Seen & heard: Natty no-call still big deal in Duke-UA hoops series; Cameron fans eager to see Love

DURHAM, N.C. — Across the court and just steps outside the door from where Jason Gardner sat on the sidelines during warmups Friday, were a set of five giant glass cases inside the Duke Basketball Museum.

Each one is devoted to a specific Blue Devil national championship, with photos, summaries and memorabilia from each team. Including, of course, the one from 2001.

Gardner didn’t see it. Didn’t need to. Didn’t want to. He lived that one.

“Oh no. I don’t think I’ll go there,” Gardner said.

But, also, Gardner can’t get away from Duke’s 82-72 win over Arizona in that championship game, even today.

With Friday’s game upcoming, UA’s player relations director said he has spent the past two weeks with people asking him questions about the game, especially the infamous no-call when Duke’s Jay Williams rode Gardner’s back without generating a whistle.

“It’s just kind of funny, that 20-something years later they’re still talking about it,” Gardner said. “Was it a foul? Was it not a foul?”

Manager alum

Among the many UA fans and alums who managed to make their way inside Cameron on Friday was another one who had ties to that 2001 game: Will French was a senior manager on the 2000-01 team.

French, who works at Cushman-Wakefield in the Phoenix area, made the trip from Arizona along with his brother, David.

Not-so-subtle reminder

Along with the standard “dirt sheet” Duke student fans were given on Arizona players, the Cameron Crazies were given a posterboard to wave that had only one word on it:

“PRINCETON.”

While some staffers on hand at Cameron asked what that signified, many students – and certainly the Wildcats – knew all too well. Seeded just 15th, Princeton beat Arizona in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, making the Wildcats only the 11th No. 2 seed in NCAA history to get booted after one game.

The “dirt” on Lloyd

While listing various fodder for heckling, Duke’s dirt sheet tried to find something on UA coach Tommy Lloyd.

“Looks like an ANGRY Hedge Fund manager,” it said.

The dirt sheet also noted, among other things, that Caleb Love “transferred from UNC because he wanted to lose in Cameron again,” and that Dylan Anderson “looks like the bad guy in an old-timey Western.”

Coach K sighting

Cameron predictably reached a hair-splliting decibel level during the first media timeout Friday, when former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski was introduced in the stands.

Krzyzewski had shied away from Cameron during successor Jon Scheyer’s first year as head coach last season, showing up late in the season for a game against Notre Dame.

Krzyzewski told WRAL News in January that he didn’t want to be a distraction during Jon Scheyer’s first season if he showed up for home games.

Not easy to be Crazy

While there’s long been a tradition for students to camp overnight before a big college basketball game in hopes of a good spot near the floor, that’s not what it’s about for the Cameron Crazies at Duke’s famed Krzyzewskiville.

It’s what you have to do to simply get in the building. Especially when somebody like Arizona is in town.

“It is big,” said sophomore Harssh Golechha and, according to fellow student Adom Appiah, the presence of Love added to the anticipation. Love spent the previous three seasons with the rival North Carolina Tar Heels, ensuring he would get a not-so-friendly greeting on Friday.

“100%,” Appiah said.

Sure enough, Love was roundly booed more loudly than any Arizona player upon the Wildcats’ introductions before the game.

For Friday’s game, Duke students were asked to start lining up for spots on Thursday at 7 p.m., registering through Kvillnation.com

Once on site, students must have at least a third of their group on-site at all times, except for brief “grace” periods when they are allowed to take off, subject to line monitors who can audit them at any time.

For the annual rivalry game with North Carolina, it’s even worse. Depending on the date of the UNC game, Duke students are asked about six weeks beforehand to take a “test” on Duke basketball before they are even allowed to start camping.

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“If you don’t pass the test, you don’t get in,” Golechha said.

Then the “tenting” period begins, through weeks of classes and winter storms, all to see the Tar Heels. Several Duke students say they must pass a second, tougher test to get the best seats.

All that, for one game.

“That’s why they call us the Crazies,” Gdeccha says.

But nobody complains. Being inside Cameron, in the moment of a big game, emotions spilling on to the court from students’ extended arms, is worth it.

“The environment is ridiculous,” Appiah said.

Hi mom?

Gdeccha says he’s one of several Duke students who chose the school in order to take part in the tradition. Except he’s from India, not exactly a hotbed of college basketball.

Still, Gdeccha said was sold when hearing about the school and its basketball tradition. The only problem is he has to explain to his parents back in India why he camps out for weeks on end when classes – and winter – are in full swing.

“They are like, ‘What are you doing? No. Go to sleep in your dorm,’” Gdeccda said.

Engineering trick

While winter didn’t arrive in time for Friday’s game — Krzyzewskiville was bathing in the upper 60s early Friday morning despite a leafy campus full of fall colors — humidity was another issue.

That’s why, when Duke Ski & Board Club members rolled out a 100-foot extension cord to power up a loop of Duke basketball highlights on television monitors in their tent-and-mattress compound, they did not turn it off.

“If you just keep ‘em on, the water can’t condense,” Trigger said.

The calm before

The line monitors gave students a “grace” period around midnight late Thursday and into early Friday, allowing them to leave to sleep, eat, study or just get a break. Otherwise, a third of their group must be present at all times.

At that moment, empty pizza boxes spilled out of trash cans, a football sat alone on a concrete path dividing rows of tents, while portable chairs and mattresses sat mostly empty.

A few Duke students, or Cameron Crazies as even they call themselves, sat around chatting or working on laptops, while a handful of others were already asleep.

“A lot of people can do homework here or hang out,” said Sanjeev Chauhan, a junior from Columbia, South Carolina.

The party looked almost over, yet it was only beginning.

Home jitters

Sometimes, the Cameron Crazies can even rattle their own players.

Duke sophomore Kyle Filipowski said before Friday’s game that he was glad to have a year of experience playing at home, having collected 25 points and seven rebounds in the Blue Devils’ season-opening win over Dartmouth on Monday.

“Last year, I remember the feeling of always being on edge with the nerves,” Filipowski said. “It took some time to get used to it but now I’ve had that experience and can go out and not worry about any of that noise or distraction, just go play my game.”

As a freshman last season, Filipowski was named the ACC Rookie of the Year but shot only 4 of 14 from the field in Duke’s 63-57 home win over North Carolina and went just 2 for 11 against NC State at home.

The big number

509 — Straight sold-out games at Cameron Indoor Stadium, dating back to November 19, 1990, the longest such homecourt streak in men’s college basketball or the NBA.

Quotable

“If you go and play well, it’s a great opportunity too, to really build your resume. If you go and struggle. It’s going to be an awesome learning opportunity that I’m sure you’re going to be better for,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said before Friday’s game.