TAKING A TRIP DOWN TOBACCO ROAD : North Carolina Basketball Isn’t a Game, It’s a State of Mind

It is senior farewell night and the Z Man is stylin’ big time: gray houndstooth blazer, white Oxford-cloth shirt, green tie, matching blue and white polka-dot socks, black tennis shoes.

For three Duke seniors--John Smith, Quin Snyder and Danny Ferry--this is the last game they would ever play at Cameron Indoor Stadium, home of the craziest, most creative college crowds in America.

But this is also the Z Man’s last home game, and against dreaded rival North Carolina State to boot.

To assure their customary front-row seats, the Z Man and his buddies had set up a tent outside Cameron eight days earlier. They were third in line.

For more than a week--through midterm exams and the writing of a senior honors thesis, through rain and sleet and the first snowfall in these parts since January of 1988, through temperatures that dipped into the 20s--the Z Man endured.

Now came the payoff: Center court for the final game of his college career at Cameron.

Early on, the Z Man is all over the officials to call State’s superb sophomore point guard, Chris Corchiani, for pushing off defenders with his elbow while he dribbles.

Patience having run out after the first three minutes when no violation is called against Corchiani, Z and the boys take to creating various X-rated spinoffs of veteran referee Dick Paparo’s name. No kinder, gentler spirit here.

Ferry has 17 points and six rebounds by halftime and Duke leads, 43-28. With nine minutes left, it’s 72-49. Stick a fork in this one . . . it’s done. Duke, 86-65.

During a timeout in the final seconds, referee Paparo walks over and points at the Z Man and his cohorts.

“Are you guys graduating this year?” Paparo asks.

Affirmative nods all around.

A smile creases Paparo’s face as he puts his hands together and looks skyward.

“Thank you, God,” he says.

In high school, back home in Kansas City, Mo., Z considered four colleges: Princeton, Virginia, Williams College in Massachusetts and Duke.

“At Duke, people like to sit down, have a beer and talk about basketball,” says the Z Man, whose real name is Paul Zwillenberg. “At Princeton, they like to sit down and talk about the problems of the world. This just appealed to me a little more.”

Isn’t he worried that his love affair with the Blue Devils might hurt his grades?

“Basketball is more important,” Z says with a smile.

Down here, he may be right.

For a first-time visitor to this area, there’s only one thing missing along Tobacco Road . . . tobacco.

The name that has been synonymous with basketball, the Atlantic Coast Conference and the neighboring cities of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill almost since the day the league was born, in 1953, has become something of a misnomer.

Most of North Carolina’s tobacco is now grown to the east, around Greenville and Rocky Mount, then is shipped west to Winston-Salem and north to Richmond, Va., for processing.

Pull off I-40 between Raleigh and Durham these days and behind all those pine, oak and maple trees sit such corporate monoliths as IBM, Northern Telecom and Burroughs Wellcome.

The area is also home of three of the most famous corporations in college basketball--North Carolina State in Raleigh, Duke in Durham and North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

It’s where high tech meets high five.

Ever since 1946, when Everett Case, known as the father of ACC basketball, left an Indiana high school program to take over as coach at North Carolina State, college basketball has been something of an obsession in these parts.

Actually, most hoop historians credit the arrival in 1952 of Coach Frank McGuire at North Carolina with igniting a regional rivalry that helped turn the sport into a near religious calling.

Soon after, Case even had his own TV show, unheard of at the time. Now, it seems, the only coaches around here who don’t have their own shows are the ones helping out at the YMCA on Saturday mornings.

The typical Sunday TV lineup looks like this:

8 a.m.--”The Mike Krzyzewski Show.”

8:30 a.m.--”The Jim Valvano Show.”

12:30 p.m.--”The Bob Staak Show.”

6 p.m.--”The Kay Yow Show.”

10:30 p.m.--”The Mike Bernard” Show.

11:30 p.m. and midnight (repeat)--”The Dean Smith Show.”

Staak is the coach at Wake Forest. Bernard is the head man at North Carolina Central. Yow coaches the North Carolina State women’s team.

In this state, March Madness starts Oct. 15 and ends in early April.

It’s a whole lot better to live in the mills than it is to stay out here on the tobacco road and starve to death .

--Ada Lester, from “Tobacco Road” by Erskine Caldwell

On the subject of survival, Ada was an expert. Enduring more than 40 years of marriage to a bumpkin such as Jeeter Lester--and bearing 17 children along the way--as she did in Caldwell’s classic 1934 novel about the adventures of a shiftless Southern family, confirms that.

But the woman was no fan of the family of basketball.

Survival nowadays in the Research Triangle--Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill--is all about getting your hands on the few precious tickets that occasionally go on sale for an ACC game, usually when the students are on holiday or Coppin State comes to town.

“It’s the proximity of the schools that fuels the rivalries,” said Kevin O’Connor, who served as an assistant coach at UCLA under Larry Brown and Larry Farmer and now lives in Chapel Hill.

“You’re not competing against professional teams, either.”

On a roundball ramble through North Carolina last month, I saw eight games in nine days, including two involving the NBA’s expansion Charlotte Hornets.

All were sellouts, even the Charlotte-San Antonio “showdown” matching teams with a combined record of 27-78.

SATURDAY, FEB. 18

Kansas at Duke

The tents started going up outside Cameron Indoor Stadium on Wednesday, when the sun was shining and the thermometer had hit an unseasonable 83 degrees.

Excitement was building for the nationally televised rematch of last year’s Final Four semifinal in Kansas City, Mo., won by the Jayhawks, 66-59.

By Friday night it was raining, the temperatures had dropped below freezing and icy roads had turned the Research Triangle into the Bermuda Triangle, causing more than 200 accidents.

Snow fell overnight, leaving a white blanket of almost four inches by Saturday morning.

Outside Cameron, many of the tents had collapsed. Not so the spirit of the Duke students.

Hey, what’s a hot meal or running water when the defending NCAA champions are on campus?

But the Jayhawks were coming to Cameron at the wrong time--trying to break a six-game losing streak on a day when All-American forward Danny Ferry was becoming the fourth Duke player to have his jersey retired.

Before the game there was an ovation for Ferry’s parents, Bob and Rita Ferry, who were greeted with chants of, “Thank you! Thank you!”

When the students followed that by screaming, “One more kid!” Bob broke into a laugh and flashed thumbs down.

On his day, Ferry was routinely brilliant, finishing with 26 points. He also had 10 rebounds and four assists in 33 minutes. As a team, Duke shot 65% from the floor and outrebounded Kansas, 34-19. This one had been easy, 102-77.

It had been another fairy-tale weekend for Danny Ferry, boy wonder. On Friday, while delivering an anti-drug speech to students at Broughton High in Raleigh, Ferry elicited even more screams and whistles than the other featured guest, rock star Jon Bon Jovi.

Now, a few hours after his latest court conquest, Ferry and his parents, along with his best friend and roommate, Quin Snyder, were throwing darts and relaxing among the crowd at T.J. Hoops, a lively sports bar that has become the preferred off-campus hangout of Duke students since it opened in December.

As Ferry finished a dart game and prepared to take his parents home, someone asked how he had done.

“We lost,” Ferry said.

It’s the only game he’s losing these days.

MONDAY, FEB. 20

Georgia Tech at Duke

Whether it’s 80 degrees or snowing, the Duke campus is a stunning sight. The Gothic-style architecture gives the stone buildings a medieval look, and an adjacent 8,300-acre forest practically swallows the school in breathtaking greenery.

A well-traveled West Coast assistant football coach rates it No. 2 in the country among college campuses, behind Princeton.

Maybe so, but when it comes to basketball and a home-court advantage, everybody takes a back seat to Cameron Indoor Stadium. The place doesn’t look much different than it did when it opened in 1940. Students occupy the bleachers on the lower level, with everyone else upstairs.

There are only 24 rows in the entire building. The last row of the upper level seems like the loge-level seat at most arenas.

Cameron still has that musty feel of days when players wore black high-top sneakers and shot with two hands.

Recognizing the place for what it is, Duke officials resisted the temptation to build yet another bright, shiny, antiseptic 15,000-seat arena.

Instead, they have given Cameron a $2-million face lift in the last two years, adding a few more seats and a computerized scoreboard, remodeling the concourse, adding new wood paneling and brass railings. Capacity is now 9,314.

“It’s the place visiting players in the ACC hate to play the most,” said Don Hudson, who covers Georgia Tech for the Gannett News Service.

“I remember Mark Price (former Tech guard now with the Cleveland Cavaliers) had a terrible game here once. I came up to him in the locker room after the game. He was holding a Coke and it was just shaking. I asked him if the crowd had gotten to him. He said, ‘No’ . . . and then dropped the Coke all over himself.”

On this night, Georgia Tech’s hopes for an upset were dashed when All-ACC forward Tom Hammonds, the team’s best player, couldn’t play because of a knee injury.

Duke jumped all over the outmanned Yellow Jackets, keyed by their relentless man-to-man defense, and opened a 49-23 halftime lead. The rest was easy. Blowout City, 91-66.

On the way out, a transplanted Southern Californian, former USC basketball player Tim Kent, stopped for a moment and pointed back at Cameron.

“That place is a shrine to hoops,” he said.

Amen.

TUESDAY, FEB. 21

Nevada Reno at North Carolina

If Cameron Indoor Stadium is, indeed, a shrine, then the 3-year-old Dean Edwards Smith Center in Chapel Hill is the Taj Mahal.

The place is cavernous, with its 21,444 blue-cushioned seats. This is Blue Heaven, all right, because that’s where some of the seats seem to be located.

The speaker system echoes into the rafters, where you can find more flags flying than in front of the United Nations.

Most amazing thing about the Dean Dome--nobody in Chapel Hill seems to call it that--was that it was financed entirely through private donations, all $33.8 million.

The university called it the greatest fund-raising campaign in the history of intercollegiate athletics. More than 2,300 people donated between $1 and $1 million.

Impressive, yes, but therein lies the project’s hidden flaw: Major donors, some of whom dropped $1 million when they passed the hat, were guaranteed the choice floor-level seats. (Presumably, dollar donors at least get visitation rights when the team is out of town.)

Smith himself had to fight to get even the one quadrant of seats that students occupy in a corner behind the North Carolina bench and continuing to the ceiling. In all, students are allotted 6,500 seats a game, this from an enrollment of almost 23,000.

Now, big-money donors may be nice people, but they tend not to show up at games with their faces painted blue and white and armed with Frisbees to toss at visiting mascots.

What you end up with is a polite audience, minus the sustained hysteria of Cameron or the Tar Heels’ former home, Carmichael Auditorium.

It’s like spending an evening at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, just knowing that your friends are having more fun across the plaza at the Mark Taper Forum.

“It’s a privilege to have a ticket here,” said Hugh Donohue, only half-kidding. Donohue played on Smith’s first team in 1961 and now owns a local institution, the Four Corners restaurant on busy East Franklin Street.

For his part, Smith seems a bit embarrassed by it all. There’s a bronze bust of him in the building that bears his name, but he rarely sees it, preferring instead to enter the basketball office from a more direct side door.

This night, his team struggled a bit early, eventually coasting to a 109-86 victory as Kevin Madden had 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Rick Fox and J. R. Reid had 19 each.

Even on a rainy Tuesday night, the postgame crowd was wall to wall at the Four Corners, where they drink beer, talk Carolina basketball and order such house specialties as Naismith’s Nachos, Worthy Burgers (half-pound of char-broiled beef with fries) and the Jordan (roast beef with melted provolone and grilled onions).

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 22

Chicago at Charlotte

It’s 6:45 p.m., still 50 minutes before game time, and the Billy Graham Parkway is a sea of brake lights as cars slowly exit I-85 and merge toward the city’s newest jewel.

Inside, as yet another sellout crowd files in, strains of “Rock Around the Clock” boom off the overhead acoustical tiles of the pristine Charlotte Coliseum.

The state’s favorite son, Michael Jordan, is in town and the Hornets’ nest is jumpin’, as usual.

Carl Scheer, the former Clipper general manager, surveyed the scene and read the mind of an amazed visitor from Los Angeles.

“Welcome to Charlotte,” said Scheer, flashing the contented smile of a man who had just won the lottery.

In a way, that’s what Carl Scheer has done.

Scheer is vice president and general manager of a mind-boggling success story, an expansion franchise that leads the NBA in attendance and has sold out all but five of its games. There’s not a ticket to be had for the rest of the season, either. And with the biggest building in the league, capacity 23,388.

Smallest crowd of the year was 18,865 for the woebegone Clippers on a Tuesday night in November, the second home game of the year. It was the only crowd under 20,000. The last non-sellout was Dec. 21 against Milwaukee, when there were 378 empty seats.

In this town, Garfield the Cat has to take a back window to Hugo the Hornet.

Net profits in the Hornets’ first year are expected to top $8 million.

Wanna make a quick buck? Find something purple and teal and write “Hornets” on it. Then watch the line form at your feet.

For sure, it’s a long way from the Harbor Freeway for Carl Scheer.

The crowd, which on this night includes North Carolina Gov. James Martin, is an interesting mix of Carolina casual and well-dressed business types who entertain clients and get excited about doing the wave at the same time.

“Yuppies at rest,” said one observer.

But there isn’t much to holler about as the Hornets get buried early and suffer one of their rare home blowouts, 130-102.

Still, the music cranks early and often in this place, the crowd loves to watch Hugo dance and moonwalk at midcourt during timeouts, and everyone has a good time.

There are no Hornets Girls anywhere, but, hey, this is Jim and Tammy country and the Hornets’ owner, George Shinn, is a devout Baptist.

The Coliseum’s state-of-the-art sound system makes it seem even louder than it really is. That and the cash registers ringing.

THURSDAY, FEB. 23

North Carolina State at Duke

It’s a 22-mile drive down I-40 from Raleigh to Durham. If Jim Valvano could drive his red 500SL Mercedes to the Duke campus, he could probably get there in half the time it will take him and his Wolfpack basketball team by bus on this snowy afternoon.

At times, this season must seem to be moving about as quickly as molasses through a sieve for the fast-talking, wise-cracking master showman of college basketball.

Valvano has had a nightmarish season, even though it had been announced a day earlier that Peter Golenbock’s mysterious book “Personal Fouls,” which supposedly contained damaging allegations about the Wolfpack basketball program, would not be published.

Still, the implications have cast a permanent shadow over Valvano’s reputation and program.

Then it was revealed that Valvano’s math was slightly off when he said that 86% of his former Wolfpack players had graduated. The correct figure is actually 26%: 11 of 42.

Next, a university report stated that 10 of the 12 players on the current team are on some type of academic probation.

Is somebody up in Blue Heaven playing a practical joke or what?

Now there are reports that Valvano, who interviewed for the UCLA job last year, is headed West again, this time to become coach of the Clippers. Are the rumors unsettling for the team?

“I haven’t been concerned about it,” said the Wolfpack’s on-court leader, Chris Corchiani. “It seems like every job that comes up, his name is mentioned. That’s the way it’s going to be when you’re a high-profile coach.”

Not surprisingly, Valvano isn’t talking with reporters anymore, other than at his postgame press conferences.

The game starts and it doesn’t take long to see that Duke will not be denied on senior farewell night at Cameron. Its devilish defense clogs the passing lanes and thoroughly disrupts State’s offense en route to an 86-65 victory.

Across the way, at center court in the VIP section and standing the entire game, is Larry Brown, the itinerant coach who is currently in the employ of the San Antonio Spurs. He’s here to scout Ferry and see his oldest daughter Kristy, a senior at his alma mater, North Carolina. Makes sense, but when Brown’s around, every basketball coach in town gets nervous.

SATURDAY, FEB. 25

Clemson at North Carolina (day)

San Antonio at Charlotte (night)

If there’s such a thing as a “college basketball Saturday,” this is it: cool and clear, sun shining, Carolina powder-blue sky, snow-tinged streets. Nothing could be finer than to be in Chapel Hill with a ticket to this afternoon’s game.

A good place to start the day is the quaint Carolina Coffee Shop--”Since 1922”--on East Franklin, where the java is rich, the French toast is real and Beethoven is even bigger than Mitch Kupchak.

Chapel Hill is the perfect college town. You can walk safely to everything. A squirrel darts across a walking path through the forested picnic area outside Kenan Stadium, where they play football while the leaves are turning.

The air smells good. The place knows no pretenses.

Not even a quality team like Clemson seems to be able to get the Smith Center audience, which includes hoopaholic Gov. James Martin, pumped up.

“These people are quiet because the stock market is down,” quips a member of the press corps.

Guard Steve Bucknall finishes with a career-high 30 points, joining four teammates in double figures, and Carolina gets a 100-86 victory, avenging an upset loss at Clemson earlier in the month.

Larry Brown has just seen his young, injury-plagued Spurs get stung in the Hornets’ nest, 124-113. Saturday night was all right in Charlotte.

“This is an unbelievable atmosphere to play in,” Brown said. “It reminds me of a college crowd, which I’m really partial to. They seem to be having fun, and they appreciate what’s going on.

“It’s a phenomenal area. I got my start here and in Chapel Hill. I don’t think there’s any better area in the world to be playing basketball than North Carolina.”

SUNDAY, FEB. 26

Virginia at North Carolina State

It’s my last chance. Nine days on Tobacco Road and not only have I yet to see any tobacco, I haven’t seen a close game.

Everything I’ve touched has turned to a blowout. Hide the women and children.

Six games and not a white knuckler in the bunch: 25 points, 25, 23, 28, 21, 14, 11. What did I do to deserve this?

Mitch’s Tavern, on Hillsborough Street across from the North Carolina State campus, is starting to fill up two hours before tipoff. There won’t be a seat vacant when the game comes on TV. This is the place where they filmed the early bar scenes of “Bull Durham.”

Reynolds Coliseum is a relic, one of those weird, wonderful places that doesn’t make much sense but you hope never changes. It looks like a giant shoe box, with almost as many seats behind the baskets as between. Beautiful.

With 6 minutes 56 seconds left in the game, the Wolfpack is ahead, 67-60, and all the bulbs on the noise meter, which hangs over the court and fluctuates with the crowd, are lighted.

Behind silky-smooth freshman forward Bryant Stith, unheralded Virginia comes back and then hangs on for one of those ACC rarities, an upset victory on the road, 76-75. Not even mighty North Carolina nor powerful Duke had won this season at Reynolds Coliseum.

In the Wolfpack locker room, Chris Corchiani, a native of Miami, is still getting used to the Carolina cold. He slowly slips on heavy wool sweats.

“Are there many people up there?” he asks someone, referring to the fans and autograph seekers who are waiting at the top of the locker-room stairs. “Maybe we can go out the side door.”

But, really, that’s exactly why Corchiani came to this state to play college basketball.

“I wanted to go to a basketball hotbed. You know, around here they say that old people put off dying so they can see ACC basketball for another year.”

Maybe there really is a Blue Heaven.