DURHAM, N.C. — An early spring day has surprised the students in Krzyzewskiville. The heat from the sun stirs teasing warm breezes, and the temperature, inching close to 60, turns this once-frozen campground into a soft swatch of land.

The superheated basketball matchup between Duke and Maryland still is seven hours away, but Duke freshmen Christina Shin and Liz Bramble already are preparing their game faces, well actually, their game hair.

While Shin sits in a folding chair, Bramble, like some hairstylist gone mad, dips a small, wide brush into a jar of paint and streaks long, blue swaths into Shin's dark hair.

Such is pregame life in the strangest and most creative tribute to the joys of college basketball in the country.

On a quad that stretches about 120 yards by 30 yards, across the sidewalk from Cameron Indoor Stadium, home to the Duke basketball teams, a maze of multicolored tents houses some of the most intense fans in sports.

Think of these students as Bleacher Bums with SAT scores around 1,500.

Krzyzewskiville looks like Outward Bound meets Animal House. Some tents barely are suitable for the backyard; others are sturdy enough to endure Himalayan winds.

"It is so much fun," said Joey Kotkins, a Seattle freshman who played basketball and baseball last year at Lakeside. He set up his tent on Jan. 4. It was the fourth tent on the quad, which means he will get the fourth space in line for the home games with North Carolina on Feb. 9 and Wake Forest on Feb. 20.

Two games every season are designated "tent games." Carolina always is one. This year Wake replaced Maryland, which turned out to be a karmic mistake, after Maryland gave No. 2 Duke its first loss on Wednesday night, 75-66.

"I have to say that when I was applying for schools, being part of Krzyzewskiville played into my decision," Kotkins said. "When you look at schools you look at the intangibles, and basketball is one of them."

While camping Wednesday afternoon, Kotkins used the wireless connections in the tent city to prepare for the game against Maryland.

"I was searching for info on Maryland players," he said. "Stuff we can use to yell at them during the game. I got some stuff on Nik Caner-Medley. We're not really supposed to go with this, but he was arrested last year. Maybe if the game gets close, we can poke fun at that."

True to his word, with seven minutes left in a one-point game, Kotkins, wearing the uniform of Gene Wojciechowski — former Duke point guard and now-assistant coach — over a pink shirt, half his face painted blue, joins in the chant: "Go to jail, Caner-Medley. Go to jail."

The rules for Krzyzewskiville, which opened unofficially in 1986, are written into the student handbook. The tent must have at least six people in it, from 11 p.m. to 8 a.m. One member of the group has to be in the tent at all times. And everyone must be in the tent for the last 48 hours before the games with Carolina and Wake.

Official line monitors make random tent checks. Each tent is allowed one violation. But a second violation means the tent members are moved to the back of the ticket line.

"There's a policy that if it gets below 20 degrees we don't have to sleep here," Kotkins said. "But when it's around 25, it's pretty tough. Everyone gets sick. I'm just getting over something. My friend is getting over the flu. Everybody gets a sniffle or two."

So how much of Krzyzewskiville is about the party and how much of it is about the basketball?

"It's definitely mostly about basketball," Kotkins said. "It's cool because there's a relationship with the players here where it's not like they're gods or anything like that. But there is that respect. It's all about the basketball when you come down to it."

An official metal sign, the same kind of sign that tells you where the arts and sciences buildings are, signifies the area as "Krzyzewskiville."

From the windows of his plush office five stories above the village named after him, the Duke coach can see the tents that stand as a tribute to his program. Some nights Krzyzewski sends pizzas down to the students. He usually addresses them before the Carolina game.

"We have this reputation to uphold," Kotkins said. "And so there are some games when we're up by 50 and everyone is trying so hard. Games like Maryland or Michigan State, it's easy to keep the energy high. But we always have to keep the energy going, and if we don't, people get mad.

"Coach K wants it high. We hear from the head line monitor if we don't keep the noise up. We're jumping up, yelling the whole night and by the end, your calves are sore. Last game I lost my voice before the game even started, yelling at the other players. By the end of the game we almost pass out because we're so tired."

A half hour after the loss to Maryland, tired and hoarse, the citizens of Krzyzewskiville begin to hunker down for the night. The tent city is buzzing as the students pile on layers of clothes to combat temperatures that are expected to slip into the high 30s.

Duke lost to Maryland, but the sun will rise tomorrow, and the Carolina game will be one day closer.

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com.