Well guys and gals, I headed into “enemy” territory and rooted on my Blue Devils while they played Pitt. I bought the tickets for my Dad for Christmas, and agonized whether or not I should get them or not. My mom was a big help in convincing me. I was a researching fool getting seats, I had multiple seating charts pulled up, multiple ticket companies pulled up, it was quite the process. Luckily, I was able to get seats on the first level AND on the Duke side of the court! Score! My dad and I knew going into this season that we really wanted to see this team play. We especially wanted to see Zion Williamson play. The dude is crazy big, and crazy athletic.
The game was a 9:00 game on ESPN. As soon as I left work on Tuesday, I ran to Dunkin’ and got a latte to help keep me awake. Luckily we had a 2 hour delay that morning, so I was able to sleep in a little, and I had adrenaline going, so it wasn’t hard to stay awake at all. My dad and I opted to eat at home, so we hurried up and ate, grabbed our few last minute things, and we were on the road by 5:30. Traffic was fairly light, so we were in Pittsburgh by 6:20, and the fun began of finding a place to park. Luckily, we were able to find a spot that was a block and a half away, and it was only $10, so we were ready to go. The gates didn’t open until 7:30, so we killed some time in the car, and then made the trek to Petersen Events Center.
We knew we wanted to watch the team do warmups, so we found our seats and only a few players were going through their shooting warmups. We made a quick potty stop, a top to grab a drink, and then we stretched our legs before our Dukies came out to do their formal warmups. It was so fun to just watch them go through their routines and drills.
The stadium started to fill up closer to game time, and we were so fortunate to be sitting with a lot of Duke fans! I was actually surprised with how many Duke fans were in attendance. We sat next to some awesome fans, and it was nice to talk about the game and not get heckled! Haha!
After the lineups were announced, we got to see the Coach K/Jeff Capel embrace, and it was so nice to see! (For those of you that don’t know, Jeff Capel used to be an assistant for Duke!) The game started, and Duke had a fantastic start with being up by 19 at halftime. We got to see some spectacular dunks by Zion and R.J. Barrett, and the only thing missing was seeing one of my favorite players, Tre Jones out on the court. After a little bit of a sloppy second half, Duke won by 15 over the Panthers.
Just to clue you in on how “big” this year’s Duke team is, Jay-Z was there. So there’s that. I mean it is cool to say that I was in the same building as him, even though I couldn’t name one song of his. LOL!
I don’t take for granted that I have watched Duke play in Pittsburgh 3 times in the last 10 months. I know that it is something that my dad and I will remember for the rest of our lives. I took way too many pictures and videos, so please know that you are not getting the full set of pictures. There are some days, (well Nov-March,) that I wonder why I am not working in some capacity at the Duke Basketball office. It is truly my passion!
We knew we wanted to watch the team do warmups, so we found our seats and only a few players were going through their shooting warmups. We made a quick potty stop, a top to grab a drink, and then we stretched our legs before our Dukies came out to do their formal warmups. It was so fun to just watch them go through their routines and drills.
The stadium started to fill up closer to game time, and we were so fortunate to be sitting with a lot of Duke fans! I was actually surprised with how many Duke fans were in attendance. We sat next to some awesome fans, and it was nice to talk about the game and not get heckled! Haha!
After the lineups were announced, we got to see the Coach K/Jeff Capel embrace, and it was so nice to see! (For those of you that don’t know, Jeff Capel used to be an assistant for Duke!) The game started, and Duke had a fantastic start with being up by 19 at halftime. We got to see some spectacular dunks by Zion and R.J. Barrett, and the only thing missing was seeing one of my favorite players, Tre Jones out on the court. After a little bit of a sloppy second half, Duke won by 15 over the Panthers.
Just to clue you in on how “big” this year’s Duke team is, Jay-Z was there. So there’s that. I mean it is cool to say that I was in the same building as him, even though I couldn’t name one song of his. LOL!
I don’t take for granted that I have watched Duke play in Pittsburgh 3 times in the last 10 months. I know that it is something that my dad and I will remember for the rest of our lives. I took way too many pictures and videos, so please know that you are not getting the full set of pictures. There are some days, (well Nov-March,) that I wonder why I am not working in some capacity at the Duke Basketball office. It is truly my passion!
While seeing Duke play on the road is always fun, nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING compares to seeing them at Cameron. I am thinking that I need to go back pretty soon, (like either this year or next year!).
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