Soft Pretzel Logic

Ain't it just like a friend of mine
It hit me from behind
Yes I'm gone to Carolina in my mind

-- "Carolina In My Mind," James Taylor; peformed here by the UNC Basketball Band.

Most of our basketball discussions on here discuss the four conferences that have teams in our region -- the Big East, Atlantic 10, CAA and Ivy League.

But ever since I started following college basketball growing up, including seven summers spent at a camp three hours east of Raleigh, N.C., I've been a big fan of the ACC.

Yes, it is known to get too much hype in years when its teams aren't as good as others in the country.

And yes, it has a bit of a good-old-boys culture to it that rubs some people the wrong way. There's no better proof than the fact that there hasn't been a public sale for its men's basketball tournament since 1966. It's not just that the tickets sell out to the schools' season-ticket holders in advance, it's that -- as this Washington Post story from the 2005 Tournament details very well -- even the boosters have to pony up extra to get in the door.

By contrast, the Big East has always put aside at least some tickets for the public at Madison Square Garden, even if that number has diminished in recent years due to conference expansion.

Every once in a while, though, an ACC blue-blood ventures out to the masses. Sometimes, it's Duke going to Madison Square Garden to play St. John's, or to the Wachovia Center to play Temple next month. Or it's Boston College playing old Big East rival Providence this past weekend on the Celtics' floor. Even Duke and UNC's recent games against Davidson in Charlotte sort of count.

But what we have tonight is something completely different. North Carolina's trip to the Palestra is something that you almost never see anymore: a genuine titan of the game going to a perennial two-digit NCAA Tournament seed's home floor.

Would it happen if it was any other arena? Probably not. St. Joe's has played BCS teams at the Palestra in recent years -- Boston College, Ohio State and Penn State. Temple played Illinois there in 2003.

But the big boys won't go to the Fieldhouse, the DAC or Tom Gola Arena. They sometimes go to the Liacouras Center, but Drexel got N.C. State on its floor only because the NIT forced it.

(Yes, Oklahoma-Villanova was at the Pavilion, but Texas went to the Wachovia Center and I would have to think the Big East/SEC Invitational would have gone somewhere else if an arena of that size wasn't easily available here. And Villanova is different because it's in the Big East.)

Our local college basketball history tells us -- in the form of that great Palestra documentary movie -- that nights like this used to happen all the time.

It was an era when top teams from across the country still had the guts to go play someone else on their court without being forced to by a conference, and it's why there are photos of so many legendary coaches on the Palestra's concourse.

But those times are long gone, which makes this game even more special.

Look, I don't expect this game to be close at all after the opening tip. Nor do I really expect most fans around here to care after the first TV timeout. North Carolina is a 24 1/2-point favorite for a reason.

But what a treat it will be to see this incredible Tar Heels team play in our city. Hopefully, the atmosphere will fit the occasion, even if it only lasts for a few minutes

For the lucky ones who will be in the Palestra tonight -- and yes, I'm one of them -- it will be a real privilege.