I went to Pitt, then went to B school at Carolina and actually had the opportunity to go to the game last night (my 4th UNC/Dook game). For the record, I did not make my way to the court, but did partake in the fun on Franklin Street afterwards, which is a UNC tradition after beating Dook or winning a National Championship.
Really, I think this all stemmed from the events of the past week, with a lot of UNC fans feeling that Coach K intentionally stayed in Durham as long as possible, in order to ensure the game was postponed and that it was not a Smith Center full of students (as UNC made it public that they were opening it up to students since most people wouldn't be able to drive to Chapel Hill). Whether you buy into that or not, a huge deal has been made of it here locally, and I'm inclined to believe there is at least some truth to it, given UNC made the offer at around noon, well before the snow, to have Duke come to campus, offered practice facilities, etc, and they refused, inevitably becoming stranded in Durham. Doesn't take a Dookie genius to have seen the radar/weather forecast and know that the driving conditions were going to be terrible prior to game time, so I really don't know why K would have refused the offer and stayed put for so long. They even canceled classes there.
As an aside, the Pitt women's team have become pseudo cult heroes here, as a way to make fun of Dook, for making it to Chapel Hill that evening, by bus, when Dook couldn't travel the 8 miles to get here!
Now, I know a big part of it, too, was just to role up the fan base and create even more animosity/energy in an already heated rivalry, but if you can add fuel to the fire and create some more emotion/energy for the team to feed off of in the arena, then I'm fine with it.
I wasn't a fan of us storming the court last night, but I do feel that in talking with others about it, that if the game had ended in the same manner last week, during the original game time, the court storming would not have happened. Seems to be the opinion of most I chatted with after the game last night.
