“Forget the Big Ten, we share the same dry cleaners… There is no other area like this. It produces things, situations, feelings that you can’t talk to other people about. Because they have no understanding of it.†— Duke Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski
With their proximity, and the high-caliber athletics program found at both schools, the rivalry between the schools is so intense, that those who did not graduate from either school, or is a fan of either school, will never be able to understand exactly what the rivalry is about, just as Coach Krzyzewski said. Fans love to hate schools that are good. But when two schools are next door to each other, and both are so good, the hate comes easy. Just how good are the schools athletically? The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Cup (formerly the “Sears Cup”) ranks schools based on athletic performance, specifically national rankings in the individual sports. In 2006-2007, North Carolina was ranked #3 and Duke #11 nationally in those rankings. Recently, Stack Magazine created their “Elite 50” rankings that ranked schools on a formula based on athletic and academic performance. In that ranking, UNC was #1 and Duke #5. Obviously, these are two high-quality schools sharing the same dry cleaners.
Certainly, the highest profile of the teams that battle are the basketball teams. The competition between Coaches Dean
Smith and Krzyzewski are so riddled with stories and intrigue that they have provided fodder for an entire bookshelf of books. Two weeks ago, tickets to the UNC at Duke basketball game were fetching in the four-figures. But basketball isn’t the only sports that Duke and UNC are arch-rivals. It carries over to every stroke of a swimming meet, every pin in a wrestling match, and every faceoff of a lacrosse game. On Tuesday March 11th, a few days before the UNC-Duke game, I saw a few of the Duke lacrosse players before they played Presbyterian and talked with them. They know I’m a UNC grad so they asked who I was shooting the Saturday UNC-Duke game for. That answer was easy: “Inside Lacrosse”. Whew, an easy escape for me. However, while talking with some of the Duke players the day of the North Carolina game, attackman Matt Danowski asked me the more direct question: “So who are you rooting for today, Peyton?”. “I plead the fifth”, I said.
With Duke and Carolina ranked #1 and #3 coming into the game last Saturday, the intensity was pegged up another notch. Although you should know, when the two teams play, you can throw out rankings. There is so much emotion coming into the Duke – North Carolina games that you can forget rankings, forget the history and forget the predictions. That said, the prognosticators correctly called this game as a “W” for Duke. I had every intention of doing a really in-depth photo story on this rivalry on the day of the game. However, photographing the ACC Basketball tournament
monopolized my time beforehand and I didn’t have a chance to coordinate with Duke on the access that I would need. Also, on the day of the game, it rained up until the game started, and then started pouring and lighting just as the game ended; that didn’t give me a chance to get photos of fans pre and post game like I wanted. That said, I’d rather it rain just before and just after a game than during a game.
Fast forward to Tuesday night, North Carolina hosted Marist university and blew off some steam with a 3-12 win. This was a night game, and night games at both Duke and UNC are often not worth photographing with the poor light. So I decided to take a new direction for this game and hangout around the bench instead with my camera. It was a pretty fascinating experience for me and I saw another side of the game that I typically don’t get to see. The Substitution Box (or “the box”) between the two benches is best described as an aircraft carrier. In transition, players come running into the box at full throttle and slam on the breaks just after crossing the line. As they cross the line, a sub player launches themselves out onto the field. Controlling the movement was air traffic controller assistant coach Judd Lattimore. As ball
possession changes, he is quickly instructing players to get in and out of the box. Players stood just to the edge of the box line like waiting fighter jets, ready to be called for action. I was amazed watching coach Lattimore and wondered how he kept everything straight. This is obviously something every lacrosse player knows about, but for an outsider looking in, it was fairly fascinating to watch. Below are some photos from the player’s vantage point at the Marist game.
Below are a few photos from the Duke vs. North Carolina game in the locker room, and during the Marist game from the bench. Of course, check out the gallery for game photos from the Duke game.
