March madness teams are spread across the country, including North Carolina. Some teams could even be practicing just 10 minutes from you. That’s right, top college basketball teams could be very nearby, and you don’t even know it.

March Madness basketball teams have been spotted practicing at local high schools. Places like Panther Creek and Gibbons are on the list so far. There have been multiple first-hand accounts of Florida being spotted at Panther Creek.

They were spotted Thursday, March 30th practicing at Panther Creek. Mohith Mallarapu and Srikar Thota both had sightings of the Florida Gators. Srikar even had some words to say about his accounts.

“I was in gym class before 2nd period, and they were like, “Clean up, the Florida Gators are coming here.” We didn’t believe them, but we did it and nobody was let inside but the basketball team.”

So we know that Florida was definitely at PC, but why? Well because the NCAA tries to make March Madness as neutral as possible; teams are not allowed to use their own facilities. Florida obviously couldn’t because their facilities are in Florida while the team is in Raleigh, so they had to practice at local high schools. Although other teams that are based out of North Carolina; like Duke for example, totally could use their court, right? Wrong.

Duke had to practice at Cardinal Gibbons because the NCAA prohibited the use of facilities other than neutral sites. This is why if they cannot practice at the March Madness facilities, teams must ask local high schools to use theirs instead; which high schools are usually more than happy to oblige.

The Florida Gators were at PC and Duke was at Gibbons, who knows what other teams there could be and where. So be alert and curious, because these college teams could be anywhere!