Fans wait for the real celebration

There were no bonfires on Franklin Street.

There was no drunken, riotous mayhem spreading through downtown Chapel Hill.

Sure, there was a celebration after North Carolina’s victory against Wisconsin on Sunday, securing the first Final Four for the Tar Heels since easy Ed Cota ran the point.

There was a smattering of yelling on Franklin Street.

Cars jubilantly blasted their horns as they passed down the thoroughfare.

On South Campus, the few students who were back from Easter break rushed to the balcony of Morrison for a brief catharsis of cheering.

But just a few minutes later, the balconies were bare as the students went back inside to study as if it were just another day.

“Carolina fans are spoiled,” said senior A.J. Leighton, a Chapel Hill native and lifelong fan. “I’m just as bad as the next guy, though.”

Leighton sipped his Miller Lite at Woody’s as he watched the Wisconsin game, whining about bad calls — “I could write a term paper on the painful officiating I’ve seen,” he said — and bad shots along with the crowd of powder blue-clad fans. Leighton came of age at a time when Final Four banners —after Sunday, UNC holds claim to 15 — were a springtime right of passage.

“It’s kinda like that’s where we’re supposed to be,” he said.

But for the past four years March Madness has been a painful time for the Tar Heel faithful, as UNC fans have suffered through an unfathomable two years with no NCAA Tournament at all and two more early exits.

“It’s good to be back on top,” said Ben Brownlow, a freshman business major. “It’s been a rough few years.”

So why no huge celebration?

The Duke win prompted a pagan orgy of mayhem as alcohol- and adrenaline-crazed fans swarmed the campus and town.

Even though Sunday’s victory was almost universally lauded as more important than the Duke win, as far as fan reactions go, it did not seem that way.

Because it was expected.

The culture of North Carolina basketball has been restored to the point that Final Fours seem routine again. Worthy of celebration, for sure, but not over-the-top insanity.

Just like Jerry Rice after a touchdown catch — act like you’ve been there before.

Roy Williams has re-energized the program and is building it to the level that Dean Smith had the Tar Heels to in the 1980s and ’90s, when if UNC didn’t make it to the final weekend it was usually an upset and always a failure.

Now Williams has UNC in position to bring a national title — and spark a real Franklin Street party.

Senior Maciej Krzysztoforski — who instead of spelling out his name just hands over his ID — remembers the last time it felt like this.

The Chapel Hill native begged his parents take him to Franklin Street after the game so he could enjoy the revelry that followed the 1993 championship.

They relented, and the middle-schooler was dropped off in the midst of the mayhem.

“The atmosphere was electric,” he said.

It wasn’t that way Sunday because it didn’t have to be.

“We’re there, but we’re not done yet,” Brownlow said. “The Final Four is not enough.”

Yep, that old feeling is back in Chapel Hill.

Cockiness and all.

Contact Daniel Malloy at dpmalloy@email.unc.edu.