So in case you were out of the country on Wednesday, we completed a comeback win against North Carolina. And to say that Nolan Smith carried the team in the second half is as much an understatement as saying the stadium applauded when we took our first lead.
In all my several months here at Duke, I don't think I've ever seen the student section as unified in celebration as last night. Complete painted strangers without shirts were hugging each other like brothers, people shouted obscenities at the opposing team and referee as one, and McDonald's had the atmosphere of a nightclub after the game. If you were a tenter that didn't feel like a part of the Duke community before last night's win, I'm sure that changed by Thursday morning.
I grew up in the middle of the Michigan-Ohio State border war, but my thoughts on the nation's biggest rivalry have definitely been swayed by what I saw. And though it's unlikely all Duke-UNC games will have the same drama or intensity of this one, I'm encouraging everyone who hasn't tented yet to give it a try next year. Sure, we weren't #1 and #2 this time, and one of our stars didn't play, but as I discovered last night, there are no down years when it comes to this rivalry.
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