Battle For Tobacco Road
You know the history. Separated by only eight miles, Duke and North Carolina have been going at it on the hardwood since 1920. In college basketball’s fiercest rivalry, there is more to these two teams than meets the eye. Where one is a small, private school, the other is a large, public school representing the people of the state of North Carolina (and displaying their name proudly on their chest.
Last night, HBO took you further with “Battle for Tobacco Road: Duke vs. Carolina,” a one-hour documentary that featured amazing archival footage and a high-profile list of interviewees from both the Blue Devils and the Tar Heels. Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Art Heyman, Larry Brown, James Worthy, Charlie Scott, Grant Hill, Johnny Dawkins, Christian Laettner, Kenny Smith, Eric Montross, Jay Bilas and Michael Jordan were just a few of the people weighing in on the rivalry, and taking you back to their time on campus.
Remarkably, since the NCAA Tournament expanded to its current configuration in 1985, these two schools alone have combined for more national titles (five) and made more Final Four appearances (18), than any other entire conference. The film traces the history of the rivalry and examines the different cultures and characteristics of each team’s respective program. From the fans to the players, “Battle for Tobacco Road” is a must-see.
If you missed it, check out the trailer below, and catch it on HBO On Demand starting today.
-->
February 24th, 2009 at 11:18 am
Drink the Haterade (KB24 Chip 09) says:
Greatest rivalry ever!
February 24th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
jsul says:
nice clip of lattener against KENTUCKY at the end
February 24th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Sho-Nuff says:
Carolina has 3 titles 82, 93, 05
Duke has 3 I thought. 91 92 01
That would be six between them…not 5
February 24th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Jason says:
I really do think when all things are considered and after watching this show that its the greatest rivalry in sports period! What Duke did for UNC’s student president was so damn classy. You may not like the team but respect their class you must!
February 24th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
doc says:
That aint the greatest rivalry ever.It depends on where your preference is at.Go tell a Eagle fan in December thats more heated than Philly-Giants.U might leave with a couple lumps.
February 24th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
bone0315 says:
@ #3 – read the article, it states since 1985 they have 5 titles.
But…the SEC has five titles in that same timeframe also(Arkansas in ’94, UK in ’96 and ’98, Florida in ’06 and ’07)
February 24th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Dre says:
UNC/Duke Greatest rivalry ever… period point blank!
February 24th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
robmo35 says:
Even when one of the teams is having a bad year, uncommon but does happen, when these two teams meet there is no more compelling basketball, or for that matter sporting event in general. Go heels
March 13th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Patrick says:
This was a great documentrary but classifying one rivarly over the other is so subjective.
Greatest ever tell that to the following group of fans who follow these rivalries.
Cowboys vs. anyone in the NFC East
Lakers Celtics
Texas Oklahoma
Michigan Ohio State
Yankees Redsox
Oklahoma Nebraska
Brazil Argentina
Dodgers Yankees
March 24th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
STEVEV says:
Carolina has 4 NCAA titles (5 if you include the championship obtained prior to when ther ewas an NCAA)
Duke has 3
No other rivalry in sports gets so much national attention. No other rivalry in sports basically play in the same town. You could hike from one campus to the next within a few hours…
No other rivalry aside from OH State and Mich football has arguably the two best programs within it’s respective sport and statistically two of the top 5 out of HUNDREDS of teams in the league. Other rivalries compete within a smaller league.
Someone mentioned for example Lakers vs Celtics… as good as that rivaly was, where is it today?
Each year both teams are considered national contenders and on the rare occassion when one is not- perhaps you could count those on one hand over the past 30 years- the other most certainly is.