Homecourt advantage vs. Duke in Carolina
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."
March 15th, 2011 at 10:26 PM ^
I could see some UNC fans cheering for us, but only 3,000 Duke fans? Are they that outnumbered by Tar Heels in that state?
March 15th, 2011 at 10:31 PM ^
is a bigger school, enrollment wise. Very plausible that it could happen.
March 16th, 2011 at 10:52 AM ^
There is a huge Carolina following here in NC just amonst the general population (think of our beloved "Wal-Mart Wolverines"). They all hate Duke with a passion that is borderline lunacy.
March 15th, 2011 at 10:54 PM ^
As a NC resident living in the Triangle, I can tell you that nobody likes Duke except for Duke alumns. Not even Durham likes Duke. In this state you're either a Tar Heel or a Wolf Pack.
March 15th, 2011 at 11:07 PM ^
So if someone's a fan of NCSU, and had to pick one of those two to root for, would it be the Heels?
And what about Wake Forest? Does anyone root for them besides alums?
March 16th, 2011 at 12:53 AM ^
NCSU fans don't root for UNC or Duke, they root for meteors to hit the stadium.
March 16th, 2011 at 12:27 AM ^
Goes to Duke? They're all (exaggerated for effect) out of staters. And a lot from the northeast, which doesn't mesh well in tobacco country.
March 15th, 2011 at 10:28 PM ^
first we have to beat Tenn.
March 15th, 2011 at 10:51 PM ^
but we fans can speculate because we don't have any control of the outcome. Only the coaches and players(hopefully not the officials, but it will happen anyway) have control of the outcome.
I'm hoping for pro-UNC crowd so the homecourt advantage could be somewhat neutralized.
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.
March 15th, 2011 at 10:43 PM ^
It's probably because they are 1 & 2 seeds
March 16th, 2011 at 12:11 AM ^
so is duke, though.
March 15th, 2011 at 10:47 PM ^
TBF the same thing happens every year in the ACC tournament and Duke's won ten of the last thirteen of those.
March 15th, 2011 at 11:06 PM ^
They're still douchebags though.
March 15th, 2011 at 11:08 PM ^
But we only have to beat them once. Just one good game - that's all we need.
March 16th, 2011 at 12:58 AM ^
Same with every other team who hasn't beaten them in the ACC tournament.
Well, it has happened three times in the last 13 years.
I think Michigan can definitely beat Duke in a one-off situation. But I don't think OP's point that we'll somehow have an advantage due to fan numbers is true.
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!!
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.
With fewer Rs in "very"
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Hmmm... I may have to buy a ticket east to see this for myself.
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!
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.
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.
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.
March 16th, 2011 at 11:04 AM ^
I must be kidding myself.
March 16th, 2011 at 11:47 AM ^
I try to kid myself as often as possible.
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.
March 16th, 2011 at 11:48 AM ^
I'm pretty sure it was done in order to give Carolina home court advantage. I think the venues are chosen long in advance and then the brackets/regions are determined when the selections are made. But I could be wrong.
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.
That's basically what they have: East, South, Midwest and West. It's just that this year, the Midwest regional final is in San Antonio, so it was renamed the "Southwest" for this year.
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.