Duke Students Confident of Victory, Tickets

DURHAM -- Imagine a refugee camp that just received relief aid from The North Face.

That's the best way to describe the 100 tents and 500 Duke students clustered on the lawn in front of Cameron Indoor Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.

The students -- sitting outside tents decorated with "Go To Hell, Carolina" signs -- chatted on cell phones while pages filled with chemistry formulas blew in the wind.

Trash cans, placed every seven tents or so, were overflowing with empty pizza boxes after Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski treated the tenters to dinner earlier this week.

This is the scene of Krzyzewskiville where a swarm of Duke students have lived for almost a month in anticipation of tonight's game -- the annual Duke-Carolina face-off in Cameron.

Duke students, apparently assured of tonight's victory, already are preparing the ceremonial bonfire -- often lit to celebrate victories over UNC and in the ACC tournament.

The rivalry between Carolina and Duke is long and bitter -- dividing families and pitting brother against brother.

"My whole family went to Carolina," Duke junior John Means said, while sitting with four of his tentmates outside their navy-blue tent.

If Carolina were to win tonight, Means said he would "cry and never go home."

This seemed to be the general consensus as Duke senior Mike Whitman jokingly said he would "shoot himself if Carolina won the game. But we haven't had much experience with (losing)."

Duke senior Sam Maness said the Cameron Crazies had planned a warm welcome for the UNC basketball team, coming up with special taunts for players Kris Lang and Jason Capel.

"We are going to give (UNC coach Matt) Doherty a nice welcome too," Maness said.

Other Duke students said they are planning to paint their faces and hair blue.

One student said he would have a bleached-white goatee to complement his blue hair.

"Tenting," as most Duke students refer to their current housing on Cameron's lawn, is another traditional way to express their school spirit.

It's also how the Cameron Crazies ensure they get good seats for the game -- camping out to land seats near the court.

Line monitors police K-ville, making sure at least one person is at the tent at all times.

If they find an empty tent, the group is bumped to the end of the line.

But the line monitors, who some students refer to as prison guards, aren't the only problem for the Cameron Crazies.

"It gets really cold out here at night," said Duke sophomore Michelle Benreuther.

Despite the sniffles and coughs, students are still able to send e-mails to family and friends. Luis Villa, a fifth-year senior and line monitor, said that some of Duke's alumni donated money to install 32 Internet connections into the bottoms of lamp posts surrounding the lawn.

Duke students dying to watch the new season of "Survivor" can plug their televisions into nearby outlets.

Most Duke students are confident their team will emerge victorious from tonight's game.

"This is the best chance that y'all have had to win since I've been a student ... and it's still not gonna happen," Means said with a grin.

But Villa said K-ville is about more than just beating UNC.

"Enjoying ourselves, hanging out with our friends -- that's as much a part of this as the game itself."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.