Dean E. Smith Center — Attraction in Chapel Hill

UNC. North Carolina University. North Carolina Tar Heels. A legendary basketball college program in the United States of America. A huge amount of nba stars and legends have played in this uniform, for this university. To name a few: James Worthy, Sam Perkins, Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace, Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, Kenny Smith, Harrison Barnes and obviously his airness, sa majesté, the goat 🐐 Michael Jordan himself. Nowadays they have a great program led by head coach Hubert Davis, former nba player as well. This generation and group of guys is great as they have an unbelievable starting five led by RJ Davis along the young flashy passing first Swedish point guard Elliot Cadeau, with the three points swisher Cormac Ryan, with Armando Bacot, Jaelyn Withers, Harrison Ingram… I almost played in there back in 2003 but i was too old for a summer camp, and, even though i was invited for try outs, life decided differently as I had no money at that time, and back then, travelling across the world was not so easy nor affordable, as it is today. Especially for youth, even with basketball skills off the charts. Sometimes I regret, it would have been a blessing from god and an amazing experience for a French youth prospect, like me, to cross this court, but life is what it is. I’ll always be an almost Tar Heel alumni in my heart. Go heels keep on making our beloved sport, basketball, bright by insuring good future. The future of basketball starts there. Now I’m a basketball youth head coach myself in France, after playing semi professional for few years in Europe. Passing the torch might be what’s life...

As one of the most storied programs in college basketball, you’d expect the University of North Carolina to provide a top-tier game-day experience at the Dean Smith Center. Unfortunately, that was far from the case. For a program of UNC’s caliber, the facility itself is shockingly underwhelming—outdated, lacking energy, and simply not what you’d expect from a school with such a rich basketball history.

The real nightmare, however, was the crowd and the lack of control from event staff. Any time I left my seat, I returned to find students who had jumped into it, forcing constant arguments and frustration. There was no order, no enforcement, and it felt like a free-for-all rather than a well-organized event. To make matters worse, exiting the arena was absolute chaos. With no crowd control, the situation devolved into reckless behavior—punk kids launching snowballs and even bottles into the crowd, creating a dangerous and unpleasant experience for everyone.

For anyone looking for a quality college basketball experience, I highly recommend heading to a UConn game instead. Their fans are far more respectful, and their facility is actually managed like a professional venue, not a high school gym. The Dean Dome may have history, but based on this experience, that’s about all it has...

I love the Smith Center, and the new big screens are awesome. I will say this year the floors are really sticky and dirty at the beginning of the game and I hate having to put my coat and bag on that nastiness. I would say the cleanup crew did a better job in years past. It's really way too hot this season, at least in the upper deck. I know someday they are planning to do a renovation or even rebuild. I certainly hope they just do a renovation. It would be nice to have separate concessions so the upper level and lower level aren't converging and creating a mass bottleneck in the same space. This is particularly true when people are trying to exit after the game. This may be more feedback for the city of Chapel Hill, but it would be really nice if they could create designated areas out front so people get in the right bus line. Create some distinct areas for downtown versus airport, etc. It would also be nice at the city of Chapel Hill didn't give out bogus parking tickets in the parking decks. I got a ticket for supposedly overstaying in a parking deck on Franklin Street on a day I was not even in Chapel Hill. Absolutely ridiculous. Maybe Barney 5 gets paid...