blog: North Carolina Hoops

Of all that North Carolina has to offer residents and visitors; of all that the State can provide in the way of entertainment, jobs, fine dining--of all that, what matters, what matters most to the North Carolinian is one thing: College Basketball! I mean, talk about getting someone's attention.

There are two professional sports teams in North Carolina: the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats and Hockey's Carolina Hurricanes. And we are happy to have them and we support them fully.

But when it comes to living and dying, loving and hating, nothing stirs the blood in North Carolina like College Basketball. Well, the season is under way and let's all dig in and cheer or boo all the way through March Madness. The ACC conference schedule can be found here.

In sports, there are the Yankees and Red Sox; the Cowboys and Redskins; the Vikings and the Chicago Bears. But I contend there is no greater rivalry in all of basketball than Carolina/Duke. Separated by a mere 8 miles, the two universities have battled it out over the years for state supremacy and they always battle on the national level, because they are almost always in the National Top 10 Ranking.

If you are a Carolina fan and you beat Duke, life cannot get any better. And if you are a Cameron Crazy and beat the Heels, well, you just found a reason to get up in the morning. Yahoo Sports recently published an excellent piece on the rivalry between the two schools. Check it out here. For the record, North Carolina leads in the head to head record 128 to 97.

But then there are other teams that play in the state as well. Also in the ACC are North Carolina State and Wake Forest, and they both have excellent basketball histories.

Davidson, the University of Charlotte: there's no dearth of great basketball in North Carolina.

And passions run very high any time any of these teams play. Whether you are a native of the state or here from somewhere else, you will get pulled into college basketball and you will love it.

Plus, I've always associated college basketball with spring. The teams will play into late March (maybe early April), and I know, with each passing game, I'm getting closer and closer to Spring in Carolina.

Let the games begin: jump ball!