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North Carolina

Raymond Felton, Dré Bly make fiery, impassioned pleas for UNC to not tear down Dean Dome

On3 imageby:Sam Gillenwater•about 11 hours•

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North Carolina Basketball (Dean Smith Center/Dean Dome)
Bob Donnan | Imagn Images

Multiple former players for the Tar Heels have spoken out about the reports of the school looking to build a new arena in replacement of the Dean Dome.

In a recent segment of ‘To The Baha’, Theo Pinson, Raymond Felton, and Justin Jackson discussed the apparent plans for the program to move from the Dean E. Smith Center. Dré Bly also tweeted out the clip with his own opinion on the matter. With that, all four were in disagreement on a new venue for North Carolina.

“Renovate the Dean Dome to upgrade the building but DONT TEAR IT DOWN!” Bly tweeted. “The Dean Dome experience and the Basketball program/history makes the school 1 of the Top/Prestigious Colleges to attend! #UncBasketball#CarolinaBasketball PLEASE DONT DO IT!”

The reactions from Felton, Pinson, and Jackson were just as emphatic on the podcast. They also wanted to protect the history of the program that has taken place at that venue in Chapel Hill.

“You taking away our tradition… He better f***ing start caring. You’re taking away our f***ing tradition of the Dean Dome? There’s certain things you don’t touch,” said Felton. “If you want to go in there and, you know, redo the locker room and, you know, do some stuff? Cool. But build another arena for Chapel Hill is insane.”

“There’s certain things you don’t touch and that’s the biggest thing of this whole situation,” Pinson said. “It’s the Smith Center, Roy Williams Court. You don’t touch that. There’s so many things that have happened in that arena that need to continue to happen.”

“You ask any North Carolina player that’s ever played, there’s not going to be a single person that says, ‘Yes, I want a new arena,'” Jackson said. “Guys that have played in the ACC or played and have played at the Dean Dome? Their answer is going to be the same exact answer because of what the Dean Dome means, what Roy Williams Court means.”

Inside Carolina reported two weeks ago that North Carolina is “leaning toward” eventually building a new arena for the basketball programs at Carolina North with that offering the chance for large financial gain. Lee Roberts, the school’s chancellor, also noted it as a possible move to a more accessible part of campus in an interview with the Triangle Business Journal. That would also mean repurposing the area where the Dean Dome currently is for expansion to the university’s hospital.

The Dean E. Smith Center has been in use for four decades now at UNC. Over that span, the Tar Heels are 488-89 (.846) on their home floor with it seeing five tenures with Smith as well as Bill Guthridge, Matt Doherty, Roy Williams, who the court was dedicated to back in 2018, and currently that of Hubert Davis. For their history over that span, the program has won 23 conference titles and four of their national titles.

North Carolina is a blue blood and, as such, has a pretty iconic venue within college basketball. That’s what these alumni want to protect with these opinions on the news regarding the future of the Tar Heels’ home court.