The city of Chapel Hill, North Carolina is taking precautions ahead of UNC’s appearance in Monday night’s national championship game.
By the end of Monday night, there will be a new national champion in the world of Division 1 college basketball. The trophy could be moving from the campus of Duke University (who won last year’s title) to their rivals located less than 10 miles away, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The North Carolina Tar Heels are slight favorites in their title game showdown against the Villanova Wildcats, taking place just after 9 PM eastern from Houston’s NRG Stadium. Back in Chapel Hill, crews for the city are already hard at work preparing for the celebrations in the street should North Carolina win…or the potential for riots if they lose:
Chapel Hill Officials remove street signs ahead of NCAA game. "Students used them as surf boards in the past" @WRAL pic.twitter.com/mO4HH0Rj3k
— Mikaya Thurmond (@TheMikaya) April 4, 2016
It has become an American tradition for fans of a sports team to take to the streets and, in some cases, destroy property to either celebrate a championship or console themselves after a loss. The city of Chapel Hill has seen this story play out before and isn’t taking any chances this time.
A win by the Tar Heels would give them their sixth national championship all-time and the first since the 2008-09 season. Villanova is going for their second national title all time and is in the championship game for the first time since winning their only title during the 1984-85 season.
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