Why You Don’t Want to Face Duke

Maybe it's the banners bragging of three men's basketball championships ('91, '92, '01) and the innumerous ACC titles, trips to the NCAA tournament, and Final Fours at that place. Maybe it's the 677 wins to 112 losses (.858) at that place. Maybe it's the perfect little town of Durham, North Carolina, population 227,000, which comes together at that place.

Maybe it's the most feared college basketball coach in the country stalking the sidelines with 25 years of coaching experience and the winningest coach ever at that place. Maybe it's the most feared student section in the country, dripping sweat, hot breath, and curse words down the necks of their opponents at that place. Maybe it's America's most feared sixth man at that place. No, not Ben Gordon and the United Center. This is Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke University, and everything about it makes it the toughest sports venue for opponents.

Just like most brilliant, successful, historical figures of the past, Edmund McCullough Cameron didn't know what he was getting into when he became a member of Duke's football coaching staff and head basketball coach in 1929 at 27-years-old. After seeing the University of Pennsylvania's Palestra, which at the time was the largest basketball arena, Cameron thought it would be a good idea to build a new haven for Duke basketball with a comparable seating capacity.

Rumor has it that Cameron, who also served as the school's Athletic Director, drew up the plans on the back of a matchbook and that an early proposal was a dome-shaped building. When it was finally built in 1940 for $400,000, it was nothing like a dome, but it was actually financed by the football team's first appearance in the Rose Bowl in 1939.

Located on Duke's west campus, Duke Indoor Stadium, as it was called, boasted 8,800 seats and was the largest basketball arena south of the Palestra. It wasn't until 1972 that it was renamed Cameron Indoor Stadium for its legendary athletic administrator, a name that still makes visiting teams shudder at the thought. While the word "stadium" is usually meant for football, baseball, or soccer, this place is an exception. It's also an exception in the fact that it remains one of the few sports venues that hasn't sold out to commercialism. That makes the name "Cameron Indoor Stadium" even more synonymous with the trials, tribulations, and overall agony that visiting teams face when they step foot onto Coach K Court.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski, for whom the court is dedicated, earned his name on that court for having built the most successful basketball program over the years. Call him Coach K if you can't say his last name, but don't call him a fluke. His records of 648-187 at Duke and 721-246 overall put him in the same sentence as former coaching greats John Wooden and Dean Smith, and Duke is therefore always an annual contender for a national championship.

Last season, led by senior Daniel Ewing and juniors J.J. Redick and Sheldon Williams, the Blue Devils finished 27-6, capturing the sixth ACC championship in seven years. Although Duke fell to Michigan State in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament, it's the knowledge and proof that the product put out on the court will be successful year in and year out mixed with loyalty and fanaticism that sells out all 15 home games each year. After renovations, the arena currently packs in 9,314 Blue Devil fanatics, and not a single seat is left open come game day, even though the arena actually holds more people than Duke even enrolls (6,347).

One of the most infamous aspects of this place is the Cameron Crazies, the student section that practically sits right on the court along the sidelines. Given the best seats in the house, the Crazies have not let the university down, earning themselves quite a reputation and putting Duke in the top 10 nationally for home-court winning percentage (.858). In the 2004-05 year, Coach K's boys were 14-1 at home and 5-4 on the road, an obvious margin of difference.

Jay Bilas, who played for Duke in the 1980s and currently is an ESPN college basketball analyst, called the Crazies the "the rowdiest, wittiest, best-organized basketball fans in the land ... and for many years, their chants and antics turned Cameron into a hellhole for visiting players and coaches."

The Cameron mystique carries over outside of the "stadium," as well into a popular town known as Krzyzewskiville. Coach K doesn't live there — the Crazies do. K-ville is the town built of tents in which students camp out for hours on end awaiting a ticket to the most exciting show on hardwood. Rarely is there a time without laughter or cheering, but it does have its serious side — laws and requirements, regulated by the university. In order to keep its place in line for tickets, a tent has to have a certain number of students in it during the checks held on a regular basis. It is, however, a fair process.

Many schools have their own unique social event. Ohio University in Athens has its Halloween celebration. Well, Krzyzewskiville at Duke is theirs. However, while OU might discourage the party-school reputation, Duke University actually encourages students to partake in this event, realizing that it's a distinctive way for people to meet one another and become friends. In fact, the university went so far as to install Wi-Fi and Ethernet ports in light posts so students can still do their "homework." (Or their game notes.)

Whenever a university supports athletics, sports teams are better off. Whenever a coach supports the fans, everyone is better off. Coach K is not only an exceptional coach, but he is also an exceptional ambassador and promoter of Duke basketball. He balances out his notable scowl and facial expression of a serial killer on the court with taking time of his own to meet with the fans. He understands how important they can be to a game, and he's known to buy pizza for the K-ville residents and hold open forum meetings with the Crazies before certain big games. But Coach K also knows the importance of being a responsible fan, and he has often advised them to stay "classy."

Though he feels that the Crazies used to be even worse in terms of rowdiness, Bilas still says that Cameron has the best basketball atmosphere ever and is the all-time best place to play. And I'm just going to assume that's only if you play for Duke.

"I played there for four years, and was an assistant coach there for three," Bilas wrote, "and there is no other place like it. Where else can world-class athletes be intimidated by an unruly mob of MENSA members? It was dark and hot, the crowd would throw tennis balls back and forth during warm-ups, and some of the chants were politically incorrect, to say the least.

"[Cameron Indoor Stadium is] the only place I have been where the players routinely laugh at what the crowd is doing. The best places in the country have real character, and Cameron has character."

... character enough to put the living fear in even the toughest of opponents.

There's a reason why Sports Illustrated, in its issue on June 7, 1999, ranked Cameron Indoor Stadium fourth on its list of the top 20 sporting venues of the 20th century in the world. Fourth on the list! Fourth on the list, ahead of the legendary Wrigley Field in Chicago, Fenway Park in Boston, Pebble Beach Golf Club, Lambeau Field in Green Bay, and Notre Dame Stadium!

This year, Duke's men's basketball team was ranked No. 1 in the polls, and at one point their women's team was, too, until they dropped to second behind Tennessee. Oh, how K-ville must be stirring as both seasons approach. March is a long way off, but Cameron Indoor Stadium's tight little quarters won't stop dribbling.

Camp out all night in Krzyzewskiville, and you might pee your pants from excitement. Squeeze yourself in with the Crazies, and you'll bleed blue forever. Step foot on Coach K court in a visitor's uniform, and you might pee your bed from nightmares. But play one single minute against the Duke Blue Devils and Cameron Crazies, and you won't ever want to go back.