The Tobacco Road rivalry has gone penal.
As yesterday's showdown between the men's basketball teams from No. 1 Duke and No. 2 North Carolina approached this week, supporters of both the Blue Devils and Tar Heels may have taken to burglarizing the opposition.
The most recent acts came late Wednesday night when University head coach Mike Krzyzewski's office was broken into. A commemorative poster of the 1992 U.S. men's Olympic basketball team, signed by all 15 players and coaches, was stolen from the office. Krzyzewski served as an assistant to head coach Chuck Daly on the '92 team.
The framed poster was last seen on the coach's office wall late Wednesday afternoon. Athletic department staff first noticed the poster was missing at around 7:45 a.m. Thursday.
Also missing were six pairs of Duke basketball game shorts that were temporarily being stored in the office.
Although coach Krzyzewski's office was unlocked, the outer door to the basketball offices was secured and no signs of forced entry were evident, although one window had been pried open. Although Duke University Police Department officials do not yet have any suspects in the crime, fingerprints were obtained from the scene.
Whether the crime was a prank or not remains unclear.
Several other seemingly prank-like acts were also carried out late Wednesday night. On East campus, the statue of Washington Duke near the Main Street entrance was partially doused with Carolina-blue paint.
"The paint is a separate issue, perhaps a prank," Maj. Robert Dean of Campus Police said. "I can't really put the two incidents together."
The East Campus bridge was also painted over at places in Carolina blue.
The incidents on the University's campus follow similar events on UNC's campus this past weekend, during which the retired jersey of Michael Jordan was stolen from the rafters of the Dean Smith Center.
The exact date of the theft is unknown since Smith center employees first noticed the absence of the over-sized No. 23 jersey when they returned to work Monday.
UNC police originally had no leads in the case.
"We don't know if it is a prank or if somebody wants to keep it," Lt. Angela Carmon told the Greensboro News & Record Wednesday afternoon.
The case took an interesting turn, however, Wednesday night when an individual identifying him or herself as 'The Sixth Man" e-mailed a message to The Chronicle in which he claimed responsibility for the theft. A hard copy of the letter was also submitted, unnoticed, to The Chronicle office.
The letter stated that the perpetrator "risked life and limb" to steal the banner from the rafters. The Sixth Man claims to have stolen the jersey in retribution for the three Duke jerseys that were stolen from Cameron's Hall of Fame Room this past summer. The writer stated that Jordan's jersey would be returned to the Smith Center only after Grant Hill's No. 33 and Christian Laettner's No. 32 were returned to Duke.
Dick Groat's No. 10 jersey, the third article of clothing, was returned in the fall.
Duke Sports Information Director Mike Cragg discounted The Sixth Man's logic, saying that it had been determined months ago that the Blue Devil jerseys were not stolen by UNC students or fans.
UNC Public Safety is still investigating all leads in the crime, including the e-mail and letter.
Bob Ellinger contributed to this story.
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