It seems appropriate that on the day that the UNC football game against Clemson was announced to be kicking off at noon on ESPN that UNC also had information as it pertained to the basketball team.
On Monday,
the Tar Heels announced the Blue/White Intersquad scrimmage will occur approximately 60 minutes after the conclusion of the the Clemson/UNC game just up the road. There will be no charge for the general public to attend the game, but of course in this day of NIL and revenue sharing there’s always a catch. There will be 500 spots available for fans to pay $150 and attend a post-scrimmage autograph session. The $150 also includes a guaranteed seat to the event, a bonus for anyone who thinks they may have to leave Kenan early in order to see everything that’s going on.
Just as a reminder, there will be no “Live Action” or “Late Night” practice event for the Tar Heels this year as the Blue/White scrimmage will serve that purpose. The change was made last year as it was felt the event had outlived its usefulness when most fans just wanted to see the scrimmage.
For fans this will be the first chance to see the substantially remade roster. Seth Trimble leads the roster as the only real familiar face, but another star in the making is five-star recruit Caleb Wilson. Early chatter on the freshman has been positive, and his interview with the Carolina Insider podcast is worth the listen as he sounds like he’s fitting in really well.
Wilson is not afraid of the spotlight. He made his choice of schools on the iconic Inside the NBA earlier this year, much to the delight of UNC alumnus Kenny Smith. Since then he hasn’t been shy about enjoying college lift, and seemingly getting the idea of just what college basketball is with his line that the Tar Heels were going to put the “belt on everybody.”
The hope here is that the UNC/Clemson game is enough of an actual game to where fans won’t be leaving early in the third quarter to line up outside the Smith Center to get prime seats. Also note that if you plan to come to Chapel Hill and attend the scrimmage only, that the football parking rules will still apply. That means most lots will be restricted to permit holders for that day, and all bus shuttles will operate on the football rules. It’s likely that parking in downtown Chapel Hill will be under the same rules.
Either way, we are less than two weeks away from the public seeing basketball in the Smith Center. Just the announcement of this event brings just a shred of light into what has been a rough opening to the football season.
