Tobacco Road

Tobacco Road refers to an historic tobacco-producing area of central North Carolina and is often used when referring to sports (particularly basketball) played among rival Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) universities which are located close to each other in North Carolina. The phrase originated as the title of a novel set in Georgia, but it migrated to North Carolina because of the state's primacy in tobacco production. Three of the schools (Duke, UNC, and North Carolina State) are part of Research Triangle and are separated by no more than 25 miles (40 km), and Wake Forest lies about 100 miles (160 km) west of the other three. It was formerly much closer to the other three, having originally been located in the town of Wake Forest, North Carolina, until 1956. All four are no more than 6 miles (9.7 km) from Interstate 40; the road has been called "Tobacco Road" in national sports media. (However, until the late 1980s—after tobacco had started to decline in North Carolina due to US federal anti-tobacco actions—I-40 did not reach Durham, Chapel Hill, or Raleigh. Rather, "Tobacco Road" would have been US Highway 70.) The proximity of these schools to one another and the membership of each school in the Atlantic Coast Conference have created a natural rivalry among students, fans, and alumni. North Carolina State University's "Red and White Song" mentions each of the four universities in its lyrics.

The usual universities referred to by the moniker "Tobacco Road" are the following:

These four universities are also known in the state as the "Big Four" and competed in the Dixie Classic men's basketball tournament from 1949 to 1961, in which the four schools won all 13 tournaments played. They also played in the Big Four Tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina, from 1971 to 1981. The Wake–Duke rivalry is the oldest basketball rivalry among the four schools in that it dates back to the 1905–06 season and was the first intercollegiate basketball game in North Carolina. The Wake-Duke rivalry is just ahead of the more well known UNC-Duke rivalry in terms of games played by two games. The rivalries between the four schools also account for six of the most frequently played men's basketball rivalries in the ACC. The four schools have a combined 12 men's national basketball championships (UNC has 5, Duke has 5, NC State has 2) and one women's national championship (UNC). The four schools also won 2 NIT titles (UNC won 1, and Wake won 1). In the men's tournament they have combined to have 10 runners-up (Duke has 6 and UNC has 4) and 39 Final Fours (UNC has 19, Duke has 16, NC State has 3, and Wake has 1). At least one Tobacco Road team has made the NCAA Tournament every year since 1974. Since the NCAA Tournament started in 1939, all four teams have missed the same tournament eleven times. The years in which none of the teams were in the tournament was 1940, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1958, 1971, & 1973. All four teams have made the same tournament 4 times (1991, 2003, 2004, 2005). Prior to the 2014 NCAA Tournament, at least one of the teams had made the Sweet 16 since 1979. Aside from the ACC Tournament, the four schools have only played each other in the postseason twice, never in the NCAA tournament. The only two times came in the NIT Tournament: Wake beat NC State in a semifinal game of the 2000 NIT Tournament and went on to win the tournament, and UNC beat Duke in a semifinal game of the 1971 NIT Tournament, also winning the tournament. The four schools have combined to win 71 men's conference tournaments with 21 SoCon tournaments and 50 ACC tournaments (Duke won 24, UNC won 26, NC State won 17, & Wake Forest won 5). While in the Southern Conference they won or shared 17 SoCon regular season titles between the 1922-23 and 1952–53 seasons. They have also dominated ACC regular season play, having won or shared 52 regular season titles between them, including all but nine since the 1953-54 season. The four have also won 21 ACC women's tournaments (Duke won 8, UNC won 9, NC State won 4) and won or shared 19 regular season titles. At least of the schools have made all but 10 of the 46 combined CIAW, AIAW, and NCAA tournaments since 1969. The years in which none of the teams made the tournaments were 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, and 1979.

...
Wikipedia