Duke-North Carolina Matchup in the NCAA tournament “Great for Sport”

Birmingham, Ala.-a half-hundred years of rivalry between two of the largest brand names in the college sports duke and North Carolina-Werd on Friday have their highest game in the NCAA women’s basketball Sweet 16.

The Matchup on Friday in Birmingham Regional 2 semi -finals (2.30 p.m. ESPN) will be the first between the two powers in a NCAA tournament game.

“Really great for sport,” said Tar Heels coach Courtney Banghart.

“We didn’t really talk to our team about what a first (NCAA) meeting or something. I didn’t know until they said that,” said Duke trainer Kara Lawson. “We are fighting for a place in the elite, and whoever is the opponent is the opponent.”

As Lawson missed it to know that Duke and UNC had never played at this point-it was a much discussed topic on the selection Sunday-speaks for how she has operated her program since the takeover in 2020.

Lawson usually avoids talking about something “overall picture”, even if in this picture it is almost the 10-mile road between Durham and Chapel Hill, which separates the two schools, and the lengthy history between the programs.

The teams met for the first time in the 1975/76 season, with the Tar Heels having a slight 56-54 lead in the series.

In contrast, Banghart has what it means for all three programs in the triangle region – in the Spokane Regional Sweet 16 against LSU – at the same time, because it draws so much attention to the basketball of women and the ACC.

“I celebrate with all the sports fans who have seen so many Duke Carolina battles over the years,” said Banghart. “We did it. We got you a NCAA tournament game between Carolina-Duke. I mean, if that doesn’t get your blood going, you should check it.”

Lawson took over in Duke in July 2020 during the Covid 19 pandemic. In four games in the 2020-21 season, Duke canceled the rest of his games because of the concerns of Covid-19. The Blue Devils missed the NCAA tournament in 2022, but have made it in the past three years and are in the second regional semi -finals in a row.

Duke was four times in the finale of women – all under the former coach Gail Goestenkor, the youngest in 2006 in 2006.

North Carolina won the National Championship in 1994 and reached the Final Four under Sylvia Hatchell, who trained the Tar Heels from 1986 to 2019, took over in 2006 and 2007. UNC has done the NCAA tournament in the last five seasons, including Sweet 16 in 2022.

Up to this year Duke and UNC had never been to the same NCAA tournament region. Now meet for the third time this season after shared their regular season games. The Tar Heels won 53-46 at home on January 9; Duke won 68-53 at home on February 27th.

“It feels like it was a really big deal for the boys we play three times,” said Lawson. “It is not something that we really talked about or that we were worried about.”

As the previous results suggest, this should be a defense fight. The teams are very similar: Duke has an average of 73.8 points and gives up 57.1, while North Carolina gives up an average of 70.5 and 57.6.

Tar Heels Starter Alyssa Ustby and Reniya Kelly were both injured and sat out the second meeting against Duke. Both are back for the game on Friday, as well as Duke Freshman and the leading goal scorer Toby Fournier, who was sick against Oregon because of the victory of the Blue Devils.

“The basketball you will see will be very coarse -grained, maybe a bit sloppy,” said Ustby, a senior in the fifth year, about the familiarity between the programs. “It is difficult to predict such games. The teams know each other far too well.

“But we remember in court not to worry about these little lively interactions and things. We know that they will happen, especially in this phase with an elite night on the line. These are much larger inserts than a game with the regular season. We just have to make sure that we stay cool.”