Unlike in college football, where rivals play only once a season, college basketball rivalries often feature at least two meetings a year.
That’s generally the result of conference scheduling, but it doesn’t mean that the rivalries are watered down. If anything, they’re often twice as good.
Here’s a look at the top rivalries in men’s college basketball:
DUKE VS. UNC
Forget the college level and forget men’s basketball for just a second. The long-running Tobacco Road and Atlantic Coast Conference feud is one of the greatest rivalries in all of college sports. Two iconic programs located less than 10 miles apart, Duke and North Carolina students hang out at the same bars, and that sometimes adds fuel to the fire when the Blue Devils and Tar Heels meet. The scene is fantastic when they play at North Carolina’s Dean Smith Dome, but it’s spectacular when the “Cameron Crazies,” who firmly believe they can impact the outcome of the game, fill up Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium.
KENTUCKY VS. LOUISVILLE
They’re not in the same conference, and that makes a once-a-year meeting even more intense. It doesn’t matter if the game is played at Kentucky’s legendary Rupp Arena in Lexington or Louisville’s KFC Yum! Center (previously known as Freedom Hall). When you get two programs from the same basketball-crazy state that have combined to win 10 national championships together on the same floor, the atmosphere always is electric.
KANSAS VS. MISSOURI
Known as The Border War, this rivalry has been going on since 1891. The two schools played in the same conference from 1907 to 2012, when Missouri left the Big 12 for the SEC. After that, the schools stopped playing each other. But the matchup returned, with all of its passion, as a once-a-year meeting in 2021. Kansas leads the all-time series 177–96. There’s an interesting historical tidbit behind this one. When legendary Missouri coach Norm Stewart was in his prime, he refused to let the team bus get gas in the state of Kansas because the tax money might benefit the Jayhawks.
INDIANA VS. PURDUE
Let’s be honest, Indiana, Kentucky, and North Carolina are the three biggest basketball states. In Indiana, high school games regularly sell out and many of them are televised. So, it’s obviously a huge deal when the state’s two powerhouse college programs play each other. Indiana and Purdue do it twice a year in Big Ten play. They’ll do it twice in 2026 — on Jan. 27 in Bloomington and Feb. 20 in West Lafayette — and pretty much the whole state will be watching both times.
MICHIGAN VS. MICHIGAN STATE
In football, rivalries don’t get any bigger than Michigan and Ohio State. But things are a little different in basketball. Michigan State is Michigan’s biggest rival, and the schools play twice a year in the Big Ten, and the game always means a lot. Both programs have tons of history. A guy named Earvin “Magic” Johnson first became a household name in East Lansing, and Michigan’s “Fab Five” is legendary for reaching back-to-back NCAA championship games in 1992 and ’93.
UCLA VS. ARIZONA
Nothing about the history of college basketball would be complete without a mention of UCLA. In the John Wooden years, the Bruins were a dynasty unlike anything else ever seen in college basketball. Through the years, UCLA has enjoyed great rivalries with the likes of USC and Notre Dame, which ended a Bruins winning streak at 88 games in 1974. But these days, Arizona is UCLA’s chief rival. The series actually began in 1923, but didn’t hit its peak until the 1980s when Steve Kerr arrived at Arizona. The rivalry seemed to be in jeopardy after the 2023–24 season when Arizona moved to the Big 12 and UCLA went to the Big Ten. But the two schools agreed to keep the rivalry alive with a series of annual games at neutral-site locations.
VILLANOVA VS. GEORGETOWN
In one of the most epic NCAA championship games in history, Villanova played what many consider to be the perfect game to stun heavily favored Georgetown and All-American Patrick Ewing. That game was a watershed moment for college basketball, drawing more than 31 million television viewers and enhancing the already strong power of March Madness. With both teams remaining in the Big East, the rivalry remains strong to this day.
KENTUCKY VS. FLORIDA
The Wildcats have been a national power almost from the time college basketball began, even before legendary Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp came along. The Gators are relatively new to the party. But in more recent years, this SEC matchup has become one of the best rivalries in college basketball.
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