It's been a strange year for college basketball. There's about a dozen teams that could win the national title. Scoring is down, on track to be the lowest its been in 60 years. And in the ACC, the best team isn't Duke or North Carolina. It's not N.C. State, either.
It's the Miami Hurricanes.
By beating UNC 87-61, the Hurricanes became the first ACC team to ever beat both Duke and the Tar Heels by at least 25 points in the same season. And Monday, the AP voters ranked Miami No. 3, an all-time high for the program. If both the Hurricanes and the No. 2 Blue Devils win all their games between now and March 2—certainly not impossible—then it will be top-three matchup in Durham. And if Indiana loses in the interim (road games at No. 8 Michigan State and Minnesota loom), than it could be a No. 1 vs. No. 2 affair.
That got me thinking: If you could have you tickets to Duke vs. UNC Wednesday or Duke vs. Miami on March 2, which would you choose? The Duke-Carolina rivalry is, obviously, legendary, but it's a down year for the Tar Heels. And, besides the Hurricanes' high ranking, there is the floor-slapping incident from the last game that didn't sit well with the Blue Devils.
Anyhow, I put the question out there on Twitter, and I got 109 responses (THANKS MUCH to everyone who answered!). The result?
Not even close.
More than twice as many people want to see the Duke-UNC game (77-32). The prevailing reason? Nothing beats that rivalry. Here's a small sampling of some of the responses:
