Duke basketball’s five most heartwarming Dean Dome wins
By Matt Giles
Heartwarming Duke basketball memories often involve heartbroken Tar Heels, and the latest example calls for us to relive five moments when Chapel Hell was Blue Devil Heaven.
The Duke basketball program has now won 16 of its 35 games on North Carolina’s home floor since the Dean E. Smith Center opened its doors in 1986. A few more wins like the one on Saturday night would surely call for a statue of Mike Krzyzewski somewhere on the premises — unpopular, sure, yet undeniably the honorable thing to do.
As difficult as all the fresh excitement is to hold in, though, let’s hold off a moment for more on Duke’s most recent victory over UNC, which bumped the all-time wins leader’s all-time record in the planet’s all-time greatest rivalry to 48-44 (33-18 since 1999). Besides, anyone who watched the instant classic knows that the comeback show from Tre Jones, with a finishing masterpiece via Wendell Moore, must have made the cut for this list.
But where does it stack up against Duke’s other Dean Dome delights? Well, before we get to that, just to be clear about the methodology to choose and order the top five here, only one estimated measurement matters: gallons of tears that the home patrons cried, either on ESPN or later on in bed, while replaying their shared real-life Dukie nightmare.
Naturally, unbelievable plays and in-your-face celebrations by the Blue Devils — not to mention whine-inducing blown calls by the officials, also known as karma’s answer to the Tar Heels escaping punishment for fake classes — have contributed to the rival fanbase’s Slip ‘n Slide cheeks.
On that note, let the fun and games begin…