There are few things about college hoops more important than rivalry games. Every school has a rival. It’s not just Duke-North Carolina, the over-hyped drama that plays out every year before a national audience. If you went to a college that had a basketball team, they had a rival, and the fans, players and town all perked up when game time finally came. Rivalries are important, let’s just leave it at that. But other than Duke-UNC, the list of great college basketball rivalries seems to lose some grandeur in the national conscious. It’s not like with college football, where you can name about a dozen famous rivalries right off the top of your head.
So that’s why Luke Winn of SportsIllustrated.com went ahead and did the homework for you. He’s organized a list of a few hoops rivalries that you should pay just as much attention to as you do the Tobacco Road hypsters. This blogger’s personal favorite is the Texas-Texas A&M feud. Like a lot of great sports rivalries, you should enjoy how this one not only incorporates various non-sports elements (such as regional culture and history, even politics) but that Winn makes the whole thing seem like a Homeric epic. A highly recommended read.
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