A Day in the Life with ESPN

Cameron Indoor Stadium is dark. Just 18 hours ago, heckling students packed the bleachers to watch top-ranked Duke beat North Carolina and complete its first ever undefeated regular season.

Now, though, Cameron is dark-except, that is, for a plethora of glaring technical lights and a large, green screen beneath the visitor's basket. The videographer adjusts his high-tech lens, the sound technician conducts microphone tests, and the interviewer practices her questions.

It is 8 a.m. Monday morning, and an ESPN crew has taken Cameron hostage to shoot promotional film for the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Should the Blue Devils reach the Final Four in Cleveland, ESPN will air the footage in preparation for the event.

For the next seven hours, the 9,314 seat gym is the crew's lair. There will be no pickup games or shooting drills. Rather, the Blue Devils will tell embarrassing stories, pose in uncomfortable positions and boogey down in front of the cameras.

The following is a behind-the-scenes look at how the Blue Devils learn to have fun despite the unique circumstances of spending a day with the Worldwide Leader.

10 a.m.: The Photo Shoot

The ESPN crew is fidgeting with cameras, microphones and lights, speaking in a language that doesn't quite resemble English. Past the techies, there are two women prepping another woman and a younger boy for their interviews about Lindsey Harding's involvement in the community.

All of a sudden, the young boy-Khalif Ruebin, a Special Olympian from Raleigh-springs from his chair and grabs a basketball, which was brought by ESPN and features the 2007 Final Four logo. He runs up to the foul line and takes what is presumably his first ever shot in Cameron. It rattles around the rim and drops. This kid could now retire from basketball with a perfect shooting percentage in Cameron.

The producer, now interviewing the frontrunner for National Coach of the Year, asks Goestenkors about the home-cooked meals she prepared for her team at the beginning of the year. Apparently Goestenkors is not a gourmet chef. In fact, she says she never cooks.

Coach G cooked her first meal for this year's seniors, who requested spaghetti and garlic bread. The spaghetti turned out really well, says Alison Bales, but the garlic bread was another story-it ended up looking more like bonfire ashes than toast.

1:30 p.m.: The Budding Poet

J.J. Redick, move aside. Cameron has a new resident poet: Wanisha Smith. Apparently, the player affectionately known as 'Nish' has found her niche in writing poetry. Whereas Redick publicly likened his life to a hurricane in verse, Smith keeps the writing to herself. She does admit, though, that most of her inspiration comes from personal issues, which include basketball. For her, like for so many other poets, writing is an escape.

Nish is easily the most giggly Blue Devil, laughing at every technology malfunction and interruption. She even strikes a chord with the ESPN camera man, who goes by the name 'Boom.'

2 p.m.: Abbey Road

Duke's four other starters-Harding, Bales, Abby Waner and Carrem Gay-emerge from the locker room, noshing on some snacks. At that point, the ESPN producer conveys to the five players her grandiose advertising idea.

Since the 2007 Final Four is in Cleveland, home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, ESPN chose a "classic music" theme for the tournament. The top contenders for the title-Duke, Maryland, Connecticut, North Carolina, Tennessee and LSU-each will be the focus of a classic album cover. In addition, some of the candidates for Player of the Year, such as Harding and Tennessee's Candace Parker, have "solo" albums.

Duke's album is The Beatles' "Abbey Road," which depicts the Fab Four walking across the zebra-striped crosswalk in front of Abbey Road Studio. It has an odd resemblance to the crossing of Towerview Drive near Cameron. Instead of venturing outside and stopping traffic, though, ESPN shoots the scene inside, in front of the green screen.

The producers quickly realize that they can't fit all five players in the frame at once, so they film them individually, making the process entirely more awkward.

To pass the time, the players start ribbing each other. "Lindsey, you're an animal!" one of her teammates yells. "Tiger claws! Yeah, show them how to stand!" Before her day on set ends, Harding has to run off screen at about 75-percent speed. But she does not understand what the producers want, causing a brief period of confusion. "I'm so lost," Harding says. The ESPN producers should be proud-not many people can baffle Harding on Coach K Court.

2:30 p.m.: Country Flavor

Earlier in the season, Abby Waner openly admitted she had an infatuation with Kenny Chesney. The country music star from Nashville heard about her crush from a friend and sent her a package. Waner says that when she saw the package on her desk, she thought, "Who do I know from Nashville?" Waner realized who it was from, and all she could do was scream. In the package, Chesney sent her concert t-shirts, most of which were stolen by envious teammates.

In the response letter-which was drafted by the entire team, of course-Waner thanked Chesney for his package, and hinted that she was having trouble getting tickets for his April 19 show in Greensboro.

3 p.m.: Wrapping Up

The crew wants the Waners to reminisce about their summer trip to the Bahamas with Bales and former Blue Devil Laura Kurz. Instead of relying on their testimony, ESPN goes for the full effect, rolling out two lounge chairs and providing the Waners with sunglasses and sun hats. To ESPN's credit, the hats were made by Nike.

Once Abby and Emily start talking, there is no stopping them. Their style of storytelling is to alternate sentences-that is, if they don't finish each other's sentences first.

Abby, who has ambitions of working for the Worldwide Leader asks the best question of the day: "If you can digitally remove bruises, can you give us a fake tan?"

The Waners go back to the locker room, the cameramen start packing up their equipment and the crew discards their Subway wrappers. The long day is over.

ESPN has to be out of Cameron by 4:15, and the producers have good reason to hurry.

"We don't want Coach K to come out and yell at us," the interviewer says.