Duke basketball could create own season with only UNC

In case next season doesn’t happen, Duke basketball could use backup plans.

Remember that entering last season, which just so happened to mark the 100-year anniversary of North Carolina-Duke basketball clashes, each program had won 50 of the previous 100 meetings. Further proving the inherent magic between the made-for-primetime blueblood rivals, the Blue Devils and Tar Heels tied with exactly 7,746 points apiece across those games.

With that in mind — and remembering that the first matchup of the rivalry’s commemorative season perfectly symbolized the unbelievable craziness that almost always ensues when the adversaries meet — there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that, if need be, Duke-UNC could endure a canceled NCAA season by forming its own entity of sorts.

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Though we still have little more than a somewhat even mix of promisors and naysayers when it comes to the idea of college sporting events taking place in the 2020-21 academic year, many student-athletes at UNC and Duke are already on campus. Months from now, assuming they are still on Tobacco Road and still awaiting a green light to start the season that may not come, it’s not likely anyone would forcibly stop athletes from responsibly gathering on hardwood somewhere.

Furthermore, factor in the past ratings that suggest there’s plenty of money to be made whenever the words “Duke” and “North Carolina” are across the chests of hoopsters, regardless of whether fans are in the stands. Yes, it seems a no-brainer that someone from some network or social media channel would show up with a camera if the Blue Devils “secretly” met the Tar Heels, say, two or three times a week from November through March.

Also, note that the mere eight miles of separation between the two schools would be conducive to a relatively safe two-team bubble (worst-case scenario, Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski and UNC’s Roy Williams, ages 73 and 70, respectively, could just sit this one out).

And the incompetence of the NCAA dealing with almost any matter is all the proof the Blue Devils and Tar Heels should need to feel confident that they could bat down any lawsuit that might come their way if they were to temporarily branch out together on their own in this unofficial manner. Likewise, there’s no way either the NCAA or the ACC would successfully block the rivals’ reentry — nor would either have a motivation to do so — once some normalcy returns to this world.

Just picture the drama of Duke basketball versus UNC, 31 times

Even if they had to call the games “scrimmages” instead of official games, imagine a best-of-31 Duke-UNC series as a replacement for the regular season. Past results say a decisive Game 31 would be probable. Of course, the magnitude of the rivalry says some type of everlasting banner should go to the series victor.

The sites for “rivalry bubble” meetings could be Duke basketball’s Cameron Indoor Stadium and UNC’s Dean Dome. After all, both schools enjoy options for quarantine locations on or near campus, with top-notch nearby medical facilities to boot. Plus, it helps that the combined rosters consist of only about 30 guys.

So there you have it. At the bare minimum, in these unprecedented times and even if unrealistic because of the gobs of red tape, we should at least have the freedom to express such a dream of an unprecedented season-long series involving college hoops’ unrivaled rivalry.

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