BISCUIT BASKETS: A beloved tradition endures, filling up hungry sports fans.

• Author: King, Brad

College basketball season means promotion time for serious hoops fans, which is why one of the biggest cheers of the year came near the end of a blowout game between the UNC Chapel Hill men's team and The Citadel in mid-December. It was the same reason that the remaining fans in the Dean E. Smith Center had begun chanting, "We want biscuits," during a timeout.

When Jackson Watkins, a seldom-used Tar Heel senior guard, swished a 3-point shot with 10.3 seconds left to make the score 100-67, fans in the Dean Dome knew it was Bo time.

The "Bojangles 100-Point Special" is along-standing promotional partnership between UNC and the Charlotte-based fast-food chain's local franchisee. When the Tar Heels score more than 100 points during a home game, fans who mention the promo the next day can score two sausage biscuits for $1 at participating locations. Many still think it's free biscuits, which was how the promotion began in 2003-04, former coach Roy Williams' first season.

"As I caught the ball in the backcourt, I didn't even consider dribbling the clock out. Wrong or right, there was business to be done," said Watkins, a Phi Beta Kappa student from Richmond, Virginia. He was featured on ESPN later that evening.

A year earlier, a Watkins free throw had sealed the Tar Heels' 100-80 win over N.C. State. So his Citadel points made him one of only eight Tar Heels to sink the "biscuit basket" multiple times. "Very rarely do I dribble away and shoot a deep fading three," he said. "But I am the Biscuit King. I knew it was nothing but net the moment it left my hand."

The partnership between Carolina and the iconic fast-food brand, which recently celebrated its 45th birthday, makes a lot of sense, says Tommy Haddock, president of franchisee Tri-Arc Food Systems. The Raleigh-based company operates about 50 stores in the Triangle and southern Virginia. "Two very recognized brands within this market and the state--it was bound to be a success."

"We were just trying...