Originally Posted by
Lauderdevil
Actually, this was one of the most exciting games in the history of the rivalry. Carolina started off the game in the Four Corners because, Dean Smith said later, he wanted to take the Cameron crowd out of the game "because we knew the Duke students had been drinking." I won't retell the story of Chickee Yonakur's seminal "Air Ball" here. But one of the most spectacular moments in Cameron's history came with about four and a half minutes left in the first half. With Duke leading, 5-0, Carolina not having hit the rim yet in the half -- Duke went into the Four Corners. It was a moment I don't think could happen today, when teams are expected to show a certain degree of respect for each other -- even Duke and North Carolina. Bill Foster just decided he wanted to humiliate Dean by shutting him out for the half, so he just took the air out of the ball (and remember, this was a high-flying Duke team that never slowed things down).
The instant Duke went into the Four Corners -- a complete shock to everyone -- the Cameron crowd exploded like it rarely has before or since. Everyone in the place realized at the same moment that a first-half shutout was possible, and that Foster was going for it. That remaining four and a half minutes was as raucus as you've ever seen the place -- all while the activity on the court was nothing more than passing the ball back and forth near the half-court line (remember, there was no 35-second clock then).
It was a classic Duke-North Carolina moment, one that (for a lot of reasons) will undoubtedly never be repeated.