Duke vs. UNC is the best college basketball rivalry, one NCAA writer says

College basketball writer Andy Katz ranked the 10 best college basketball rivalries on Wednesday, and No. 1 shouldn’t surprise anyone.

As long as Duke and North Carolina play each other twice a year, there will never be an argument for the most intense rivalry in college basketball.

NCAA college basketball writer Andy Katz ranked the sport’s 10 best rivalries on Wednesday, and the Blue Devils and Tar Heels unsurprisingly took the top spot.

With 11 national championships between the two schools, nine of which have come since 1990, and some iconic scuffles and shots exchanged over the years, the entire sport stops when UNC comes to Cameron and Duke goes to Chapel Hill.

Duke and North Carolina split their four games over the last two seasons, with the Blue Devils sweeping UNC in Jon Scheyer’s first head-coaching season before the Tar Heels got the better of them twice in 2024.

However, Duke fans still remained scarred by the 2022 Final Four loss to North Carolina, coach Mike Krzyzewski’s final game at the helm. Caleb Love and Armando Bacot remain two of the most hated figures in program history for the upset.

No other ACC rivalry made Katz’s top 10, but Louisville versus Kentucky came in as the second-biggest battle in the sport.