip) in New Orleans. According to FiveThirtyEight's projections, North Carolina currently has a 38-percent chance to cut down the nets and become the second No. 8 seed in history to win the tournament. This matchup also places recently retired head coach Roy Williams in a pickle, as he reached Final Fours with both schools.
The entire college hoops conversation between Goodman and Reiter can be accessed in the audio player above.
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