North Carolina Trip: Day 4- Duke

The highlight of our trip- Cameron Indoor Stadium. We got to see Duke face Pittsburgh on the Duke campus. This is the first time I've ever seen Duke play and it was pretty amazing just being in the gym. The game ended up being somewhat close but Duke never really gave up control. Earlier in the day we stopped by the NC State campus to visit the Reynolds Coliseum where the Wolfpack won 2 NCAA championships before moving to the PNC Arena. They have a pretty athletics museum there with a focus on basketball but also including several other sports and famous alumni.

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To start off the day we headed to the campus of NC State to check out the athletics museum they have at the Reynolds Coliseum. Currently the women's basketball team and volleyball team play there but it was previously the home of the men's basketball team as well. During that time they won 2 NCAA championships. Through the front entrance they have setup several displays of basketball artifacts and other sports that achieved success through the years. 

As we got to looking around I remembered that Kay Yow was the women's coach for several years before also passing away due to cancer in 2009. She had 774 career wins and several other high accolades as a head basketball coach. In 2009 she was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. They had a display dedicated to her and Jim Valvano highlighting the research that their founds do in the field of cancer. 

The notably alumni you could find in the coliseum included David "Skywalker" Thompson, Julius Hodge, Philip Rivers (football), Russell Wilson (football), and Bill Cowher (football).

After leaving campus we headed to downtown Raleigh to walk around and have lunch. We found Vic's Italian Restaurant for lunch and Videri Chocolate Factory for dessert. During the afternoon we rested at the hotel to prepare for the 9:00 tip off that night. We had dinner at the Backyard BBQ Pit. It was amazing! Pulled pork, collared greens, and yams. Enough said. Definitely worth the visit if you're in the Durham/Raleigh/Chapel Hill Area.

We arrived on the Duke campus well before tip off and had a few minutes to walk back through the basketball museum before they let us inside. Once the doors opened, it was an overwhelming feeling walking through the concourse catching glimpses of the court as we found our section to sit in. 

Our seats were pretty good, second row, on the corner. But really the only bad seats in that gym are if you have to stand the whole game (probably worth it though) or if a banner is hanging in your view. 

The whole night was just awesome. They honored Kobe and the others who died in the helicopter accident with a 24.8 second moment of silence. I saw Coach K yell at the student section right before half for a chant involving Jeff Capel, Pittsburgh head coach, which turned out to be nothing at all. 

Definitely a night to remember.