I Long For Another “Game of Games” in the NCAA

I’ve been a basketball junkie nearly all my years.  Player, fan, collector of memorabilia.  Basketball is one of the loves of my life.

For this warm weather guy, the only thing that makes winter tolerable is a comfortable spot in front of a warm television set, watching Atlantic Coast Conference teams go at it on the court.

And as I watch the NCAA brackets, I’m hoping for a golden moment every ACC fan wants.

A third game this season between Duke University and the University of North Carolina.

It could happen April 4th in the semi-finals in Detroit.

Of course both schools will have to get by some tough teams to reach that game.

But despite warnings from their respective coaches not to look ahead, the Blue Devils and Tar Heels players must be thinking about the possibility of their third meeting.

I’m sure thinking about it.

I’m thinking about it even more after some channel-surfing late last night on Charter Cable.  On HBO I found a documentary with a title I couldn’t resist:  “Duke Versus Carolina.“

Terrific show.  Lots of great comments.  Historic footage.  Even some blood.

That’s what UNC-Duke is all about.

Even though I’m a proud graduate of North Carolina State University (1977), I was a Duke fan long before I even thought of going to State.  Spending a week at the Duke University basketball camp in the summer of 1969 was one of the truly great events of my life.  I got a taste of the amazing work that goes into becoming a college basketball player.

NCSU’s basketball success of the 1970’s yielded one undefeated season (72-73) followed by a season (73-74) with only one loss and a national championship.  That was the David Thompson era, and a player of his ability doesn’t come along often.  Though Jimmy Valvano and his “Cardiac Pack” pulled off a miracle national championship in 1986, NCSU basketball since my college days has generally disappointed me.  And I know I am not alone.

I long for the day when NCSU versus North Carolina… or NCSU versus Duke… means as much as Duke versus Carolina.

That day seems a long way down Tobacco Road.

Until it comes, I live for the Duke-UNC matchups.

My earliest memories of college basketball are from the 1960’s alongside my grandfather, Mick Hill, watching the Saturday afternoon ACC game of the week on the 13-inch black-and-white TV in his country store, which was a very short walk from my family’s farm in Hillsborough, NC.  “Mr. Mick,“ as everyone called him, lived to be nearly 88 years old, and his poor eyesight left him unable to see much of the action on his TV.  My role was to tell him the score and describe the events as we sipped Pepsi Cola and devoured honeybuns.

He probably gave me my start in broadcasting.  I was his personal “play by play” announcer.

Watching those games together meant everything to me.  I miss those days beyond words.

Even now, some 40 years later, Duke versus Carolina is still the game of games to me.

And the ACC roots of my family have grown deeper and deeper.

My wife and I both graduated from N.C. State.  With the graduation this May of our youngest daughter, both of our girls will have graduated from Clemson University.

My brother-in-law was a Morehead Scholar at UNC.  He is a successful attorney.

However, when it comes to college basketball, I am an “A-B-C’er.“

Folks around here don’t know what that means.

But ask anyone from the Raleigh-Durham Research Triangle area of North Carolina, and they’ll know -exactly- what it means.

“Anybody But (North) Carolina!“

And why do I feel that way, especially since I grew up in the same county (Orange) as UNC?

It’s probably because the baby blue have won so darned many games, including more than their share against Duke and State.

My only exception to the ABC rule happened several years ago when I asked for (and received) a copy of Dean Smith’s autobiography as a gift for a special occasion.

It was a good read.  You can’t argue with success.

Will I keep the ABC rule in force this year if UNC makes it to the finals?

I might… -might-... make an exception.

Next basketball season, nothing would be more fun than for Duke and/or NCSU to beat the defending national champions!