Duke and North Carolina is as good of a rivalry as there is in all of sports, not just in college basketball. On Thursday night the longtime rivals will play their first of two games this season when they face off in Durham. In preparation of the evening, National Basketball Analyst Eric Bossi looks back at the top four head-to-head recruiting battles between Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams.
The battle: Kansas, Oklahoma and hometown Iowa State were also heavily involved with Barnes. However, as his recruitment wound down it became apparent that Barnes would end up playing on Tobacco Road. On the day of his decision, most had him pegged as a Duke lean when he pulled off a bit of a surprise and committed to Roy Williams via Skype during an assembly at his high school.
The result: Barnes was on the leading edge of the current trend that sees freshmen being picked as first-team All-Americans or their conference player of the year prior to even playing a college game. In that regard, it was somewhat surprising to see him spend two years in Chapel Hill. He averaged 16.4 points and 5.5 rebounds in his two seasons of college. He was the ACC Freshman of the Year and a second-team All-American before getting selected No. 7 overall by Golden State in the 2012 NBA Draft.
The battle: A prodigy at an early age, Giles was a homegrown talent who took two official visits outside the state of North Carolina (to Kansas and Kentucky) but nobody ever gave any serious thought to him leaving the state. Based on comments he made early in his career when then-teammate Theo Pinson (class of 2014) committed to North Carolina, the Heels were considered the early team to beat. Wake Forest would eventually enter the picture as a legitimate contender but for at least the last year or so of his recruitment Duke emerged as the front-runner before landing his services.
The result: Due to a series of knee injuries suffered throughout high school and college we may never fully know what Giles will or could have been as a player. So far this season he’s appeared in 12 games averaging 5.3 points and 4.6 rebounds in just over 12 minutes per contest.
The battle: Wright had a final four that consisted of Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina and hometown Vanderbilt. However, for much of his recruitment Duke was considered a heavy favorite. In fact, leading up to Wright’s official visit to North Carolina – which came last – many thought he might not even make it to Chapel Hill. However, he made the visit and either Duke’s presumed lead was way overstated or Roy Williams scored a huge comeback win as Wright committed to UNC within days of his visit.
The result: Wright only played one season in Chapel Hill and he helped lead North Carolina get to the Elite Eight, where the Tar Heels lost to Georgetown in overtime. After averaging around 15 points and six rebounds a game, Wright was named ACC Freshman of the Year before getting drafted No. 8 overall by the Charlotte Bobcats in 2007. A journeyman as a pro, Wright is currently playing for the Memphis Grizzlies (his sixth team) and will have made more than $30 million in his career after this season.
The battle: Ingram’s hometown of Kinston, N.C., traditionally is Tar Heel country but Roy Williams had to recruit Ingram with the cloud of an academic fraud investigation hanging over North Carolina. In fact, during his senior season Ingram told Rivals.com that he would have signed early with the Heels were it not for the uncertainty. As it turned out he also visited UCLA, Kansas and Kentucky but Duke was able to win out for the in-state talent.
The result: Ingram only spent one season in Durham but it was certainly a productive one. Though the Blue Devils only made the NCAA Tournament as a No. 4 seed, Ingram was terrific, averaging nearly 17 points and seven rebounds as a freshman. He was the ACC’s Freshman of the Year, second-team All-ACC and helped lead Duke to the Sweet 16 before going No. 2 to the Lakers in the 2016 NBA Draft.
