Meanwhile, In Tempe...

The women's team doesn't suffer from a loss in intensity. I didn't have Basketblog's problem with ASU playing at Tempe. The site was picked before the season, and if the NCAA's isn't going to institute a policy in the bracket drafting stage (that would have kept UNC out of Chapel Hill for the first two rounds) there's no point in complaining about it now. Keep in mind though, I think it was better when the first two rounds were played at the top 4 seeds' gyms.

Basketblog also points out this is the fourth time a school has thirty wins for each basketball team. Next up, a favored Baylor team.

Survive and Advance

The good: We have no problem with a press even with our ballhandler on the bench. Upperclassmen don't miss free throws. Fouled out and on the bench, Felton and Williams v5.0 looked mad -- I don't expect that to happen again.

The bad: Self-explanatory and left as an exercise for the reader.

It's not what I expeected, and it's not the way I would have like them to win, but it's a win. I don't think they'll have the same let down against Wisconsin.

And yes, it was a travel.

Duke's Got the Rheumatism

When it came right down to it, Michigan State had a basketball coach. Duke had a leader who sells credit cards.

(The post title comes from back around the 1930's, when people knew what the rheumatism was, and Hark the Sound was sung in four-part harmony. The line was sung to the bass part, after "clear its radiance shine." Depression-era insults are great.)

Back and Forth with Basketblog

Today's ACC Basketblog's Daily Roundup points to a News & Observer article on the poor attendance at the UNC-Coppin State game. There are strange, little old lady complaints about parking troubles (on a Saturday?) and a lack of advertising, and various people expressing befuddlement at the situation. Stepping in to the breach, Tar Heel March a full 3,000 miles away, will now give a full presentation on the many factors that led to a declining attendance:

1. It was Spring Break.
   
2. There was another Carolina team playing a game in Syracuse at the same time.

This concludes my presentation. Please forward any consulting fees you may be willing to provide to Tar Heel March, Inc. And start publishing the attendance figures in your box scores, so I can point to tonight's GW game and continue to feel superior.

Basketblog also points to a Herald-Sun article that points out two of the three times UNC and Villanova have met in the tournament, the winner has gone on to take the home the title. Know Friday's annoyingly overmentioned commentator trivia today, thanks to Basketblog.

(For my own, imatation round-up type links, I'll throw out King Kaufman's explanation as to why we're not costing the country $889.6 million, and a nice little piece on the other McCants that thankfully doesn't mention events between the coach and Illinois fifteen years prior.)

Rival Rooting

I've been supporting N.C. State all through the tournament. For that matter, I've been rooting for all of the ACC, even to the point of being apathetic towards Duke, which is as close to cheering as I can get. Like most ACC fans, I like seeing the league do well, if for no other reason than it enforces my feeling of fan superiority and allows me to ignore the rest of the country like the North Carolina-centered fan that I am. So I've been happy with the Wolfpack's success to date.

Here's the thing -- I really don't like the idea of meeting other ACC teams in the tournament. I don't why. It's only happen once to UNC -- the 1981 Final Four game against Virginia, where the Tar Heels, 0 and 2 against the Cavaliers for the season, won by thirteen. And I'm confident of Carolina's chances against State, or even looking further ahead, Duke. We've swept the former, and have the depth and intensity at this point to handle the latter.

Maybe it's just the fact that the teams know each other so well. Sure, Wisconsin is probably already knee deep in Tar Heel game film, but this State squad has lived with twice-a-year, coaching job on the line games against this squad for their entire careers. It's an extra variable thrown into the game, and I'd prefer it not be there.

So do I stop rooting for N.C. State? Duke? Or just ignore them until Villanova's safely put away?

(By the way, I only know of two other ACC meetings in the tournament -- Duke and Maryland in 2001, and N.C. State and Virginia in 1983. No ACC teams from North Carolina have ever met.)

Speaking of Championship Intensity

The women's team beat George Washington by 24 points this evening. This after advancing past the first round with a 35 point margin of victory. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a damn good basketball team.

(It's also a team that after falling behind to less talented teams in the foirst two rounds of the ACC tournament, have refocused themselves and are implementing their up-tempo offense to perfection so far in the tournament. For some reason that sounds familiar, I just can't place it...)

McCants Has 17

...and the team is playing with championship intensity. Let's hope it doesn't dissipate over the course of the week. Love the concept of a Villanova, N.C. State, and Wisconsin (now pulling away from Bucknell) bracket, too.

Speaking of the Wolfpack, I'd offer them my congratulations, but with the win doing wonders for Sendek's job security, are the fans even rooting for their team at this point?

True Drunken Duke Fan Quotes

"If it's Wake and Carolina in the final game, I'm pulling for Carolina. That's how much I hate Chris Paul."

"They really need to stop playing this American Express commercial so much."

McCants Has 18

...and I'm still not sick of the title joke yet.

I actually got a chance to catch a couple of games and a few intoxicating beverages. Illinois continues to have mysterious ball handling and shooting problems, but mitigated it stellar play from Augustine, much to the roommates' relief. Kentucky and Cincinnati played ugly basketball until someone was forced to win, and the Other McCants continued UW-Milwaukee's unscheduled stay.

As for the Wake-West Virginia game, I don't know why the Demon Deacons adopted the Big East policy of letting their opponents back into the game, but once that collapse occurred, it was among the most exciting basketball of the year, second only to UNC-Duke II. Gansey proceeded to spend two overtimes atoning for a crucial missed free throw, Wake Forest was getting three-pointers from just about everyone, and Eric Williams was in full heart attack mode, from the blocked shot in the first OT to the missed layups in the second.

Honestly, I really thought Levy would step up after Gray and Paul left the game, and pull Wake to victory. Instead, all of West Virginia's 2OT points seemed to come from driving right past him. I don't know if his vanishing act this year came from Paul and Gray taking more of the offense on their shoulders, but this game was not an indication that the Levy of yore will be coming back.

McCants Has 16

Alas, the West Coast affiliates realize are aware it's not that Oakland as well, so my lunch break was limited to Southern Illinois - St. Mary's. One of the roommates is from the Saluki area and has a fondness for X-box sports, hence I've somehow walked away with the impression that Southern Illinois has a UNC or UCLA caliber athletic program across the board.

Not much commentary to be gleamed from the box score -- May had a nice double-double, McCants and Felton shot and passed well, the leading scorer came off the bench, and from the reports eveybody hustled. What more could you want?

Up next is a surging Iowa State, with Villanova and Florida filling up the rest of the bracket-half. And are Big East conference games only twenty minutes long? After Villanova, Connecticut, and Boston College were all nice enough to let their opponents come back in the second half, I'm beginning to wonder.

McCants Has 21

The other McCants cousin, of course. Congratulations to UW-Milwaukee -- I wouldn't mind a little family statistical rivalry for the weekend.

Current UNC Bandwagon Manifest

The Men's Team:

• Tony Mejia and J. Darin Darst, CBS SportsLine
  
• Pat Forde, Fran Fraschilla, Doug Gottlieb, and Joe Lunardi, ESPN
  
• Seth Davis and Luke Winn, Sports Illustrated
  
• Brandon Funston, Mike Harmon, Matt Romig, Joe Lago, Cris Carter, and Bob Margolis, Yahoo Sports
  
• Malcolm Jamal-Warner, Yes, that Malcolm Jamal-Warner
  
• Dick Vitale (sigh)

For those of you heartened by the Yahoo Sports picks, they consist of three fantasy experts (sic), two NFL guys and a NASCAR analyst.

The Women's Team:

No one. Everyone loves Baylor. I'm reminded of the 1995 men's team. Absolutely no one thought No. 1 seed UNC would beat No. 2 seed Kentucky's three point barrage. Except Dean Smith just out coached them -- we didn't give them anything inside, never let a second chance bucket through, and taught everyone that the typical three-point percentage can't beat a team all by its lonesome.

Sylvia Hatchell's a damn good coach, too, and this team's better than the one that took Tenneseee to the wire in 1998. They'll be in Indianapolis.

Hate Hate Hate

Slate has a feature today on NCAA tournament teams to hate, and to no one's surprise a couple of ACC teams make the list. And naturally, I have a couple of comments:

First of all, Josh Levin does put in a quality effort in Duke mocking -- for a Brown grad. A fundamental mention of the whiny attitude, appropriate NBA failure and Wojciechowski mockery, and good find in the J. J. Redick poetry. Of course, true emnity doesn't set in until those tobacco-whores try to legislate you out of existence and your football rivalry is disbanded for being to fierce, but we'll let that slide in this case. Just remember, it's not that we don't want you to hate Duke. We've just been doing it for 180 years longer than you have. We're here to help you take that emnity to the next level.

As for the Carolina entry, I'm mildly insulted. We only rated an insult from Kansas? Is there no one at Slate from an ACC school? There are seven fine institutions full up people still bitching about Four Corners, ref favoritism, the attractiveness of our alumni, and a whole host of other minor annoyances. We're hard at work training another three. And you had to go to Kansas? You're just not trying, folks.

Actual Basketball Being Played

The play-in game -- abomination that it is -- has sent us the Oakland Golden Grizzlies to Charlotte as UNC's first round opponent. My enitre knowledge of Oakland is listed below:

• They're not from that Oakland.

Those of you interested in learning more can always root around here. Not only does the win opens up the possiblity of a Golden Grizzlies - Golden Gophers weekend for the Tar Heels, but Oakland continued the tradition of teams with losing records winning the play-in game (all four to date), and improved the overall tournament performance of sub-.500 squads to 5-19.

Meanwhile in the NIT, Virginia Tech won, Miami lost, and Krzyzewski coaching disciples went 0 for 2 with Notre Dame and Missouri going down. Certain athletic directors may want to revise their short lists.

Department of Corrections

In the previous post certain statements and predictions were made involving the relative strengths of various basketball programs and how this would influence coaching moves and NIT success. Some of these statements were based on the assumption that Marquette could score more than 40 points against Western Michigan. As this has now been shown to not be the case, said statements and predictions must and shall be revised. We here at Tar Heel March are sorry for any inconvienence this may have caused.

Picking NITs

I'll admit, I wasn't particularly interested in the NIT when Carolina was playing in it. Part of it's media related -- I seem to recall a time when NIT brackets were commonplace in newspapers. Now you have to dig in the back next to the horse racing odds to find scores. So NIT coverage is better sought out elsewhere. Uncertain Prinicples and Turtle Soup both play Gary and fix the Terps, while Dr. Principles goes one step further and gives Syracuse fans a reason to worry. It's not a good sign when both the recommended fixes require a Will Bowers performance not yet seen on this earth, however.

Personally, my NIT New Yorkers would be Marquette, Memphis, Clemson, and Arizona State, although Davidson and whoever comes out of the Vanderbilt-Indiana matchup also look pretty good.

Buzz Petersen, UNC alumnus and hero of a nine-year old Tar Heel March, has been let go at Tennessee. He's a good coach and will bounce back pretty quickly, but I was amused by the list of replacements. Tennnessee, you just fired an above .500 coach after four seasons, and you're looking to hire someone took take the third most followed coaching position at your university. For Jamie Dixon (Pitt), Tom Crean (Marquette), Frank Haith (Miami) and even Jeff Lebo (Auburn) taking this job would be a step down from their current position. It's a lateral move for Bobby Lutz (Charlotte), Dan Monson (Minnesota) and possibly even Mike Anderson (UAB), and you just showed that taking your gig was going to up their blood pressure and not their profile. I hope Gregg Marshall can live up to your standards, because he's the best you're going to get.

The Other 48: First Thoughts

Five ACC teams seems fair enough. Nice rewards for ACC tournament peformance, or lack thereof. Wake's two seed guarantees at least another week of Chris Paul's Punch-Out! discussion, unfortunately.

Having dwelt a little longer on the brackets, I'd put it as a toss-up between Syracuse and Albuquerque for the toughest road designation. There seems to be a lot less consistency across the board this year than in years past however, and depending on which Big East and Big Twelve teams show up could alter the difficulty levels quite a bit. My first thoughts are below.

Note: Use for monetary purposes at your own peril. Remember, profiting from collegiate sports is horribly, horribly wrong, unless you are a major collegiate institution, coach, or multinational corporation.

Chicago: Illinois over Nevada, Alabama over Boston College, Arizona over UAB, Oklahoma St. over Southern Illinois. Illinois over Arizona in the final.

Albuquerque: Pittsburgh over Washington, Georgia Tech over LA-Lafayette, Gonzaga over Texas Tech, Wake over Creighton. Wake over Pittsburgh in the final.

Austin: Duke over Stanford. Syracuse over Michigan St., UTEP over Oklahoma, Kentucky over Cincinnati. Kentucky over Syracuse in the finals.

St. Louis At this point, I'd have to say Illinois over Kentucky, if for no other reason than so I my house key still works tomorrow. This weekend's performance has me nervous about our ability, and an Iowa State-Florida-Kansas-Kentucky stretch seems pretty murderous. If things thin out or the team returns to midseason form, I might feel more confident.

Syracuse: First Thoughts

UNC over the 16th seed and Iowa State, Florida over Ohio and Villanova, Kansas over Bucknell and Wisconsin, Connecticut over UCF and N.C. State. Then UNC over Kansas in the final, just so half the sports broadcasters in country spontaneously combust, and a golden age of intelligent talking head can descend over our athletic community.

It's a pretty steep draw, all things considered. I have no idea which Big East teams will show up -- my sinking suspicion is they switch teams between games just to confuse everybody outside of the Northeast. There are a couple of teams just beginning to find their groove (Florida, Iowa St. and N.C. State), a couple of old stalwarts always comfortable in March (Kansas, Wisconsin), and multiple Wolf Packs. We'll see.

Women's NCAA Brackets

The women's bracket is set. Again, my knowledge of the field is stuck in 1997, but I'm not particularly happy to see both Notre Dame (the team that eliminated UNC in '97) and UC Santa Barbara (my current school of residence) as possible Sweet Sixteen matchups.

I still can't get a straight answer as to whether the women's tournament is on the same pod system as the men's. If so, the first round games look to be at home, otherwise Fresno or Seattle. West Regional looks to be Tempe.

(I should dig up how often UNC ends up in the West regional -- between Tennessee and Duke's recent monopoly on the top East seed, it seems like quite a lot.)

UPDATE: Pod system, home game for UNC.

Dear Illinois

We're going into the NCAA tournament with a one more day's rest than you.

(For those of you just joing us, this isn't looking ahead, it's merely looking across the living room. I lost the house vote today and only saw the end of the game, so that's about the extent of my commentary.)

Quarterfinal Thoughts

Somewhere in an alternate universe are a series of posts where I pick first the entire ACC tournament, and later the final seven games. I'm sure they're really well written. They also keep picking teams like Miami and Virginia Tech, so perhaps it's better they never saw the light of day. I should follow the coach seniority rule more in making picks.

Dave Sez found Woody Durham calling the games on the internet. The lab was a little more bearable today. And when did Eric Montross start doing color commentary?

I only caught the end of the Carolina-Clemson matchup, and thus missed most of the hole-digging. If we had to suffer a letdown in intensity, this was a good time to do it, and the team seems mature enough to not let it happen again.

Herb Sendek continues to overachieve in the ACC tournament. It may in part be that he underachieves the rest of the year, but for three days in March he definitely outperforms his peers. Which makes this fan protest, if true, even dumber. Support your team. Fire the coach -- if you feel it's the smart thing to do -- afterwards.

The Virginia game's starting now. As much as I'd like Virginia to succeed, Duke doesn't seem to be the type of team to let their guard down and Virginia doesn't have the depth to wear them down.

Useless Trivia

Only three active coaches have winning records against active coaches with more seniority in the ACC tournament -- Skip Prosser is 1-0 against Paul Hewitt, who is 1-0 versus Pete Gillen, and as of today, Oliver Purnell is 1-0 against Gary Williams.

(I started looking into this as a result of another StateFans Nation complaint. The only active coaches with taking winning ACC tournament records into today Krzyzewski, Gary Williams, and Sendek. The first two took 6, and 14 seasons respectively to break .500; Sendek has never been below it. And with the loss today Gary Williams is now only 14-14.)

Say No To Airball

I've briefly mentioned that Air-ball should never be chanted in the Dean Dome. I don't think it'll ever happen, since Air-ball is the archetypal cheer, learned in childhood, and distressingly effective -- the roommates attribute a good portion of Illinois loss to the Buckeye crowd getting into Dee Brown's head with it. But still, I dream of the day where Carolina fans abandon it once and for all. Why?

It's a Duke cheer.

(And should the article go the way of all newspaper, you can always read a blog summary or go back to where I first heard the story.)

It's also ingrained into the human psyche -- apparently dropping from an F to a D is one of those weird little things humans do so well -- so my hope of eradicating it is a Holland-sized windmill to be tilting at. But suggestions for a replacement are always appreciated. I could never think of anything better to replace it than a standard four syllable Not worth guarding chant, myself.

As for why Air-ball is the F to D transition? At the time Yonaker took his shot, the crowd was chanting Bor-ring. Ah, the joys of the Four Corners offense...

The Case Against Coach K

Krzyzewski should not be named ACC Coach of the Year.

Of course, that a Carolina fan would adopt this position is shocking to absolutely no one, but I feel the arguement has to be thrown out there anyway. So here's my response to the "He's done more with less" crowd: What crazy definitions of more and less are you using?

Here's a brief summary of the "less" Krzyzewski had to start the year off:

• Three starters off of a Final Four team.
  
• Two Third Team All-Americas (in different votes)
  
• The ACC Tournament MVP
  
• 5 McDonald's All-Americas, and one honorable mention, none of whom are named Williams.
  
• High school Players of the Year for two different states.

Sportswriters and coaches around the country looked at the "less" Duke was bringing to the table, and predicted finishes of 11th and 12th in the country respectively. That they've excelled to 5th says more to me about the parity in the Top 15 than any coaching genius at work.

Now compare that to what's happenned up in Blacksburg. Did anyone beleive Tech would be anywhere but the cellar in ACC play? Could anyone name two players on the team before the season started? Greenberg did an incredible job. Krzyzewski got good play out of good players.

Maybe I'd feel different if I'd seen a lot of commentary after games claiming Duke won on shear coaching, but I never did. Even after they beat UNC, all the press seemed to be on how Redick knew what the play was going to be, as opposed to Krzyzewski outfoxing Williams. In fact, the only coaching move that's attracted any attention was starting the benchfolk against Wake. [1] He didn't start with that much less, and he didn't do that much more. he's not the Coach of the Year.

(And in case you're curious as to what Roy Williams started the season with? take the above list, cross out the ACC Tournament MVP, the Finar Four stuff, and the fast food honorable mention. Now change the two third team AA's to second, and tack on Players of the Year for another two states, and that's the whole package. UNC and Duke both even have a banked-on recruit who ended up elsewhere.)

[1] For the record, I believe benching the starters was purely motivational and not bringing in the goons. Of course Chris Paul was fouled. You put him up against someone that mcuh worse than him, and he's going to draw fouls out of sheer ineptitude. They weren't malicious, they weren't intentional and they weren't part of any master plan. Patrick Davidson's a tuna sandwich.

What I'm still waiting for is the Wake fans to look inward for a moment. They've spent the last two weeks complaining louldly that they've been cheated, that their opponent plays dirty and gets away with, and that there's no justice in the ACC. And now they're shocked that the 19 year-old with a martyr complex that's been listening to this nonstop goes and does something stupid? Why?

Sweep!, continued

UNC 88, Duke 67

That's from a Top 5 team, an almost guaranteed number one seed, and one presumably playing the first two rounds in Chapel Hill. Congrats.

(I admit, I haven't followed women's basketball since the days where the top four seeds played first round games at home, so I don't know if current regulations prevent teams from playing on their home court now that the sites are chosen in advance.)

Liveblogging UNC-Duke

Because I can. All times West Coast, in case you're confused.

1:04 Good to see we're still starting Seniors on Senior Day.
1:05 Billy Packer, please stop criticizing Senior Day.
1:06 4-5. Good followup by May.
1:08 Who the hell calls Randolph "Shav?"
1:09 Duke has 179 blocks on the season. Evil Williams only has 96 of those.
1:10 Two good rebounds for May. Coming in to this game, May has 183 rebounds in ACC play, Evil Williams 182. In case you need another reason to be interested.
1:12 Already sick of the Hootie Burger King commercial.
1:13 Take me there live?!? I don't want to see Quin Snyder! I especially don't want to see two teams stand around while there's a better game going on!
1:16 9-16? I blame CBS. Illinois should still be number one after the loss, by the way.
1:19 Missouri beats Kansas. Illini roommates happy. Have I failed in my Duke-hatred teaching?
1:20 Melchionni shoots, misses, and no one tries to claim he's a walk-on. I feel dirty complimenting Billy Packer.
1:21 Your life is about playing games, and I'm not paying for your stupid credit card. Shaddup.
1:24 Two steals. Jackie Manuel with the most impressively business-like dunk I've seen in awhile.
1:26 Foul called on Redick. Really wish the crowd could come up with something better than "J.J. sucks."
1:27 When exactly did working the offical become an admirable coaching trait?
1:30 I know next to nothing about David Noel, but that's some impressive two-foul defense.
1:32 30-29. Sean May pulling away in the rebound race.
1:33 Reason #2 why CBS is better to watch the game than ESPN: They have a much more in-depth library of UNC-Duke highlights. I wonder if the Capel half-court shot would be nearly as well-known if it wasn't the first UNC-Duke game ESPN televised.
1:35 That's Noel, N-O-E-L.
1:38 Do you think Felton's enjoying the chance to play the McCants drive-and-create role?
1:40 Felton's free throws have been interrupted so CBS could inform us that Charles Kuralt is still dead.
1:46 No CBS, I don't want to see the Manuel foul / Redick potential injury rplayed. I want filler profiles of J.J. Redick!
1:48 40-38. I recognize one Duke player on the court, Ewing.
1:51 Did I hear that right? Daniel Ewing's first double-double was against Miami?
1:54 No Billy Packer, Redick cannot take Rashawn Terry. (Speaking of which, a hot Terry -- very, very, bad for Duke.)
1:56 47-41. I can live with a six point halftime lead. Now I just have to keep the roommates from seeing the Illinois highlights again.
1:57 Just once I'd like to see a TD Waterhouse commerical end with Our Plucky Young Investor saying, "Sam Watterson? What the hell are you doing in my house?"
2:05 You mean we still can't consider Kansas anything less than a number one seed? Didn't they lose four of there last six?
2:07 Carolina Covenant is great and all, but I miss Charles Kuralt.
2:09 I don't recall ACC basketball having to advertise it was still good in the previous fifty years. Maybe the loss of the Tom Smith Food Lion commercials was a larger blow than I thought.

Second Half:

2:12 Billy, non-productive Randolph is the rule rather than the exception.
2:16 51-47. Williams has three fouls, Manuel airballs a free throw. I really need to get to writing the "UNC fans should not chant 'Airball'" post. Not that they did in this case, of course.
2:18 Amazing what good things can happen when Randolph shoots a three-pointer.
2:19 Airball, Redick. Still shouldn't have chanted.
2:21 1995 overtime game, why do your highlights haunt me? Are there no highlights of the '74, 7 points in 15 seconds game?
2:22 Coach American Express, would you like to know how we look at you?
2:24 I was just about to eat crow on my Randolph mockery when he missed that dunk.
2:28 58-54. At this point, I must stop and thank Mssrs. Packer and Nantz for not uttering the phrase "block party." You are scholars and gentlemen, and may you never cross Musberger's path.
2:32 58-59. We might have to develop a half-court offense, guys.
2:34 May doesn't seem tired. Manuel's throwing himself all over the place. I'm much more confident than I would have been at this point last year. Of course, I'd be even better if we'd stop being blocked.
2:41 I would never have considered the 2003 game a "UNC-Duke Classic."
2:45 Evil Williams has 2 rebounds?
2:47 Florida State beat Virginia?
2:48 64-68. I'm still pretty confident, all things considered. Especially since the cahnces of Redick returning to form is being considered.
2:51 How many commercials is Krzyzewski doing nowadays?
2:54 Melchionni can start playing like Randolph anytime now.
2:56 We have a tremendous advantage inside -- do we have a half-court offense to exploit it?
2:59 71-73. I'm developing a slight man-crush on Sean May.
3:00 Can't. Type. Redick. Open shot. Manuel. Shoot. Damn. Ball.
3:03 That cannot be a jump ball. Luckily, CBS is right there with a cell phone ad.
3:06 75-73. You expected me to be typing in those 7 seconds?
3:09 Well, Redick didn't get a good look, which was the most I could have asked defensively. Congratulations all around.

If you had told me the game would be this close beforehand, well, first of all I wouldn't have done the whole liveblogging thing. If you'd told me it would be this close and Redick would be absent in the second half, I would have thought you mad.

Jackie Manuel is better than most people think. So is Rashawn Terry. I now appreciate David Noel's defense. I'd still like more of a half-court offense. McCants can come back anytime now.

(And we get to do it all again tomorrow. UNC-Duke for the Women's ACC Championship. Now if you excuse me, inebriating beverages await.)

If You Can't Say Something Nice...

By all accounts this post should be blank. But under an hour before the start of The Game (Part II), I will fufill the mental note I made before I started THM, and say something nice about Duke:

Duke made my living situation bearable.

Let me explain. I live in what by some accounts is the least affordable housing market in the country -- I have roommates. And as it so happens, they're all graduates of U of I. And yes, they're not having a particularly good day at the moment.

Let's review the timeline of my first year as a member of an Illini household:

• One month in: Roy Williams makes the entirely appropriate at the time comment "I don't give a shit about Carolina" in response to the dumbest sports interview question not involving trees.
  
  
• Two months in: Roy Williams is at Carolina. Bill Self is at Kansas. Illinois is signing a former Saluki. I'm locking my door at night.
  
  
• Five months in: Football season starts. An Illini-Tar Heel house is not going to be happy during football season.
  
  
• Six months in: Good Lord, they're Cubs fans too.
  
  
• Eight months in: UNC 88, Illinois 81 Leaving dishes in the sink is now a death penalty offense.
  
  
• Nine months in: Illinois is unranked. I'm only allowed in the house between 3 and 5 a.m.
  
  
• Eleven months in: Duke 72, Illinois 62. Now is the time you turn to someone who has an undergraduate degree in Duke hatred. Everyone learns how to achieve new heights in swearing. New depths in grudges are plumbed. Roommates bond over the joy of watching Chris Duhon cry at the inevitable Duke loss. And then watching it again, because the local and sattelite feeds at the bar are just out of sync. Peace decsends over the household.

So in the spirit of national unity, on this Day of Days, I pause to thank Duke. Because of you, an overpriced university of overcoddled high school students still sucking on the teat of a tobacco fortune, I can leave my dishes in the sink. Here's to you, University of New Jersey at Durham. Play ball.

The Return of Rick

Apparently the rumor du jour is that Rick Barnes is returning to the ACC and taking the Virginia job. StateFans Nation thinks N.C. State should try to grab him out from under UVA. Which is odd, because everytime they trot out the "coaches love the coaches they beat" arguement, I can't help but think of Rick Barnes, his 1-9 record against UNC at Clemson, and the fact that Carolina fans hate him.

I don't know Rick Barnes. As a card-carrying UNC fan, I don't like Rick Barnes. I fondly remember his last game in Chapel Hill. I know nothing about the man. But let me ask one question:

Why would he come back? He's the most successful basketball coach ever at a sports-intensive school in a sports intensive conference. He gets to walk into Cole Allen Fieldhouse every year, to tangle with Bobby Knight twice a year -- and this is Lion-In-Winter Bobby Knight, with only coaching to fall back on and none of the diefication that so annoyed Barnes about Smith and Krzyzewski -- all in front of a fan base busy putting the screws of history into the football coach down the hall. And he's going to give that up to come to Charlottesville? Or worse, Raleigh, where his season is measured by roughly 6 games against three teams?

Not going to happen. The Wolfpack can fire or retain Sendek to their liking. But if they do decide to go after Barnes, here's my advice: Look up Dame, Notre and Meyer, Urban. Family ties and success in the '80s ain't what they used to be.

Gripping Medical Reporting

Like everyone else, we here at Tar Heel March are deeply concerned about Rashad McCants' health, so much so that we've begun speaking in the first person plural. So we turn to our resident medical experiment in our new segment:

Ask an old Dr. Tim Taft quote!

Today's Old Dr. Tim Taft Quote comes from 1996. Take it away, Old Dr. Tim Taft Quote:

What's the worst-case scenario for Rashad McCants?

"He could die" --Dr. Tim Taft, 1996

Thank you for joining us for an exciting episode of Ask an old Dr. Tim Taft quote!

(Dr. Tim Taft is the director of sports medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill. Actual quote in reference to Chris Keldorf. Neither Chris Keldorf or Rashad McCants are in any way non-living at current writing.)

Sweep!

Belated congratulations to the UNC Women's team, which swept Duke in the regular season for the first time since 1997. Alas, from three thousand miles away, watching men's games is difficult and women's impossible, so unless you want up-to-the-decade commentary on the 1997 team that last swept the Blue Devils, I'm of no help.

Perhaps the tournament will interrupt Fox Sports' all SoCal, all the time coverage. Here's hoping, and good luck.