If you’re a fan, here’s your chance to see something different than you’re used to, something fresh and new, and – gasp – perhaps something better. Four teams – playing possibly their best basketball of the season – will converge in Syracuse this weekend for the NCAA Regional. With Syracuse out of the NCAA Tournament, victims of a first-round knockout, it’ll be the last chance to see some basketball in the Carrier Dome until November.

And you can witness it, today, for free. If you can’t afford the $90 ticket for a weekend of basketball, or weren’t able to scrounge a ticket to the event of the year, you’re in luck. All four teams will hold an open practice today in the Dome in preparation for their games on Friday. No. 10-seed North Carolina State will face No.6-seed Wisconsin on Friday at 7:27 p.m. No. 1 North Carolina will play No. 5 Villanova 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game, at approximately 9:57 p.m.

But today, starting at noon, practice is open to the general public. The Carrier Dome opens at 11 a.m. North Carolina State takes the court at noon, followed by Villanova at 1 p.m. Wisconsin practices at 2:10 p.m., then North Carolina practices at 3:10 p.m.

UNC, the marquee team in the Syracuse region, will hold a light practice for about 50 minutes. It will use that time to get used to the awkward sight lines produced by the large Dome. Villanova, UNC’s first-round opponent, has the advantage of regularly playing Big East games in the Carrier Dome. Villanova (24-7) last played in the Dome on Feb. 23, 2004 in a 64-59 loss to SU.

‘We’re playing in Big East country in a place where they’ve played before,’ said UNC head coach Roy Williams. ‘We’ll try to give them a little more opportunity to shoot (around on today).’

If you stay for every practice session, you could witness as many as 11 future NBA players, six from North Carolina alone. But think of what could have been, if both Connecticut and Kansas had advanced to the Sweet 16 as their seeding suggested.

Still, there will be a lot of great basketball on display over the weekend, and some great players to boot.

‘(NC State has) several guys, I think, that if you don’t play them well, could have career days,’ said Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan of his first-round matchup with the Wolfpack.

One of which, of course, is Julius Hodge, last year’s ACC Player of the Year. But the Wolfpack (21-13) also boast Bulgarian Ilian Evtimov, who averages 10 points and four rebounds.

The Tar Heels (26-3) have the most depth of any team in the region. They run eight deep, even bringing ACC Rookie of the Year Marvin Williams off the bench as the sixth man.

Villanova has an extremely strong junior class of Allan Ray, Jason Fraser and Randy Foye, in addition to the injured Curtis Sumpter, who is out for the tournament with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

The Badgers’ best threat is Alando Tucker, a swingman with a 38-inch vertical leap who averages nearly 15 points.

All of them will be on display Friday, if you nabbed a ticket of course. And if you didn’t, today’s your last chance to catch basketball in the Dome until the fall.

Published on March 22, 2005 at 12:00 pm