You cannot beat this.
I’m sorry, but you can’t. Maybe the Smith Center is not cool. Maybe it does not get the attention of other venues when the world talks about the best college basketball atmospheres. But you cannot find a place anywhere in the country—name any place, anywhere—that provides the charge given by 21,750 blue-wearing maniacs on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.
It started at 11:30 on Saturday morning. That’s when a mother and her son were posing by the “Welcome to Chapel Hill” sign at the city limits on Highway 54. Two and a half hours before the game, and people had on their sweatshirts, taking pictures.