Originally Posted by
roywhite
The Big 4 Tournament consisted of Duke, UNC, State, and Wake, and was held early in the season in Greensboro. Don't recall how the initial matchups were determined, but then the winners played each other, and the losers of the first game played each other.
Duke won the event in 1978-79 and 1979-80. The last season was 1980-81, Coach K's first season, and Duke lost both games.
It was a good event with plenty of interest from fans; if I recall correctly, Wake Forest actually did very well in the tournament. The arguments against it were that the teams already played each other twice during the season and often a third time in the ACC tourny, and that one team was going to go 0-2 in the Big 4, starting the season on a downer. Who most influenced the end?...don't know.