Blue Blood II: Duke-Carolina: The Latest on the Never-Ending and Greatest Rivalry in College Hoops

by Art Chansky

A follow-up to Blue Blood that tells the recent history of the Duke-Carolina college basketball rivalry

When Art Chansky's Blue Blood was published in 2005, ESPN's Dick Vitale said it was about "the greatest rivalry, not just in college basketball, but in all of sports" and the book was hailed by The East Carolinan as the "holy text for both sides of the rivalry." Now, 13 years later, Chansky revisits the fiercest college basketball rivalry.

Since 2005, Duke-Carolina has been a study of rival recruiting philosophies, disparate playing styles, classic game encounters, coaching milestones, All-American and NBA draft draft picks galore, plus off -the-court drama, and most recently, the ultimate question of who will be the next caretakers to this national treasure.

Winning more Atlantic Coast Conference and NCAA championships than the rest of the ACC combined made Duke and UNC the true blue bloods of basketball. When the prequel to this book was published in 2005, few fans thought the passionate backyard battle could get any better, but the last 13 years have added new colors and different fabrics to the mosaic that is the remaining virtue of the college game's regular season, which for everyone else is now a qualifying run to the NCAA tournament and March Madness.

Chansky brings all of these details to light, making Blue Blood II a must-have follow-up for Duke and UNC fans, and college basketball fans in general.

Genres: Sports, Basketball, Nonfiction

320 pages, Hardcover

Published October 30, 2018

Reviews

[Grant Bryden · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the book, Blue Blood II: Duke-Carolina: The Latest on the Never-Ending and Greatest Rivalry in College Hoops, author Art Chansky describes the huge, but friendly rivalry of Duke and UNC basketball. The never ending, “battle of the blues” might go down in history as the biggest college basketball rivalry to ever exsist. I read the book initially because I wanted to find out what originally sparked the rivalry, and also because I am a diehard Duke basketball fan. I connected to the book since I love duke and love the rivalry between UNC and Duke even more, but I was inspired by the interesting name of the book because it is metaphorical to both of the teams in blue. It was interesting that Chansky used a very modern version of writing, but I understand why they did because the main events described in the book are more casual and do not require elegant language. The book is informative and not creative like a fiction fantasy or stories of that sort. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that likes basketball and especially college basketball. The author does a great job on informing their audience on why the rivalry is so powerful in modern sports and that is what makes the story so interesting. Also, I would recommend the first book of the series to anyone who loves this book, but I think Blue Bloods II is ultimately better than Blue Bloods I.

[Tom Gase · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well researched and written book by Art Chansky on the Duke/North Carolina basketball rivalry in a sequel if you will to the 2003 book. This book covers the years since then, but even though it's not Chansky's fault, I just couldn't get into the book as much as the first one, because of the state of the college game. In the first book that covers the 1960s through 1990's, both teams had players that for the most part, stayed four years. In this book, most of the players leave after one year at their school, so you don't get to know them. And once you do, they're gone to the NBA. So the descriptions of epic games and tournament wins and losses by each team is very good by Chansky, but he can't take you inside the minds of players that much except for maybe Hansborough, Sheldon Williams, Grayson Allen a little. If a fan of college basketball or Duke/North Carolina, you'll enjoy, but the first book is much better.

[Connor Sweeney · Rating 3 out of 5]

good information to know once you move to north carolina, would have wanted to have read the first book as this one was pretty repetitive year after year and not very story like

[Walter Rabon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Entertaining but feels jumpy as the timeline skips all over the place.