Yes, it’s once again that time of the year that all basketball fans love, the time metaphorically known as “March Madness”, also known as “The Big Dance”, officially known as NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament. And I’m definitely one of those who follow this event with great interest because my favorite team, the North Carolina Tar Heels, are a constant part of the madness.

Throughout the history of this tournament which began in 1939, the Tar Heels have participated in 43 of the 78 contests which includes 43 appearances out of the last 50 tournaments, including an amazing stretch of 27 tournament appearances in a row! During that time they’ve won 5 national championships, one in an undefeated season of 32-0 in 1957 which included victories in the Final Four coming in rare two consecutive triple overtime games.

North Carolina, then known as the White Phantoms, was also declared national champions by the Helms Foundation in 1924 with a record of 24-0 before there was such a thing as the NCAA. But both the ’57 Final Four games, for the first time ever, were televised which truly began the madness which had its origins back in the mid-40’s when Everett Case, known as the “Gray Fox”, brought his brand of Indiana basketball to North Carolina when he became the coach of North Carolina State, making them a constant champion in the old Southern Conference, leading to basketball goals being put up on nearly every driveway in North Carolina.

Since that time, college basketball has been an obsession in the state. And in 1953, seven members of the old Southern Conference (Clemson – Duke – North Carolina – N. C. State – Maryland – South Carolina – Wake Forest), along with Virginia, formed the Atlantic Coast Conference, what is now one of the strongest conferences in college basketball. But of all those schools, the most well known are what are known as the Big Four: Duke, North Carolina, N. C. State and Wake Forest, whose location is on what is known as Tobacco Road, not to be confused with Erskine Caldwell’s famous novel. In this instance, three of these schools (Duke, UNC, and North Carolina State) are separated by no more than 25 miles and Wake Forest lies about 100 miles west of the other three. Of all these teams, the greatest rivalry in probably all of sports exists between the basketball teams of North Carolina and Duke. As for separation by miles, there’s only 8 miles distance between Chapel Hill and Durham, adding to the intense competition between the Tar Heels and the Blue Devils.The Tobacco Road phrase refers to the fact that this historic central-part-of-the-state area was once one of the major producers of the state’s tobacco crop. And Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the home of Wake Forest University, is also the location of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, who borrowed the name of their city to name two of their brands of cigarettes, Winston and Salem.

The Atlantic Coast Conference has won 13 of the 78 NCAA championships, 12 of those won by North Carolina teams, 5 each by North Carolina and Duke and 2 by N. C. State. The 5 each by Carolina and Duke, along with Indiana’s 5, tie them for third for the most championships won. But the Atlantic Coast Conference does not speak entirely for the history of basketball madness in North Carolina. That madness began in 1905 when the first record of a college basketball game was recorded in the Guilford Collegian, a student paper-magazine, which reported the school’s two victories over the Winston-Salem YMCA. This eventually led to the first ever intercollegiate  game played in North Carolina on February 6, 1906 between the Baptists of Wake Forest and the Quakers of Guilford, expanding upon a friendly rivalry that had built over the years. Wake Forest then went on to play Trinity College, now known as Duke, winning both contests.

I’ve recently reread a wonderful book I hadn’t touched in years which tells this story of the madness from its beginnings, ON TOBACCO ROAD, Basketball in North Carolina. As for the madness of this year, the Atlantic Coast Conference is almost out of luck. Of the 7 teams that entered the tournament, only one remains, my Carolina Tar Heels. And I can only hope that the dream that was shattered by a last-second shot by Villanova in last year’s championship game against the Heels will be realized this year. All we need is three more wins to make it to the finals, and then that final one to add another notch to our victory case.  Here’s hoping!