The rivalry between Duke University and the University of Maryland runs deep.
In men’s basketball, for years, the ACC has been defined by two blue bloods: Duke and North Carolina. In the old ACC, Maryland liked to think of itself as that third team crashing the party. Terp students and alums are familiar with the t-shirt that features the logos of Maryland (the good), UNC (the bad) and Duke (the ugly).
Why is UNC merely bad and Duke ugly? The Tar Heel men actually have more national championships (six) than the Blue Devil men (five); on the women’s side it’s 1-0 in favor of Carolina Blue. But there’s just always been something about Duke that has inspired hatred not only from their classic rival UNC, but also from every other school across the country. The Blue Devils happily wear the villain hat, knowing all this hate stems from respect.
The Maryland men can only hope to one day achieve what Duke has achieved, but they had their moment sharing the spotlight with the Blue Devils. Duke and Maryland owned the beginning of the new millennium, winning national titles in 2001 and 2002, respectively. The Blue Devils defeated the Terps in the 2001 Final Four—it was an epic ACC showdown, but was topped five years later on the women’s side when the good, the bad and…
