College basketball is nothing like it once was, that's for sure.
But if you already hate the sport, of course you are not going to relate to the intensity of one of the best college sports rivalries ever. This year was a bad year for Carolina/Duke because the tarheels are down. But it is really great rivalry--and most all-around sports fans at least can appreciate that.
I think the Charlotte area follows Clemson pretty strongly in football.
You would need to be in the Raleigh area to get a better feel for colleger sports in NC. There are 5 D-1 schools within an hour drive of there. I guess if there was one team, they could have 100+ to eavery game no problem. Instead, UNC, NCSt and ECU each draw about 50k per game.
Anyway, I don't see how you can compare West Virginia and how it follows WVU--it's a monopoly. Marshall is the only program there.
How on earth would WVU not have a huge following?
North Carolina has an unmatched history in college basketball, so of course people are going to love it...though the one-and-done thing is killing the sport.
But they have:
UNC (5 titles)
Duke (4 titles)
NC State (2 titles)
Wake Forest (great history)
even
UNCC, Davidson, and about 7-8 other D-1 programs.
There are only 14 programs in college basketball history that have won multiple titles and three of them are from the state of North Carolina.
I guess hoops love is similar in Kentucky with two great programs there and some other good ones.
In football, they spread their allegiances between
UNC, NC State, East Carolina, Wake Forest, Duke, App State, and more.
It's the opposite of West Virginia--there is no monopoly.
Just curious....did you GO to WVU?