Saturday’s loss to North Carolina was a bitter pill for Duke He messed up Mike Krzyowski’s farewell party at Cameron Indoor Stadium By rival Tar Heels.
In the immediate aftermath, Duke’s assistant Chris Carvel wasn’t in the mood for post-match compliments. Carwell, who played for the Dukes from 1996-2000, walked across the handshake line to the side of the scorers’ table. When North Carolina coach Hubert Davis reached out, Carwell passed.
Davis, of course, noticed that. How could he not? He told reporters after the match that he did not know what prompted the disdain.
“I don’t know what this is,” Davis said. “I haven’t played against him. I don’t know him personally.”
Davis, like Carawell, is long familiar with Tobacco Road competition, having played in North Carolina from 1998-92 before joining the coaching staff as Roy Williams’ assistant in 2012.
The Raleigh News & Observer reached out to Carrawell for his side of disdain. He told N&O it was a retaliatory move.
Davis “didn’t shake hands with us before the game,” Carwell told N&O via text message.
At the N&O, Davis and Krzyzewski exchanged handshakes sometime before the match. Davis wasn’t on the field due to a traditional pre-game handshake when Duke’s crew took to the field amid Krzyzewski’s crowded celebration.
This looks familiar
Whatever the explanation, a refusal to shake hands will appear in the records of the Carolina Duke. But it won’t be the first. Back in 2003, another pair of ex-players turned coaches made disdainful news. This person was shared by Johnny Dawkins and Matt Doherty.
Dawkins was Krzyzewski’s assistant at the time. Doherty was in the third and final season of his fateful spell as head coach for North Carolina State. The regular season finale between the two teams at Chapel Hill turned physical with players and coaches from both sides engaging in a side squabble late in the game.
When the teams met again for the ACC semi-finals, Dawkins wasn’t interested in shaking hands with Doherty before the game.
Unlike Carwell and Davis, Dawkins and Doherty faced off on the court as players in the early 1980s. Their personal rivalry goes back several years. But Dawkins’ disdain had to do with the brawl from the previous match.
While the in-game contact between Duke’s Dahntay Jones and UNC’s Raymond Felton led to a squabble, things escalated with Doherty and Duke’s assistant Chris Collins in each other’s faces.
Dawkins clearly wasn’t ready to let go.
The trifle lives. Long live Duke-UNC.
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