Tyler Potter, left, and his father Bert Potter attended the ACC Tournament in Charlotte over the weekend. They were among several Kinston and Lenoir County residents who cheered their teams at the college basketball event at the Spectrum Center. Submitted photo

By Bryan Hanks

CHARLOTTE — After three years being played outside the Tar Heel State, the ACC men’s basketball tournament was back in North Carolina last weekend after stops in Washington, D.C. in 2016 and Brooklyn, N.Y., in 2017 and 2018.

Several ACC basketball fans from Kinston and Lenoir County made the eight-hour roundtrip to Spectrum Center in uptown Charlotte to support their teams.

The event — recognized as the best college basketball conference tournament by many — has appeared in North Carolina 48 of its 66 years of existence. But after being out of the state since 2015, it was welcomed back to Charlotte with open arms.

“C’mon now — Brooklyn is not an ACC city,” Kinston businessman Rob Bizzell said with a smile during Friday’s games. “I like Greensboro better because it has a little more ACC history to it, but it’s good here in Charlotte.”

Bizzell graduated from UNC in 1976; his wife Suzanne graduated from Chapel Hill a year later. He estimates they’ve been to eight or nine ACC Tournaments, including stops in Greensboro, Atlanta, Washington, D.C. and Tampa, Fla.

He said his favorite ACC Tournament venue, though, was the only time it was played in Florida — at the Amalie Arena in Tampa in 2007. Bizzell’s Tar Heels won the title that year over N.C. State, so that helped.

Bizzell also had tickets that were only three rows behind the UNC bench for the title game, and he said it made it that much more memorable.

N.C. Sen. Jim Perry (R-Lenoir), an N.C. State graduate, was at Friday and Saturday’s games with his daughters. He, too, was happy to see the venerable tournament back in his state.

“It’s special that it’s back here because it did not feel like the ACC Tournament when it was up north,” Perry said. “When I was in elementary and middle school, the teachers would roll in the 13-inch TVs with rabbit ears and tin foil on them. It’s part of our culture in the South and definitely in Eastern North Carolina.”

The father-son duo of Bert and Tyler Potter made the trip to Charlotte this weekend and watched the semifinals and finals, which Duke won by defeating Florida State. While Bert Potter was pulling for Virginia and its young coach (Tony Bennett) — who lost in the semifinals to FSU — Tyler is a Duke fan.

“I was pumped up,” Tyler Potter said. “It was special — I’ve always been a Duke fan but it was something about seeing Duke win in person.”

Duke defeated UNC in the semifinals by a single point; Bert Potter said it was one of the best games he’s ever seen.

“The semifinal game was such a great game,” Bert Potter said. “It felt like a home court advantage for both teams. The atmosphere was incredible.”

Tyler Potter said, “It was a bucket list game, for sure; especially having my dad with me.”

Luke Hardee, 30, is an N.C. State graduate; he inherited his love for the Wolfpack from his parents, who both attended the school. This year was the first time he’d been able to attend an ACC Tournament.

“There is such an electric atmosphere,” he said before the eighth-seeded Wolfpack lost to top-seeded Virginia in the quarterfinals on Thursday. “It’s been great to see all the ACC fans, though, not just N.C. State or Virginia. You get to see every single fan of every school in the league.”

Greg Cauley, who has attended 513 consecutive UNC home games dating back to 1983 (and 286 consecutive Tar Heels home football games since 1972), attended his third ACC Tournament over the weekend. He also attended the 1989 tournament in Atlanta (when J.R. Reid and UNC won the title over Duke) and the 2004 tourney in Greensboro (when Maryland defeated Duke).

“Just being at an ACC Tournament is very special,” Cauley said.

The ACC Tournament will return to North Carolina in 2020 when it’s played at the Greensboro Coliseum.

“The ACC is North Carolina,” Hardee said. “It’s back home where it should be.”