Featherston: Duke-UNC Tidbits

Brotherly Love
Two sets of brothers have played on opposite sides in the Duke-UNC series, although none of the matchups were head-to-head.

The two fraternal pairs have had amazingly different success in the series.

Jay Buckley won his first Duke-UNC game as a sophomore (freshmen couldn't play varsity ball in that era) on Feb. 3, 1962. The 6-10 Buckley started in seven Duke-Carolina games in his career and won them all.

His younger brother Bruce Buckley played at UNC as a freshman in 1973-74 ? just the second season of freshman eligibility. During his four-year career, UNC won 10 of 11 games against Duke. Bruce Buckley played in just seven of those 10 wins ? and he never started against the Blue Devils.

Still, it's fair to say that the Buckley brothers were on the winning side in 17 of 18 Duke-UNC games in their careers.

The Capel Brothers weren't nearly so lucky.

Older brother Jeff Capel started at Duke in 1993-94 and finished in the 1996-97 season. He was a big part of one of the most famous Duke-UNC games ever ? the 102-100 double overtime Tar Heel win in 1995. It was Capel's mid-court shot that forced the second extra period.

But Duke ended up losing that game, just as the Blue Devils lost seven of eight Duke-UNC games during Capel's tenure. The one exception came at Cameron in 1997, when Capel started and contributed 19 points and five assists to an 80-73 Duke win.

Jeff's younger brother Jason enrolled at UNC for the 1998-99 season. Jason Capel missed the first Duke-UNC game that season, but he was there for a four-year run that saw the Blue Devils win nine of 10 games from the Tar Heels. The lone exception was Feb. 1, 2001, when Jason Capel contributed 20 points, six rebounds and five assists in UNC's 85-83 victory in Cameron.

Each Capel brother made it to one Final Four (Jeff in 1994 at Duke; Jason in 2000 at UNC). But each had just one victory in the Duke-UNC series. Together, they were a combined 2-17 in the series.

That's almost perfect symmetry ? the Buckleys were 17-1 in the series; the Capels were 2-17.

Tar Heel Killers
Who were Duke's most successful players in the series? Who were the most successful Tar Heels?

Well, Rasheed Wallace once bragged that UNC would never lose to Duke as long as he was around. Technically, he was right ? the Tar Heels went 4-0 against the Devils in the two years when he and Jerry Stackhouse were key players for the Tar Heels (although one of those was the 102-100 double overtime game when No. 2 UNC barely beat unranked Duke).

But Corey Maggette was 3-0 and Luol Deng was 2-0 for the Blue Devils. How many games does it take to establish a player as a “killer” in the series?

The best record for any player in the ACC era appears to belong to three members of Duke's Class of 1964. All-American Jeff Mullins, center Jay Buckley and guard Buzzy Harrison all started seven games against the Tar Heels ? and never lost.

That 7-0 record has not been matched by any Duke or UNC star since 1954 (although 1954 Duke seniors Bernie Janicki and Rudy D'Emilio were also 7-0 against UNC, if you count the last two years of the Southern Conference era).

Some other Duke greats have approached that record (counting only games they actually played in):

Jason Williams ? 7-1
Art Heyman ? 5-1 (he lost his first UNC game and won his last five)
Chris Duhon ? 9-2 (9-1 as a starter)
Shane Battier ? 8-3
Jack Marin/Steve Vacendak ? 6-2
J.J. Redick/Shelden Williams ? 6-3

Several of Duke's greatest stars had less success against the Tar Heels, including:

Johnny Dawkins ? 3-6
Bob Verga ? 3-5
Christian Laettner ? 5-6
Grant Hill ? 5-5
Danny Ferry ? 5-5
Bobby Hurley ? 5-5
Gene Banks ? 6-8
Mike Gminski ? 5-8

On the UNC side, aside from the short-timers such as Wallace and Stackhouse, the most successful Tar Heels were:

Jeff McInnis ? 6-0 (4-0 as a starter)
Bobby Jones ? 8-1
Phil Ford ? 9-2
Sam Perkins ? 8-2
Michael Jordan ? 6-1
Buzz Peterson ? 7-2
James Worthy ? 6-2 (not counting UNC's OT loss in Gene Banks' Senior Day game, which Worthy missed)
Lennie Rosenbluth ? 7-3
Antwan Jamison/Vince Carter ? 5-2
Charlie Scott ? 4-3

And those that did less well:

Billy Cunningham ? 2-5
Raymond Felton/Rashad McCants ? 2-5
Larry Miller ? 4-4
Eric Montross ? 5-5

Going into Sunday night's game, UNC's Tyler Hansbrough is 5-2 against Duke, while Duke senior Greg Paulus is 2-5. Duke's juniors (Gerald Henderson, Jon Scheyer) are 1-4 against UNC, while sophomores Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith are 1-2 in the rivalry.

Title Victims
Interesting trivia ? both UNC and Duke beat Kansas to win their first national titles ? the Tar Heels in 1957; the Blue Devils in 1991.

Both have also beaten Michigan in the title game ? UNC in 1982; Duke in 1992.

UNC has won two titles in New Orleans at one end of the Mississippi River. Duke has won two titles in Minneapolis at the other end. The Tar Heels also won a title in St. Louis, near the midpoint of the great river.

Rivalry vs. Championship
Mike Krzyzewski said earlier this season that as important as the rivalry with UNC is, this game is not as an important a goal as the national championship.

Interesting that the last four Duke-UNC national champs all lost the mid-season matchup with its rival:

1992 ? Duke lost 75-73 in Chapel Hill before winning the national title two months later in Minneapolis.
1993 ? Duke won easily ? 81-67 ? in Cameron over a Tar Heel team that would win the national title in New Orleans.
2001 ? Duke lost 85-83 on two late free throws by Brendan Haywood en route to the national title in Minneapolis.
2005 ? UNC lost a 75-73 heartbreaker in Cameron before winning the title in St. Louis.

The final Duke-UNC game is a much better predictor of postseason success ? each of the seven NCAA champions from Duke and UNC beat its rival in the regular season finale.

Poll Data
Every Duke-UNC game since 1955 has involved at least one team ranked in a major poll.

Actually, since 1955 every Duke-UNC game ? except one ? has involved at least one team ranked in the Associated Press poll. The exception was the Feb. 27 meeting in 1960 when unranked UNC defeated unranked Duke 75-70 in Duke Indoor Stadium.

But there is another major poll ? the coaches' poll (originally the UPI poll, more recently the ESPN/USA Today poll). The Feb. 23, 1960 UPI Poll ranked UNC No. 12 ? so there was a ranked team in that game.

Overall, Sunday's matchup between No. 2 UNC and No. 7 Duke will be the 142nd straight time that the rivalry game has featured at least one ranked team. It will be the 66th time that both teams have been ranked.