Duke vs. North Carolina will be even more of a spectacle in 2019 than ever before

The Duke-North Carolina rivalry is never short on star power or national attention. The first of (at least) two 2019 meetings between the Tobacco Road rivals is setting up to drive this point home with more force than any before it.

Duke, now officially the No. 1 team in the country (a title they’ve held in earnest for most of the season), lays claim to the two players most likely to be the first two picks of this summer’s NBA Draft. One of them, a freshman named Zion Williamson — feel free to Google the name, there should be some highlights of his work posted on at least one website — is the runaway favorite to win national Player of the Year. Perhaps more significantly, he’s one of the most unique and exciting players in the history of college basketball.

The Duke-UNC rivalry is a time-tested vessel that demands attention regardless of what it’s carrying, but this Blue Devil team is the spectacle that makes the 2019 edition different. They’re the spectacle that has resulted in LeBron James and Jay-Z making trips to Charlottesville, Virginia, and the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh just to catch a glimpse. They’re the spectacle that will reportedly result in former president Barack Obama popping into Cameron Indoor Stadium Wednesday night. And they’re the spectacle that has the average ticket price for this game on StubHub going for $4,035.

While Duke has hogged the national spotlight in every day since a 34-point romp over preseason No. 2 Kentucky on the season’s opening night, North Carolina has been hanging around in frame, just slightly out of focus.

All season long, the Tar Heels have teetered back and forth between the “can’t trust ‘em” and “one of the teams most likely to win it all” extremes, without ever firmly planting their feet in either camp. For every rousing triumph — double-digit wins over Gonzaga, Virginia Tech and NC State where UNC scored over 100 points in each game — there has been an equal and opposite head-scratcher — a 21-point home loss to Louisville (the most lopsided of the Roy Williams era) and a neutral court loss to Texas that has not aged gracefully.

Late February is the time where legitimate throne contenders who have spent the previous months wobbling a little too much tend to find their stride. If North Carolina is truly a team capable of reeling off six straight wins in late March/early April, they can prove it by striking down the sport’s top dog with one of its (at least) two swings.

If the upset happens, people will take notice, because people are always taking notice when Duke and North Carolina share the court. And for good reason.

The last 145 times the Blue Devils and Tar Heels have played, at least one of them has been ranked in the Associated Press top-25 poll. The last time neither was ranked by the AP was on Feb. 27, 1960, and even then, North Carolina was No. 12 in the coaches poll. The last meeting where neither was ranked in either poll was Feb. 25, 1955.

In evidence that might strike a stronger chord with those not impressed by deep history, either Duke or North Carolina has been a No. 1 or a No. 2 seed in every NCAA tournament since 2004, and one of them has been a top seed in all but three of those big dances (including last season, when both were 2 seeds). If you want to go back a little further for an even more difficult to believe statistic, every Final Four played from 1989 to 2001 except one featured the Blue Devils or the Tar Heels. The two teams have also combined to win nine of the last 27 national championships, and two of the last four.

There’s a solid justification for ESPN’s relentless promotional push each February.

For Duke, Wednesday night is about the potential for the most exciting reality show on American television to produce a prizewinning sweeps week episode. Have R.J. Barrett fill up the stat sheet, have Cam Reddish remind everyone that he would be the best player on 99 percent of the teams in the country, and have Zion produce highlights that no other teenager in the world is capable of producing. Have it all happen in between plenty of shots of former President Barack Obama sitting courtside opposite the Cameron Crazies.

For North Carolina, Wednesday night is about a seat at the spotlight table. It’s about reminding people that the Tar Heel State team that wears the lighter shade of blue is the one that has played in the national championship game in two of the last three seasons. It’s about proving once and for all that there’s more than enough talent on Roy Williams’ bench to play all the way up to the first weekend in April.

The ultimate spectacle in college basketball’s regular season returns Wednesday night, which is always the first real sign that the bigger spectacle is right around the corner. Enjoy the show.