An inside look into K-ville: What the UNC-Duke Rivalry means to students

DURHAM, N.C. — Amid a sea of blue tarps and discarded beer bottles, Duke sophomore Ethan Byrne sits at a white folding table with a red and white sign in front of him. 

Resembling the Raising Cane’s logo, the sign reads “Raising McCain’s” and is marked with a small black signature in the left corner. 

“Signed by Jared McCain himself this morning,” Byrne said. 

While sitting in the pouring rain on a Friday afternoon adhering to strict Krzyzewskiville policy, Byrne subsists on his autographed sign, the company of his tentmates and the chance to see the sign’s namesake take the court when the Tar Heels enter enemy territory on March 9. 

For five long weeks, Duke students’ schedules are dictated by line monitors and random tent checks. The hopeful fans must leave the comfort of their dorms, take a placement test that quizzes them on everything Duke basketball-related and then battle the staggering severity of K-ville until a week before the Duke-UNC game. Students withstand cold temperatures and are woken up at all hours of the night all while handling midterms and full-class schedules. 

They're called the Cameron Crazies for a reason, right?

Across from the line of porta-potties graciously placed for students to use, sophomore Daniel Chang’s tent sits in the center of the right side of K-ville. Past the Lochness Foster and behind the Mojo Dojo Casa Tent, Chang travels across campus to spend his evenings in the Blaking Bad. 

To ensure his admission into Duke’s final regular season matchup, Chang began his journey in K-ville in January during the “black-tenting” stage. At least 10 members of the group must sleep in K-ville every night for around one week during the black phase to move into the blue-tenting phase and finally the white-tenting phase. 

While others resorted to heaters during the winter, Chang relied on the body heat of his nine other tentmates. Oh, and two layers of clothing. 

“I don’t think it was that bad because it’s also a little bit colder so more bodies the better I guess," Chang said. 

Luckily, during an early stretch in the tenting process where temperatures dropped to sub-freezing levels, students were given “grace” and allowed to sleep inside. A few years ago, K-ville residents had to sleep in their tents unless the weather plummeted below 25 degrees. 

Now, if it’s below 32 degrees, students are allowed to sleep in their warm dorm room beds. Chang isn’t exactly sure why they changed the temperature requirement, but he has a guess. 

“Humane, maybe."

What could be worse than the weather? The tent checks and the line monitors with their blaring bullhorn, forcing sleep-deprived students to wake up multiple times throughout the night. 

Once the night shift starts at 1 a.m., line monitors usually sound for a tent check. Another tent check is called a few hours later before K-ville residents can settle down for the night. 

“If they want to be really mean, they could do four,” Chang said. 

And sometimes, they do want to be really mean. 

Byrne remembers a night with four tent checks. Forced to arise from his McCain-themed tent, Byrne lined up until 6 a.m. He gave his student identification to a monitor and then proceeded to try and fall asleep again. 

Chang is just thankful he doesn’t go to bed early and can fall asleep easily. He's a self-described "very deep sleeper."

But why? Five weeks of tenting for a two-hour game? Being forced to wake up at any and all hours of the night? For senior Sarah Yoon — who took on K-ville simply because her friend asked her to — the experience has been more than worth it.

“I really think it’s a nice way to come full circle and it’s an experience I feel like all Duke students should do at least once,” Yoon said. 

As Byrne sat in the pouring rain in black gloves and a raincoat showing off his Raising McCain’s sign, the worst memories seemed to fade into the background as he guarded his tent for one of the last times. 

Byrne likely won’t tell the story of being woken up four times in one night or the arctic temperatures he endured. 

Instead, he’ll share how after McCain finished his “2 Days Into College” karaoke, the star guard traversed through K-Ville, took a picture with the tent members and signed the top left corner of the hand-crafted sign. 

Byrne might even tell the story once he’s inside Cameron Indoor Stadium watching McCain take the court on Saturday.

@_emmahmoon

@dthsports | sports@dailytarheel.com