This year’s No. 1 tent in Krzyzewskiville is a little different.
It’s sponsored.
The Twin Peaks tent, its name drawn from the David Lynch cult classic TV series, refers in this case to Boozer twins Cameron and Cayden. Its two arches, props the men’s basketball team ran through during Countdown to Craziness, are draped with Boozer jerseys – numbers 12 and 2 – and illuminated throughout the night. Yet the Crank Arm beer these tenters drink comes at a discount, thanks to a sponsorship from the Raleigh-based brewery. And Twin Peaks’ supplies – sleeping tent, pop-up tent, chairs, table, cold plunge – come courtesy of another sponsor, crypto startup Freeport Markets.
“Tent one for us is something we want to be able to tell future generations about. It's something that we're striving for,” says senior Jaden Rodriguez, a public policy major. “It's why you need to have a strong tent captain and it's why you need to have all your financials sorted out. Our tent sponsors have really made that easier.”
This is the 40th anniversary of K-Ville. It all started in 1986 with Kim Reed, center at left.
Tenting, or camping out for student tickets ahead of major Duke men’s home basketball games, has become a basketball season fixture since its 1986 beginnings. In short, K-Ville is the line for student tickets. The first tent gets into the standing room only student section first.
Nowadays, the Cameron-adjacent tenting area bears a Krzyzewskiville sign year-round, and the rules surrounding tenting and earning the coveted top spots have become complex, even challenging. To land the coveted No. 1 tenting spot ahead of the March 7 rematch against UNC Chapel Hill, the Twin Peaks team, led by tent captain Anmol Sapru, a senior statistics and economics major, had to ace an array of challenges. They won the body paint competition and a walk-a-thon. They studied rigorously for an infamously challenging test on Duke Men’s Basketball history. After being the No. 5 tent in 2024, these tenters knew how to land near the top. This year, the top spot itself was the goal.
It’s part of the reason one sponsor hopped aboard.
“Pursuing excellence is something that I think is a good thing, something that my company wants to be associated with,” says Lihong Wang ’24, CEO of Freeport Markets.
The other reason? Networking, in that Wang tented with the crew behind Twin Peaks in 2024. After graduation, Wang worked briefly before launching Freeport Markets. He saw sponsoring Twin Peaks as a way of aligning with the tenters’ ambition and focus. The Twin Peaks crew was inspired by the Blue Devils themselves. As Rodriguez puts it, the basketball program in general is competitive, visible and driven by a culture of excellence.
“We really want to echo that in our tent,” he says.
In previous years, the tent design had fallen a little short, Rodriguez offers, so landing the coveted No. 1 spot meant going big with a more elaborate design. Sapru came up with the Twin Peaks concept. Sponsors meant gear, yes, but also a more cohesive overall vibe.
“The idea of sponsorship for our tent has been around for a little bit,” says Twin Peaks tenter Chris Nash, a senior economics major. “I think [in 2024] we were able to procure one free pizza from Devil’s Pizzeria as our sponsorship.”
In addition to Freeport Markets, this year Twin Peaks reached out to maybe a dozen local breweries with their proposal: We promote your brand, you provide us with, um, refreshments. Crank Arm Brewing Company, a longstanding Raleigh brewery with a relatively new location in Durham, said yes. In exchange for heavily discounted beer, the Twin Peaks tenters wear custom jerseys with the Crank Arm logo into Cameron and do their best to be in the front row. But when they’re in the game, their focus is the same as any of the Cameron Crazies.
“We're ready not only to beat UNC on March 7, but also to win [NCAA championship] number six,” Rodriguez says. “Our tent is ready to go to Indianapolis to celebrate when the Boozer brothers bring it home.”