As the men’s basketball team gets ready to take on Butler U. in the NCAA Tournament Championship in Indianapolis, back on campus Duke U. students and administrators are making their own preparations.
For students, the questions are simple—where to watch, where to party. Staff members, on the other hand, are working to make sure celebrations—if Duke wins—stay under control.
Some students said they plan to watch the game at Armadillo Grill or local bars to be close to beer and nachos. Others said they will be watching in Cameron Indoor Stadium, where the game will be shown on the video scoreboard.
“I don’t want to jinx it, but I think we have a pretty good shot,” senior Natalie Harrison said.
The doors to Cameron open at 8 p.m.—an hour and 21 minutes before tip-off—and Dean of Students Sue Wasiolek said she’ll be there from the beginning to make sure everything runs smoothly. Only students with DukeCards will be allowed into the stadium, she said.
Wasiolek will be joined by Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta, who said staff members from across the University are preparing for today’s game.
Officials from Student Affairs, Athletics, the Duke University Police Department and other departments of the University met for an hour Sunday afternoon to discuss their plans, Moneta said.
“We are extremely well organized. Everything is in place,” he said. “Everybody is in really good spirits about our plans, everybody was hoping that we win and looking forward to celebrating.”
The University has requested a bonfire permit and classes are still in session Tuesday even if Duke wins tonight, Moneta said.
No matter where Dukies plan to watch, many said they are looking forward to celebrating and burning benches on Main West Quadrangle if Duke wins.
Sophomore Bradley Jacobs said that if Duke wins, he wants to stay up all night and party—and he’ll skip class Tuesday.
“It’s probably a once in a lifetime thing,” he said. “We’ve got to enjoy it.”
Sean Lyngass did not get to see Duke compete for the national title while he was a student—so he drove down from New York with friends to watch the game in Cameron.
“We never tasted this,” he said.
Wasiolek said she and other University officials have been reviewing how Duke handled celebrations after the 1991, 1992 and 2001 national championship wins. Wasiolek said she was on campus for the 2001 win—that celebration went more smoothly because officials learned from the raucous revelry of a decade earlier, she noted.
One thing administrators learned, Wasiolek said, is that the celebration can be kept in check by keeping people not affiliated with Duke off campus.
DUPD officers will work with other police agencies to close campus this evening to people without DukeCards, DUPD Chief John Dailey said. He said officers will be checking the DukeCards of people arriving on campus and that community members should carry their cards with them at all times. He added that teams of DUPD officers, Durham Police officers and Durham County sheriffs will patrol campus.
Dailey said he hopes for a Duke win, and officers are prepared for contingencies such as medical emergencies and crowd control. They will make arrests if needed, he added.
“We expect that people will be happy and celebrate,” he said. “They just need to understand that there are limits to what that celebration can be. Our main goal is that this is a safe event.”
To help keep the celebration safe in the event of a win, blue-jacketed student volunteers and administrators on the “A-Team” will manage the bonfire, Wasiolek said.
Duke University Stores is getting ready for a win as well. The stores will have about 25,000 T-shirts on hand tomorrow if Duke beats Butler, Merchandise Manager Tom Craig said in a Duke News release Thursday.
Wasiolek said she is not worried that all the preparations across the University could jinx Duke’s chances of winning the title.
“As superstitious as I am, I think this team is so prepared that nothing is going to stop them, not even our extensive planning,” she said.