When people think about rivalries in college sports, Duke versus North Carolina immediately comes to mind. But if the thought is narrowed to women’s basketball, one could make the case that, like football, the Tar Heels’ fiercer rival is NC State.

UNC versus Duke is a rivalry of mutual respect. The Wolfpack versus the Tar Heels is more like a blood feud.

And in women’s basketball, North Carolina and NC State are both programs’ most common opponents. They’ve been playing at least once a season since 1975.

Over the past few years, the games between NC State and UNC often draw sellout crowds, extra media attention and impressive television ratings. Both teams have been NCAA Tournament regulars and ACC contenders.

Before last season, the Tar Heels and Wolfpack played twice every regular season in the ACC’s old pod system. But with the additions of Stanford, Cal and SMU, the league’s scheduling model shifted, and now every women’s basketball team plays each other once outside of one protected rival that they see twice.

For UNC, that’s Duke and for NC State that’s Wake Forest.

So, for the second straight year on Monday night, the Tar Heels and Wolfpack will meet for their only regular season meeting. NC State hosts UNC in its annual Play4Kay game — in honor of former Wolfpack coach Kay Yow — at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

But when she spoke to reporters a few days ago ahead of this crucial matchup, UNC coach Courtney Banghart floated an idea: Could the Tar Heels and Wolfpack go back to playing twice in the regular season? Could they play a non-conference game at a neutral site?

“(NC State coach) Wes (Moore) and I both have an appetite to figure out how we play this game twice,” Banghart said Friday. “Especially in the NIL era, if we can find a sponsor. You know, do we play this game in Greensboro and allow our players to reap some benefit of a great rivalry that they, in part, have chosen these schools because of?

‘I’m fairly certain that both sides know the value of this game. So, the fact that we’re playing it once, not great.”

There was a time, from 1971 to 1981, that the men’s ACC teams in North Carolina played annually in the “Big Four Tournament” in Greensboro, North Carolina, often in December.

And playing an in-conference opponent in a non-conference game isn’t unheard of. South Carolina and Texas played in November in Las Vegas in the Player’s Era Tournament. Virginia and NC State played a non-conference game in football this past season.

If Banghart, Moore and the leaders at UNC and NC State can figure out the logistics, a non-conference game between the Tar Heels and Wolfpack wouldn’t just generate buzz and remind fans of how things used to be decades ago — it could be a real money maker.

And in college athletics in 2026, that matters.

Do-it-all star has Navy eyeing NCAA Tournament bid

There are two players in women’s basketball this season averaging at least 17 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals per game, doing a little bit of everything at an incredibly high level.

One of them is Sarah Strong, UConn’s star sophomore forward, a player that every fan of the sport in the country knows.

The other is Zanai Barnett-Gay, a junior guard for the Navy Midshipmen, whose leadership and versatility is a key reason why coach Tim Taylor’s squad is eyeing March Madness.

“When I was in middle school, in high school, I wasn’t always the best person on my team, but I knew I could play defense, so I kind of embraced that,” Barnett-Gay told USA Today Sports. “And then later on, scoring came.”

On Saturday, the 5-foot-8 guard from Glen Dale, Maryland, had 11 points, five rebounds and three assists in Navy’s win over Loyola, its eighth victory in its last nine games. The Mids are 9-1 in conference play this season, sitting atop the Patriot League.

“She’s the linchpin of it,” Taylor said of Barnett-Gay. “I feel good about where we can be and where we can go, because I know this team can get better and better.”

For folks who follow the mid-major ranks closely, Barnett-Gay is a known commodity. She was the Patriot League Rookie of the Year in 2024, won the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year award last season, and was Preseason Player of the Year this season. Barnett-Gay’s scoring is actually slightly down but her field goal percentage, rebounds and assists are all up. That’s because Barnett-Gay’s teammates have developed and improved, and she’s able to put her skills and energy into other areas of the floor.

College basketball at the service academies is the last remaining vestige of how things used to be across the sport. Navy has zero transfers and its players aren’t eligible for money from NIL or revenue sharing. The Mids do things the old fashioned way: They recruit high school talent and develop them over four years. They can’t accelerate a rebuild via the transfer portal.

So, Taylor’s first few seasons at Navy were bumpy, including a 1-29 campaign in the 2022-23 season. Then Barnett-Gay arrived, and last year the Mids had their first winning season under Taylor at 19-12.

“A couple years ago, we sat down and asked ourselves, like, ‘What’s going to be our identity?’ Defense is something that we can always do,” Barnett-Gay said. “So, we’ve decided to lock in on that, and that’s just been our culture and identity since.”

This year, a strong freshman class arrived to reinforce what Taylor had been building. Zoe Mesuch, a 5-foot-5 guard from Clintondale, New York, is Navy’s second-leading scorer this season. Of the seven Midshipmen who play more than 17 minutes per game this season, two are seniors.

Navy hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since it went to three straight under former coach Stefanie Pemper from 2011 to 2013. With Barnett-Gay leading the way, the Mids have the chance to start a new streak.

“It goes without saying,” Barnett-Gay says. “We want to be first in the league, win the championship and then go dancing in March.”

Hot seat watch

Add Boston College and UCF to the list. Multiple sources told USA Today Sports that both of these jobs are likely to open in March.

Joanna Bernabei-McNamee’s Eagles are 4-19 this season, 0-10 in ACC play and riding a 15-game losing streak. This is her eighth year leading the team and she’s had two winning seasons, one coming in 2020 when the NCAA Tournament was canceled due to COVID-19, and the other in 2022 when the Eagles were left on the wrong side of the bubble. In the four seasons since then, BC is 16-48 in ACC play.

At UCF, the Sytia Messer era has not gone as planned. The Knights are on-pace for their fourth consecutive losing season as they’re currently 2-8 in Big 12 play. UCF is 48-61 since Messer was tapped to succeed Katie Abrahamson-Henderson. Messer was previously an assistant under Kim Mulkey at Baylor and LSU.

Tip-ins

• Louisville is 11-0 in conference after beating Cal on Sunday, their best start in program history in ACC play. In the two seasons Cal and Stanford have been in the league, this Cardinals team becomes just the third in the ACC to win both games on their California road swing.
• Stanford associate head coach Tempie Brown is adding the role of general manager to her responsibilities with the program. Her additional duties will include management of NIL and revenue strategy, roster and scholarship optimization and operational and infrastructure alignment. Brown played at Michigan, has spent nearly three decades in college coaching and has worked as a high school athletic director.
• Montana State’s Taylee Chirrick tallied 31 points, 12 rebounds and 11 steals in a win over Portland State on Saturday. Those are all career-highs for the sophomore and her steals are a single-game record in the Big Sky Conference.