University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Crowd Concerns
March 19, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
By Adam Lucas
Contrary to what will be a primary storyline throughout Saturday as Carolina and Providence try to pass the time before a 9:40 p.m. tip, it wasn't Selection Sunday when the Tar Heels earned the right to play in Raleigh.
Nope. The Tar Heels earned it in January. And February. And especially March. And that's why they will have a sizable portion of the crowd at PNC Arena tonight. It's not because it was somehow gifted to them for no reason. It was earned.
One of the most tiresome themes every time there's an NCAA Tournament subregional or regional in the state of North Carolina is whether it somehow gives the homestanding team—whether it's Carolina, Duke, or NC State—an advantage. It was the first question asked both to the Providence players and head coach Ed Cooley during Friday's media session.
Cooley, to his credit, provided the perfect response. “Carolina, being the No. 1 seed, they're going to keep those seeds pretty close to home,” he said. “It just happens to be 20 miles away from their campus.”
If Duke had won on senior night at Cameron Indoor Stadium and then won the ACC Tournament, it would almost certainly be the Blue Devils in Raleigh while the Tar Heels were dispatched to (ironically) Providence. But Carolina earned the preferential location. That's why the regular season exists. The Tar Heels closed with the toughest ten games of any top-four seed in the field. They won their way to Raleigh.
Some years, the Tar Heels are good enough to get a nearby spot. Some years, they aren't, which is how Roy Williams' club ended up in Kansas City in 2013 facing top-seeded Kansas (the 2012 meeting between those two teams in St. Louis is another story; note that the committee didn't put second-seeded Villanova in the Philadelphia-based East region this year to avoid a potential “road” crowd for the region's top seed).
At some point today, you'll probably hear Carolina's 32-1 record in NCAA Tournament games in the state of North Carolina thrown around as if it's some sort of indictment of the process. It's not. It's an indicator of two factors: 1. The Tar Heels have had an excellent program. 2. The state of North Carolina has three different suitable NCAA Tournament locations.
Next year, there are first- and second-round games in Greensboro. In 2018, there are first- and second-round games in Charlotte. It's pretty easy—the state of North Carolina has three viable locations to host subregionals. The state of North Carolina also has a good selection of powerful college basketball programs. Put those combinations together, and there's a pretty good chance at least one team is going to play close to home. The truth is that much of the discussion is being influenced by state lines. When the Tar Heels go to Charlotte, 145 miles from campus, that's seen as a very big deal. But virtually no one is talking about Virginia playing in Raleigh, which is 184 miles from Charlottesville.
It's true that many of the North Carolina-based crowds are partisan, and the Greensboro crowds, especially, can be electric. That wasn't the case Thursday night in Raleigh, where the non-sellout crowd—with many rows of empty seats upstairs—largely mirrored Carolina's on-court performance and only ignited for a small portion of the game. While Roy Williams has dismissed any Raleigh talk throughout the season, now that it's a reality, he's hoping to see some benefits.
“Now that we're here, I hope the fans are more positive, more vocal, more involved,” he said yesterday. “I do think it helps on defense, it helps your guys play a little harder…I want our fans to be involved, be loyal, be loud and all of those things. If it helps, it helps.”
Cooley, who knows he has standouts Kris Dunn and Ben Bentil to counter the environment, again provided an accurate perspective.
“It's not about the crowd,” he said Friday. “It's about how composed you are.”
