It is time to visit Durham, NC again. Our annual pilgrimage to the ‘toughest place to play in College Basketball’. Why is that phrase in quotes? Because the Terps beat the Dukies on the sainted Cameron Indoor Stadium court on a regular basis.
Who over the years (last 20 or so) has given the Duke Blue Devils the most trouble? The Terps. What team has so gotten under the blue skin of the Dukie blue bloods the most? The Terps. “Why?” you ask. Because the Terps, according the basketball babies at Duke, are not supposed to be able to yank on the cape of the Devil.
So this brings us to the famed, “not our rivals” chant from the Dookies. There is nothing that says you care more about a rivalry than chanting “not our rivals”. I think that it goes without saying that Terrapin Nation has a dislike of Duke, North Carolina and NC State. You could probably add West Virginia and Penn State to that list.
We are rivals and it is a big rivalry game. It even makes it better that Terp fans often think Duke is overrated and that Duke fans say that Maryland is not their rival. In addition, if I had to pick two of the above listed teams to beat, it would be Duke in basketball and Penn State in football.
I would venture that at both Durham and Happy Valley, they don’t think we are their rivals.