Sneaker Rivals: North Carolina Versus Duke

College basketball’s most iconic rivalry takes place alongside an 11-mile drive between Durham and Chapel Hill. For over 100 years, North Carolina and Duke have traded wins, losses, buzzer beaters, Hall of Famers, and national championships.

Where they didn’t compete with each other was on the sneaker side, as both schools were signed to Nike throughout the ‘90s. However, when North Carolina became a Jordan school, and the Jumpman started to appear on the Heels’ uniforms in 1999, that became the latest battleground. It doesn’t matter that Jordan Brand is a Nike subsidiary, Michael Jordan’s legendary competitiveness is not going to allow him to be beaten, even by the brand he helped rise to the top.

Through the years, North Carolina and Duke’s relationship with Jordan Brand and Nike has produced some interesting scenarios that few probably accounted for. For example, even though Duke proudly calls Jayson Tatum and Zion Williamson alumni, their status as current (and former) Jordan signature shoe athletes has prevented them from gifting player exclusives with the Duke logo. They can make Duke-colored sneakers like the Jordan Tatum Blueprints, but they will not have the Blue Devil logo.

However, both Jordan Tatum and Jordan Zion lines are filled with North Carolina PEs with Tar Heel branding. And while there are currently no North Carolina players with Nike signature shoe deals, Duke has been the recipient of PEs from LeBron, Kobe, KD, Giannis, Sabrina, and more. Adding these little sneaker-shaped wrinkles to the story between North Carolina and Duke only makes the mythos of the rivalry even richer.

But who’s got the better player exclusives? On one side, Duke has the entire might of Nike Basketball making some of the most elusive exclusives that even PJ Tucker would have trouble trying to acquire. However, North Carolina has Jordan Brand and the power to make Air Jordan 1 through 14 in baby blue. Not so easy anymore, is it?

We did have to make a slight caveat to this fight because any type of sneaker competition that pits a Jordan Brand school against a non-Jordan school - even a Nike school - is simply unfair. With a long history of Air Jordans to pull from for player exclusives, no other brand is able to shut down the sneaker internet by simply revealing the latest kicks they are giving their men’s and women’s basketball teams.

So we are limiting the PEs to those that have actually been worn on the court and not just shown off for social media. And just for fun, we are also including a moment when both teams ignored their alignments and worth what they felt was right at the time.

North Carolina

Starters: Jordan Melo M10, Air Jordan XX9, Air Jordan 4, Air Jordan 9, Jordan Team 1

Sixth Man: Nike Kobe 5 (Harrison Barnes breaking protocol)

Even though it’s the classics reborn as player exclusives that grab the most attention whenever the Tar Heels’ social team reveals their sneaker lineup, it’s their current signature shoes that populate the court. Currently, players like Seth Trimble and Derek Dixon are rocking the Jordan Tatum 4 and the Air Jordan 40 during the games. But our pick for the best Jordan signature athlete PE belongs to the Jordan Melo M10 from 2014.

In the old days when Jordan Brand was still called Brand Jordan, their team shoe, the Jordan Team 1, included a North Carolina colorway that was beloved enough to receive a handful of retros since their debut in the late 90s. As for the actual Air Jordans, Michael Jordan’s iconic Champs Sports ad where he’s wearing a North Carolina uniform with the Air Jordan 9 Powder Blue is an automatic selection like a school that won its conference tournament.

The Air Jordan 4 has been turned into a player-exclusive a number of times, including a pair that got a retail release sans the Tar Heel branding, and the Air Jordan XX9 is quite simply a performance beast that is still revered to this day. For our sixth man pick, we’re going with Harrison Barnes breaking protocol and wearing Nike Zoom Kobe 5s, much to the disapproval of Michael Jordan.

Duke

Starters: Nike LeBron 10, Nike Kobe 5, Nike Kyrie 3, Nike Ja 3, Nike Hyperdunk iD

Sixth Man: Jordan Tatum 4 Sonic Yellow (only time Duke was allowed to wear Jordan)

Michael Jordan’s allegiance to North Carolina means it’s unlikely we will ever see Air Jordan PEs in Duke colors, but that’s not meant to diminish the field, which is the best of the best of Nike Basketball. Even though LeBron James has consistently mentioned that Ohio State would have been his school of choice had he taken the college route, Duke has been a frequent recipient of player exclusives that include the Nike LeBron X.

Harrison Barnes may have had to deal with Michael Jordan getting on his case for wearing Kobes, but Coach Mike Krzyzewski had no problem wearing the Nike Kobe 7 on the sidelines back in 2012. Prior to his fallout with Nike, Kyrie Irving consistently showed love to his alma mater which he only played 11 games for with player exclusives every year.

As for Ja Morant, his popular Nike Ja 3 is prominently featured by every Nike school including Duke. And for those of us who were never good enough to hoop for the Blue Devils, we had our chance back in 2009 to design our own PE version of the original Hyperdunk. Coming off the bench for Duke is a special one-off moment a few weeks ago when the whole team wore the Sonic Yellow/Bruce Lee colorway of the Tatum 4 with Nike’s approval.

Juan Martinez

From video game journalism to veteran of the sneaker blog era to podcasting about well, everything, Juan is smiling through it all and can't believe this is his life. After recently getting into Formula 1, he now has hot takes about who the greatest driver of all time is. Email: juan@soleretriever.com