The Cameron Crazies are alive and, well, crazy.
On Wednesday night in the K Center, 221 tents — each consisting of 12 undergraduate students — tried their hands at the annual Krzyzewskiville black tenting test. To put that figure in perspective, that’s roughly 41% of the undergraduate population. The number of tents in this year’s process are the most ever, according to an email to The Chronicle from the line monitors, who administered the test and are in charge of the tenting process.
What is the tenting test? Well, you better know ball.
To start, the test keeps things relatively simple: Name the jersey number and hometown of every player. Then, the scores and opponents, in order, of every game Duke played this season. Teams commit these facts to memory next to family members’ birthdays and best friends’ hometowns.
As test-takers turn each page, the questions get more and more obscure. What was Kon Knueppel’s stat line against Kentucky? According to Cooper Flagg’s mom, Kelly, what time was he born? What color dress did Neal Begovich’s date wear to his senior prom?
You get the picture.
The reason thousands of students put themselves through hours of breakback studying is simple: Duke vs. North Carolina. The tenting test determines entry into Krzyzewskiville, the quad outside Cameron Indoor Stadium in which students camp ahead of the annual bout with the Tar Heels. This year’s early game date — Feb. 1 — in combination with the team’s success made a ticket to the game worth its weight in gold.
“I was significantly more stressed for this test than I was for the ACT,” senior Sofia Hletko said.
The line monitors quickly checked the tests and told tenters their fate. The top 70 scoring tents received an automatic spot in Cameron Indoor for the North Carolina game, and the next 10 highest-scoring groups will have a chance to blue tent, an abbreviated tenting schedule that puts them behind black tenters.
That means well over half of the groups who took the test came out empty-handed. There will be another chance to score tickets to the game, when the line monitors host a campus-wide race to secret spots for white tents, a step below blue tenting. Teams must decode clues and run to spots on campus as fast as they can for a smaller number of spots. Learn more about the different tenting levels and the Cameron Crazies here.
So, how well do you know Duke basketball? Could you make it into Krzyzewskiville? Find out below.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.
Dom Fenoglio is a Trinity junior and a sports managing editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.