Duke is 0-1 in conference play and about to face #24 FSU in Cameron without many of the Crazies. Will the non-students fill the building and make some noise?
Coach K shared this exact concern recently, and an FSU player, of all people, put him at ease.
"K... people will come, K. They'll come to Durham for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as freshmen, longing for the past. Of course, we won't mind if you look around, you'll say. It's only $500 per person. They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they'll walk out to the student section, and stand in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have to stand somewhere along one of the sidelines, where the Crazies on TV cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come, K. The one constant through all the years, K, has been basketball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a dry erase board, rebuilt and erased again. But basketball has marked the time. This court, this game: it's a part of our past, K. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... people will come, K. People will most definitely come."
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Terance Mann, junior guard, Florida State University