My story in today’s Wall Street Journal, about how a small state, too far down for its Northern brethren and not quite Southern enough for its neighbors below, has managed to emerge as the basketball capital of the world. There’s Duke and UNC, the last two NCAA champions, not to mention Mike Krzyzewski, who coached the Olympic and World Championship teams to gold medals, or John Wall, the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft, or the Greater N.C. Pro-Am, dubbed the Rucker of the South. At every level of the game—from the prep ranks to the NBA, and especially college basketball—there is some North Carolina flavor, glazed thick, like, say, barbecue sauce. 

“We’ve had some great time periods, but this is about as good as any,” Roy Williams told me. “I’m trying to think of other times, and I’m not coming up with anything.”

Read on, and enjoy, please!