Coach K Says He Isn’t Focused on Rivalry in Final Four

“I haven’t looked at it as us against North Carolina,” the Duke coach said in his press conference on Tuesday.

Duke and UNC is one of the most storied rivalries in all of college sports. Yet the two college basketball bluebloods haven’t  ever faced each other in the NCAA tournament—until Saturday.

This year will break that streak when the Blue Devils play the Tar Heels in the Final Four on Saturday night.

Ahead of the anticipated rivalry matchup, Coach Mike Krzyzewski said isn’t focused on the rivalry, though, or even thinking about wanting revenge for losing in their last meeting.

“I haven’t looked at it as us against North Carolina,” Krzyzewski said via a press conference on Tuesday. “I’ve looked at it as, ‘we’re playing in the Final Four,’ so the history of (the rivalry) I have not paid attention to.”

Coach K went on to mention how the reason why the two teams most likely have never met in the tournament is because of seeding and how conference teams are typically not set to face each other until the end. Both Duke and UNC made the Final Four in 1991, with current North Carolina coach Hubert Davis playing for the Tar Heels, but on opposite sides of the bracket. the Blue Devils ended up winning the national title that year.

This is Coach K’s final season at Duke and Davis’s first season at UNC. The teams split their regular season battles this season, including UNC’s resounding win at Krzyzewski’s final home game earlier this month.

“I really think each of us was a different team,” Krzyzewski said. “We were different when we played them there (Feb. 5), and so were they. Then we played them here (March 5), they had developed into an outstanding team, and we weren’t at that time. We’re going to have two really good teams play against one another (on Saturday). Whereas, the last two games, we were better than them at that point, and they were better than us at the other point. And, now, we’ll see what happens.”

Coach K’s overall record vs. UNC in his tenure is 50–47, so regardless he will retire with a winning record over his school’s rival.

So far in the NCAA tournament, No. 2 Duke beat No. 15 CSU Fullerton, No. 7 Michigan State, No. 3 Texas Tech and No. 4 Arkansas to make it out of the West region. No. 8 UNC is the lowest seed headed into this weekend’s Final Four, and they have beaten No. 9 Marquette, No. 1 Baylor, No. 4 UCLA and No. 15 Saint Peter’s.