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The Duke–North Carolina Semifinal Is a Hoops Dream (And One Team’s Nightmare)

It ended ugly, with a longtime North Carolina assistant coach chasing a controversial official into the back hallways of the Hoosier Dome in search of a confrontation. There was enough shoving and shouting to make headlines in the newspapers the next day, but stadium security intervened and a major physical altercation was narrowly averted.

Also narrowly averted that night in Indianapolis: the biggest Duke–North Carolina game of all, for the national championship in 1991.

Instead, that distinction now belongs to the Final Four semifinal matchup of the Blue Devils and Tar Heels Saturday night in New Orleans.