North Carolina basketball fans troll Duke with a billboard on Durham highway
How did the worst season in North Carolina coach Roy Williams’ tenure turn into a billboard trolling Duke? The short answer, that was peak 2020 when it seems all of sports got turned upside down due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The real answer is FOX Sports was simply looking for a way to engage college basketball fans when the NCAA tournament was canceled by creating its “Ultimate Fan Bracket to determine the best fan base in college basketball.”
Carolina won the contest last April and the reward was a billboard to acknowledge it. Instead of it being in Chapel Hill for Heels’ fans to celebrate among themselves, it was to be placed in a rival’s territory. Remember, FOX Sports wanted to engage the fans.
Mark Titus, the co-host of Titus & Tate and The People’s Sports Podcast, was behind the idea. He likened it to planting a flag in enemy territory and said meshing love for school with hate for a rival was a driving force behind voting. (It should be noted that Tate Frazier, Titus’ co-host, is a UNC alumnus.)
“I don’t need to tell you Carolina fans love Carolina,” Titus said. “But if there’s one force that Carolina fans feel more than loving Carolina it might be hating Duke.”
The billboard went up off I-85 between the Guess Road and Duke Street exits last week. It will remain up for a month leading into the first scheduled game between Carolina and Duke on Feb. 6.
Carolina, to be clear, was set to miss the Big Dance after finishing 14-19 -- Williams only losing season as a head coach. The FOX Sports’ 68-team bracket included automatic bids to the most-followed men’s basketball programs on Twitter from each conference -- which was Duke in the ACC. At-large bids for the next 32 schools with the highest followings.
UNC fans took care of the rest, voting on-line through social media channels as it advanced through each matchup before beating BYU in the “championship.”
“Initially we noticed that the reaction was people didn’t hate it, but they just kind of roll their eyes like, come on,” Titus said. “I wanted March Madness not this stupid online voting thing. But it really tapped into human nature in the sense that as this thing progressed, you noticed fan bases getting more and more passionate about it. They’re like, ‘Alright, this isn’t March Madness, but I’m not losing to that team.’”
The path for Carolina, which was a No. 1 seed, included No. 16 Robert Morris, No. 8 N.C. State, No. 13 Murray State, No. 6 Purdue and No. 3 Michigan to reach the title matchup.
FOX Sports said 2.3 million total votes were cast over the entire course of the brackets. It engaged more than just fans. Carolina alums from the past four decades -- Rick Fox, Kenny Smith, Vince Carter, Sean May, Harrison Barnes and Coby White -- also got behind the campaigning.
Former Indiana great and Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas and Memphis coach Penny Hardaway made videos to encourage their fans to vote. Utah Senator Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nomination for President, even joined in the foray with tweets to promote BYU fans to vote.
“There’s like a lot of comments ripping on the Carolina fans, like they aren’t the best,” Titus said. “I love it. It seems nonsensical and stupid, but also without it college sports is nothing so we need, that sort of thing.”
This story was originally published January 19, 2021 at 2:24 PM with the headline "North Carolina basketball fans troll Duke with a billboard on Durham highway."