| I'm not gonna make a "Teams UNC lost to" quiz to show this, but here are some facts of this decade, including the beginning of this season:
TOTAL LOSSES: UNC 81, Duke 56
TOTAL TEAMS BEATEN BY: UNC 30, Duke 27
HEAD-TO-HEAD: Duke 12, UNC 9
ACC CHAMPIONSHIPS: Duke 6, UNC 2
FINAL FOURS: UNC 3, Duke 2
CHAMPIONSHIPS: UNC 2, Duke 1
I know on Tobacco Road we measure things with championships, but these numbers, overall, are pretty definitely in Duke's favor. It's easy for Carolina fans right now to feel like they have a huge edge, just like it was easy for Duke to feel the same way in the early years of the decade. The fact is, if you take stats from 2000-2001 through the current season, Duke has clearly had the better overall decade. As for Duke's recent tournament woes? Duke never played in an NIT this decade. UNC played in an NIT, and 2001-2002 didn't even make it that far. As for people laughing about VCU beating Duke... how about Hampton in 2001, Iona in 2002, Santa Clara in 2004... everyone gets bad losses, it's stupid to count them when debating better team of the decade. |