Second Half Liveblogging

5:07 Larkins tops a 4-0 run with a three. The play-by-play crew is still worried about her foul situation, and I can't say that I disagree.
5:08 Good interior passing by Duke nets another two points but Larkins responds with a second three a good defense the next time down the court. A lack of offensive rebounds is still trouble for the Heels here.
5:10 Larkins grabs another steal and Latta cruises through the defense. The color commentator speculates UNC and Duke will always play twice a season. That's a bold prediction, there. 38-45.
5:12 First Rashad McCants reference, as his sister enters the game. An eight point Duke lead after another UNC transition basket.

5:15 The broadcast returns by covering the 1998 Men's UNC-Duke game? I need to eventually write about that game, but not during a women's 1-2 matchup.
5:17 Players are hitting the floor all over the place. And not in the obnoxious Redick floor-slap manner, either. It's tough to mount a comeback when Duke keeps getting third and fourth chances.
5:19 Two straight tosses out the baseline on Duke fastbreaks, and Larkins is taking advantage of that. Duke may be wearing itself thin, 42-48.
5:20 "TAR-HEELS" is being chanted quite audibly during a Duke free throw. So, it's a Duke sellout, but not necessarily overwhelmingly Duke fans.
5:21 Three of eight shooting from the line? Blech.
5:24 Duke's halfcourt defense is still stifling. Two freethrows make it 46-54.
5:25 That's the score going into the next timeout. Duke has had practically no rebounding presence on the last two trips down the court. If they don't correct that, it could get a good deal easier for the Heels.

I just realized the Boston College Lady Eagles are, like their male counterparts, off to a less than stellar conference start despite a Top 25 ranking. The UNC-Eagles mens' matchup last week didn't hold any surprises - UNC falls behind, their opponent has enough of a post presence to keep the game out of reach. That's how you beat the mens' team, it's just a question of how many squads can do it.

5:29 Duke regains their rebounding edge coming out of the timeout. The lead bounces back to 46-58, and Hatchell calls a timeout.
5:33 I have to admit, I'm not getting tired of seeing Ivory Latta's pull-ups after cutting down the nets in Greensboro.
5:34 Sloppy passes and near turnovers coming out of the timeout, but with enough second chances to get a bucket. Duke is really packing the inside now on defense. But another turnover gets UNC two more points. 50-58.
5:36 Duke is gassed. I don't think either team has faced this intense of a macthup this year, and UNC is physically better prepared for it. Duke takes a timeout once it becomes a six-point game at 52-58.
5:38 UNC's defense is suffocating, and Larkins is doing a great job on the taller, bigger Duke center without committing a foul.

5:41 Larkins makes it a four point game by sheer force of will.
5:42 Atkinson and Latta each get a bucket over slower Duke opponents and it's 58-60.
5:43 Fourth foul for Larkins, and she's on the bench. This is a crucial point, with UNC down 58-62.
5:45 Duke send a post player to the bench with four as well. Latta gets a timeout after being screened by the wall that is Misty Williams. Duke's regaining its rebounding presence with Larkins out, but UNC is holding it at two. Just under five minutes to play.

5:47 Tie ballgame off an offensive rebound. Duke's getting a second win, but limiting themselves to outside shots.
5:48 Larkins back in the game, and Duke's going at her hard for the fifth. Latta ties it up again at 64 apiece.
5:49 Latta's playing beautifully, passing over, around, and through tired Blue Devils. UNC will have a chance to take the lead from the line after the timeout.

Texas over OU. Arizona over UNC. Indiand over Minnesota. Use this timeout to second-guess Steh Davis.

5:52 66-64 UNC. Muggsey Bogues is in the house. I had no idea he was coaching the Charlotte Sting.
5:54 A man-to-man defense may not be the best recipe for an exhausted Duke to try. It's 68-64, and the speed difference between the two teams is remarkable.
5:55 Duke got a much needed defensive stop, and a three from Currie. They're not even trying to go inside right now. 68-67, one and a half minutes to play.
5:57 Everybody's tired but Ivory Latta, who took four defenders to the basket. Duke responds, and it's 70-69. 41.1 seconds to play.
5:59 Sloppy, sloppy play. UNC almost gave it away twice but Atkinson recovered for two points down low. 72-69, 20.1 seconds remaining.
6:00 Make that 21.3 seconds. Duke better go for three. And Currie does. Miss. Rebound. Misty Williams gets the foul, but not the bucket - my first fear.5.2 seconds left, 72-69.
6:02 Atkinson pulls down the second rebound. Big game from her late, as she goes to the line. The camera cuts to the Carolina fans. A lot of the right color blue, there. 72-70. 3.8 seconds.
6:04 One.
6:05 Two.
6:06 Ballgame. 74-70.

Four straight wins over Duke.
Only undefeated team in basketball.
First in-season Number One ranking ever.

Allen Iverson is the Ivory Latta of NBA basketball.

Here's to Wake Forest, Their Team Is the Poorest

Gregg Doyel continues the Skip Prosser Exit Watch. Just like with Dave Odom, academic standards are brought up - the same sort of folks who criticize players who can't make grades have no problem bashing the standards that would preclude such behavior. Recruiting has been a problem, though. I'd argure the inability to replace Jamaal Levy and Vytus Danielus is a greater cause for this season's downfall than the loss of Chris Paul. With Williams left alone as the prominent threat inside, it's been to easy for teams to collapse on him and Justin Gray, negating most of the offense.

Still, blaming recruitng woes on Duke and Carolina is a little disingenuous. They're national programs, truly able to pull in students from around the country. But high school basketball is a broad talent pool, with the true successes on the college level not always visible in high school gyms. If you're a good coach selling a good program, you can bring in a squad that does better than 1-6 in the ACC.

Unless all your recruits finally realized that the University is in many ways a glorified high school. Then you're screwed.

Liveblogging UNC-Duke

Number one versus number two. Two undefeated teams. A week of ESPN hype, and without Dick Vitale for once. It's the Tar Heel-Blue Devil matchup of my youth, just without Y chromosomes. In celebration of a Carolina game actually making it to West Coast television, I'll spew my thoughts with a characteristic lack of interesting insights. And for those of you who don't care about women's basketball, well yes there's something wrong with you, but I'll intersperse thoughts on the other Heels basketball team while I'm at it.

4:02 The pregame hype footage throws in clips of Vince Carter and a Coach Who Sahll Not Be Named in Durham. ESPN doesn't really have the coverage history for this rivalry they have with the men's, do they? At least they didn't resort to the 1995 Capel shot.
4:04 For those of you behind on the required reading, here's the web hype, varying from insightful to banal.
4:06 Steal and a layup to start. A good statement in the opposing gym.
4:07 In addition to 700+ wins, the winning percentage for Hatchell is also one-thousandth below 0.700 ball at UNC. ANother steal, another layup and it's four-nothing.
4:10 Duke is having trouble shooting, and UNC seems to have an early lead down low. UNC just blew by the Duke press - they're much faster than the teams I remember.
4:11 And the teams I remember had Marion Jones running the point. Another steal.
4:12 Entering the first timeout, it's 8-3 Carolina, and the team is pumped.

4:14 UNC responds to a basket with yet another layup. Duke's getting more offensive rebounds though. The play-by-play folks are talking about Duke playing against mens' teams to practice. It's pretty common - UC Santa Barbara is holding auditions right now, actually.
4:16 Ivory Latta can drive. A beautiful shot over a much taller opponent.
4:17 A poor three choice for Duke. They shouldn't have had position for the rebound, though. And UNC shouldn't be turning it over so often.
4:18 Larkins just blew into the lane and then pounded it up over two post players. 14-11.
4:19 Is "The Allen Iverson of Women's Basketball" really a compliment? Second timeout, 14-13.

Back on the mens' side, if you're wondering why UNC had such an easy time with Arizona, take a gander at the columnist pile-on in the week prior to the game. In that situation, the Wildcats were either going to come out strong and gain confidence, or collapse. Good for UNC to ensure it was the latter.

4:23 Duke takes the lead with a questionable steal, but UNC ties it right up. Larkin is unstoppable on offense, but Duke's big women are getting traction inside on the other end of the court. 16-16.
4:25 They left Ivory Latta off of USA Basketball? That doesn't seem like a wise decision at this point. I think Gail Goestenkors the next Olympic coach as well.
4:27 UNC is getting sloppy, and Duke is up three. No one's hit one from behind the arc yet, though.
4:29 Duke is up 23-18 entering the timeout.

4:31 Look, this Duke coach works the refs over obvious fouls, too!
4:32 Little snithed the ball from Duke like they were standing still, and had great presence of mind while falling down to keep the break going. Duke responds with a quick four points, and Haskell calls a timeout. 22-27.
4:34 UNC's losing its rebounding advantage on the offensive end of the court. Not good.
4:35 The refs keep looking at bruising play and only calling jump balls. Good for them.
4:36 Duke's defense is giving the Heels fits, and just swarming Larkins inside. A stupid foul on the other end gives her three fouls.
4:37 Two more fouls, one on each team. Perhaps I spoke to soon.
4:38 Another bad pass, another tunrover, and two botched rebounds on the other end. Duke drains a three to get a ten point lead.
4:39 The first Redick reference of the night. Only took so long because of the lack of outside shooting, I suppose.
4:40 The Bud Light Daredevil commercials don't seem particularly well targeted towards this fanbase.

4:42 Back from the break with two missed Carolina free throws. The receiving end of the Redick analogy is in the back having her knee looked at.
4:43 With Larkin out Duke's getting more rebounds and putting on more pressure outside. Duke's getting open looks from behind the arc that UNC just isn't. It's a 14-0 run for Team Evil.
4:46 UNC ends the drought after Duke overcommits to the press. First 1994 national championship reference.
4:47 The Tar Heel rebounding has all but disappeared. 24-40. Latta drains a three at the end of the half - I hope it sparks something, 27-40.

Recruiting as Champions

Chris McCray's tenure as a Terrapin is over, and the first thing that popped into my mind was Mahktar Ndiaye.

Let me explain.

It began with Turtle Soup's vehement dissatisfaction with the current crop of Terrapin seniors, all of whom were recruited during the 2002 championship season. And although most of the class was in place before Maryland cut down the nets, the group arrived on a national championship campus, and proceeded not to live up to it.

Which in turn got me thinking about 1993.

North Carolina spent the summer of 1993 polishing a championship trophy and anticipating a monster recruiting class of Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace, and Jeff McInnis. It was, in my opinion, the most destrucitve class to ever come through Chapel Hill.

There was 1994, which ended with a team returning four national champioship starters coupled with three top-twenty recruits put together the worst tournament performance in 15 years.

1995 began with the ship righting itself with a Final Four appearance, but then ended with two All-Americans leaving for the pros.

1996 was left with a depleted team overly relying on McInnis and a couple of incoming freshman. It was at this point that McInnis brought in Mahktar Ndaiye, another 1993 recruit that had washed out of Wake Forest and Michigan. And then McInnis himself left, under less than pleasant circumstances.

Which left, for the senior season of the Class of 1993, Ndaiye. The less said about him the better.

I wonder, what does the effect of a championship have on the incoming class? Often the class is non-existant - Duke's 2001 crew of Daniel Ewing springs to mind - and obviously this year's crop of Tar Heel freshman are as ideal a group as a fan could hope for, so I could just be reading a pattern in noise. The plural of anecdote isn't data, after all. But for Terrapin fans at the moment, and Tar Heels in 1996, high-ranking high school students became a bitter pill to swallow in college. Has it happened anywhere else?

The Rest of the Team

I had my choice today. I could flip back and forth between two first halfs, watching two Carolinas beat themselves with turnovers. Happily enough, one of those two turned it around in the second half, led by some unfamilar faces. Wes Miller's threes got most of the attention in his first start and deservedly so; his 44% three-point shooting for the year is better than a certain kid filling some media columns down the road in Durham. But the other new starter, Byron Sanders also picked up the offensive slack with Hansbrough hampered by fouls, and Danny Green's back-to-back three pointers during the comeback were taken with a confidence I wasn't expecting to see.

Florida State's a good team, and a third straight loss could have been crushing with the upcoming stretch of games - two Top 25 teams spaced by an Arizona team that did a better job against Virginia and Southern Cal than a certain team in blue. Expect to see the Seminoles in the polls before the season's out. And UNC should be there with them.

Twenty Years Ago Today

...a Young Tar Heel March first trotted on and along the cobblestone walls lining Manning Dr. to the shiny new stadium behind Hinton James - the Dean E. Smith Center. Naturally, UNC won, knocking off Duke 95-92. Since then, it's been twenty years of banners from the rafters, team photos on the concourse, bastketball campers in the summer and commencement ceremonies in the winters, a Carolina Blue Santa Claus tossing candy, and 21,750 seats for screaming fans. And where else in the country is there a stadium that has torn out luxury boxes to put in more seats? I've worked there, I've played there, I've cheered there - and there's no other place I'd rather watch a basketball game.

Somewhere I have the ticket stub from that first game, but it's hiding from the scanner at the moment. So instead I give you the oldest joke about the dear Student Activities Center:



Happy 20th Birthday.

Rocked Like a Hurricane

There's not much to say about Saturday's loss that hasn't already been pointed out ad nauseum. Too many turnovers, too few rebounds, and the ever-missing outside game is pretty much a surefire recipe for a loss. The question of the week is, will the rest of the ACC just collapse on Hansbrough and destroy the Heels?

As much as I'm getting a kick out of the fact that newcomers Virginia Tech and Miami have (with Virginia) the most losses of teams in the ACC, I have to admit Miami is a talented team. And the good news for North Carolina is that there aren't that many other powerful frontcourts in the ACC. Duke of course has a beast in Sheldon Williams, and Wake still has the (curiously unmentioned of late) Eric Williams. N.C. State has Cedric Simmons leading a balanced attack, but is still young enough to succumb to foul trouble, but after them and Miami, who's left? You could stretch and put Florida State in there, with a couple of big men to back up impressive-of-late Al Thorton, but that's pretty much it.

This is not to say these are the only teams capable of beating UNC this season. Any game with that sort of turnover margin and poor shooting is a possible loss, as the Hokies tried to show earlier in the week. But these are the teams with the lineups that can devote serious manpower to frustrating Hansbrough without leaving the rest of the team (You know, the other four guys on the court? They're pretty good, too.) to score at will. These are the teams - Florida State unfortunately included, as they match up very well against the Tar Heels - capable of putting on a clinic in beating Carolina.

This is also the pool of teams from which you're going to see an upset or two of Duke as the season goes on, as the game plan for beating the Blue Devils - deny the big man anything and pressure the freshman point guard into multiple turnovers - is the same as the one for Chapel Hill. My personal pick of that crew is Wake and Miami getting an upset apiece. Naturally, as UNC knocking off the folks down the road is expected, it's never considered an upset.

And This 700 Club Doesn't Have Pat Robertson

Sylvia Hatchell recorded her 700th win today against Kate Yow. Yow, as it happens, was also the hapless victim of wins number 500 and 600, and despite reaching the 500 mark herself two years before Hatchell, is stuck at 684. Just in case Wolfpack fans want something else to angst over.

Hatchell is currently the winningest coach in ACC women's basketball history, and is second behind some guy named Smith in the league's entire existence.

A Work I Won't Get Around To

There's a Basketball Game On

I've been doing a marathon amount of labwork lately, which invloves a lot of late nights waiting for machines to finish their things, with naught but an internet connection to keep me awake. And now that the conference season is in full swing, I fully intended to spend a lot of that time reading about the game. The only thing seemingly stopping me was, well, the people writing about basketball.

It seems the infinite amount of webspace needing to be filled leads people to write about easier things than actual basketball. (And eventually to the madness that spawns ideas like ESPN's Page 3, I presume.) So here are two subjects that don't need to be touched on during basketball season:

Recruiting. I first meant to mention this with the spate of articles saying how wonderful next year's group of Tar Heels were going to be. And then again when N.C. State fans turned away from bowl season and the Wolfpack's best OOC match-up to discuss a high school junior. But what tipped it was the Gregg Doyel column on how Rutger's basketball fortunes for the next decade depended on a high school kid choosing between a school in New Jersey and one that just thinks it is.

Ladies and gentlemen, please back away from the high school kids.

Basketball coaches have to focus on recruiting. They're paid anywhere from obscene amount of money to a criminal lack of it to worry about this. No one's paying you a cent. And meanwhile, over there? On the shiny wooden courts? There are basketball games on. Real ones. With your team playing.

High school basketball is fun, if you're in high school. Or know a player or two. (Know as in family member or friend of family, not as potential impact player for your alma mater.) Hell, it can even be a fun distraction if you just want to see what a game is like twenty years or so removed from worrying about acne. But if you're going to these things to evaluate the futures of sixteen year-olds? If you're wearing warm-up gear in a venue where you will be doing nothing athletic? Stop it. You're creepy, you're ruining it for people there to actually have fun, and you're hurting the game of basketball.

Reduce everything back to basketball at it's most basic form - the pickup game. What are the memorable things you take away from a game? That no-look pass on the drive down the court. Shutting down your man on the other team. The horrible shooting motion of that one guy who's just killing you from the outside. It's not the fact that some guy on the sideline called "Next." There's a basketball game on.

No fan should be able to opine anything about the recruiting process beyond "I hear we've got a couple of good kids coming in." That's it. You know more than that, you're feeding an ugly system. You do it for a living? Find a more respectable line of work, like Republican staffer or something.

Bracketology. Joe Lunardi, you need to stop. Bloggers who want to be Joe Lunardi, please turn away from the dark side before it's too late. It's January. No one cares who you think the fifth seed out of the East is going to be. And no, that game between two mid-level Pac-10 teams is not going to have an effect on the seedings in the Midwest. Please invest in something that can explain just how much basketball there is between now and mid-March. I've heard tell of this things called "calendars." Some included cute pictures of kittens. Please. Get one.

Look, I enjoy the NCAA tournament. Selection Sunday is a High Holy Day, that must be celebrated by following the ACC championship game with the Recording of the Brackets, immortalized on notebook paper with hand-drawn brackets. But that's in March.

Remember how no one seemed to really care about the bowl season the last couple of years? That it's just two weeks of games you keep walking by during the holidays interspersed with the same 15 stories about USC or Texas? That's because all ESPN talks about during the year is the BCS, and who's where on the list, and what University A knocking off the Fighting B's will due to C State's and D A&M's positioning until everything that's not that list doesn't seem to matter. And they're doing the same thing to basketball.

Those columns that spring up like mushrooms the second week in March? The ones that begin "Now is when college basketball really begins?" Each and everyone of those writers need to be beaten with a folding chair until they realize kids have been playing college basketball for four months at that point. Bracketologists, the name you've chosen for yourself rhymes with proctologist for reason. You're spending you're time making lists, pushing virtual slips of paper around a board, imagining fantasy games going on in your head when there are basketball games on. Those two mid-level Pac-10 teams? They've got stories to tell. One team is on a three-game slide trying a new offensive scheme to right the ship. The other has a junior back from injury starting against the team emblazened on the pajamas he wore when he was five but wouldn't recruit him out of high school. These are the reasons to watch the games, not to pull names on or off the mythical bubble in your head.

Reduce it back to the pickup game. At any point when you're running up and down the court are you thinking about the free throw ability of who you're running with? Are you making mental lists of who's likely to end up on which squad for the next run? No, because it's a stupid thing to do. And you're playing basketball.

Let the tournament wait until March. Let the freshmen come in September. It's January, and there's a basketball game on.

Wait, This Team?

First they score the last 13 points to run away from the Wolfpack. Then Zabian Dowell noticed it as the Tar Heels escaped with a win in Blacksburg. In both of its ACC matchups this season, UNC has been the deeper team.

Yes, Lost-Seven-Players, Starting-Three-Freshman, Practically-Experience-Free UNC is deep. The mind scarcely has the courage to boggle.

It speaks well towards the team's chances as the season goes on. No one in the league jumps out as having more players in rotation than State, for instance. Perhaps Maryland, although the Terrapins are totalling up more frustrations than league wins. Duke is squeaking by with basically the same shallow team as last year and Wake lost a lot more than just Chris Paul. Does any team leap to mind with a bench that reaches back any appreciable distance?

It's good to see the team able to win when Noel's not around to be den mother. It's disheartening to see the ball get lost 26 times in the process. The free throws are still falling and the rebound margin still tilts Carolina Blue though. And what do you know? The team's deep.

UNC remains one of only three teams undefeated in league play against Virginia Tech. The same number as the teams undefeateed in league play against Boston College. After three games. Perhaps I can drum up some encouragin words later in the week.

Oh and if you have time, hit the Washington Post Sports Page today. Someone for washingtonpost.com gave an inocuous little article the bulletin board title of "Maryland Owns Duke." Heh.

Tar Big Ten March

I got a chance to see the last two hurdles in last year championship, Illinois and Michigan State, open up Big Ten play tonight in a room full of Illini alumni. Some quick thoughts:

First the obvious: Dee Brown played some incredible basketball. Sure, there were more forced shots than Illini fans should be comfortable with, but the damn things went in. His athleticism and the team's defense - Randle shut down MSU's Ager without getting much credit for it from the commentators - aren't enough to return the team to the Final Four, but they'll take them pretty far. Anyone who's thinking of Redick as the Player of the Year needs a tape of this game, because Brown put on a superior performance to anything I've seen out of Durham's backcourt.

(For that matter, anyone infatuated with J.J. needs to come back to reality and learn he's not the best player on that team.)

Paul Davis should also be higher on PotY lists than he is currently, but you wouldn't know it from tonight's game. Augustine and company did a good job of keeping him out of a majority of the plays. Still, when your center has the only three pointer of the first half, it reveals your offensive performance to be, well, offensive.

Michigan State will bounce back though, and Illinois will survive a couple of stumbles themselves as the season goes on. They're a pretty interesting corollary to this weekend's Carolina-State matchup, though. A highly-ranked state school with not much of a non-conference schedule starts a brutal opening conference stretch (Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio State up north and UNC, Boston College, Duke, and Wake Forest* for the brick-loving folks down the road) against a greatly depleted Final Four team performing above expectations. The I-40 matchup should have a similarly low score, and hopefully a familiar final outcome.

Oh, and how long has Hubert Davis been doing commentary for ESPN, and why wasn't I aware of it before?

* Yes, I skipped Georgia Tech on the schedule. Do not trust the blogger.

One Last Kick

King Kaufman has a good column at Salon (subscribe already, they're good people) putting forth a good change for football that will never, ever, happen. But I'm possibly more sympathetic to it after this year's adventures in kicking than the year prior.

My entire bowl experience for this season has been a couple of glances at passed by televisions and the second overtime of last night's AARP Bowl. (And boy, it's a good thing we don't have a playoff, or fans might lose interest in these periphial bowl games, isn't it?) I'll probably catch the second half of tonight's game in Pasedena, which will either be the aftermath of a slaughter or one big helping of crow for the national sports media. Or, you know, neither, since the game could be close and when has a sports journalist ever acknowledged overhyping something?

I'd like to be able to say that Southern Cal will buy into their own hype and be crushed. I'd like to see Texas humiliated as well, not for any Mack Brown animosity but a general dislike of the state and thier propensity to play "I've Been Working on the Railroad." But Brown's teams, despite having systematic troubles getting past certain teams don't get blown out, and the Trojans are incredibly good. The game should close and the offenses firing on all cylinders, but in the end the groundhog will see his shadow and we'll get six more months of Trojan hype.

And then we can get back to sports that know how to determine their champions.

Davidson Then and Now

The News & Observer ACC blog uses the occasion of the Davidson-UNC game to look back at the nadir of the Doherty tenure, and lays the blame at the feet of Jason Capel and Kris Lang. This prompted me to Google the younger Capel, who is unfortunately saddled with a Slate article pinning the debacle solely on him. When New Republic editors are getting paid to complain about your basketball leadership, you know you've been dealt a poor hand.

(For the record, the whole "Capel and Lang! Of course they were awful!" line of thinking is a pretty shoddy one. Capel was putting up numbers similar to NBA-bound Chris Wilcox at Maryland, and as frontcourts go, they weren't many with superior talent. Duke was getting by with Carlos Boozer and Dahntay Jones, Wake Forest was grooming the underrated Darius Songalia and Josh Howard, Virginia had Travis Watson and Chris Williams, and Maryland had Wilcox and Lonny Baxter. It was the guard play that was outstanding that year - the All-ACC team was backcourt heavy, and it's the Dunleavy-Williams and Dixon-Blake tandems that everyone remembers from the Final Four that year. The Tar Heels were sporting two future transfers and a couple of freshmen "determined to lead UNC back to the top.")

Four years later, and Davidson's only another opportunity for the team to irritate Williams with a lack of focus. Not the best sign with the Wolfpack next on the horizon.