Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / March 5, 1973, edition 1 / Page 12
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4 Variation March S, 1973 fife hfry g th ts rocixy mere in n mm e ". . . And then there are those notorious ACC fans. Some think they are the worst to be found anywhere. 99 by Winston Cavin Sports Editor Atlantic Coast Conference basketball is a world of contrasts. . There are the ACC basketball teams, which are the best collected under one banner anywhere. And then there are those notorious ACC basketball fans. Whether they are the worst to be found anywhere is perhaps debatable, but a lot of people think so. And hot Without reason. The players and coaches wind down the boondock highways to a lost place someone called Clemson a long time ago. They zip to an old Memorial Coliseum in ugly Winston-Salem. They sweep through the hazardous Carolina-Duke-State area under extreme duress. They trek to classy University Hall at Thomas Jefferson's University of Virginia. And they fight the infamous D.C. traffic to suffer the consequences of Lefty Driesell. ACC teams travel one of the most dangerous circuits anywhere in an attempt to conduct some business. The road trips often prove deadly for one reason or another, and many a nationally-ranked powerhouse club has been bushwhacked on the road in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The University of Maryland's Cole Field House is certainly an unfriendly place. Since, the arrival of Driesell, the Terrapins have fieldedP some awesome teams, and the fans have been getting more frenzied every year. Coming out of northeast Washington, the Baltimore parkway brings visitors to the campus of one of America's larger institutions (35,000). The field house is nestled snugly behind tiny, poorly-engineered Byrd Stadium, where football fans have their choice of bad seats because nobody goes to the Terp games. But Cole is no laughing matter. Bricks make up the foundations and walls, but the roof consists of a weatherbeateh green metal. The place looks like an airplane hangar from the outside. Inside, the place has a strange carnival atmosphere. The 14,500 Maryland partisans-1 0,000 of whom are students-pack the place for every game, and most get there early enough to take in all the pre-game festivities. The Terrapin pep band stirs the fans into a frenzy before the beloved Lefty rolls out to the sound of "Hail to the Chief." He gives his characteristic V for Victory sign (a la Nixon 1968) and the crowd I goes wild. All this is even before the team takes the floor. The visitors finally emerge after getting up their courage and, when the starters are introduced, Maryland fans boo them for having the audacity to oppose the mighty Terps. The Terps have always been rough in Cole, even back in the days when they had pitiful basketball teams. Once, in 1967. Carolina's Tar Heels rolled into town with a third-ranked club. Maryland was in the midst of a sorry 11-14 season, but the Heels needed two free throws from Dick Grubar in the final minute to escape with a 79-78 win. This season, Carolina fell to the strong Terps by 94-88, and the crowd's behavior was less than courteous. Students and fans booed, hissed and threw cups and other objects on the floor throughout the rough contest.. At one point in the second half, there was a touch of irony as an irate Terp fan threw a cup on the floor, hitting Maryland's Len Elmore on the face and narrowly missing a chance to do some vicious eye damage. The fan is probably sharpening his aim now. After an ACC visitor finishes taking the guff in College Park, he can look forward to a trip to Virginia. University Hall, only a few years old, is a handsome, 8.250-seat arena found on one of America's prettiest campuses. The Cavalier fans are noisy enough to rattle V M JL:r You have to take guff even the most stable athletes, but usually they are well-behaved. Cavalier fans have had little to crow about through the years. For season after season, Virginia consistently produced off-brand ball dubs, and the other ACC schools took delight in beating them to a pulp. That is, until two years ago. Suddenly, in the 1970-71 season, the Wahoos came to life and posted a winning record (15-11) for the first time in 17 years. The Cavs were especially rough at home, beating highly-touted South Carolina and sweeping nine of 10 home games. Only one opponent Carolina managed to win in Charlottesville that year. A year later, the Amazin' Cavaliers streaked to fifth in the national standings before dropping seven games against 21 victories. They slaughtered third-ranked Maryland -at home, 78-57, and forced Carolina to play one of its best games before giving in, 85-79. Next stop for an ACC cage dub is Tobacco Road, the North Carolina home of four conference schools. In Winston-Salem, Durham, Chapel Hill and Raleigh, the Big Four teams engage in some heady rivalry and usually win consistently at home. Wake Forest plays its home games in Memorial Coliseum, an 8,200-seat facility. The Deacs had some national powers not so long ago, and the winning tradition often stands up at home. In 1967, Carolina needed a last-second shot from All-American Larry Miller to eke out a 76-74 win over Wake in a 9-18 Deacon season. Carolina finished fourth nationally that season. And so it goes, on to Durham and the Duke Blue Devils. Duke is one of college basketball's most enigmatic teams providing more surprises than perhaps any other NCAA squad. Duke plays its games in Cameron Indoor Stadium, formerly Duke Indoor Stadium. Built in 1940, the place is not exactly the showplace of college basketball, but the 8,800 seats are usually filled with loyal Durham Duke fans. A new twist was recently added to the colorful arena, as two pigeons were seen flapping around the gym during Duke's 85-81 upset of Maryland. Blessed with a low ceiling which makes the crowd noise fhat much more harrowing, the place has been good to the Blue Devils over the years. Duke has compiled an amazing 107-15 mark in the stadium over the last 10 and a half seasons. They also won their first six home games this season despite a 10-9 record. Cameron has been an especially nauseating place for Carolina teams of late. On January 7, 1967, Carolina edged Duke, 59-56, in Durham, and the Heels have been winless there since. Over the last five seasons and half of this season, Carolina has won every game with Duke on a neutral court (three in Greensboro, one in Charlotte, one in New York), every game in Chapel Hill (six) and none in Durham (five for Duke). Next stop on Tobacco Road is Carolina's Carmichael Auditorium, where the Heels have enjoyed plenty of success since 1966. In eight years of Carmichael competition, UNC has suffered only seven defeats. Carmichael is rarely the scene of ugly behavior, but the noise level is sometimes unbearable. Last year. Tar Heel fans greeted Tom McMillen of Maryland with a standing ovation, and the tall Terrapin was so stunned he let his team get smothered, 92-72. Maryland went on to win the NIT and post a 27-5 record. Carmichael is another noisy ACC gym, and one of the main reasons is the acoustics. The unprotected steel roof doesn't exactly muffle crowd noise, and visitors frequently find it hard to concentrate in Carmichael. The last stop on the Big Four .strip is hardly the easiest. N.C. State's Reynolds Coliseum is another basketball din, with room enough for 12,400 howling Wolfpack fans to watch their charges in action. Reynolds is nestled in the brick campus of the State university in downtown Raleigh. The campus is not one of the prettiest of its kind, and neither is Reynolds. Built in the '50s, it was once one of the best basketball houses around, but times have changed. It is so poorly engineered that half the people in the place can hardly see. Unlike the revamped Greensboro Coliseum, the seats are at a low angle; thus, if you're on the back row, you're almost in the parking lot. It's just too spread out. In addition, the lighting is terrible, with fight and dark spots all over the court. The floor itself is hollow in places, not unlike UNC'sTtn Can. and the ball makes a weird thud when it strikes one of the hollow spots. Clemson plays its home games in beautiful Littlejohn Coliseum, the newest of the ACC arenas. Opened in November, 1968, the arena holds 10,300 fans, making it the third largest arena in the conference. Clemson's fans are not known for poor behavior, but the Tigers have a reputation of being tough to stop at home, like every other conference school. Carolina has never lost in Littlejohn. Clemson is probably one of the best places in the ACC to play, from a visitor's standpoint. And the reason is that Tiger teams are consistently sorry. Yes, the ACC is no place to stage a picnic during basketball season. The rivalries are intense, the hate is evident, and the fans are wild. And just imagine what it would be like today if South Carolina were still in the league. STI 0 Z&ht' Stir j& - a . jr.-.. vwssx:-; ' : State was rough in Raleigh
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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March 5, 1973, edition 1
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