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"Die-hard Arizona basketball fan"
Sounds like an oxymoron to me.
Why is that?
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Originally Posted by NCviaMD
Nobody cares!
Good!
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Originally Posted by PDF
Yeah it sounds like the OP needs to adjust!
Pretty sure I already accepted my fate.
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Originally Posted by cjseliga
As for catching the cats play, get used to staying up late to watch their games and maybe once every few years Arizona will play a game east of the Mississippi (this year their furthest game east is in Boulder!).
Yeah, I already made sure I had the Pac-12 network added to my lineup. I can deal w/ watching games late (even next day). It's been eight years since I've been able to see the Cats in person (even living in the Bay Area for the last three years I wasn't able to catch them on their trips to Stanford/Cal), so there's no expectation of that. Don't get me wrong, I'd love for a home-and-home w/ Duke, but I doubt that's in the cards.
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Originally Posted by HouseBuilder328
If you're a college basketball fan, be glad you're in a part of the country that enjoys college bball and keeps up with it!
Definitely looking forward to this.
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Originally Posted by poppydog
Seriously, it will be like this thread and people will be more likely to laugh at the idea that you think there's a rivalry between Duke and Arizona. Duke and Duke fans sure don't think that. It's Duke and UNC and a little bit of Duke and Kentucky. If Duke doesn't think Maryland (a team they played multiple times every year since 1953 until Maryland left the ACC last year) is a rival you know they'll be cracking up at the idea of Arizona as a rival.
Duke and Carolina are both teams that lots of other teams love to hate. NC State views Carolina as its biggest rival (and there were those years in the 80s with Valvano), but Carolina and Duke know that the real deal is Carolina vs Duke. It's in the darn Carolina fight song.
Arizona does not come into play in this stuff AT ALL. Just a total non-issue, dude. Sorry to burst your bubble. Wear your Arizona shirt with no worries. It's ACC territory here.
Are you a Duke fan? Duke's played UK twice in the last 15 years (they've played Arizona three times in that span), so the 'rivalry' between them seems based more on the NCAA tourney matchups in the 90s than anything else. You're not bursting my bubble at all; I came here for honest opinions and I got those in spades.
Perhaps not the same as the in-state/conference rivalries, but the Arizona/Duke rivalry is a thing. Arizona demolished the Blue Devils in the Sweet 16 in 2011, and we beat them again at MSG in 2013. Not to mention the 2001 National Championship game, and a couple home-and-homes in the 80s-90s. If someone wore a Duke shirt in Tucson, you can bet they would get stared down.
I wear my University of Kentucky stuff out all the time and no one cares. They would care even less about AZ here.
No, I'm definitely NOT a Duke fan. There is some rivalry with Kentucky, though, because when you think college basketball those are the defining teams — the "most storied programs" to use sportscaster lingo — Duke, UNC, Kentucky, and Kansas. You could throw Indiana in there, too, but w/o Bobby Knight it's not really a thing.
Arizona just does not make the elite cut. There are years when they are an excellent team and the games between Duke and Arizona or UNC and Arizona are exciting, but Arizona just does not have the history of a program like Duke, UNC, Kentucky or Kansas.
Also, if you say ASU in the Triangle, be prepared for people to think Appalachian State University.
That's certainly part of it, don6170. College basketball fans have long memories.
People who grew up here in NC, grew up steeped in ACC basketball. I don't think anyplace except maybe Kentucky, Kansas, or Indiana could rival the college basketball fervor of North Carolina. Any person of a certain age can tell you about how teachers would let you watch the first Friday ACC tournament games in school, wheeling in one of those big old TVs, or kids would listen on the radio in class and report the scores to anxious teachers and classmates.
Yeah, nobody cares if you wear an Arizona shirt much like all of the other transplants wearing Ohio State, Michigan, Mich St, Penn State etc..
Only UNC fans get upset when people wear Duke shirts. If I wear a Duke shirt in public, there are always a few UNC fans trying to talk some smack. Getting harder and harder for them to do that lately though.
Perhaps not the same as the in-state/conference rivalries, but the Arizona/Duke rivalry is a thing. Arizona demolished the Blue Devils in the Sweet 16 in 2011, and we beat them again at MSG in 2013. Not to mention the 2001 National Championship game, and a couple home-and-homes in the 80s-90s. If someone wore a Duke shirt in Tucson, you can bet they would get stared down.
As a Tarheel fan, I thank you for your teams' performances in 2011 and 2013. I really enjoyed the 2011 AZ-Duke game, especially when Charles Barkley went against conventional wisdom and said at halftime (with Duke leading by 6) that there was no way the #1 seed Duke Blue Devils could hang with the #5 seed Arizona wildcat's athleticism. Truer words were never spoken as AZ destroyed them in the 2nd half.
Seriously, it will be like this thread and people will be more likely to laugh at the idea that you think there's a rivalry between Duke and Arizona. Duke and Duke fans sure don't think that. It's Duke and UNC and a little bit of Duke and Kentucky. If Duke doesn't think Maryland (a team they played multiple times every year since 1953 until Maryland left the ACC last year) is a rival you know they'll be cracking up at the idea of Arizona as a rival.
Duke and Carolina are both teams that lots of other teams love to hate. NC State views Carolina as its biggest rival (and there were those years in the 80s with Valvano), but Carolina and Duke know that the real deal is Carolina vs Duke. It's in the darn Carolina fight song.
Arizona does not come into play in this stuff AT ALL. Just a total non-issue, dude. Sorry to burst your bubble. Wear your Arizona shirt with no worries. It's ACC territory here.
That is an evolution though. When I matriculated there in the early 90s, NC State held that honored position in the fight song.
Way to put me in my place, guys -- I can handle adjusting.
To be honest, Duke loyalists in the area are dwarfed by NC State and UNC faithful - especially in Raleigh. And you'll see way more red than light blue anywhere east of Chapel Hill. Both State and UNC fans have a good deal of hate for Duke too.
That said, in N. Raleigh, you'll likely have as many if not more transplants who've come from other areas than folks who grew up or went to school in the area. I see a lot of Virginia Tech, WVU, Penn State, Pitt, Michigan and Ohio State flags and car decals around N.Raleigh.
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