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2006 Season
 Art Chansky is the author of three books on basketball, including The Dean's List , Dean's Domain, and March To The Top. His work has appeared in Sports Illustrated , Basketball Times , the official NCAA Tournament program, and alumni magazines of both Duke and UNC. He has also been featured on ESPN and CNN/SI specials on the Duke-Carolina rivalry.
March To The Top (1982)
The Dean's List : A Celebration of Tar Heel Basketball and Dean Smith (1997)
Dean's Domain: The Inside Story of Dean Smith and His College Basketball Empire (1999)
Blue Blood : Duke-Carolina: Inside the Most Storied Rivalry in College Hoops (2006)
Chapter One
Tides of March
The Dean Smith Center was empty, except for the cleanup crew. The words "ACC Champions" were still illuminated on the new electronic boards on the fascia of the upper deck. Carolina had just beaten Florida State, surviving a 60 percent shooting half by the Seminoles, to clinch at least a tie for first place in the 2005 Atlantic Coast Conference standings.
One regular-season game remained, the biggest. It was more than sixth-ranked Duke coming in on Sunday afternoon. More than national TV with broadcasters Jim Nantz and Billy Packer sitting courtside. More than the latest renewal of the greatest rivalry in college basketball or perhaps any sport on any level.
The Tar Heels had to win this game for the preservation of their own collective sanity. Duke had won 15 of the last 17 meetings dating back to 1999, its most dominant stretch in the ninety-year history of the series. That statistic more than anything else had made the rivalry a moot point with many Blue Devil fans.
Continued...
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