Big Four foul-up
Feb 12, 2009
From 1970 through 1980, the Big Four basketball tournament was held featuring Duke, North Carolina, N.C. State and Wake Forest. The teams would play on back-to-back nights in the Greensboro Coliseum in December or January before the ACC season tipped off.
Wake Forest won the title four times, N.C. State three with Duke and Carolina collecting a couple of titles. Fans loved being able to see all four teams under one roof on the same night.
The final game of the Big Four tournament was December 6, 1980.
Unless they are going to resurrect the tournament, Wednesday should be the last time that Duke, North Carolina, N.C. State and Wake Forest play each other on the same night. The 2009 edition of the “Big Four tournament” was played in Raleigh and Durham at 7 and 9 p.m.
Why in the world was that allowed to happen??
The Hurricanes occupy the RBC Center on Thursday night so State couldn’t play then. What about Tuesday the 10th? The Clemson and Boston College game or the match-up between Florida State and Virginia could have been played on Wednesday the 11th. Those games would be a page three story in this market whether Duke and Carolina were playing or not.
N.C. State earned one of its biggest wins in the last two years and it was relegated to the second story because of the Duke-Carolina game. It’s challenging enough for the Wolfpack to compete in the radius of the Blue Devils and Tar Heels.
State doesn’t need any “help” from a scheduling issue like Wednesday night.
