University of North Carolina Athletics
Williamsburg Comes to Chapel Hill
March 4, 2005 | Men's Basketball
March 4, 2005
By Adam Lucas
Word quickly filtered through the Carolina student body this week: those with riser tickets for Sunday's Duke game would be allowed to camp out beginning at exactly midnight after the Florida State game.
At 12 a.m. last night, setup began. By 12:05 a.m., 20 tents were lining the walkway outside the Smith Center's Gate D. Names for the gathering have varied, with the two most popular being Roytopia and Williamsburg.
"Any time you have a line, you're going to have people who want to be first," said Kenny Olson, a senior from Charlotte who along with fellow seniors David Murray and Kirsten Valle was near the front of the crowd on Friday afternoon. Some enterprising seniors had actually tried to set up earlier this week; they were turned away by the Smith Center operations staff because entry for the FSU game would have been impossible if navigation of a tent city was required.
The namesake of the new town, Roy Williams, stopped by to chat with the students Friday afternoon after his normal five-mile walk. It's all part of an experience that everyone in line--although some pretended to be immersed in textbooks--hopes to soak in over the next two days.
"Last night it was really cold," Murray said. "But Saturday night will be pretty wild here."
That will be the prelude to what should be a roof-shaking Senior Day--one those in the campout crowd referred to as "ridiculous," "insane," and "crazy"--on Sunday. .
"If someone's out there with riser tickets and they're not here," Olson said, "you better tell them to come on over. The first few rows are already spoken for."
