Here goes: I really like Finley from 100 yds in. You're probably right off the tee, but just seems like the kind of course in the few times I've played it that has a lot of variety from round to round and allows for creative shots and recovery shots around the greens, and made me think a lot about approach shots as a result. I would say the same thing about CCNC.
You touched exactly on my biggest Duke criticism - it was a swamp when I played it, which is tough to overcome. And other than a couple of the Par 5s and the par 3 with the lake on the back, not a lot of holes stand out in my memory. Lack of roll and a variety of memorable holes are two pretty big strikes for me. But it could be a totally different place during a dry summer. I had to pull up the website to remember the holes, but after my first round at both Finley and NCSU I could recite most of the course from memory.
I like a reasonably quirky course, but NCSU feels over the top in a couple of places, in particular around the greens. I really want to like it, though, I fell in love with Bethpage at the US Open last summer and it has a very similar look in places. The Par 3s are weak as a collection in my mind, #3 would have been much better as a three-shot par 5, and there was plenty of land available to make the hole 50-100 yds longer. #18 was a poor hole in my opinion, playing a little wet the day I played it, from 200 out, a little pull and you're in the parking lot, push and you're in the hazard, and no real bailout option. And it's still 440 from the 3rd set so I bet your average 15 handicapper just gets killed on that hole. There's a half-dozen or so potentially great holes in there though. Playing it again this weekend so I'll withhold further criticism until I get some more rounds there under my belt. It's suffered a fair amount this winter from being a new course so this could totally change with a couple years of maturity. So I give NCSU an incomplete pending further evaluation.
(Full disclosure - no school bias here, I'm a Wake grad. With all that Carolina blue in the pro shop at Finley I certainly pay and get out in a hurry...)