CHAPEL HILL, N.C.–The Dean Smith Center, affectionately refered to as the Dean Dome by North Carolina Tar Heels fans, is one of the sanctuaries of college basketball.
On Saturday Dec. 4, the UK men’s basketball team (5-2) experienced first hand (as did I and other members of the working press) the hallowed powder blue enviroment that often gives the Heels a homecourt edge enjoyed by few teams in Division I.
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Most all of the approximately 22,000 fans in the stands loathed UK men’s basketball head coach John Calipari and his team and were not afraid to voice their displeasure.
Frankly, the fans, a monochromatic blob, were hard to miss.
All the fans are adorned in powder blue. In fact, it’s hard to escape the Carolina blue: the signs are powder blue, the seats are powder blue, the floor is powder blue, the concession stands are powder blue and even the steel beams, the very foundation of the arena, are powder blue (naturally).
It was this same foundation that begin to shake when UNC junior forward Tyler Zeller knocked down the go-ahead free throws with 47 seconds left en route to a 75-73 victory over the visiting Cats sending UNC fans into an eruption of raucous cheers.
Simply put, those fans in the Dean Dome love their Tar Heels–past and present.
The five national championship banners hanging from the rafters on one end of the arena complement the retired and honored jerseys of former Tar Heels at the other end of the arena.
Photographs of the most notable editions of the team are photographed
The pageantry of past and present best merged at halftime during a video montage, whereby current and former Heels players said “I’m (insert name) and I’m a Tar Heel,” save for Michael Jordan, who just said “I’m a Tar Heel.”
No. 23 need not state his name on Tobacco Road. He received the loudest applause.
An applause so loud, it surpassed the rowdiness level of Rupp Arena, the 24,000-seat arena of UK’s team.
After all, UNC fans have the same passion for their storied program, like UK fans do, and, according to UNC students, also have to attend a higly selective lottery to get tickets to Heels games.
I discovered this information after talking with those students in directly in front of me in the Heels’ student section and those students sitting directly behind me.
For one afternoon, I was on the heels of Heels fans.
This was my experience in the Dean Dome. The place that has opposing players praying to leave as soon as possible.
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