By Cody Porter | @KernelPorter

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ATLANTA — By the time the clock struck zero, ultimately ending Kansas’ chances of victory against Michigan State, the transformation to blue in the Georgia Dome’s red seats took that of two slightly different hues.

Similar at first glance, that of Duke’s and UK’s reveled and jeered at the sight of their teams’ emergence from the tunnel — staking their claim on the college basketball world within the looming walls of the dome.

Although its relevance was yet to be cast, the Cats knocked off the Blue Devils in the 1978 title game.

The legend of two teams and their fan bases had yet to show significance.

When Christian Laettner’s shot found the bottom of the net on March 28, 1992, the definition of hate found a new example.

For the Blue Devils it had yet taken hold. Twenty years after beating the Cats, the Blue Devils had the split series with UK. The first was an 86-84 tournament game that went in the Cats’ favor, the other a Blue Devil victory in December 2001.

Nov. 13, 2012, should be the shift into a new phase for the two teams.

Whether or not Duke beat UK 75-68 is beside the point.

Simply, the two teams together can draw. And the battle in the low post between freshman forward Nerlens Noel and Duke’s Mason Plumlee was nearly enough to blow the top off the venue.

Nobody can argue it wasn’t the toughest battle for any team this young season. It may end up being the highlight of the regular season.

Next season’s Champions Classic will conclude the playing cycle among the teams started in 2011. And given the tournament-like atmosphere this particular game generated, the everyday sports fan would be done an injustice if not presented with it on a consistent basis.

Pitting the two against each other another 11 seasons from now just would not cut it.

Indiana, Kansas and North Carolina have been regular foes throughout the decades. However, college basketball has changed. The rising Duke team that UK faced in 1978 is now a perennial power with the winningest coach in NCAA men’s basketball history.

It’s time to show the implications of these two meeting, so bring them to the forefront and shed light on the growing rivalry the two fan bases displayed at the opening tip.