In an already strange college basketball season, the Duke-North Carolina rivalry finds itself unable to escape the oddness.
The two Atlantic Coast Conference men’s programs with a combined 11 NCAA championships typically are among the nation’s elite as they charge into February. Instead, Hall of Fame coaches Mike Krzyzewski of Duke and Roy Williams of North Carolina are trying to correct mistakes, find consistency and get through to their young rosters entering Saturday’s meeting – the first with both teams unranked in more than six decades.
Each team is 5-4 in ACC play, with Williams’ Tar Heels 11-6 overall and Krzyzewski’s Blue Devils just 7-6.
“We have some wounds, we’re trying to get them healed, and some problems we’re trying to get fixed,” Williams said Thursday. “I don’t want to speak for (the Blue Devils), but I would assume that they have those same kind of things that we do – just trying to get better every day.
“And then all of a sudden, ‘Wow, we’re getting ready to play Duke,’ and we’re nowhere near where we want to be. I know that part of it for sure.”