College basketball's unrivaled rivalry is about to get its close-up. HBO Sports will examine the Duke-North Carolina rivalry next February in a one-hour documentary tentatively titled "Duke vs. North Carolina."

The critical success of last year's documentary on the famed Michigan-Ohio State series in college football prompted network executives to greenlight an exploration into the hoops version of the Hatfield's and McCoy's.The campuses sit only eight miles apart, but a river of mutual dislike runs through them.

"Jim Lampley (a UNC graduate) has been telling me about the rivalry for 20 years or so," says HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg. "I was also aware of the subculture of both universities, and even though UNC was the state school, they think of themselves as the dignified force in the rivalry. They think Duke is a bunch of animals even though Duke is supposed to be the Ivy League of the South. That never meshed right with me and it was interesting. Plus, you had all these legends coming out of these two schools, the [Michael] Jordan's, the [Christian] Laettner's and the [Mike] Krzyzewski's and [Dean] Smith's. Unbelievable iconic names have floated through both places and it makes for a great documentary."

Sports Illustrated/CNN has the story

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