Are Duke and Michigan rivals?

Uncle Toms

...but we our not in their conference and we play infrequently.  Not sure a "rivalry" is the best way to describe something like that.

Don't like them but wouldn't consider them a rivalry

I can't imagine it's an equal rivalry on both sides. Duke basketball is a lot like Michigan Football...a lot of people view us as their rivals, but we just yawn. I wonder if it's the same for Duke towards us...

However, god knows I really hate Duke and hope we pound them tonight.

I certainly dislike them. Duke not getting McGary was almost as sweet as him choosing us.

there is history, but not a rivalry.  I think rivals need to match up on a much more consistant basis.  Everyone hates DUKE, not just M fans....

Definitely not.  Michigan calling Duke a rivalry is like Illinois saying they have a rivalry with Michigan in football, except worse because we're not in the same conference.  Just as everyone wants to take a shot at Michigan Football, everyone loves beating Duke in basketball.  Not even close.   

The two programs do have a lot of history though. I would say the fan bases and media recognize it as a special matchup whenever it comes by, but we are certainly not rivals. I think older Duke people still feel a bit of disgust for the Fab Five, and Michigan people have as much dislike for Duke as the next guy. It's interesting how this is the 4th meeting in the last 4 years though.

answer = yes

Not exactly rivals, but it's not just another game against a powerhouse opponent either.  There's a little bit of history and something extra.  Sort of like, maybe, Miami or Georgia Tech vs. Notre Dame in football, or Michigan-USC.

It's certainly not a fierce rivalry. Depends on your own subjective requirements for a rivalry I guess. I'd consider it a rivalry in the same vein that Michigan-USC is a rivalry. They've played each other more than a few times in high profile/important games, but ultimately you don't necessarily automatically derive joy from them losing to other teams.

Yes, we are most definitely rivals when it comes to basketball.  I've had an unhealthy dislike for Duke ever since the Fab Five days and it continues to grow with every game we play.  I also think John Beilein really embraces each opportunity to get a W against Coach K.

ps. The Fab 5's 30 for 30 show did an excellent job highlighting the beginning of this rivalry and last years tournament game brought it back to life!

We're not rivals. The Fab Five and us beating them in 95, 96 and 97 could have led to a mini-rivalry but starting in 98, when the basketball program took a nose dive to hell, Duke started beating us by 40 every year and that pretty much shot any chance of any sort of rivarly. 

I think the Fab Five documentary, which led to Duke's feelings being so hurt, might have misled some folks into thinking Michigan/Duke was a rivalry.   But we're no different than the rest of the teams in America who hates those pieces of shit. 

It can be compared to hating Notre Dame in football.  Only difference is Duke actually has the results to back up their arrogance. 

but I've definitely grown to despise the Blue Devils.  They've had so many unlikeable players over the years.  Getting Team USA basketball back on track hasn't given me the warm fuzzies towards Mike Krzyzewski either.  We will the champions of Maui.  Go Blue.

UNC

Agree with most other posters.  Us thinking we have a rivalry with Duke is like CMU thinking they have a rivalry with MSU in football.  Sure, CMU has beaten MSU a few times (early 90's and a couple of years ago).  But for the most part, MSU wins these games handily, they are not in the same conference and they play infrequently.

I know that this is not the perfect analogy, but let's face it, UM basketball has not been exactly a world beater the past decade+.  Also, re-reading that and comparing MSU football to Duke basketball makes me want to vomit...

Everybody hates Duke. And rightfully so. But we are not their rivals, nor are they ours.

we're more than just 2 teams playing against each other. We have more history than 2 random teams but we have less history than rivals. That being said, I hate Duke.

To Michigan/USC in football.

No

Duke basketball is like UM Football (in terms of prestige)  every other team considers them a rival, while for the most part, Duke could care less

See; NC State, Maryland basketball teams, and Purdue, Illinois, any other Big Ten football team.

In respect to the game today - the tough part about beating Duke is that you also have to beat the refs. The Duke players get any and every single call - basically against a Duke player, contact = foul. No matter who Duke plays, or where, the refs call a ACC style finesse game.

Another thing that bothers me is that ESPN and other national outlets view Michigan as a wacky John Beilein team that just puts up 3's all day and plays the 1-3-1. They also think we have no talent (no mention of mcgary, you'd think ESPN would cut to the footage that was on ESPNU), and against Memphis they were saying "Hustle plays beat talent" etc. All these things are completely wrong. We do have talent. Smot was a touted player, Hardaway and Burke were as well. I view Morgan and Horford as developing diamonds in the rough. We play great man to man and team defense, in addition to the 1-3-1. Our offense is diverse. Hardaway or Smot can take it to the rack. We TRY very hard to crash the boards, it doesn't always work.

If teams believe the things they hear from ESPN, I guess it works to our benefit because we will catch them on their heels when they find out what we are really about. It just bothers me that we can't get the respect of being a good basketball team.

Anyone who questions the Duke/UM historic rivalry must be under 30.  The last ten-12 years there hasn't been much of a rivalry because we've been down, but the 15-20 years before then, UM was a legit national power with Duke as one of it's few national peers.  Also both schools share the exact same era as their "glory days."  Duke - Hurley, Laettner, Hill.  UM - Fab Five.  Those eras defined both programs, and they had historic early season clashes each of those years, and obviously, in the finals.  The entire country was rooting for us - a band of freshmen - against the senior laden, proven, "establishment" that was Duke at the time.

Thus, any UM bb fan over 30 has traditionally rooted for the following:

UM win
MSU loss
OSU loss
Indiana loss
Duke loss.

It is thanks to those years I speak of that UNC has become my second favorite team for no reason other than my despising Duke.  In sum, Duke is without question UM's biggest "traditional" out of conference rival, we just haven't been holding up our end of the bargain for a decade.

The best way I can think to respond to this question is this:

You know how we are, and always will be, the greatest program in the history of college football? And you know how everybody who plays us more than once a decade thinks that just because they want to beat us badly, it means that we're their rivals, and we laugh at the notion?

That's kind of how I see this. Duke reigns supreme (with a few others in NCAABB) and the only time they ever give a damn about us is when we're on their immediate schedule. They are not our rivals. If we consider them our rivals simply because we've played them alot recently and because we want to beat them badly, as a fan base, we'll look just as stupid as Iowa fans and Indiana fans who think that Michigan football is their rival.

Kapeesh?

We are not traditional rivals because we don't play in the same conference but as a program, if we aspire to be the best then we need to start considering ourselves Rivals.   Michigan just beat Duke head up for a major recruit, we played to a one possession game in the tourney last year, we beat them in our gym the year before and we will play today for early season bragging rights.

We may not be rivals today in the traditional sense but if we expect to be a Great Basketball Program we need to make them consider us Rivals by kicking their ass on the court every time we play!

Duke and North Carolina are rivals.  Duke and Michigan are not.  It would take a lot of very close games (with at least 1 game every year) to develop into a rivalry.

I have Duke friends (yes, who were pissed about the Fab5 doc) and in my estimation, their order of BB rivals would be:

1) UNC

2) Kentucky

3) Maryland (if you squint)

4) NC State (see "Maryland" - this is another "just don't lose" games)

5) you get the point

Basically, these guys are so enamoured with themselves, they don't really require rivals.  UNC hates Duke more than Duke hates UNC (Tarheel students are largely composed of N. Carolina natives, while Duke students come from across the country).