Al Featherston sent us the following list of amazing stuff about the Duke-UNC ivalry, and we are exceedingly grateful. Pretty remarkable information! Thanks Al!
-- It's been almost exactly 50 years since Duke and Carolina played and
at least one of them was not ranked. The last unranked matchup was Feb. 25,
1955 when 17-7 Duke (which had been ranked as high as 17 earlier in the
season) beat 10-9 UNC (unranked all year).
-- Since that game, Duke and UNC have played 132 times. UNC has won 77,
Duke has won 55.
-- One or the other was ranked in every one of those 132 games. One or
the other was ranked by the AP in 131 of those 132 games. When they met on
Feb. 27, 1960 neither was ranked by the AP, but UNC was No. 12 in the
coach's poll (run at the time by the UPI, now the ESPN/USA Today poll).
This streak is even more amazing that it looks on the surface, since for
the first 35 years of the streak, the AP ranked just 20 teams (not until
89-90 did they go to a top 25). In fact, from 1960-61 through 1967-68, the
AP only ranked a top 10 -- yet Duke and UNC still kept the streak going.
-- Of those 132 games:
--- UNC was ranked in 108 of them
--- Duke was ranked in 80 of them
--- Both teams were ranked in 56 of them
--- Both teams were ranked in the top 10 in 36 of them
--- Both teams were ranked in the top 5 in 10 of them
--- One team or the other was ranked No. 1 in 23 of them
(Duke 15 times; UNC 8); one team was ranked No. 2 19 times; one team was
ranked No. 3 22 times; one team was ranked No. 4 19 times; one team was
ranked No. 5 13 times.
--- At least one team was ranked in the top 10 in 105 of the
132 games
--- At least one team was ranked in the top 5 in 87 of 132
games!!
-- During the 50 seasons since they last met unranked, Duke and UNC have
combined to win six national titles (three each) and to play in 28 Final
Fours (14 each) ... Actually, since both were in the 1991 Final Four, that
means that either Duke or UNC has played in 27 of the last 50 Final Fours --
over half!
-- Bad omen for UNC ... In the last 20 matchups when both have been
ranked in the top 10 (as this one will be), the lower ranked team has won 13
times ... the higher ranked team 7 times.