As Duke heads to Final Four, a complicated history of the storied program

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Race, Class & Communities

The word "Due" read from top-down and "South" left-right, with the U shared between them. Reminiscent of a compass.

Due South

As Duke heads to Final Four, a complicated history of the storied program

By Jeff Tiberii,

Rachel McCarthy

Published April 3, 2025 at 2:18 PM EDT

Left side, the jump ball goes up between UNC and Duke on Friday, March 14, 2025, in the ACC Tournament semifinals in Charlotte, N.C. Right side, C.B. Claiborne, Duke University's first Black basketball player.

Javier Wallace at 吉彩网网站's studio in Durham on April 2, 2025.

The Duke men's basketball team plays in the Final Four this weekend and has its sights set on a possible sixth national championship. While the program鈥檚 success is clear, its history is complicated.

Javier Wallace, a postdoctoral associate at Duke University and a former college athlete, teaches a class at Duke called "Race, Sport & Education: Duke Men鈥檚 Basketball." The course delves into the story of CB Claiborne, Duke鈥檚 first Black athlete and basketball player, and uses the team's history to explore race in society and education.

Wallace talks with co-host Jeff Tiberii about Claiborne's story, and also about how Name, Image & Likeness (NIL) and the transfer portal are 鈥� and are not 鈥� changing the opportunities available to college athletes.

Guest

Javier Wallace, Race and Sport Postdoctoral Associate in the Program in Education, Duke University; Executive Producer, , a documentary about CB Claiborne

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Jeff Tiberii

Jeff Tiberii is the co-host of 吉彩网网站's "Due South." Jeff joined 吉彩网网站 in 2011. During his 20 years in public radio, he was Morning Edition Host at WFDD and 吉彩网网站鈥檚 Greensboro Bureau Chief and later, the Capitol Bureau Chief. Jeff has covered state and federal politics, produced the radio documentary 鈥淩ight Turn,鈥� launched a podcast, and was named North Carolina Radio Reporter of the Year four times.

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Rachel McCarthy

Rachel McCarthy is a producer for "Due South." She previously worked at 吉彩网网站 as a producer for "The Story with Dick Gordon." More recently, Rachel was podcast managing editor at Capitol Broadcasting Company where she developed narrative series and edited a daily podcast. She also worked at "The Double Shift" podcast as supervising producer. Rachel learned about audio storytelling at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. Prior to working in audio journalism, she was a research assistant at the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC.

See stories by Rachel McCarthy