February 24, 1979!

[howardlander]

This is ALWAYS worth remembering: And my 20'th Birthday to boot!

February 24, 1979: #6 Duke 47, #4 North Carolina 40
Jim Spanarkel’s Senior Day game turned into one of the strangest afternoons in ACC basketball history as Duke held North Carolina scoreless for a half before knocking off the No. 4-ranked Tar Heels 47-40. Dean Smith resorted to the four corners offense and the Tar Heels held the ball throughout the first half, but Duke led 7-0 as Spanarkel forced two turnovers, assisted on a basket to Mike Gminski and scored the last bucket of the half on a short jumper. (Smith later said, "It should have been 2-0, or something like that, at the half.") North Carolina's only two shots of the first half were air balls, that resulted in the first-ever chants of "Air ball . . . Air ball!" from the Cameron Crazies. Sparnakel added 15 points in the second half and finished with a game-high 17, hitting 8-of-9 field goal attempts. The win allowed Duke to tie North Carolina for the ACC regular season title.
Duke coach Bill Foster wasn't amused by Smith's tactics in the first half and the next day said, "I've been doing this a long time, but during the first half last night I began to think maybe I've been doing it for too long." He then added this infamous dig: "I thought Naismith invented basketball, not Deansmith."

Howard

[CameronBornAndBred]

I don't miss the 4 corners one bit, but as a kid I did love joining in the "Booooooorrrrrrrinnngg" chant.