The NBA lockout has forced a lot of professionals to get creative with how they spend their time this offseason. Some have gone overseas to play basketball while others have stayed at home to work out while biding their time until the NBA issues are resolved.
For basketball alumni of Duke and North Carolina, they’re getting together for what could be the biggest scrimmage in the history of the rivalry.
On Nov. 17, former Blue Devils and Tar Heels will take to North Carolina Central’s McDougald-McLendon Gym at 8:30 p.m. in the Kings of Tobacco Road game that will feature some of each teams most recent stars.
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Matt Moyer, head of basketball operations for Bleid Sports, one of the organizers of the event, confirmed the game will be held at NCCU, but details such as ticket prices and the charity to which proceeds will go have yet to be determined.
According to BlueDevilNation.com, a blog devoted to Duke basketball, the roster for North Carolina will include former National Player of the Year Antawn Jamison, Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace, Brendan Haywood, Vince Carter, Raymond Felton and Shammond Williams.
Duke’s roster consists of Nolan Smith — who first tweeted about the event’s potential on Sunday — Kyrie Irving, Gerald Henderson, Corey Maggette, Chris Duhon and former National Player of the Year Elton Brand.
Smith and former UNC star Tyler Hansbrough played with each other in October in a game that pitted University of Kentucky basketball alumni against a “villains” team coached by former Blue Devil standout Christian Laettner.
The game is slated to take place after the NCCU women’s basketball team plays Campbell University at 6 p.m. The gym holds 3,056 — about one-seventh the capacity of the Smith Center — and will likely sell out quickly.
