When Virginia Tech joined the ACC, two things were clear: the Hokies would
pound the Blue Devils in football, and Duke would return the favor in
basketball. One out of two ain’t bad. Football has gone as expected, but the
basketball end of this matchup is quickly turning into a great rivalry. Duke
might not think so, but I do.

Duke fans, players, coaches and administrators can be forgiven if they don’t
consider VT to be a rival in basketball. The history of the ACC is now 53 years
old, rich in tradition, and Duke’s longstanding rivalries with N.C. State,
Maryland, Wake Forest, Virginia, and of course North Carolina, with scores of
classic games played over the years, dwarf three years of games against Virginia
Tech. VT is just a minor blip on the Duke basketball radar.

But throughout the Hokie Nation, Duke/VT is already knockdown, drag-out
series, a barn-burner, a nascent rivalry that challenges any in Hokie history.

Never boring and often thrilling, the Blue Devils and Hokies have played five
times now, and every matchup has been one to remember. Can you imagine 53 years
of this? How could you even get close to remembering them all?

...