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| Austin Rivers emerges from the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill for the first time, taking with him 29 points and a place in Duke lore. |
Tonight, Austin Rivers added to the lore of the Duke/UNC rivalry.
After we thought we had seen it all on Saturday night in Columbia, it turns out that it was just a warm up for Duke/UNC.
College Basketball's greatest rivalry took center stage tonight. Duke beat North Carolina 85-84 and were down by 10 with 2:20 left in the game. That was not what will be remembered about this game in ten. What will be remembered, however, is the final shot that gave Duke the win.
Austin Rivers, a Duke freshman, went to Chapel Hill and hit a three to win at the buzzer.
Repeat: Austin Rivers, a Duke FRESHMAN, went to CHAPEL HILL and hit a THREE to WIN at the BUZZER.
Or to put it another way, my Consumer Ed teacher's nephew just went to Chapel Hill and beat the Tar Heels.
This will be in Duke/Carolina montages for years to come. People will remember that shot as an important moment in College Basketball's best rivalry. Put that together with the fact that Duke went on a 13-2 run to close out Carolina, that makes this the game of the year.
That being said, the only real bearing this game has is conference tournament seeding, bragging rights and potentially NCAA tournament seeding. But that game was something more than that. It's not every year a freshman wearing a Blue Devils uniform puts up 29 and hits a game-winning shot at the buzzer. But in the world of college basketball when Miami can beat Duke and Deividas Dulkys can beat UNC by themselves, Murray State can be undefeated in February, Missouri is an elite team, the National Player of the Year may be a Perspectives grad with a unibrow.
So far, this has been the craziest start of a College Basketball season that I can remember. Every week there's a new hero. From Brandon Paul, to Deividas Dulkys, to Marcus Denmon to Austin Rivers. This weekend there will most certainly be a new hero and a new hero.
Who knows. Maybe the Pac-12 will have a legitimate team come tournament time.
Crazier things have happened this year.
After we thought we had seen it all on Saturday night in Columbia, it turns out that it was just a warm up for Duke/UNC.
College Basketball's greatest rivalry took center stage tonight. Duke beat North Carolina 85-84 and were down by 10 with 2:20 left in the game. That was not what will be remembered about this game in ten. What will be remembered, however, is the final shot that gave Duke the win.
Austin Rivers, a Duke freshman, went to Chapel Hill and hit a three to win at the buzzer.
Repeat: Austin Rivers, a Duke FRESHMAN, went to CHAPEL HILL and hit a THREE to WIN at the BUZZER.
Or to put it another way, my Consumer Ed teacher's nephew just went to Chapel Hill and beat the Tar Heels.
This will be in Duke/Carolina montages for years to come. People will remember that shot as an important moment in College Basketball's best rivalry. Put that together with the fact that Duke went on a 13-2 run to close out Carolina, that makes this the game of the year.
That being said, the only real bearing this game has is conference tournament seeding, bragging rights and potentially NCAA tournament seeding. But that game was something more than that. It's not every year a freshman wearing a Blue Devils uniform puts up 29 and hits a game-winning shot at the buzzer. But in the world of college basketball when Miami can beat Duke and Deividas Dulkys can beat UNC by themselves, Murray State can be undefeated in February, Missouri is an elite team, the National Player of the Year may be a Perspectives grad with a unibrow.
So far, this has been the craziest start of a College Basketball season that I can remember. Every week there's a new hero. From Brandon Paul, to Deividas Dulkys, to Marcus Denmon to Austin Rivers. This weekend there will most certainly be a new hero and a new hero.
Who knows. Maybe the Pac-12 will have a legitimate team come tournament time.
Crazier things have happened this year.
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