YouTube Gold: Duke-UNC In The 1988 ACC Tournament Finals

A turning point in the rivalry

By 1988, Mike Krzyzewski had taken Duke to the Final Four and the championship game and three other tournaments besides. In 1984 and 1985, Duke lost in the first and second round respectively. After playing for the championship in 1986, Duke made it to the Sweet Sixteen in 1987. The Blue Devils were a highly competitive program, but it wasn’t the Duke we know today.

In 1988, in fact, Duke was still seen as a scrappy underdog and the dominant team in the ACC was Dean Smith’s UNC.

That would soon change.

Duke was definitely competitive with the Tar Heels, but the Devils hadn’t swept UNC in 22 years.

In ‘88, the rivalry reached a fever pitch. Duke won the first game, in Chapel Hill, 70-69. In Durham, they won 96-81. These games were unbelievably intense. Duke had Quin Snyder, Robert Brickey, Phil Henderson and Danny Ferry, while UNC countered with Scott Williams, JR Reid, King Rice, Steve Bucknall and others.

And in the ACC Tournament finals, they would meet again.

This was a very tough game, but Duke’s Quin Snyder hit a pair of free throws with mere seconds to go to put Duke up 65-61.

That, really, was the turning point in the rivalry. It’s not that Duke was totally dominant, but the Blue Devils took the upper hand with UNC and has mostly kept it.