Written by Louis Fernandez, WRAL Sports journalist.

This marks only the fifth occurrence in the history of the NCAA Tournament, which began with 64 teams in 1985, that North Carolina, NC State, and Duke have all proceeded to the Sweet Sixteen round. This is the first time this has occurred since 2015. In the two previous postseasons where all three teams from the Triangle area advanced to the second weekend, either Duke (in 2015) or UNC (in 2005) won the national championship.

North Carolina, the top seed, and NC State, the 11th seed, secured their spots in the Sweet Sixteen with victories on Saturday. Despite trailing by a large margin, the Tar Heels came back to defeat Michigan State, the 9th seed, by a score of 85-69. This marks the second time in head coach Hubert Davis’ three seasons that his team has made it to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. The Wolfpack continued their winning streak in March, defeating Oakland, the 14th seed, in overtime with a final score of 79-73. This is the first time NC State has reached the Sweet Sixteen since 2015 and it is also the first time under the leadership of head coach Kevin Keatts.

Duke, ranked fourth, dominated against James Madison Dukes on Sunday with a score of 93-55. This marks the first time in two seasons under head coach Jon Scheyer that Duke has advanced to the second weekend.

The Tar Heels are scheduled to compete against the victor of 4-seed Alabama versus 12-seed Grand Canyon in Los Angeles this coming Thursday. Meanwhile, Duke and NC State’s games will take place in Dallas on Friday. The Wolfpack’s opponent will be 2-seed Marquette, while Duke will take on the winner of 1-seed Houston versus 9-seed Texas A&M. In the event that both NC State and Duke emerge victorious, they will face each other in the Elite Eight on Sunday.

In 1986, following an expansion, three Triangle teams achieved success by making it to the Sweet Sixteen. Sadly, UNC was defeated by Louisville, NC State fell to Kansas in the Elite Eight, and Duke made it the furthest but ultimately lost to Louisville 72-69 in the National Championship game. This marked Duke’s first time competing in the national championship with Mike Krzyzewski as head coach.

In 1989, the next appearance in a group game was delayed by three years. NC State and UNC were both eliminated in the Sweet Sixteen, with NC State’s head coach Jim Valvano’s last game in the NCAA Tournament being a loss to Georgetown, and the Tar Heels losing to Michigan. Duke reached the Final Four, but suffered a defeat from Seton Hall 95-78.

In both 2005 and 2015, the UNC and Duke teams won National Championships, with the 2005 one being the first for head coach Roy Williams and the most recent one being for the Duke Blue Devils program.

Source: wralsportsfan.com