Duke-Carolina: 3 things that will surprise you about tonight’s game
The Story
You don’t need to be a sports junkie to know that the Carolina/Duke basketball rivalry is among sports greatest. Tonight, the two teams pair off for the 239th time.
North Carolina v. Duke is hands down the best rivalry
— Allie Siegal (@alllieoopie) February 17, 2015
Here are 3 surprising items about tonight’s game:
(1) Dick Vitale will NOT be calling the game for ESPN. This is HUGE. Vitale has called every UNC/Duke game since ESPN went on air in 1979. Instead, ESPN is going with play-by-play man Dan Shulman and analyst Jay Bilas.
Either you love Vitale, hate him or tolerate him and his “Yeah, baby!” No matter, he’s a tradition now gone.
ICYMI: Dick Vitale won’t be calling #dukevunc, and he’s sad about it http://t.co/gDFj9Y7dIZ pic.twitter.com/zUayEp0Djn
— newsobserver.com (@newsobserver) February 17, 2015
(2) Duke showing the love for Carolina. Well, for the late UNC coaching great, Dean Smith. Hundreds of Duke fans will honor the legendary coach, who died two weeks, by wearing Duke blue t-shirts with DEAN emblazoned across the front. Classy.
(3) Big bucks for the big game. Of course you can’t just walk up and get a ticket for this game. But if you had a lot of dollars, you could have scored a ticket on Stubhub for as much as $4,500. Sorry, they’re all sold out.
BONUS: Coolest alums of each school? Sports Illustrated a couple years back did a story on the coolest people that attended top NCAA colleges.
For Duke, it was Ken Jeong, Mr. Chow in the Hangover movies.
Watching The Hangover – @kenjeong (Mr Chow) – this guy should be on my TV more pic.twitter.com/Ag4OnJ00pW
— Essex Boy (@Essexboy) January 3, 2015
For Carolina, they picked Nurse Ratched from “One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest,” played by Louise Fletcher.
#FotoCinéfila Nurse Ratched #MalosBonitos pic.twitter.com/eAD9s6BZud
— Victor F.O. (@cgvarteweb) November 21, 2014
Game time: 9 p.m. ESPN and ACC Network. Need more hype?
Photo: Grant Halverson/AP, Thrillcitync.com
This story was originally published February 18, 2015 at 12:50 AM with the headline "Duke-Carolina: 3 things that will surprise you about tonight’s game."