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College GameDay is an ESPN Saturday morning staple for college basketball fans during the winter, and once again the popular pregame show is heading to Durham, North Carolina, to showcase the sport’s biggest rivalry between Duke and North Carolina.
ESPN announced on Saturday it will broadcast live from Duke next Saturday, Feb. 1, when the No. 2 Blue Devils host their bitter rival from Chapel Hill in the first of their annual 2 meetings. It will be the show’s record 14th trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium.
A GameDay appearance for a Duke-UNC game is usually not a surprise at all, considering the attractiveness of the rivalry and the backdrop with the Cameron Crazies taking center stage. However, this particular season and on this particular Saturday, it’s a little bit of a stunner.
North Carolina is not having its usual strong season, sporting a pedestrian 12-8 record going into this Saturday’s contest against Boston College. But, more than anything, the surprise comes from where ESPN chose not to go. There are 2 attractive SEC games on next Saturday’s docket.
The Duke-UNC game will tip off at 6:30 p.m. ET on ESPN, but after that game at 9 p.m. ET Arkansas will play at Kentucky, with John Calipari making his much-anticipated return to Rupp Arena. Calipari coached Kentucky from 2009-24, winning 410 games and an NCAA title. He left after last season to take the open Arkansas job, but has gotten off to just a 12-7 start.
Florida will also play at Tennessee at noon ET on ESPN in a likely top-10 showdown.
But instead of heading to Lexington or Knoxville, College GameDay will go to Durham for the ACC’s showcase rivalry.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
