Homecourt advantage vs. Duke in Carolina

Submitted by myantoniobass … on

IF we beat UT on Friday, we will have a home court advantage vs. Duke in their home state.  Why you ask?  History my friends.  Back in 1979 Duke fans cheered for a 72-71 victory over North Carolina in the tourney in Raleigh, NC.  However, Duke did not play in that game.  That tourney game was Penn vs. Carolina.  All the Duke fans showed up to cheer against their rival.  This started a trend we will benefit from this Sunday.  According to my source, a professor at UNC, "The crowd on Sunday will consist of 3,000 Duke, 500 Michigan fans, and 17,000 Carolina fans cheering against Duke."

http://www.tarheeltimes.com/schedulebasketball-1978.aspx

mmiicchhiiggaann

March 15th, 2011 at 10:36 PM ^

There was some stat on twitter yesterday that the last 10 1 or 2 seeds to play in their home state in the first round have advanced to the sweet 16. Not a good sign for us.

louieelbel1898

March 15th, 2011 at 11:36 PM ^

Planning on making the trip from Myrtle Beach up to Charlotte to watch Michigan play Duke if it works out that way...Certainly hope it does, would be TREMENDOUS to be there to see Michigan stun Duke in their home state!  Go Blue!!

JimBobTressel

March 16th, 2011 at 12:39 AM ^

this is the dumbest fucking thread i've ever seen in my life. There's really no subtle way to put this: IF WE GET TO PLAY DUKE, WE WILL BE VERRRYYYYY BADLY OUTNUMBERED.

 

codeBLUE11

March 16th, 2011 at 3:38 AM ^

Not sure if this is deserving of a new thread or not, but I don't have enough points anyways, so this will do.

Coach K is making it sound more and more likely that Kyrie Irving will be back for Duke's first tourney game.  Earlier in the week he downplayed the prospect of it a lot, but now he says there's a chance he can play.  He's practicing with the team, and they have said all along that he wouldn't play if he isn't 100%, so he must be doing pretty well.

 If Kyrie Irving is healthy, that spells trouble.  He's a very good point guard that is likely leaving for the NBA next year no matter what.  If we make it past UT, I will be much more worried if Irving is back because he makes a very good Duke team even better.  Or maybe he will throw the team off balance since he hasn't played with them in months.  You never know.

Here's the link to the story.  Not too much to worry about yet.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/tournament/2011/news/story?id=6222687

Can't wait for Friday.

Go Blue!

panthers5

March 16th, 2011 at 7:29 AM ^

There will be more then 3000 Duke fans. I also contend that everyon in NC hates Duke, that is false. I work in the Orange County School district which is between Durham Co and Chapel Hill Co. UNC fans probably out number duke fans 3-to-1, but their are plenty of Duke fans. I was also at the ACC semi-finals and if I remember correctly there was nearly 13,000 there to watch and easily 8-10,000 were Duke fans.

I do agree with it will be a pro-UNC crowd.

 

BTW, Kyrie Irving is back, and that does not look good for Micigan or anyone playing against Duke in the tournament.

ijohnb

March 16th, 2011 at 9:55 AM ^

is going to filled to the brim with Blue Devils.  I would not be surprised if they turned the lights off and let off flames and fireworks during Duke's introductions.  If you think that place is going to be anything but a "blue-out" you are kidding yourself.

profitgoblue

March 16th, 2011 at 10:50 AM ^

I live in Charlotte and I can categorically say that you are 100% wrong in your assessment.  I would say that Carolina fans outnumber Duke fans 10-1 in the general population and the vast majority of them absolutely despise Duke and root against them in all contests, regardless of the opponent (think Michigan fans against OSU).  For example, I sat through an ACC tournament game here in the Time Warner Cable Arena a few years back and not only did Carolina fans wear their Carolina gear, they also rooted like lunatics against Duke.  FYI - Carolina was not the opponent.   You're kidding yourself if you honestly think that Duke fans will have any kind of serious advantage over Michigan fans.

 

S FL Wolverine

March 16th, 2011 at 11:38 AM ^

I just wondered how the NCAA put 2nd and 1st round west region games in Charlotte.  I admit, I haven't followed college BB in a while because Michigan has been so poor for so long, but I remember playing west games out west.  You know, like in CA or AZ or WA.  Not that I am complaining, but it seems like BB fans out west are kinda getting shafted.  I guess it's just about money.  Keeping games in primetime for easterners and ensuring sellouts at the same time.

S FL Wolverine

March 16th, 2011 at 12:22 PM ^

The more I think about it, I think this is a reflection of the balance of power.  Most of the good teams are in the Big Ten, Big East, ACC, and Big-12. There are a few good clubs in the SEC, PAC-10, and true "western" conferences. Seems like since we have West and Southwest regionals, the NCAA is trying not to punish power teams from the east by sending them out west.  After all, it's not their fault that they happen to be located east of the Mississippi.  So, even though Duke gets early round games in Charlotte, the regional semi-finals and finals are out west (I think). Honestly, given the current balance of power, I'd be in favor of West, Northeast, Southeast, and Central (plains) regions.  True "west" teams haven't been that competitive in a long time.  There are excpetions (Arizona, UCLA, UNLV), but they do no represent the competitive power of the conferences in which they compete.  Actually, since the turn of the millenium, the only team west of the Mississippi to win the title is Kansas (2008), and you'd be hard-pressed to consider that a "western" team.

matt mich

March 16th, 2011 at 4:15 PM ^

Thats what they try to do.  They do this because they have to give the number #1 seed another advantage.  I have no problem with this and especialy now that I'm hearing that the UNC fans will be there to cheer on the great maize and blue win against Duke.