Lucas: Well Traveled

By Adam Lucas

Invariably, they are the first ones in the building.

It's happened multiple times this season and it will happen again tomorrow—a visiting arena opens the doors with the Tar Heels in town, and UNC fans in their best Carolina blue begin streaming through the aisles.

It happened in Pittsburgh and Clemson. It happened at Boston College, where a "Tar-Heels!" chant rang back and forth across the Conte Forum court during the game. It happened in Tallahassee, when until just a few minutes before tip-off there appeared to be as many Carolina fans in the building as non-student Florida State fans.

It's not limited to non-Chapel Hill UNC strongholds such as Atlanta or Boston. Even last week in Syracuse, as the Tar Heels went through warmups, a steady procession of Carolina fans lined the tunnel nearest the locker room and ringed the court to get just a little closer to their favorite players. Security eventually shooed them away, but not before several appreciative Tar Heel players obliged with signatures.

On the sideline diagonal from the Carolina bench, Josh Smilow sat with his sons, watching the Heels go through early warmups an hour before tipoff. They'd driven four hours each way from New Jersey on a school night, because this was their best chance to see their favorite team. Even after the loss, with snow falling, they waited along with nearly 100 Carolina fans near the team bus to try and obtain autographs.

Just behind the scorer's table at the JMA Wireless Dome, Jason Wenner sat with his daughter, Macey. They make the trip from their home in Pennsylvania to Syracuse each time the Tar Heels play there; it's almost a four-hour trip each way, but it's worth it.

John Mahoney became addicted to the Tar Heels when his father was a Marine at Cherry Point. Now he lives in Rochester and never misses a Carolina visit to upstate New York.

They all wear blue, they all get there early, and they're all thrilled to be in the same building with the Tar Heels. At the Smith Center, maybe we take it for granted that there will always be another game next week. But as conferences expand, the far-flung Carolina fans know every Tar Heel road game visit could be the last for a couple of years. It's not enough to watch on television. They want to be there in person, with signs and lucky hats.

That Syracuse trip was a reminder in multiple ways of the marquee value of a visit from Carolina. When the Tar Heel team plane touched down at the Syracuse airport, players and managers as per usual unloaded the bags from the plane and then loaded them onto the bus. And as soon as the bus left the general aviation area of the airport, a silver pickup truck whipped out directly behind it.

The driver of the truck followed the bus as closely as possible from the airport to the hotel, swerving in and out of traffic to ensure no other cars got between it and the bus. And when the hotel came into sight, the truck jetted ahead of the bus. The occupants, you see, had to park the truck and then grab their materials, because they were professional autograph seekers. The Northeast corridor is stacked with autograph resellers—visits to Pittsburgh and Syracuse always feature a half-dozen pros lined up outside the team hotel with a bag full of photos and basketballs.

It's the type of treatment you'd usually see for a visiting NBA team. And it's just regular procedure for the Tar Heels—who thwarted some of the efforts by using a separate entrance to the hotel, as if they were the latest platinum-selling boy band.

An appearance by the Tar Heels is good business not just on eBay, but around the league. Georgia Tech and NC State have sold out one game apiece this year—in both cases, the opponent was Carolina. Boston College has sold out two games this year—one of them was Carolina. One of Florida State's two biggest crowds was against the Tar Heels. John Paul Jones Arena will, of course, be sold out for Saturday's 4 p.m. tipoff (Virginia has had just two other sellouts against ACC opponents this season).

In this era when rosters are stocked with players who have prior college experience, the huge turnout on the road makes an impact. Multiple players this season have commented on the throngs of Tar Heel fans that follow them to every game on the schedule, home or away. It's well beyond the normal college basketball fan base, but it's well appreciated.

"It's been sold out everywhere," Hubert Davis said this week. "It doesn't matter where we play or what time, it's always a sellout. It's great evidence for our players to understand how big this place is and how big this program is."

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