By Mark Bergin, WRAL senior multiplatform producer

Durham, N.C. — The Battle of the Blues men’s basketball rivalry between Duke and North Carolina dates back to Jan. 24, 1920.

The rivalry has many traditions, including the tent city students create before the rivalry game in front of Cameron Indoor Stadium known as “Krzyzewskiville.”

Krzyzewskiville is named after legendary Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski. “Coach K” served as Duke’s coach for 42 years before retiring in 2022.

How did Krzyzewskiville start and become a Duke tradition?

Lining up for big games, including the rivalry game against North Carolina, had always been a regular practice at Duke. Some students would get sleeping bags and sleep in line the night before the game to ensure their front-row seats.

In 1986, Kimberly Reed was a senior at Duke and a former resident of the Mirecourt selective living group. She decided with a group of her Mirecourt friends to line up even earlier for the UNC game and sleep in tents.

Showing up on Thursday for the Sunday, March 2, 1986, tipoff, the dozen or so friends set up four or five tents and prepared to sleep outside of Cameron Indoor Stadium. They were quickly noticed by the rest of the student body, and by gametime, there were up to 75 tents in line to see Duke battle their long-standing rival UNC.

No. 1 Duke wound up beating No. 3 UNC, 82-74. A Duke tradition was born that continues today.

In 2025, Duke senior Oliver Hess serves as one of two head line monitors of Krzyzewskiville. His family shares a special connection to the annual tradition.

“My parents met tenting for the 1992 UNC basketball game, so it means a lot to me personally. I’m happy to continue making K-Ville a place where people can meet each other and have fun,” Hess said.

Krzyzewskiville location

Krzyzewskiville is formally defined as the grassy lawn area in front of Card and Wilson gyms, their surrounding sidewalks and the plaza in front of Cameron Indoor Stadium and the Schwartz-Butters building.

The Line Monitor Committee, part of the Duke Student Government, may expand Krzyzewskiville at their discretion.

Hess said the 2025 version of K-Ville features 130 tents comprised of 12 people each.

Krzyzewskiville tents: Barbie, the “Sion King” and an homage to Las Vegas

Students decorate their tents, often with a theme. In 2025, there are tents that reference popular movies like “Barbie,” “Lion King” and “Ice Age.”

Duke seniors Eva Funaki and Jamie Sokoloff’s tent is nicknamed “The Sion King 2,” which pays homage to senior guard Sion James and freshman guard Isaiah Evans.

The tent setup has a walkway into the tent over a makeshift “moat.”

“We had an inflatable lion, who has since passed away unfortunately,” Funaki joked.

“It’s definitely a bonding experience,” Sokoloff said.

Duke junior Courtney Yribarren is part of the Das Boot tent, which began in 2012. Das Boot is the oldest-running tent in K-Ville.

Yribarren said her group found a unique way to secure her tent’s stakes properly.

“This is really random, but I feel like it’s representative of K-Ville,” Yribarren said. “In order to hammer down these stakes here, it had frozen the night before.

“So, we found an old banana and we smashed the stakes in because it had frozen, and so, it was hammer-like, and that’s the K-Ville charm.”

Senior Erika Pietrzak serves as the captain of the Das Boot tent and has been to nearly every Duke home game this season. She said it’s bittersweet knowing her K-Ville experience is coming to an end, but she applied to grad school at Duke in hopes of keeping her tradition going.

“I want to keep being here, and I don’t want to let this go,” Pietrzak said. “If I could do this for the rest of my life, I would be here every winter, every year.”

Pietrzak said her parents also tented in K-Ville in the 1980s.

“It was also something that they didn’t realize how big it would get to,” Pietrzak said. “They didn’t think this would be something that would continue year after year, that has to have a whole system in place for it and everything.”

Senior Mile Eng, who is also in the Das Boot tent, said it’s hard to explain tenting to family and friends.

“They look at you like you’re insane,” Eng said.

“My mom says, ‘I’m paying for housing. Why are you sleeping in a tent?’” Yribarren said.

“Every year, I go visit family and they ask me about, ‘You’re in the front row again at a game?’” Eng said. “And it’s like, ‘Yeah, obviously, I get in line in order to get first into the game.’”

Senior student Emma Fleischman made a sign using Adobe Illustrator as an homage to the iconic “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign. Instead, Fleischman’s sign says “Welcome to Fabulous KVille Durham.”

“I made it two years ago for our tent, which was a Vegas theme,” Fleischman said.

Fleischman said her same group of friends has tented the past two years.

“It takes a lot to be a good tenter,” Fleischman said. “It takes being really reliable [and] being willing to shift your schedule around.”

Senior journalism student Abigail Bromberger said it’s upsetting that this year marks her last tenting.

“It’s really sad,” Bromberger said. “I’m pretty emotional about it.

“It’s been one of my favorite parts of Duke.”

Krzyzewskiville rules and tents

A tent is comprised of a maximum of 12 people.

Typically, the maximum number of tents in Krzyzewskiville is 100 standard tents and an additional number of flex tents, as designated by the head line monitors.

Tents are allowed in K-Ville during the tenting season leading up to the home UNC game and in anticipation of select “Designated Big Games” at the discretion of the Head Line Monitors in accordance with athletics policy.

Opportunities for tents in K-Ville are communicated by the head line monitors. Tents or any other structures are not allowed unless specified by the head line monitors or athletics.

All tenters must refrain from tying anything — including tents — to trees, lampposts, handrails or other structures.

All tent frames and materials (including tarps) must be store-bought and flame retardant. All structures are subject to fire marshall approval.

Tarps that are draped over tents may not be tucked underneath tents or pallets.

When placing stakes into the ground, students are asked to be aware of and avoid irrigation lines that run beneath the grass. Irrigation lines are be marked in a grid-like fashion with colored flags at the heads.

As a general rule of thumb, no stakes are placed within a 1-foot radius of any flag.

Portable electric power generators, space heaters and propane tanks of any kind are not allowed in K-Ville. Any student or tent seen with these dangerous items will be removed from K-Ville and not allowed entry to the game they tented to attend (including UNC).

Students are responsible for removing all items brought into K-Ville.

Tent checks in Krzyzewskiville

To ensure that each tent is appropriately representing its place in line, the line monitors will call tent checks.

The line monitors may announce a tent check at any time by sounding a bullhorn siren.

“We will do a few checks throughout the day and then several checks throughout the night just to make sure that everyone who says they’re here actually is,” Hess said.

A line monitor circles K-Ville with the horn to ensure that it is heard by all tenters.

To check in, tent members gather and go to Morton Plaza near Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The line committee cannot check in a tent until all required members are present.

Where tenters appear to be missing they are — at a minimum – given three warning calls over the bullhorn before being marked as absent.

After the final warning call, two minutes will be given to allow for tenters to check in. After this time elapses, the check is officially over.

Line monitors are not held responsible for checks missed due to tenters using the bathroom, failing to hear the siren due to the use of noise-canceling headphones, being asleep in the tent or similar related circumstances.

Digital evidence such as cellular data/location services/texts/etc cannot be used as proof of being in K-Ville.

Tenting season in Krzyzewskiville

The tenting season is divided into three sections.

From the beginning of tenting in early January for the first third of the season, tents of 12 must have two people in the tent during the day and 10 people each night.

For the next third of the season, tents must have one person in the tent during the day and six people each night.

For the final third, before the game, tents still must have one person during the day but only two people each night. The two weekend nights prior to the game, or the weekend before the game, are personal check nights, during which each of the 12 tent members must be at the tent for three of five personal checks spread over the two nights.

If a tent misses a tent check twice, it gets moved to the end of the line if there is availability.

If K-ville is at full capacity and a waitlist exists at the time of the second miss, the tent gets removed completely.

“Grace” is given (i.e., tenters can leave K’ville) in the event of severe weather, if temperatures reach lower than 32 degrees, more than two inches of snow falls or if winds reach 35 mph.

Weather impacts on Krzyzewskiville

The head line monitors will refer to the Weather Channel for weather estimations.

The following guidelines are used when determining if students should leave K-Ville:

• Temperatures at or below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, according to The Weather Channel.
• Greater than 2 inches of accumulated snow
• Sustained winds higher than 35 mph
• Lightning within a 6-mile radius
• Severe weather warnings
• Icy conditions
• School closure
• Other dangerous weather events

Where do students go to the bathroom in Krzyzewskiville?

Anyone who has to use the restroom is asked to use the portable toilets in K-Ville.

The IM Gym has accessible restrooms for tenters. However, these restrooms are open at the discretion of athletics staff. For the 2025 tenting season, the IM restrooms are locked and inaccessible to tenters. Additional restroom options, in addition to portable toilets, are currently being explored, and this policy may be updated to reflect updates and changes.

Using the bushes or any other part of the K-Ville grounds is against university policy.

Body painting in Krzyzewskiville

The Cameron Crazies are known for their creative body paint, but they have to do their decoration in a way that keeps the mess contained. Painting should be confined to soft surfaces such as grass if possible.

The athletics department provides some paint for games, but students are asked to be prepared — to bring their own supply in case it runs out. Students should refrain from painting in the Wilson or IM bathrooms.

Watching No. 2 ranked Duke and star freshman Cooper Flagg

No. 2 Duke enters Saturday’s game with an 18-2 record (10-0 ACC) led by star freshman Cooper Flagg.

“It’s been awesome,” Pietrzak said. “It is so exciting to see someone who can really do it all.”

Flagg is widely considered to be the top pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. He leads Duke in scoring (19.9 points per game), rebounds (7.9 per game), assists (4.1) and blocks (1.2).

Pietrzak was at the Jan. 7 game when Falgg had a coast-to-coast, and-one dunk against Pittsburgh.

“The Pitt dunk, I’ve never seen that in Cameron before and I’ve been going to games for four years,” Eng said. “[I was there] front row. It was absurd.”

Pietrzak echoed Eng’s sentiments about Flagg’s slam.

“It was insane,” Pietrzak said. “Everyone was pushing each other down, showing each other [and] screaming.

“It was like, you go up to someone you don’t even know and are high-fiving them.”

Duke hosts UNC at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Source: wralsportsfan.com