Every year in the leadup to a game between NC State and UNC in men’s basketball, we have to go through the nonsense rigamarole of media members asking players on both teams if the game is in fact a rivalry, and often they get a “shoot, I don’t know” sort of response from a UNC guy and onward we must go forever on the question.
It was inevitable, of course, that Dontrez Styles would have to answer that question this week.
Dontrez Styles on if UNC/NC State is a rivalry:
“I think it is. Just the two teams being so close, and the history of the two programs, how can it not be a rivalry? So when I see people say it’s not a rivalry, that’s crazy, but it’s all good.”
— Jadyn Watson-Fisher (@jwatsonfisher) January 10, 2025
There is no other sport in which these schools compete against each other where the matter is ever in question, but because UNC has dominated the series in men’s hoops, somehow this supposedly has altered the entire history and nature of the relationship between the schools and their fans in this particular case. I desperately need somebody to please make this dumb shit stop.
Of course it’s a rivalry, it goes without saying that it’s a rivalry, everyone knows it’s a rivalry, and I don’t know why we have to go through this cheeky-pretend bit … every … single … year … like it’s novel or interesting or funny and not simply tedious.