For all the long years of the Tobacco Road rivalry — the championships, the revenge games, the upsets, the classics — one thing that has always seemed to be missing was a true individual rivalry. Sure, there have been some particular animosities: Ferry and Reid, Brown and Heyman, Gerald Henderson and Hansbrough’s nose. However, it’s hard to pinpoint a proper one-on-one, position-based, personal duel that has defined the UNC-Duke rivalry.
Let’s be clear: that’s not Danny Green and JJ Redick. They only overlapped one year. When they did, one was a freshman role player and the other was a senior superstar.