Tar Heel March

Tar Heel March No More!

2006-08-21T15:47:00.000-07:00

What with partnerships and blog networks being all the rage, I've hooked up with SportsBlog Nation and their filthy lucre to relaunch as:

http://www.carolinamarch.com

Head over there for the full story. Or, stay here and be all indie rock complaining about how much better I was before I sold out. This is the last of the new content here, though. I'll leave you with the greastest piece of wisdom I can impart.

Tar Heel is two words. Really. This bit of wisdom was at one point part of freshman orientation at UNC - I don't know if it still is, but the fact remains. Two words. Capitalized. Duke fans, speaking it in reverence while kneeling facing south with outstrecthed palms in acknowledgement of UNC's athletic superiority in just about everything, is optional, but encouraged.

(And if you never saw the logo for the original site, stop using Internet Explorer. I was always proud of that logo.)

Wherein Excitement Is Found for Sep. 2nd

2006-08-15T17:13:00.000-07:00

Stewart Mandel at SI has a quick bit on games to look forward to on the opening week of football season. UNC-Rutgers is not on that list, unsurprisingly. The interesting thing though is the number of Rutgers fans, there and elsewhere - this game has become a real litmus test of how the Scarlet Knights will fare this year. There was similar talk with regards to Utah in 2004 - the path of their season hinged primarily of the results of that game. You sometimes forget how North Carolina is viewed outside of a conference that defaults to lumping them with Duke.

As for September 2nd, I'm looking forward to it as being a game I might actually see on TV, but the true week of college football will be two weeks later with: Clemson at FSU, Miami at Louisville, Florida at Tennessee, LSU at Auburn, Michigan at Notre Dame, Nebraska at Southern Cal, Oklahoma at Oregon and Iowa State at Iowa. UNC, of course, draws Furman.

Duke Football Achieves Hasselhoffian Status

2006-08-11T14:13:00.000-07:00

Gawker theorizes exactly how a German tourist ended up in a Duke football T-shirt. Left unexplained? The existence of Duke football T-shirts.

Blog Is the New Half-Assed

2006-08-07T23:07:00.000-07:00

Luke Winn's blog has an interview with Matt Doherty about his blog. Unsurprisingly, this is all somewhat Mark Cuban's fault.

I'm still not sure how to react to Doherty's "SMU - The Duke of Dallas" perspective, by the way.

The Perils of Prognostication

2006-08-04T00:03:00.000-07:00

Blogging will be light the next couple of days, due to various things in the mix, and the local imaginary holiday. The difference between this and all of my other mysterious absences? I'm mentioning it ahead of time.

But I'll leave you with this. Sports talk radio is difficult - I sure couldn't do it. There's a lot of time to fill with a lot of opinions, and you're going to be wrong some of the time. It's just a matter of luck as to which day an author stops by to jot down what you say for one of the more popular books on basketball in recent years. And the money quote that made the book?

"And North Carolina will be lucky if Tyler Hansbrough develops into a player as productive as Carlos Boozer."

Hansbrough, of course, had almost identical statistics and accolades as a freshman that Boozer achieved as a senior. Luck of the draw, I guess.

(And if you haven't read the book yet, now's a good time before football gets underway.)

Non-Conference Scheduling Thoughts

2006-08-01T00:10:00.000-07:00

While I'm on the subject of scheduling in the ACC:

The sum total D-IA experience of Boston College's nonconference schedule is 109 years, over half of which is provided by Brigham Young. You're in the ACC now, have some respect with regards to scheduling.
Teams to get used to seeing a lot of this year: Notre Dame (facing Georgia Tech and UNC), Western Michigan (Florida State and Virginia), Troy (Florida State and Georgia Tech), Florida International (Maryland and Miami), Southern Mississippi (N.C. State and Virginia Tech), and East Carolina (N.C. State and Virginia). Especially savor the two games against the Fighting Irish - it's a rare week they make it on to television.
Big East conference members visiting the ACC: Cincinnati (Virginia Tech, 9/23), Connecticut (Wake Forest, 9/16), Louisville (Miami, 9/16), Pittsburgh (Virginia, 9/2), Rutgers (UNC, 9/2), South Florida (UNC, 10/14), Syracuse (Wake Forest, 9/2), and West Virginia (9/16).
SEC teams doing the same: Alabama (Duke, 10/7), Vanderbilt (Duke, 10/28), Ole Miss (Wake Forest, 9/23) and the season-ending rivalry games for South Carolina (Clemson, 11/25), Georgia (Georgia Tech, 11/25), and Florida (FSU, 10/25). Nice to know what it takes to get one of those teams on your schedule without 50+ years of personal animosity, isn't it?
No Big Ten, Big Twelve, or Pac-10 teams play ACC squads this year. I'm glad that twelfth game is being used for such marquee matchups.
And if you're a Conference USA fan? Try Houston (Miami, 9/30), Rice (Florida State, 9/23), Southern Miss (NCSU, 9/16), and everybody's favorite team to be legisatively mandated to schedule, East Carolina (Virginia, 10/7 and NCSU, 11/25).
For the record, the breakdown is 8 Big East games, 6 SEC, and 5 Conference USA, with the remaining 29 divided up amongst the MAC (6), the Sun Belt (6), the Mountain West (2), the WAC (1), four independents and a shameful 9 Division I-AA teams.
The three squads that should be applauded for going twelve rounds in the grown-up leagues? Clemson, North Carolina State, and Virginia. Maryland and Miami come the closest to double-dipping, adding Florida International, in its second year in DI-A, to schedules that already have DI-AA teams on them (William & Mary and Florida A&M, respectively).

Nepotism: Still a Bad Idea

2006-07-31T16:22:00.000-07:00

Bad news for new Oklahoma State coaches and beleagured coordinators at Florida State. Joel Waldfogel has an article in Slate on a study of how replacing a CEO with their son hurts the value of the company. Since there would never be a large enough sample size to replicate this in collegiate coaching, this might be th best evidence that one's hiring search shouldn't begin and end at Thanksgiving dinner.

Who's Not Playing Who

2006-07-31T00:46:00.000-07:00

As I begin to think about making uninformed prognostications about the upcoming football season, I figure it's good to start by looking at the schedule imbalances within the mysteriously enhanced ACC. So for my own reference as much as anything,

COASTAL DIVISION

North Carolina avoids Boston College, Florida State and Maryland. The latter two have 3 and 4 game winning streaks againts the Heels, respectively, so its a successful break for the Heels, depending on Maryland's squad turns out this year.

Duke also misses out on Maryland, as well as Clemson and North Carolina State. In the end of course, who provides their eight losses isn't that important in Durham, but it's a bit of a disappointment for the Wolfpack and Terrapins.

Georgia Tech doesn't see Boston College, Florida State, or Wake Forest this year. Far and away the best stroke of scheduling luck in the Coastal Division. Tech has never beaten FSU in the ACC, and has yet to face Boston College.

Miami loses out on facing Clemson, North Carolina State and Wake Forest. The last two of those are lost wins for a team hemmoraging players and coaches. This won't be an easy season for the Hurricanes, though ducking Clemson helps.

Virginia doesn't face Boston College, Clemson, and Wake Forest, two good teams and one cupcake.

Virginia Tech ducks Florida State, Maryland and North Carolina State, giving them a small leg up on the schedule.

ATLANTIC DIVISION

I suppose you can put this together from reading the Coastal Division summary, but to quickly recap:

Boston College doesn't play Georgia Tech, UNC, or Virginia. Unfortunate draw for the Eagles.

Clemson doesn't get Duke, Miami, or Virginia. Also unfortunate, but not to the same extent.

Florida State doesn't face Georgia Tech, UNC, or Virginia Tech. The engineer-free schedule is an advantage, but they'll surely miss seeing Carolina blue.

Maryland doesn't see Duke, UNC, or Virginia Tech. The resulting schedule won't give Friegden much of a chance to recover his past glory.

North Carolina State won't meet Duke, Miami, or Virginia Tech. I'm sure Wolfpack fans will focus solely on missing the Blue Devils, but this is the best schedule in the Atlantic.

And finally, Wake Forest won't line up across from Georgia Tech, Miami, or Virginia, an lucky break for a team that could use a couple more of them.

The winners? North Carolina State, Georgia Tech, and Wake Forest. The losers? Boston College, Miami, and Clemson. The latter three have enough talent that the schedule shouldn't be an adversity, but only one of the former group will make much use of their fortunes. As for the Heels, the schedule helps, but as you'll discover I'm typically overly optimistic about the football chances in Kenan to begin with.

Ranking the ACC Stadiums

2006-07-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

A month-old article in the Sporting News has generated a fair amount of response debating the relative merits of the various ACC stadiums. The Sporting News bases it on the intimidation factor, while the StateFans Nation appears to judge more on general home field advantage. I'm late to the party, but since I disagree with the consensus, I'll toss them up anyway.

First a caveat. I've been to ten of the twelve stadiums in the ACC, all between 1994 and 1998, when UNC was good enough to bring out rival crowds. As Lane and Alumni are the two I've never seen, we'll leave them where everyone else placed them.

(1) Clemson's Memorial Stadium. I've been here twice and Doak once, and this was just the more imposing place. For stadium surroundings, Tallahassee holds the edge, what with Clemson being in the middle of nowhere, but once you get to where the game is played Memorial gets the nod. There's just to me more tradition, a better setting, and a slightly more intense crowd. Even during the Tiger's long slow decline.

(2) Florida State's Doak Campbell Stadium. I was down there for the 1996 early season game, which may color my judgement, but I never got the same sense of awe I did at memorial. It may have been the game, it may have been the way the stadium was built, but there you go.

(3) Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium. Never been. I'm not all that impressed by a tradition that begins with Enter Sandman and ends with the Hokey Pokey, but everyone else seems to think they're in the Top 3, so there you go.

(4) Virginia's Scott Stadium. Superman's a mean drunk and so are Wahoo fans. And believe me, they're drunk. I've seen state troopers directing traffic wave through cars with open fifths of Daniels. There's a reason Florida State lost its first ACC game here.

(5) North Carolina's Kenan Stadium. I'm horribly biased, and I realize the crowd doesn't show up for games with sub-0.500 teams playing, even if its the home team that fits that description. But I;ve been there for the good years, and there's no other crowd I'd want at my back. But again, biased.

(6) Georgia Tech's Bobby Dodd Stadium. It's a decrepit, concrete blight in a city not known for its architectural beauty, but the fans show up. It's just not quite as scary for visiting temas as the thought of having to play there as the home squad.

(7) Miami's Orange Stadium. A good place for Dolphins games. A good place for bowl games. It just wasn't that great for Miami games unless there's another local team at the door.

(8) N.C. State's Carter Finley. They can tailgate, they can drink, they can't keep the grass from dying before October. This from a school with a turf management program. I've been there when bowl games are on the line, I've been there for their biggest rivalry game of the year, and I've never heard the place come close to shake.

(9) Maryland's Byrd Stadium. Someday, an enterprising college student will boost the tortoise statue outside the stadium. That will be the most exciting thing to ever happen at Byrd.

(10) Boston College's Alumni Stadium. Like I'm going to make it up to Boston.

(11) Duke's Wallace Wade Stadium. While typing this an ad for some bed manufacturer came on TV, claiming to have been proven better in studies performed at Stanford and Duke. I think this is where they tested the beds on campus. But even though it's now a place to hold folks suffering from battered football fan syndrome, the onetime Rose Bowl site has rocked in my lifetime. And at least its a somewhat senic place to spend an afternoon, unlike...

(12) Wake Forest's Groves Stadium. Seems like a nice enough place to play a game of high school football, I guess.

Jumping the Football Shark

2006-07-27T14:16:00.000-07:00

Having given up on my fantasy baseball team, as well as all interest in sports that involve raquets, clubs, and bicyces, I'm getting the urge to slip back into college football. And just when I have the urge to pretend people still read this, Gregg Doyel comes along to explain how expansion killed the ACC. Or at least the Maryland, N.C. State, and Virginia portions of the ACC. Ah, the hubris.

Except Virginia isn't faring all that worse under expansion. They've gone 8-8 in conference in the last two seasons, about the same as Al Groh's first three years of 3-5, 6-2 and 4-4. The only easy win their schedule's lost has been Wake, who they were barely squeaking by before expansion. (They've also seen less of Clemson and N.C. State. Oddly enough, Virginia was having better luck against Clemson than the Demon Deacons or the Wolfpack in the Al Groh era.)

N.C. State, despite the love Amato was getting from the Wolfpack, hadn't made it through a conference slate with less than three losses before the barbarians reached the gates. The post-expansion years haven't been pretty, going 3-5 in both seasons, but their wins over Florida State have hidden some bad losses. Sure, they've missed having Duke on their schedule, but excising the new ACC teams wouldn't even get them to 0.500 play. It's almost as if they lost a star quaterback the previous staff recruited right before expansion, and haven't been able to recover. Or something like that.

And Maryland, dear Maryland. The team showing the greates drop-off, after Friedgen's initial 19-5 conference start. And again where expansion happens to coincide with the classes he personally recruited. Of course, in that first expansion season, the only new face on the schedule was Virginia Tech, and they only saw the Hokies after Gerogia Tech, N.C. State, Clemson, and Virginia had already knocked them off. The Terps scored 195 points that season (after three 400+ years) and 100 of them were against the mighty defenses of Duke and Temple. They were bad before they ever saw Miami. Hell, they still haven't seen Miami.

A number of factors pushed these teams above the average from 2001-2003, including the revitalization a coaching change can bring (see Goldsmith, Fred). But its a short term fluctuation that can be dampened by other things - not only expansion, but UNC's resurgence[*], Georgia Tech's steady improvement and internal coaching decisions. Amato, Friedgen, and Groh's fates do not hinge on whether the ACC flew too close to the sun, they depend on their own skills and talents. And this year we'll see where those talents lay.

[*] Yes, resurgence. I know it sounds silly to "resurge" to six-loss seasons, but the Heels are 9-7 in conference, following back to back 1-7 performances. It makes a difference.

One Win Away...

2006-06-18T20:33:00.000-07:00

...from the finals of the College World Series is UNC, after shutting out Clemson earlier tonight. And that win will have to come against, well, Clemson or Cal State Fullerton.

What, thought I was talking about one of those games with goals on either end?

You May Want to Switch to ESPN2

2006-06-16T20:12:00.000-07:00

Because UNC just escaped the most bizarre bottom of the 11th I've ever seen. Two passed ball third strikes. A pickoff at third. Now if only the Heels could hit in extra innings, this would be a nailbiter in both halves of the inning.

Update: And in the 13th, they finally find them. Carolina takes out Cal State Fullerton 7-5, and meet Clemson on Sunday night. UNC and Clemson haven't met this year, thanks to the ACC Division split.

The Stars of Track and Field

2006-06-10T15:08:00.000-07:00

(Alternate, more recent title: The Blues Are Still Blue)

Although overshadowed by Xavier Carter's Jesse Owenesque performance, Justin Ryncavage and Laura Gerraughty won the men's javelin and women's shot put respectively today, giving UNC three championships in throwing events. UNC also sent the most total throwers (8) and men's throwers (5) to Sacremento this week. The men's and women's teams placed 9th and 14th. Only FSU's mens, the national champions, and Miami's 7th place women's team placed higher from the ACC.

What Do You Know, There Are Sports After Basketball

2006-06-10T14:25:00.000-07:00

While everyone's distracted by bizarre Yankee/Canuck sports, the following appears to have happened:

UNC's baseball team upset Alabama to become one game away from the (Oddly Big 12 light) College World Series.

Tar Heel Vikas Gowda took home the NCAA title in the discus, as well as finished 13th in the shot put. I'm not aware of anyone else having ever taken a discus championship back to Chapel Hill.

Justin Ryncavage (javelin), Laura Gerraughty (shot put) and Megan Kaltenbach (1500 meters) all compete today on CBS if you're in the mood to see some Carolina athletes in blue.

Submitted for N.C. State's Consideration

2006-04-28T15:41:00.000-07:00

I've thought of a potential Wolfpack coach. The salient statistics:

Associate coach for two national championship teams, and 3 ACC champs
Extensive knowledge of the Duke-UNC-N.C. State dynamic
Possibly the most experience in the country in defeating Krzyzewski
recruited teams.

Ladies and gentlemen, your new Wolfack coach, Pete Gaudet.

Big Tar Wonk

2006-04-18T01:06:00.000-07:00

You know, everyday I check this site, and each time I curse the lazy schmuck who can't be bothered to update the damn thing with his half-formed ruminations. And don't get me started on the way he can't respond to e-mail.

So in leiu of season ending analysis, I offer season ending data dumps. Before the ACC's rapid exodus from the NCAA, I put together the tempo-free stats for the ACC conference season, using the ACC provided stats and combing box scores to fill in the blanks - primarily rebounds allowed and shots against. There are some interesting conclusions to be teased out of them, starting with comparing Duke's fouls to those of the typical perimeter-oriented team, but I never summoned the energy to make a full post out of it. There's no point in letting the work go to waste, though:

The offensive stats (Points Per Possesion, Effective FG Percentage, Offensive Rebounding Percentage, Turnover Percentage, and Free Throw Proficiency):


                PPP    eFG   OReb    TO %   FTP
Duke            1.12  0.554  0.323  0.201  0.343
North Carolina  1.11  0.541  0.432  0.235  0.287
N.C. State      1.11  0.556  0.282  0.203  0.335
Boston College  1.10  0.517  0.444  0.207  0.297
Miami           1.08  0.484  0.394  0.177  0.220
Wake Forest     1.05  0.492  0.414  0.218  0.259
Florida State   1.04  0.523  0.339  0.222  0.314
Virginia Tech   1.02  0.489  0.317  0.166  0.194
Georgia Tech    1.00  0.512  0.395  0.258  0.227
Clemson         0.99  0.484  0.372  0.217  0.223
Virginia        0.99  0.455  0.395  0.216  0.257
Maryland        0.96  0.457  0.357  0.232  0.314

And the defensive stats (Their opponent's results for the same, with defensive rebounding percentage replacing offensive and opponent's free throw attempts measuring fouls):


                OPPP  OeFG   DReb   OTO%   OFTO
North Carolina  0.98  0.463  0.724  0.186  0.335
Duke            0.99  0.469  0.612  0.219  0.306
Clemson         1.01  0.525  0.676  0.259  0.459
Maryland        1.01  0.483  0.679  0.219  0.358
Florida State   1.03  0.524  0.673  0.240  0.369
Georgia Tech    1.06  0.506  0.677  0.210  0.478
Virginia        1.06  0.511  0.706  0.178  0.366
Virginia Tech   1.06  0.538  0.680  0.243  0.363
N.C. State      1.08  0.485  0.665  0.182  0.348
Miami           1.08  0.524  0.678  0.234  0.449
Boston College  1.08  0.519  0.672  0.202  0.345
Wake Forest     1.14  0.529  0.672  0.184  0.454

And yes, Duke's opponents really didn't make it to the line that often, did they?

Here's a quick summary of efficiency margin:


North Carolina  0.13
Duke            0.13
N.C. State      0.03
Boston College  0.02
Florida State   0.01
Miami           0.00
Clemson        -0.01
Virginia Tech  -0.04
Maryland       -0.05
Georgia Tech   -0.06
Virginia       -0.07
Wake Forest    -0.08

And just how much each team lives and dies by the three-pointer:


               3FGA/A  3FG %
N.C. State      0.453  0.405
Clemson         0.384  0.324
Duke            0.356  0.409
Miami           0.332  0.350
Virginia        0.330  0.318
North Carolina  0.322  0.400
Wake Forest     0.316  0.374
Boston College  0.311  0.355
Florida State   0.274  0.388
Georgia Tech    0.259  0.414
Virginia Tech   0.254  0.318
Maryland        0.204  0.346

I wouldn't have thought N.C. State would be more trigger happy than the Redick-addicted Blue Devils. Anyway, if you have a particular number fetish, have at it.

Colder Than the Coldest Winter Was Cold

2006-04-02T18:25:00.000-07:00

...was the second half shooting for the Tar Heels. Some of it was Latta's injury, a good deal was Little's foul trouble, but for a long stretch of a the game if your name wasn't Elana Larkins, you weren't getting the ball in the hoop.

I really thought the Miller three-pointer was going to start the run, but they couldn't string it together. Offensive frustration eventually leads to defensive mistakes, and that's all she wrote. Here's to next year.

Consensus

2006-04-02T15:49:00.000-07:00

Almost all the talking heads at ESPN have UNC winning the championship. CBS agrees. And the AP already thinks Sylvia Hatchell is the coach of the year. The Final Four tips off momentarily.

Oh, and the AP was pretty fond of the men's coaching job as well.

Woman-on-Woman Action

2006-03-28T20:33:00.000-08:00

Duke has knocked off Connecticut, turning the Final Four into practically an ACC Tournament redux. When was the last time a conference put three teams in the Final FOur for either gender?

On a more sinister note, the Women's Hoops Blog points to a Boston Globe article on the homophobia tactics plaguing women's recruiting, typified by the lawsuit against Penn State coach Rene Portland. It's not a new problem - I remember it being discussed in a 1997 SI article. It's disturbing to read about coaches using positions of authority to prey on the insecurities of high school students and ostracize a segment of players and fans, and it needs to stop. It will be interesting to see where this leads.

(And to think, I never thought to encounter an influence in recruiting more nefarious than shoe companies.)

Second Half - Winner Takes James K. Polk

2006-03-28T17:19:00.000-08:00

5:18 47-35 when I get back to the computer, 16:45 left in the game and play stopped for the refs and coaches to confer. Tennessee ball.
5:20 UNC gets a steal and a third foul from Spencer. Offensive rebounds are beginning to come UNC's way, and it's 49-35.
5:22 Back-to-back missed layups going into the timeout. More a function of good defense than bad offense for both teams.

5:26 Tennessee gets a Spencer three and follows it up with a steal but can't convert. They're clamping down on defense and beginning to ruin the Heels, but the shots aren't falling. 49-38.
5:27 Spencer also gets her fourth foul though, and Latta makes one of two. 50-38.
5:29 The Vols are driving and racking up fouls on the offensive end. Another three and it's 50-42 and a timeout for UNC.
5:32 UNC is having a difficult time getting it inside, and it's throwing off their offense. A lob to Little gets two points despite the doubleteam. 52-42.

5:37 When Little does get the ball in the paint, she's taking over the game. Fouls are being called more often, and another two from the line from Tennessee makes it 54-45.
5:38 Jump ball number seven allows UNC to retain possession but turns it over on the ensuing inbounds. The Vols don't look like their used to teams forcing the shot clock against them - they've taken some bad shots once the clock hits five.
5:40 Tennessee struggled in the first half with Parker on the bench, and are similarly troubled with Spencer riding the pine in the second. They're losing their rebounding advantage and on the eighth jump ball, it's 56-45.
5:43 The tight calls are working in Tennessee's advantage. Miller's three-pointer is working against them. 59-47.

5:48 Tennessee is coming back on offense, cutting it to 59-52. Another jump ball (nine) keeps the ball in UNC's hands.
5:49 UNC trunover. They're still out of sync on offense. And Parker backs it down and cuts it to 59-54.
5:50 Atkinson sinks an open three after a long moment of consideration. 62-54.
5:51 Larkins also finds the hoop to extend the lead. A blocking foul at the other end sends Tennessee back to the line. 64-56 with 4:39 to play.
5:54 Long three from Latta after no offensive movement. Bad play if it doesn't work, but it does. The Vols are scoring down low, and it's 67-60, 2:45 remaining.
5:55 Great drive and dish by Latta to Larkins. Larkins also pulls down a defensive rebound and draws a foul, making 69-60.

5:58 Tennessee's trap gets the steal, but Atkinson is able to block Spencer's outside shot. Parker makes one of two from the line 69-61, under two minutes.
6:00 Another steal when Latta drives gets the Vols two. 69-63 with 1:00 to go, and Tennessee is still shy of giving seven fouls.
6:01 The constantly mentioned stat the winner of every UNC Elite Eight matchup wins the title is a polite way of saying UNC doesn't make it to the Final Four very often. Tennessee hits the bonus and Latta hits the line. 71-63, 56 seconds.
6:04 Latta gets the steal and runs a bit of clock down before Spencer fouls out. 39 seconds remain. 73-63.

And it's all over but the free throws. UNC pulls away with a 75-63 win, and gets another Maryland rematch Boston. Congratulations.

Liveblogging UNC-Tennessee

2006-03-28T16:06:00.000-08:00

The Final Four game that isn't. Pregame information can be found here and here.

4:06 A three pointer and two steals from Carolina only gets a 3-0 lead. The defense is keeping Tennessee almost entirely behind the arc though.
4:09 Tennessee on the other hand is playing big defense down low, getting rebounds and giving up the occasional foul to stop the basket. 4-2 Heels.
4:11 The downside of that defense is that Latta is open for the three. 5 straight points from her, but offensive rebounds for the Vols make it 9-8.
4:12 The Vol's Parker picks up her second foul with a charge going into the first media timeout. The crowd seems to be slightly favoring UNC, surprisingly enough.

4:16 Candace Parker is sitting with two fouls, and Little takes advantage to get her first basket. Back and forth misses keep it at 11-8.
4:17 Another offensive rebound and bucket for the Vols - 8 of their 10 points have come that way - but UNC responds, 13-10. Rebounding is going to kill the Heels at this rate though. A five second violation gives UNC the ball though.
4:20 Another Tennessee turnover, but they cause a jump ball on the defensive end in response. Pringle gets two points in the post though, 15-10. And another Vol turnover - the third straight.
4:22 The defenses are both suffocating - UNC loses the ball out of bounds, but can set up their half court trap and force another jump ball. The teams exchange baskets, 17-12. The more shots UNC can hit, the better they can set up the defense.

4:26 UNC is using its depth, getting points from folks the play-by-play crew aren't familar with. A defensive lapse gets the Vols an easy bucket in response. 19-14.
4:28 The Heels run off a long missed three - Tennessee is completely cold from behind the arc - to get an easy Latta layup, and follow it up with a steal, a bucket, and a charge. 24-14.
4:30 UNC gets good defense after a turnover to stop the fast break, and a loose ball tussle requires a Tennessee timeout. UNC is, rebounding aside, completely in control of the game.
4:32 Tennessee turnover, but the Heel's cant convert. Again Vol rebounding gives them the ball and gets them a bucket from Parkeron the other end. 24-16 going into the next TV timeout.

4:35 I was worried about 6'3" Parker gaurding Latta on the perimeter, but Latta drains a three over her. The Vols get four or five rebouds on the other end before finding the hoop. UNC's beginning to run more and it's 29-18.
4:37 The fourth jump ball of the half allows sloppy Tennessee to keep possession. I don't know if the number of tie-ups is unusual, a characteristic of women's ball, or a characteristic of a quick, scrappy Carolina. 31-18 after a Little downcourt break.
4:39 Tennessee's Zolman hits their first three, and the next time down the court they get a backdoor layup. Pringle responds, and it's 33-23.
4:41 McCants gets a three off of a great pass from the paint. The Vols are beginning to find an offense underneath though, and UNC calls a timeout at 36-27.

4:42 A good pass to find the open layup underneath, followed by a Latta steal and bucket. 40-27. No, 43-27 after a Little three. If UNC has been playing down to their competition so far this tournament, they sure aren't now.
4:45 Good drives and passes get the Vols two. 43-29.
4:46 Spencer is coming alive down low for Tennessee, getting points off of first opportunities for a change. Latta misses a layup on the other end -there's been a little too much of that from Carolina - and it's 43-31.
4:49 Eight steals and now two blocks for the half. Very impressive showing by Carolina. Latta's waiting for the last shot, but a ricochet out of bounds and a failed inbounds play ends the half with the same 43-31. Pat Summit thinks the lead should be more like 25, and I can't really argue with that.

George! Mason!

2006-03-26T14:11:00.000-08:00

The patriots didn't attempt a single three-pointer in the entire overtime period. They didn't substitute for the last fifteen minutes. Just smart basketball, good defense, and enough missed free throws to frustrate anyone watching.

That's good assistant coaching right there.

(And UNC lost to the team that beat the team that beat the team that beat Illinois. That compensates for the November game, right?)

Purdue

2006-03-26T13:44:00.000-08:00

Sylvia Hatchell is significantly more confident in the triviality of Ivory Latta's injury than I am. I hope she's right.

That being said, it was a good ending to UNC's second straight road game - a play I would have disparaged in most men's tournament games works here with Latta's large talent advantage. The preceding inbounds play was even better, almost getting the easy layup on the long distance pass. A good win off poor play, which doesn't bode well for Tennessee.

Morrison

2006-03-23T21:36:00.000-08:00

It occurs to me I don;t think I've seen a Gonzaga game all year. Maybe one back in November. But other than that nothing. So I have a question.

Has Adam Morrison been throwing elbows when driving to the basket all year, or is this a new thing? Even the play-by-play guys were joking about it.

Schadenfreude

2006-03-23T20:18:00.000-08:00

Give it up to Gregg Doyel, who twice made the prediction I couldn't convince myself to make - LSU beating Duke. (Although I did bite the bullet in ACC Basketblog's pool. Take a look at that entry quickly, because it'll look real ugly after this weekend.) And they lost the same way they've lost all season, with a hand in J.J. Redick's face and no one around to help Sheldon Williams. The other five Blue Devils - and there were only five - put up 28 shots total, making seven.

It will be interesting to see how the boys in evil blue fare next year. Caulton Tudor puts them third and seems to expect a big improvement from DeMarcus Nelson. But Boston College looks to lose one star player to the Blue Devil's two, and I'm not sure slotting the Eagles behind them is a wise move. A lot depends on the incoming freshmen and what Krzyzewski does with them. It'll be a fun season to watch.

And I have to thank CBS and Getty Images for this. A better image to end the Duke season couldn't have been asked for.

Alright, I'll Talk About It

2006-03-19T13:36:00.000-08:00

Six turnovers on six poseessions to start the half. The January Heels returned with a vengeance.

George Mason was the quickest defensive team I've seen all year. To be able to press that far out on the guards and still collapse four people on to Hansbrough and grab as many defensive rebounds as they did. But still, there were enough UNC defensive stops in the last three minutes that better shots would have given the Heels the game. And as much as the coach is willing to take the blame, when it came down to it the team didn't get the job done.

That being said, I don't think the loss was the total disaster some people think. George Mason is a team playing well, with few embarassing losses on their schedule. (They have issues with Hofstra, true, but Hofstra's still playing in the NIT, which is a feat Wake, Clemson, Maryland and Virginia can't lay claim to.) I think they'll push past Witchita State before getting hit by the UConn Final Four train this weekend. There are limits to what even The Cherry can accomplish, after all.

Meanwhile, the fans get to turn their focus to the more experienced Tar Heels facing a tougher road in their tournament. And confidential to BTW -- UNC alum James K. Polk is a much better subject for your attentions.

Aaaugh

2006-03-19T13:34:00.000-08:00

George Mason Maryland

2006-03-19T12:22:00.000-08:00

Gregg Doyel discusses the recruiting, or lack thereof, of the entire Patriot squad, and it looks like Gary Williams is not using his free time very well. Or he's just being outmaneuvered by the brilliance of Scott Cherry. Either way, we could have been facing this group of players quite a lot over the last couple of years.

The first half has been a poor shooting clinic - here's hoping for better results in the second.

Meanwhile, in Dayton...

2006-03-18T17:24:00.000-08:00

...the vaunted Michigan State home court advantage ran up against the coaching wisdom of Scott Cherry. Never bet agaisnt The Cherry when he faces a Michigan team.

As for the Heels, it probably was a good thing I was at a St. Patrick's Day party that showed the Kentuck-UAB contest. It kept the swearing to a minimum. The team kept its poise at the end though, holding off the Fightin' Murrays. Between Michigan State not living up to expectations and Tennessee finally doing as expected, the next major conference team the Heels could see is most likely a Husky in the Elite Eight. Shades of the 1998 bracket there.

Of course, if George Mason's rebounding dominance was more Patriot power than Spartan slackerdom, UNC won't have to worry about travel plans next week.

(ESPN2 is making CBS proud by airing FSU-LaTech instead of local Big West girls UC Riverside - the C is for Can't Get on TV - trying to upset the Tar Heels women's squad. But since the score is 38-17 in the first half, I'm reasonably sure there's not much to be discussed here.)

Illinos-Washington

2006-03-18T17:07:00.000-08:00

Instances of incompetence during today's afternoon matchup:

CBS affiliates that scheduled the Illinois game for the afternoon slot and then aired the entire second half of Witchita State vs. Tennessee. Not that the latter wasn't a decent game, but by scheduling Illinois, the blacked out the San Diego pod feed, so none of the area bars (or March Madness on demand) had the first half of the Illinois game. It makes you want to go and illegally download something.
The referees that called one of the more lopsided games I've seen in a good while - and I catch a fair number of Duke games. They completely stopped any rhythm the game had, and left us with a ridiculous second half free throw margin of 19 to 0 before the clock management fouls began.
The Illinois offense that had some of the prettiest ball movement I've seen in years for the first ten minutes of the second half, only to abandon it for milling around and poor three point shots. I can't tell if their inability to run any sort of play out of their last two timeouts was a coaching or implementation failure, but the fact Dee Brown's couldn't even get a screen on the final play was embarassing. Not to mention Augustine's last bucket coming at the 15:04 mark.

And don't get me started on the Illini Coke ad.

Today's Discussion Topic

2006-03-17T11:19:00.000-08:00

Is the rash of horrible decisions in the waning seconds of the game (Boston College and Pacific in yesterday's game, UNC-Wilmington's poor three point shot against GW, the first UNC-Duke game of the year) a recent phenomenon? Or do we only remember the successful end-of-game plays, and there were an equal number of lousy ones ten and fifteen years ago?

Bear-on-Bear Action

2006-03-16T15:40:00.000-08:00

3:39 pm No matter what the pod system does, it's tough to really have a home court advantage when you're a top seed. The crowd in San Diego is really responding to Belmont - out of Tennessee - as they take it to local boys UCLA. Which they are, as with ten and a half in the first half it's 13-10 Belmont. Why? Poor shooting and sloppy play from the West Coast, the same things that hindered Nevada and Tennessee. Going into a UCLA timeout, it's 16-10 Belmont.
3:43 pm There's an entire empty section behind the left basket. I'm guessing Belmont didn't bring (or maybe even have) a pep band.
3:52 pm UCLA has turned up their perimeter defense and is running Belmont. They're still being sloppy in transition though, and Belmont's up 18-14 with six minutes in the half.
4:20 pm The local affiliate has no idea how to handle the delayed UCLA game. They keep cutting to screensavers during times when they should be providing commercials, programming, or something besides dead air. We just got three minutes of the Clearchannel logo before switching to Gonzaga-Xavier. UCLA had gone up twelve at the half and seems to be finding thier groove.

Scott Cherry Sighting

2006-03-16T15:18:00.000-08:00

I may be the last person to realize this, but former UNC player Scott Cherry, best known for this box score and a surprise substitution in the 1993 championship, is an assistant coach for Georgre Mason. The patriots share a pod with the Tar Heels and provided they get past Michigan State in the first round could face his alma mater in round two.

Good luck, up until the weekend Scott.

One More Time to the West

2006-03-16T14:32:00.000-08:00

2:31 pm Montana has stretched a lead that had fallen to 3 back up to 8. This team should not be getting this many boards. They're just outfighting a bigger Nevada team.
2:34 pm I'm rarely prouder of the fact that Santa Barbara does not have an Applebee's as I am when those nitwits singing about shrimp come on my TV. Montana extends thier lead to ten on a backdoor cut we almost miss so Greg Gumbel can talk about Alabama pulling away from Marquette. Nevada's Kemp picks up a fourth foul on the offesnive end.
2:41 pm Montana owns this game. They're the first Big Sky team to win a tournament game since 1999 when I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT.
2:44 pm Meanwhile, Alabama is trying to give away the game to Marquette. They can't beat the press, and they're taking poor shots that happen to be dropping. Back-to-back Marquette threes make it a one point game, 84-83.
2:45 pm And just like that, Alabama takes a smart shot and Marquette a dumb one. 86-83 at the one minute mark unti Alabama turns it over on a long rebound.
2:50 pm Alabama turns it over again. Teams should be required to wear warning labels if they're that poor against a press.
2:51 pm Marquette needs to remember this isn't fantasy basketball, and you don't get points for steals. You have to make the shot, too. Alabama gets the rebound, the foul, and two points from the line. 86-83 with nineteen ticks on the clock.
2:53 pm Wide-open three from the corner. Bounces off the top of the backboard. Now if only Alabama can inbounds - 7.1 seconds left.
2:55 pm They can, and hit two free throws. Ball game, 90-85 Alabama.

One of the joys of the West Coast is that they will not let us miss the UCLA game, if the crawl is any indication. I'll continue to dither until the local bar calls.

Back to Montana

2006-03-16T13:57:00.000-08:00

Because it's not like there's an exciting Tennessee-Winthrop matchup we could be watching.

1:58 pm Nevada may want to not let short guys stand under the basket to get offensive rebounds. I'm just sayin'. 44-37 Nevada.
1:59 pm In a second half contrast, now Montana is putting up threes while Nevada passes them up. Except Montana makes their shots, while Nevada misses the floaters in the lane as well. Montana by ten.
2:06 pm A sign in the Montana section: "Grizzly Bear - 1,300 lbs. Wolf - 70 lbs. No contest." Nick Fazekas (The Nevada center, not the Montana one as I thought in the now-corrected first half post) is disputing that, but Montana seems to be outscrapping the rest of the Wolf Pack. 49-44 Montana, but CBS has taken us back to Greensboro.
2:07 pm Just in time for Winthrop to break a five minute drought with a three. And then we go to timeout.
2:14 pm Winthrop takes a timeout with 52 seconds remaining. Smart, since their point guard had spent the last five dribbling back and forth.
2:12 pm Winthrop can get any offensive production, almost losing the pall to an inbounds violation, only to have the shot clock expire. Tennesee miss, Winthrop miss, Tennessee travel. No one wants to win this game.
2:14 pm Is Marquette coming back against Alabama. Did Bradshaw just airball a free throw for Tennessee? The answers are tough to tell and yes, respectively.
2:15 pm Winthrop can't get it inside, and takes a long poor three. Tennessee takes a timeout with 21 seconds left.
2:18 pm Tennessee misses a three - I've seen one made shot and a free throw since we tuned in to this game - but takes the long rebound away from Winthrop with a possible over and back. Another timeout and one more bite at the apple. And another clock replay debate.
2:21 pm 2.9 seconds is the final verdict. Tennessee hits a cray shot for the lead. That one they can make? 0.4 seconds left.
2:25 pm Winthrop tossesd it off the backboard to get a decent shot, but it doesn't fall. It probably would have been overturned on clock review anyway. Tennessee escapes with the win.

I got a call from a former Illini roommate who made it down to San Diego for the bombscare. Not a lot to report - he wasn't told anything, he wandered over to a practice gym and ran into all the teams waiting to get in. Nice little thing for him, but not really breaking news.

Home Court Advantage

2006-03-16T13:38:00.000-08:00

It's interesting that in all the complaints I've heard this week over high seeds playing in rough places - UNC in Dayton being particularly criticized - no one mentioned Tennessee playing a team based outside of Charlotte in Greensboro. Now true, a fifteen seed that keeps it close is going to get the crowd on their side no matter what, but Winthrop appears to have sprinkled the crowd quite liberally with that bright yellow color. Good for them. (Winthrop's up one with 12:30 to play.)

Grizzly Play

2006-03-16T13:07:00.000-08:00

For all of you east-coasters not getting the bear-wolf slugfest:

1:07 pmMontana has pulled out in front, 17-10. Why? The Grizzlies can actually put the ball inside for these strange things called "high-percentage shots". Nevada just keeps putting up threes that clank off the rim. Montana's even switched to a zone to encourage this shooting performance.
1:09 pm Monata's now up nine (21-12) and forcing Nevada to foul. The local CBS station crawl still hasn't come to grips with the fact that the UCLA game in San Diego won't be starting in forty-five minutes.
1:11 pm Ramon Sessions drives and gets something inside, and Nevada seems to be waking up. 23-18 going into Montana's timeout.

Since they've sent me a couple of e-mails and say good things about UNC, I'll mention Think Progress' summary of tournament graduation rates. UNC (989), Duke (978) and UNCW (990) are all comfortably above the minimum requirements. N.C State (922) and Boston College (917) need to hit the books more. And for those members of the Orange Crush holding grudges against Bruce Pearl, Illinois (990) is significantly better than UW-Milwaukee (939) and Tennessee (918).

1:23 pm Mediocre basketball is beginning to take its toll. I'm mentally comparing Montana's center Andrew Strait to Tyler Hansbrough - both have a nice touch in the paint on the offensive end, slipping around multiple defenders. Of course, Hansbrough could outrebound the entire Grizzly team on the other end of the boards, so the comparison kind of falls apart. 29-23 going into the final timeout.

1:29 pm In the last minute, CBS has switched to every other game currently being played before coming back to Nevada-Montana, standing around waiting for play to resume. Strait is still unstoppable on offense. 38-29 Montana.

1:36 pm Nevada got a nice finger roll layup to close out the half. 40-33 Montana though. We're finally getting Winthrop-Tennesee out here.

Great Moments in Programming Choices

2006-03-16T12:51:00.000-08:00

CBS has cut away from a 34-31 -Tennessee-Winthrop matchup so southern California can see the tip of the Nevada-Montana game. It's especially futile, since the station has periodically let us know that they'd be switching to the UCLA game at 1:55 pm for the last hour or so. I actually miss the four-screen split of CBS's heyday.

After One Overtime

2006-03-16T12:08:00.000-08:00

It's clear that end-game situations are not being practiced enough at either of these schools. Hopefully Craig Smith finding his touch and Hinnant finding Sean Williams for the dunk to start the next five minutes is the start of a trend.

Jet Lagged

2006-03-16T11:34:00.000-08:00

There was a Sports Illustrated article at least a decade ago profiling one successful NCAA pool winner who liked picking against teams that had to cross multiple time zones to play their games. It was all anecdotal evidence, but Boston College is trying it's damdest to back that theory up. They've been hustling throughout Pacific's comeback run, but they've been throwing up poor shots and falling asleep on defense the entire way. BC's free throw shooting is only surpassed in futility in the ACC by Clemson and Virginia Tech (in conference) if you need another reason to worry about falling out of your pool.

Between Witchita State and UW-Milwaukee, I've already kissed my money goodbye. Which I spent on lunch. Because profiting off of college athletics is morally wrong unless you are a large corporation buying airtime on CBS.

It took a timeout to develop the Craig-Smith-loses-control-and-falls-down play?

Am I the only finding CBS's cuts away from the exciting Pacific-BC matchup to the empty San Diego arena a hilarious distillation of everything that ever went wrong with televised tournament coverage?

Better tournament blogging than mine can be found at Uncertain Principles and Deadspin, if you weren't already aware.

Investigative Journalism Granted

2006-03-16T04:33:00.000-08:00

I tend to hit blog silence the week of the NCAA tournament, as there's only so much prognostication you can take before you're eyes glaze over and you really believe Southern can pull of that upset. But since one of the joys of grad school is that you can drop everything to watch twelve hours of basketball, I should be back in full force once the games begin. But in the meantime, something's been found that demands immediate attention:

According to this widget, our mystery UNC voter is none other than Joe Mihalich, coach at Niagara.

I have no idea why he held the Heels in such high esteem. Apparently, he's also inordinately fond of Bucknell, and is not particularly high on Ohio State at the moment.

Also of note - Phil Martelli (St. Joseph's) was responsible for all the votes received by Pacific, Murray State, and South Alabama, all of who he ranked above Syracuse, Tennessee, LSU, West Virginia, and Georgetown. Is it too late to join his office pool?

Tennessee Seeding

2006-03-13T19:02:00.000-08:00

It looks like the NCAA overcompensated for giving Bruce Pearl's squad (21-7, but 2-4 in the last three weeks) a number two seed by giving Pat Summit's crew (28-4, SEC Champions) a number two seed.

And then putting them in the bracket of #1 (RPI, AP, ACC, ESPN, and anything else) North Carolina. And poking them with a stick, for good measure.

The general consensus seems to be UNC is getting screwed by this matchup. And with any other squad, I may agree. But it's few NCAA Women's Championships that don't go through Tennessee, and this squad is more than up to the challenge. And a little revenge for the 1998 Elite Eight game never hurt anyone, either.

65 Games in 6 Minutes

2006-03-12T15:53:00.000-08:00

First, Malcolm Gladwell impressions, an annual tradition:

Atlanta: In the first weekend, Duke beats George Washington, LSU knocks off a tiring Syracuse, Texas fuels N.C. State's Barnes infatuation, and West Virginia takes out West Virginia. Duke, alas, will top the Moutaineers for the Final Four ticket.

DC: UConn over Kentucky, Illinois (shafted at a 4-spot) over Washington, Seton Hall taking out Winthrop (Tennessee is the worst 2-seed in quite awhile) and as for the UNC-Michigan State game... I've changed my mind three times already, but I'll go with the Spartans right now. UConn will step past the UNC/MSU winner for the Final Four anyway.

Minneapolis: Villanova will squeak past Wisconsin, BC can handle Nevade, Georgetown will upset Ohio State and Florida can beat Oklahoma. Villanova wins the Big East rematch with the Hoyas to make the final weekend.

Oakland: Bucknell can make the Sweet 16 over Memphis, Pittsburgh will slip past Kansas, Alabama can punch a ticket over also-overseeded UCLA, and Gonzaga will end San Diego State's season. Gonzaga will be the fourth Final Four team at Pittsburgh's expense.

And we can all sit back and watch Connecticut send Duke home in April. I know this is a complete reversal of my earlier view of Duke and Gonzaga but I really can't find the teams in their brackets to beat them. Stick them in the DC bracket at 1 and 2, and Illinois and the UNC/MSU winner are the ones fighting for that Final Four spot. As it stands though, UConn and Villanova - the teams I had much more confidence in - have tougher rows to hoe.

Oh, and the most important pick: Hampton crushes Monmouth.

Back to BC

2006-03-11T15:13:00.000-08:00

First of all, a message for Dick Vitale, Mike Patrick, and ESPN. Those guys in the funny clothes running up and down the court? That's what people are tuning in to watch. They're not merely visual noise to complement your pontificating, and they're not pretty faces to focus on while the action happens elsewhere. They're the game. That's what people want to watch.

To not even know who had the ball on the inbounds until after David Noel scored with 5 seconds remaining is criminally bad announcing. The multiple fast breaks that weren't televised becuase the camera was focused on whichever face had made the previous play shows a complete ambivalence to the game at hand. No one cares about your archaiac views on jump balls, no one cares about the Carolina-Duke tournament records at this juncture, no one wants half the screen obscured by whatever meaningless statistic you're pimping at the moment and I'm sure as hell no one gives a damn about J.J. Redick. You are there to serve the game, it's not there to serve you.

Now about that game. If you needed any more proof on how important Reyshawn Terry's beome to this team, the team's performance in losing him for most of the second half is the gold standard. Other than that, it seems every semifinal team reverted to midseason form in exhausting second halfs. Wake returned to bad shots and poor play, BC to overly physical inside play - a different style of refereeing and this becomes a UNC rout - and Carolina returned to uncontrolled freshman play relying entirely on Noel and Hansbrough. And with the latter handily tied up by the Eagles' frontline, the resulting deficit couldn't be overcome no matter how poor the free throw shooting.

(On thing I had no problem with - contra the talking heads - was the decision not to foul on the posession with a minute to play. The defense had stepped up and shut down the scoring options, and had they not allowed the tip-in at the end of the play, they'd have been facing a one-point deficit in the waning seconds. As it was, the last thirty seconds was brilliantly played by a young team that just couldn't compensate for previous mistakes. Hopefully it will serve them well in the coming weeks.

To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever

2006-03-11T11:56:00.000-08:00

A book review as we wait for Duke to lose and UNC to win:

Will Blythe didn't really write a book about the UNC-Duke rivalry, and the result is much better than the standard sportswriter's history. The rivalry's there, of course. Dean Smith's wry humility and Mike Krzyzewski's corporate enthusiasm are still the opposing tent poles of the book under which a parade of players, sportwriters and fans pass under. But the book itself is about families - individual and collective ones.

Blythe devotes a good chunk of the pages to his own family, and their role in his basketball loyalties. His late father was a UNC medical professor with an incredible pride in his alma mater and home state, but no real interest the games the students are playing in shorts, while his mother is an adopted Carolinian and a rabid hoops fans. They're contrasted to Melvin Scott's extended family, supporting him as he adjusts to a smaller role on a championship team. Interspersed among this is a parade of players (including Shavlik Randolph, who comes across as extremely sympathetic in discussing his playing time, Caulton Tudor's column, and his mother cuttin gup his food) fans with more of a familial relationship to their teams than their blood relatives, and assorted media types doing their media typing.

The book is remarkably balanced with regards to the rivalry, from stating its biases on the cover to freely admitting there are times when the matchup isn't the biggest thing in sports. But it also elevates the bad blood to the importance it does hold in most people's hearts, detailing the stresses it puts on the author's own relationships in New York and discussing the overarching implications of Duke hatred with Buddhist professors and Methodist ministers on Franklin Street. And while Art Heyman slings his usual bullshit, and J.J. Redick can't realy hide the side of him that irritates opposing fans, Blythe has a love for everyone on both sides of the divide that seeps through in his writing. This is a book that's enjoyable to both Carolina and Duke fan alike. But keep in mind Blue Devils, in the last chapter only one team cuts down the nets in St. Louis.

Deacons Finally Demonized

2006-03-11T00:49:00.000-08:00

I believe in Wake Forest.

I spent most of the afternoon looking for coverage of Wake's three game winning streak (first since December!) but it's been drowned out by Syracuse excitement and Sendek hatred. After all, victories over a weak FSU squad and a weakening State crew won't garner the same excitement as what's happening in Madison Square Garden, and no one in the media gets excited about a team about to face the Blue Devils. No one sees a good team back from the brink, they just see the weaknesses in the opponents, the disappointment behind and ahead. But me? I believe.

I want this to be the team everyone saw in preseason. I want the Williams v. Williams epic matchup we expected in January. I want Wake's NCAA dreams to last one more day. And I think it can - the collection of walk-ons, freshmen, and out-of-the-wildnerness Chris Ellis that have rejuvinated this team will have to avoid wilting under Duke's perimeter defense, but this is a sputtering Blue Devil team that's limped its way into the home stretch. While this Wake Forest team reminds me of Herb Sendek's 1997 squad, the one that came out of the Les Robinson Invitational to stun top seed Duke and become the only ACC tournament team to win three games and not cut down the nets. A bunch of who-dats with a few leaders dejected in their senior season. A team that could get the entire Greensboro Colesium on their side as they scraped their way to Sunday.

And that team? They lost to Carolina in the finals. I could stand to relive that, as well.

All the News That's Already Reported

2006-03-10T13:13:00.000-08:00

Some quick links I haven't seen elsewhere:

Gary Williams' complaints about the MVC have resulted in an interesting response - MVC schools calling the scheduling offices. Maryland's never displayed a lack of scheduling fortitude as far as I know, and I think next year's expectedly poor Terrapin squad would still have a good chance against the Bears. I hope the deal goes through.

And yes, it took me a couple of minutes with google to find out the mascot for Missouri State (neé Southern Missouri State).

Also, King Kaufman has a good column on big conference teams tanking their tournaments that also mentions how said big confrence tournaments don't pull in the big bucks. The glaring exception to both of these trends? The ACC, naturally.

State-Wake

2006-03-10T12:52:00.000-08:00

It's a bit of a shame that the two teams that most need to win this tournament, as well as the two I'd rather have win it all if UNC cannot, have to meet in a quarterfinal matchup. Wake Forest, who faces thier last game of the season every time they step on the court at this point, is suddenly remembering they were picked second in the conference (Has the last place team in the ACC ever put two players on the all-ACC teams before?). And the Wolfpack are rapidly losing any good feelings the season up to February had engendered in their fans. With Duke putting forth a conference tourney performance similar to UNC's effort last year, the winner of this game has a good chance of making to the finals.

DOn't count the Wolfpack out yet - in addition to Sendek's 8-1 opening round record, he's also only ever lost to three conference teams postseason - Duke (1-4), Maryland (2-2) and UNC (0-2). The Wolfpack need to show a rarely seen second half intensity to keep that streak going, though.

Your Meaningless Daily ACC Factoid

2006-03-09T13:29:00.000-08:00

Coming into this year's tournament, only one coach has a winning tournament record against any coach who has been in the ACC longer than he has - Oliver Purnell has a 1-0 record against Gary Williams. So from that point of view, Wake Forest over Florida State doesn't seem so outrageous, does it?

(Caveat: This is being written with 1:18 to play in the Wake-FSU game. Also, after this morning Frank Haith (hired 2004) is now 1-0 against Oliver Purnell (hired 2003), so this factoid becomes more meaningless by the second.)

And Yet the First Games Are Also Called the Les Robinson Invitational

2006-03-09T03:17:00.000-08:00

Disconcerted by a twelve-team ACC tournament? Yearning for the halycon days of a simple, eight-team bracket?

Then I advise you stay far, far away from the Big West Tournament.

The Big West, with the magic number of eight members, could have the simplest of conference tournaments. So what do they do? They have the lower four seeds play on Wednesday. The winners of those two games play the 3 and 4 seeds on Thursday. Those two winners meet the 1 and 2 seeds on Friday. And the two squads left standing play for the championship on Saturday. In other words the number five seed has to win twice as many games (4) to cut down the nets as the top seed (2).

Now the Big West is, and probably always will be, a one tournament team league. And the temptation to make that one team the best the league has to offer is pretty tempting. But if that's the route you want to go, give the bid to the regular season champ and call it a day, because this? This is just humiliating to half your conference members.

(And in case you care, UNC early season opponent and Tar Heel March postgraduate institution UC Santa Barbara trounced UC Riverside to advance to the next round 76-44.)

Investigative Journalism Wanted

2006-03-08T02:19:00.000-08:00

Here's a question I recieved multiple times while out drinking Monday night, but haven't seen any mention of it in the sports blogs:

Who voted UNC #1 in the coaches poll?

It's a ludicrous vote - although the team is light-years beyond all expectations, no one in their right mind thinks they're the best team in basketball. And it sure as hell didn't come from the modesty-above-all-else Tar Heel coaching staff. I'd think it would have to be one of last week's opponents, and it doesn't really sound like a Blue Devil thing. Leitao maybe?

Journalists have ferretted out coaching votes before - Steve Spurrier always puts Duke at #25 in the first football poll of the season, for instance. Does anyone with a coaching rolodex want to let their fingers do the walking?

Bracketphrenology

2006-03-08T02:01:00.000-08:00

Folks are still making bracket predictions? You were doing that in January? Shouldn't your prognostications be moving along by now? Isn't it time to show some crystal balls? Here, I'll get you started:

Post Selection Sunday Predictions:

Neither of the two player of the year favorites will be in uniform for the second weekend of the tournament.
After the first weekend, office poolers everywhere will regret picking so many Missouri Valley Conference teams.
After the first weekend, office poolers everywhere will regret picking so few Big East teams. And they'll have picked a lot of Big East teams.
The Pac-10 will be gone after the first weekend. The Big 12 before the second.
Herb Sendek's job will be in greater jeopardy than it was at the end of last season.

More specific:

The ACC will go 6-5.
UNC and Illinois will again be the last teams standing from their respective conferences.

Ridiculously specific:

UNC will be eliminated by Villanova.
Mike Krzyzewski and Bruce Pearl will be the coaches in the booth for CBS during the Final Four.

Further in the future:

Neither of the two player of the year favorites will be in the running for NBA rookie of the year past January.
The ACC will put seven teams in the NCAA tournament in 2008.

Further still:

Your 2014 NCAA Champions: The Pittsburgh Panthers.

Fear my psychic powers.

Don't Relieve the Hype

2006-03-05T14:08:00.000-08:00

Going through UNC-Duke hype withdrawl? Got the DT's after almost 14 Vitale-free hours? Aimlessly flipping between the eight ESPNs wondering what these people not wearing blue are doing?

Sports Illustrated can help, by getting you a head start on the story you won't be able to escape at the next couple of years' matchups.

ACC Champs

2006-03-05T13:03:00.000-08:00

I've always found ACC championships a little sweeter when they're avenging season losses. Like 1998's men's team that walked away with payback for all three conference losses in one weekend. Of course, when you only have one loss for the season, it's even better:

The women's team took down another set of nets beating the Terrapins 91-80. ESPN seems to think this will keep Maryland from being a number on seed, but with only three losses (all to number one seeds themselves) and being the only team to beat both Duke and Carolina, I'd think they'd lock down the third of three top seeds for the ACC.

Congrats to Hatchell's Heels, who now get the experience the NCAA tournament as the favorites for the first time. Somehow I think they can handle it.

Postgame

2006-03-04T21:36:00.000-08:00

If I had to design the perfect Carolina defeat of this Duke squad, I'm not sure I could do much better than this. A larger margin of victory perhaps, and I could do without the late DeMarcus Nelson threes. But the constant "J.J. Redick has hit one shot in the last 30-odd minutes" infographic? The complete removal of the Duke crowd? Redick's red-rimmed eyes at the close of the game? Beautiful. How good of a game was it?

For a moment, I almost wanted ESPNU's Cameron Crazy Coverage. That's how good of a game it was.

Duke is still lost when J.J. Redick isn't carrying them. There's no half court offense. Sheldon Williams was scoring seemingly at will and a team with basically four guards couldn't pass it too him. The Blue Devils were so disheartened at the end of the game, they didn't even look to Redick open at the wing for the tying shot. There's a decent chance the last North Carolina team in the tournament will be from Chapel Hill.

7-1 on the road in the ACC. Seven straight victories to close the season. From a team that lost its to seven scorers. Second in the ACC. It's been a damn good season, and I can't wait to see where it goes for here.

Pregame

2006-03-04T16:06:00.000-08:00

Duke fans have claimed the sportswriter's vote.

UNC fans control the political perspective (Although the authors are Swarthmore and Dartmouth grads, respectively).

But the best way to sum up the game? Two coaches. One was offered the Lakers job and made turning it down a public spectacle. The other? He turned it down three times. And you only know about it because of an offhand comment from the Lakers GM. Right there is the difference between Duke and Carolina.

Carolina wins.

And on the Ocho

2006-03-03T15:26:00.000-08:00

There's not much that can be said about ESPN's alcohol-fueled plan to try to kill the greatest basketball rivalry around. The game will still be great, everyone will stick with vanilla ESPN, and we can only hope that by relegating the Cameron Crazies to ESPNU (The U stands for Unwatchable) the rest of our TVs will be spared.

Although the roommate mentioned a good observation from an Illini message board - somehere, somehow, there's an ESPN feed with a camera angle until now only used by Krzyzewski's proctologist.

And that camera angle will be showing Dick Vitale.

Scalping

2006-03-03T10:55:00.000-08:00

A freshman has been evicted from Krzyzewskiville for scalping his spot in Cameron on Craigslist. And while I had a brief chuckle envisioning the Duke defrocking ceremony ("Please remove your half basketball headgear. Gentleman, commence the Hosing of the Body Paint.") I wouldn't bother mentioning it, except it brought forth a vignette from my own past.

My freshman year of college, I sold the best Duke-Carolina seats I could ever hope to have.

Let me explain. My four years in Chapel Hill were among those where the CAA was constantly tinkering with ticket distribution. Perhaps everyone's was. It could be and endless cycle of waffling from free-for-all camp outs to orderly morning lines to lotteries and back for the entire history of the university. I don't know. But my freshman year, the policy was Friday camp outs beginning at noon outside the Dean Dome, with tickets distributed Saturday, about a month before the actual games. And being ensconced in Ehringhaus as I was that year, I was at every camp out, though for the life of me I never remember actually sleeping at one of them.

That policy was changed for the Duke game. As a gift to seniors, for that game they wouldn't have to camp - they instead could show up on Friday, pick up a voucher for their place in line, and show up Saturday morning to collect their ticket. Underclassmen would instead camp out from Friday until Sunday morning, when they would get their tickets.

Well, that was too much for me and my friend. This isn't Durham, with its lax 1 out of 12 in a tent line checks and ethernet in the lampposts. This was a parking lot in January, around the beginning of midterms for the seats already picked over by a year of students. Instead our plan was to just saunter down Sunday morning and get in the back of the line. If we got tickets, great. If not, well they went to better fans than us.

We got tickets.

In fact we got great tickets. Apparently, more seniors had picked up line vouchers than had actually collected tickets Saturday morning. But the best seats had been already allotted based on the number of line vouchers given out, and they had been separated from the tickets to be disbursed Sunday morning. These unclaimed tickets were then tossed back into the general ticket population some time on Sunday. At random. Of course we didn't know this when we meandered to the back of the line and waited to see if we were going to get tickets. We we just happy to get anything, and it wasn't until we were headed back to the dorms that we looked to see what we got.

We were holding in our hands the passes to Section 110, Row D, Seats 1 and 2. Right behind the Carolina bench.

These were obviously the best Carolina-Duke tickets we were ever going to get in our natural lives. And we were thrilled to be going. You couldn't have bought that pair from us for all the money in the world. But a funny thing happened on the way to March. My friend and I recieved an invitation to travel with the team to the Women's ACC Tournament in Charlotte.

For various reasons I won't bother going into, this was not an offer we were in a position to turn down. And to be honest, we didn't really want to - we'd been going to the women's games as faithfully as the men's, and the team, fresh off the national championship was a thrill to watch. But the tournament was, as always, the week before the men's, and the same weekend as the Duke game. Best tickets I was ever going to see, and I wasn't able to go.

We ended up selling the tickets to my friend's brother, a true blue Carolina fan who had graduated the year before. (And I mean true blue literally, as he was on Franklin Street for the National Championship two years earlier, and when drunkenly asked by a guy carrying Carolina Blue house paint whether he could paint him blue, drunkenly assented.) I think we got something like forty dollars for the pair, as it wasn't about the money. UNC won the game going away, in the penultimate game of the Pete Gaudet Era and the last home game for Stackhouse and Wallace. We spent the weekend hanging out with the JV cheerleaders and the band as the women's team knocked off Duke to win the ACC. I don't regret my decision in the slightest, but can't look at the seats behind the bench during a Duke game without a slight twinge.

Before I gave up the tickets though, I went down to the local Kinko's and had the guy behind the counter make a color blowup of the ticket - I still have it to this day. The guy behind the counter acted like it was the most natural request in the world.

Fans Do the Darndest Things

2006-03-01T18:45:00.000-08:00

First of all, a message to the Florida State fans: Learn to read a clock.

Secondly, a message to Dick Vitale: Stop whining about the Florida State fans. They just beat Duke. And don't fault the school for not having a platoon of highway patrolmen on hand on the off chance FSU pulled an upset.

And since the roommates have the Ohio State/Northwestern game on: Illinois sent about 1,000 fans to Northwestern to cheer against Ohio State. There's some folks with a vested intrest in a conference race for you.

Oh, and Duke: Bwah-ha-ha-ha.

Looking Forward

2006-02-27T17:04:00.000-08:00

J.P. Giglio thinks UNC is due for a fall against Virginia this week. On paper, it's a pretty likely situation - it's the game before Duke, this is a young team, and they've been playing above expectations all February. As even experienced Carolina teams are prone to losing focus of late, would it be that much of a shock?

Well, yes. It's almost scary how well this team has bought into Roy Williams' system in the last month, and although things got a little sloppy against Maryland (17 turnovers?) most of that happened after the game was put away. When you add in the fact that this team remembers the frustration of their last matchup, and I doubt they'll be looking ahead. Not on Senior Day, and not for a squad working like this. UNC by 12.

Slow News Day

2006-02-27T16:57:00.000-08:00

How slow a news day? My eye was caught by the announcement that Weber State fired its basketball coach after two losing seasons. Which seems a little harsh for a man with an 116-88 record. I briefly wondered if he was the same coach from the tournament I'd rather forget, but no, that was Ron Abegglen. Ron was fired before the UNC game, and now manages a 9-hole golf course in Fillmore, UT, and coaches the high school basketball team.

Like I said, a slow news day.

Five Straight

2006-02-25T13:45:00.000-08:00

...Carolina wins over the Lady Blue Devils.

Not that you'd really be able to notice. For all of ESPN's women's tournament pimping, the fact that they didn't show a 1 vs. 2 matchup of the biggest basketball rivalry in the country is rather telling. Here's the rest of their web coverage.

Congratulations to the Tar Heels, for sealing up a number one ranking in the polls, top seed in the ACC tourney, and a number one seed in the NCAAs - one of possibly three for the ACC. And State fans take heart. At least one Wolfpack team was able to beat BC.

Salting Wolfpack Wounds

2006-02-22T20:05:00.000-08:00

Well somebody's season is pretty thoroughly ruined, isn't it?

ESPN apparently thinks that given the chance to air Top 20 matchup, the West Coast would rather see a) two channels of "This broadcast is under blackout" followed by the Memphis-UTEP game. Because El Paso gets a big following in California. So I can't comment much on the game. I can give you a little new stadium trivia though:

UNC was the first visiting team to win at the RBC Center.
Every Carolina coach has won their first game at the RBC Center.
Every Carolina coach also won their last game at Reynolds, though. Except perhaps Tom Scott. Not much historical data about the Tom Scott era on the web.

A trip to the NCAA tournament, of which N.C. State is still practically guaranteed, would tie St. Valvano's streak of five straight appearances. Will that be enough to excuse a 5-17 record against the Heels?

And by the way, 6 turnovers? Is this the same team that put up 24, 21, and 21 in three consecutive games against Maryland, Clemson, and Duke?

A Perspective on Perspective

2006-02-22T00:07:00.000-08:00

With Virginia's bubble maintaining performance tonight - and an on-fire Cavalier team visiting Chapel next week will not be fun - tomorrow's Tar Heel matchup becomes #2 vs. #3 in the conference. For one set of fans, this team makes or breaks the season. And for the other...

Eh. I want the team to win. I'll cheer in victory and revel in the schadenfreud of Wolfpack dissapointment with the bluest of 'em. Three years working for a company founded and populated by numerous State grads would have put me in that state of mind even if five years in the elementary school lunchroom hadn't already done so. But will this game make or break a season?

No.

And not just because UNC is outpacing expectations this year. I can't think of any year where an N.C. State loss would ruin a season. I can't think of a year where a single Duke loss ruined a seaon, and there have been significantly more of the latter in my postgraduate career. Seasons fall apart cumulatively. A poor showing in the weeks leading up to the tournament. A deep hole early on that cannot be overcome. Preseason potential that arrives in March unrealized.

But one game in February? Even two against a rival, spread across two months? That alone won't break me as a fan. Which is why when the two teams hit the floor tomorrow, only one coach will be in a pressure cooker. Only on team will have expectations hanging over their head. Two teams will be trying their hardest to win, but only one will be able to enjoy the game as it's being played.

And I've got to say, my gut is to go with the team with the only weight on its shoulders being a cotton jersey. UNC by 8.

(And if this holistic psychobabble is less than convincing, the News and Observer has a nice little rundown of the Heels' more impressive stats of late. It's a bit easier to win if you're outrebounding your opponent and cutting back on turnovers.)

If You're a Duke Fan Reading This

2006-02-18T22:58:00.000-08:00

First of all, why?

Secondly, the New York Times has Mike Krzyzewski's introduction to John Feinstein's new book online. There are a couple of anecdotes about Bob Knight and Jim Valvano I hadn't heard before that doesn't make me like them any better. The introduction doesn't mention Feinstein at all.

Jay Jennings' reviews the book itself and as Deadspin predicted calls it trite and self-plagarizing. Which since it came out four months after his previous book is not particularly surprising.

Keeping it in the Family

2006-02-17T00:46:00.000-08:00

Sean Sutton is not the best man for the Oklahoma State coaching job.

Now, I've already laid out my coaching qualifications. And I've never met Sean Sutton. I've never been to an OSU practice, I have no idea how the program is run, and quite frankly, I can't remember the last time I saw one of their games. Hell, I have to remind myself they're not the Sooners.

But I'm pretty confident Sean Sutton not the best man for the job. And the job's not the best fit for Sean Sutton.

Do you know how you hire the best man for a job? You have a search comittee. You interview people. You look at their past experience. And then you pick the best guy. There's a reason why most of the jobs in the country are filled this way, and why no one thinks nepotism is an admirable trait.

Now Sean Sutton doesn't have any head coaching experience, in a large part because he's been sitting next to his dad, waiting for this job. I assume he could have taking a head coaching job at a different school in the last couple of years, and I can't necessarily blame him for not seeking one. It's a rare person who gets to work with family, and if you enjoy it, why give that up to go to elsewhere?

But here's the problem now. The fans and administrators are going to look at the younger man now at the bench and see the last name. Sutton. And they'll see 794 wins. They'll see a coaching philosophy bedrocked in 39 years of coaching. They'll see the confidence and experience he's supposed to have lapped up in his father's presence. And they'll be merciless he if he doesn't continuie his father's success.

When Eddie Sutton notched his first win at Creighton, Sean was a month or two past his first birthday. This is his first crack at a head coaching gig, and he's doing it before people who expect a 9th straight 20 win season. A ninth NCAA tournament appearance. And then a tenth. And then an eleventh.

To some extent Sean Sutton was going to face this wherever he started. Any advantage his name would bring would be equally weighted by the added expectations. But by taking his father's job, by spending time as a Head Coach Designate, he and the OSU administration are promising continuity. There's an unspoken expecation that now will be just then. That OSU's is getting the second coming of Eddie Sutton. And that's what a first-time head coach is expected to do, from the start. That's what Pat Knight will be looking at in Lubbock in a couple of years. It's not fair to anyone involved. I'm loving Roy Williams' work in Chapel Hill, but don't want to see Scott Williams at the front of the bench in fifteen years.

Sean Sutton is not the best man for the Oklahoma State coaching job. And the job's not the best fit for Sean Sutton.

(Note that last I heard Scott Williams was a bond trader in Charlotte. I don't mean to imply he has any interest in coaching basketball, and was using him as an example.)

Journalism

2006-02-17T00:08:00.000-08:00

There's a post I've been writing on and off during the day, while I debate whether or not to post it. The thesis being Sean Sutton is not the best man for the Oklahoma State job.

Now it's a pretty dickish thing to anonymously write on the internet that someone shouldn't have their job. Lucky I can back that up with my resume:

College basketball experience (player): None
College basketball experience (coaching): None
College athletic department experience (hiring): None
Sports journalism experience: None

Yes, anonymously writing about Sean Sutton's fitness to coach is falls into an ethical gray area. So I turn to the national media, to see how to properly opine on the state of college coaching:

Jason Whitlock (10+ years as a columnist) points to the fact that Mike Davis didn't hire a recruit's AAU coach as evidence he didn't have the heart to coach at Indiana.
Gregg Doyel speculates about who will be hired at Iowa, Creighton, Arizona State, Pittsburgh, UNLV, Duquesne,Arkansas, UAB, and Rutgers. All positions that happen to be filled at the moment.
Gregg Doyel also writes that Tubby Smith hasn't "earned the right" to leave Kentucky at the end of the season. (Tubby Smith has said nothing about leaving Kentucky.) I swear, sports writers impose some strange job obligations on athletes and coaches you don't see anywhere else - I didn't consider whether I was going to "leave it is as I found it" when I left my last job. Did Doyel before he left the Charlotte Observer for CBS?

I don't feel nearly so bad about writing about Sean Sutton. I'm just a bit apologetic that it's not as Carolina-centric as the blog title would indicate. I'll get around to fawning over Hansbrough's Tech performance and the Heels of Fewer Turnovers eventually.

And Speaking of Eddie Sutton

2006-02-16T02:17:00.000-08:00

He should be fired.

Alcoholism is a disease, and I feel sorry for the man and wish him well on the road back from this. But he's a prominent public figure and state employee who has committed a serious crime, and he needs to stand up and face the full consequences of his actions. He's done admirable work, especially in giving players second chances and instilling in them a sense of responsiblity. Now he needs to teach by example and show that past success does not excuse present failings.

He should be fired. And if OSU will not do so, he should resign.

Consistency Is the Hobgoblin of Talking Heads

2006-02-16T01:23:00.000-08:00

Dick Vitale has a column comparing the fates of Mike Davis and Matt Doherty. The conclusion reached is that neither had the head coaching experience required for such a high profile job, and that Indiana shouldn't have heeded the cries to hire Davis from folks like, well, Dick Vitale.

Vitale also wishes friend Eddie Sutton well and has full confidence in his son and successor, Sean Sutton. Sean has no previous head coaching experience.

"You are quite possibly the worst Wake Forest fan I've ever seen."

2006-02-13T21:49:00.000-08:00

A few random thoughts:

Gregg Doyel publishes his hate mail on the Krzyzewski column. I have mixed feelings on the topic that's currently absorbing the blogosphere. On the one hand, it's true that better teams foul less. On the other, some very bright people have pointed out the bizarre discrepancy in foul margin recent Duke teams have had.

The main thing to remember though, is that both blaming the refs and working the refs are small, petty things to do, and Krzyzewski has been one of the most flagrant practicers of the latter. The program should strive to be better than that, but they are Duke, after all.

You can win a gold medal in speed skating and still not be the most famous member of the Dudley High School class of 1997. Funny, that.

Hector's is closing. This time is temporary as well, and at least isn't fire related. Why do I think the East End Oyster & Martini Bar will soon join Caffe Trio in the Big Book[1] of Overly Pretentious and Now Closed Franklin Street Establishments?

(I was a charter member of Hector's Down Under for it's entire mayfly existence, so it's pretty obvious where my loyalties lie.)

John Feinstein introduces me to a scary thought: Maryland fans have crazier coaching expectations than N.C. State fans.

And in the insult to injury department, Sports Illustrated 10 Years of Major Sleepers passes over 2000's 8th seed North Caroilina for 8th seed Wisconsin and includes that damn Arizona team from 1997. Just in case you're looking for something to be bitter about.

[1] Big Book primarily big to fit entire title on spine.

The Last Defeated Team in Division I

2006-02-10T10:50:00.000-08:00

The UNC women's team dropped their first game of the season last night. Is player blogging to blame?

My first reaction is to call it a good loss, releasing everyone from the pressure of a perfect season, and providing good late game experience against what will next week certainly be a Top 5 team. Of course, to anyone who just lost a triple-overtime grudge match, that's an incredibly stupid thing to say.

J.P. Giglio likes the increase in competitive balance, but the all-Tennessee-UConn-Duke-Carolina show is a pretty recent development to women's basketball. When I first started going to games, Virginia and N.C. State were the league powerhouses, and upsets were pretty common nationally. After all, a sixteen seed has actually upset a number one on that side of the aisle. There are more awful teams in major conferences than there are in the men's game, which often leads to the impression of a major talent gap, but there's also many more impressive no-name schools on the women's side. Lousiana Tech was often a number one team, after all. There's more competition than you think.

(And lest you think my question was anything other than facetious, Camille Little led the Heels in scoring with 24. But I've looking for an excuse to mention her online foray for awhile now.)

Page N&Ot Found

2006-02-10T00:18:00.000-08:00

Chip Alexander has a little fluff piece in the News & Observer that's a fun read. It mainly chronicles Sean May's text messaging during the Duke game, and segues into a standard little ditty about UNC's improvement and potential for the post-season. I don't mean to belittle it - it's one of the best short pieces I've read this year, and folks should take a look.

But that's not the exciting thing about this post. The exciting - for sufficiently small values of "exciting" I admit - thing is that if you're reading this blog in March, and click on that link? You'll read the article I'm talking about.

No really, this is a special thing.

The News & Observer, at least since the time it parted ways with The Nando Times, never kept things online. Web pages had lifetimes of mayflie, dissappearing within a week of publication. And this was incredibly stupid. After paying the writers and photographers, after selling the advertising space, after formatting and putting it on the web in the first place, in other words after paying all the costs of running a news operation to begin with, they decided that just letting the pages sit there, attracting eyeballs and Google pagerank and generally generating consumers interest was somehow not cost-effective. Disk space is cheap, bandwidth is cheap, but I still can't revisit what Carlton Tudor thought after the Wake-UNC triple-overtime drama that kicked off last year's ACC season. Because it's not like having more work by your columnist out there might encourage folks to read their new stuff, or even pay to have it delivered to their doorstep or anything.

Maybe it was the onset of newspaper blogging that made them realize that promoting their own articles only work if they stick around. Maybe Carlton Tudor didn't want his entire web presence to be under the name "Toot." I don't know. I'm glad they did it though. I know I'll be more likely to link to them now.

(And with a website like Tar Heel March on your side, that'll bring in a good, 2, maybe 3 readers a decade. The Daniels' are going to be rolling in the dough.)

Grumble

2006-02-08T19:49:00.000-08:00

On the bright side, UNC did not lose to the eventual national champions. They lost to a team with no bench, a lackluster half-court offense, and a late-game performance that actually had their coach yelling more at his players than at the refs.

And yes, Carolina fans are supposed to feel good about this.

This is still a team of freshmen, and in crunch time, they played like freshmen. Frasor blunders into a Williams block on a must score possession, Green fails to pay attention to the score and clock, and there goes the ballgame. On the other hand though, when the game went south early in the second half, they had the bench that could come in and turn it around, and better yet the presence of mind to capitalize on that momentum shift. This is the first game in a while where it really looks lke the team is improving. And with the top two teams in the ACC cutting it closer and closer with each passing game, this is shaping up to be a very interesting end of the season run.

Some Historical Context

2006-02-07T15:55:00.000-08:00

You know ESPN will show highlights of past UNC-Duke games tonight. And they'll overemphasize the last second shot from the Pete Gaudet Era. So here are three games from the ESPN era that don't get that kind of replay, but should:

March 10, 1991 Just another ACC championship for the Tar Heels. Sure, winning by 22 points is nice, and the trophy looks good amongst all those other ones, but what sets this one apart is a couple of lines in the box score:


Name       MP  FG   FT   R  A  PF Pt 3FG  T  B  S
Cherry      1  0-0  2-2  0  1  0  2  0-0  0  0  1
Hurley     36  0-4  2-2  0  3  1  2  0-4  5  0  2

Yes, that's Duke starter Bobby Hurley and UNC end-of-the-bencher Scott Cherry putting up nearly identical stats.
North Carolina 96, Duke 74

February 1, 2001 Say what you will about Matt Doherty, there's one thng you can't take away from him. He was the first visiting coach to win on the newly-renamed Coach K Court. (And what does it say about you when the university won't take the time to spell out your entire name when they honor you?) And he did it with less talent and more Duke cheerleader jokes than had ever been done before.
North Carolina 85, Duke 83

February 5, 1998 If you see an Antawn Jamison clip, it's probably this game. Duke came to Chapel Hill ranked number one. The voters had UNC one place behind them.

That oversight was soon rectified.

ESPN doesn't show Duke highlights from that game. There were no Duke highlights from that game. The team that thought itself number one in the country came to to Chapel Hill and lost by 24.

Here's to more of the same tonight.

Or In the Words of Charles Kuralt

2006-02-07T05:11:00.000-08:00

I was asked to speak here tonight, because during the bicentennial I was the guy who stood there in front of the President of the United States and said that I was there to speak for all of us who could not afford to go to Duke . . . and would not have gone there even if we could have.

We have great affection for Duke University. All of us in this room know how important it is to our state, and know how important the rivalry is. And if there had never been a Duke (which of course there was not, during most of the distinguished history of the University of North Carolina); if there had never been a Duke, we would have had to invent it.

We would have made it a place with severe gothic arches and ivy growing on the walls, to persuade the more naive undergraduates that they had been admitted to Yale after all.

And we would have given it a towering national reputation (in some odd things, like parapsychology and the rice diet), but a national reputation.

We would have sent Richard Nixon there to study constitutional law. Best of all, we would have sent one of our own, the beloved Terry Sanford, over there to keep an eye on things.

And finally, we would have built the campus close to our own, so that those over-serious people, heads of great utilities, and rich people, could come here for parties. And I say that Julia and Hugh have shown true Carolina spirit in inviting them to this one.

We should all thank them for this, for bringing us together. There aren't many things that bring us together, but Julia and Hugh can do it.

But I can not help adding that this is the same Julia Morton and Hugh Morton who had a dog named Dutchess. Dutchess would roll over on her back, and stare blank eyes at the ceiling, and raise her four paws stiffly into the air, when asked, "would you rather be a dead dog or go to Duke."

--Charles Kuralt, Remarks On The Occasion of Julia and Hugh Morton's 50th Wedding Anniversary

Apparently There's a Game Tonight

2006-02-07T03:48:00.000-08:00

This year is apparently not one of those where ESPN hypes tonight's matchup beyond all reason. Maybe they only do that for games in Cameron, maybe a #2 vs. #23 game is good enough to not be sold on tradition, or maybe the game falling on a Tuesday is just throwing everybody off. No matter what the reason, little ink is being spilled in advance of the 21st Blue Devil visit to the Dean Dome.

There is always Ian Williams' seminal editorial which as evolved from sporadic reprinting to being an annual tradition. I can't think of a better way to start the day.

I don't have a Road to Damascus story about the Blue Devils myself. I grew up a Carolina fan in Raleigh, where you fought out your collegial allegiances with your milk choice in the school lunchroom - Pine State's regular milk was Wolfpack red and their skim milk a heavenly Carolina Blue, and chocolate milk was a mighty theological debate around the first grade minds of Lacy Elementary. Duke was the third leg of the triumverate, but their colors weren't brown, and besides, who was a fan of a team that never won a championship?

Duke hatred just kind of seeped in. My family moved from Raleigh to more neutral environs of the state, some schmuck turned around the program in Durham, and more and more navy-logoed sweatshirts began cropping up. You'd meet the occasional kid who planned on attending Duke, and just overlooked it as a personality flaw - a gaucheness you didn't mention in polite company. Come application season, you'd even toss off the college application for the place; it was good practice for the real application essays that loomed ahead, and there was joy in feeding their acceptance letter to the dog. But even that was more going through the motions than a genuine hatred.

Outsiders in the media try to frame Duke hatred as a jealousy of success, or a class struggle sort of thing. And maybe it is to those folks who's Duke vitrol is a Vitale response. But if you matriculated in Chapel Hill, those reasons are alien to you. Success? A popular T-shirt in the mid-90's carried the slogan "First one to three championships win." It was about damn time that coach down the road stopped whining to the refs and made a rivalry about of the damn thing. Class? The only people in the city limits who felt they failed in their college choices were in buses chartered by the Duke fraternity system, stumbling down Franklin Street enjoying a rare glimpse at a social scene. No, Tar Heels hate Duke only after their capacity for pity has been exhausted. After reading one too many articles canonizing that funny little Gothic place that sold its soul for cigarette money a hundred years ago. After that last floor slap, that last New Jersey accent asking whether grits can be singular, that last conversation with someone who thinks their T-shirt makes them special. That's when the hatred starts. That's when we experience the sweet-tasting schadenfreude. And that's when we pick up the missionary zeal that drives us out into the world, to say "No, that extra thirty thousand a year doesn't make you special," and "No, in the real world you actually have to do something worthy to achieve merit," and most importantly, "No, put aside the petty grudges and small complaints, and know that this is what it really means to hate Duke."

Meanwhile, In Less Important Sports

2006-02-06T00:39:00.000-08:00

A Tar Heel alumnus just ran further for a touchdown than had ever been done in a Super Bowl.

Just thought I'd mention that in case there's a tailback sitting around that wants to attend Tailback U. The East Coast Tailback U., at least. Congrats to Willie Parker, Jeff Reed, and Greg Warren.

52

2006-02-04T16:00:00.000-08:00

Not much more to say about that. Expect more hype next year when the opportunity to pass the Princeton-Brown home streak comes up.

Sports Illustrated is running an excerpt of a book I was previously unaware of, To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever. It's a pretty unoptimal portion of a book to excerpt - I yearn for the day the media realizes that recounting conversations on message boards is right up there with telling someone about your dreams in that it's never going to be interesting to anyone outside your own mind - but the microcosm of Duke hatred in the interview is nicely comfortable, and I'll at least flip through the book to see if it's worth my dime. I also stuumbled across this, and need a few minutes to stop laughing uncontrollably. Talk amongst yourselves.

Expect more rivalry stoking as the week goes on.

Maryland at the Half

2006-02-02T16:48:00.000-08:00

I stand corrected. When Maryland triple(!)-teams Hansbrough, they can shut him down. Good outside shooting and David Noel are keeping UNC in the game, but there's way too much sloppy play going on - while the turnovers on passes inside are a necessary evil in keeping Hansbrough and Sanders in the game, the overthrows on breaks and failures against the Terrapin press are rather disturbing. Still, they made to the break only down two, despite a significant stretch where Maryland was scoring by just outhustling the Heels to offensive rebounds and second chances, and this team is known for improving in the second half. I think they'll pull it out.

David Noel is sure playing like the guy who remembers leaner times against Maryland, isn't he? They might not remember him but he had a good stretch here last year during McCants' absence. here's to a second half like the first for him.

Miscellany Before Maryland

2006-02-01T19:52:00.000-08:00

I'm watching my first Duke game of the year - with the exception of the last minute or so of the near upset by Virginia Tech - and I'm struck by a couple of things:

Duke doesn't really have a half-court offense. They jumped out to a big lead at the end of the first half, but it was all by capitalizing on turnovers, which the Blue Devils do very well. Once they're facing five defenders on the other end, the most they seem to do is give Redick a perimeter screen before he launches a three or tries to beat his man off the dribble. It's a pickup ball strategy, and doesn't seem to be to difficult to beat.

(Of course, there's been practically no interior passing to Williams in this game, which is a credit to Smith and Hinnant. Perhaps against teams without a big frontcourt there's more of a system. If not, Williams is damn impressive to put up those numbers without much help.)

I don't know whether the Marshall-Redick jawing will get much play tomorrow - as of this typing there's a minute and half left and both Smith and Marshall have picked up fifth fouls on blocking calls - but I was amused at least. ESPN had already shown multiple instances of Duke players chest bumping during their run in the first half. Redick and McRoberts look particularly stupid doing it in my opinion, and I have no problem with an opponent mocking a team's celebratory tactic. Also note that the predicted offensive torrent from Redick that the ESPN broadcast crew would be the response never happened, even after Marshall fouled out.

ESPN has spent the entire game cutting to "celebrities" in the crowd (Doug Flutie, Bob Kraft, Tim Russert, Bill Belicheck). Is UNC the only place where non-basketball famous faces can't get tickets to the Duke game? You never see Donald Trump taking up camera time at the games in Chapel Hill like last year in Cameron, after all.

Vitale and Patrick's criticism of BC joining the ACC for mercanary reasons might sound better if it wasn't coming from people who make their money from college basketball, working for an organization that funnels millions into the sport. Just a thought.

Although the refs' loose calling of the game bit Tyrese Rice in the last 15 seconds (Why was he going for two anyway?) it was pretty illuminating to watch Duke players flop repeatedly on no contact. And by illuminating, I mean absolutely hilarious.

There are a couple of things I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around. First, that it's the halfway point of the season. In my mind, that doesn't occur until the first UNC-Duke matchup. Of course, the fact that UNC and Maryland are a game behind the rest of the league isn't helping. And about that mid-season list: Not only is Guillermo Diaz head and shoulders above Anthony Morrow, but Robert Hite should be on the list. And Greg Paulus shouldn't be sniffing at an all-ACC team at the point - put Tony Bethel or even Vernon Hamilton on there instead. They're doing more for their teams than Paulus.

The other thing I have trouble grasping is that Maryland is third in the ACC. The loss to Temple and the loss of their co-captain, combined with the general despair coming out of College Park doesn't bring to mine a denizen of the top 25% of the league. So it's not a surprise I think UNC will win easily tomorrow, although Mike Jones (MIKE JONES!!!) is only getting better, and Nik-Caner Medley is holding the team together on sheer force of will. But Carolina's outside game is getting better, and Maryland doesn't have the bodies to collapse on Hansbrough.

Oh and if you want the Maryland refresher course on UNC, the Washington Post is happy to provide.

Second Half Liveblogging

2006-01-29T17:05:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-29T16:49:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-29T15:51:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-24T16:38:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-22T18:03:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-18T16:22:00.000-08:00

...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

2006-01-16T21:10:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-15T19:30:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-13T22:47:00.000-08:00

Adrian Wojnarowski is writing a book about Jim Valvano.

There's a Basketball Game On

2006-01-13T01:50:00.000-08:00

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?

2006-01-11T06:51:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-05T23:03:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-04T15:23:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-03T22:22:00.000-08:00

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.

Thomas Wolfe Can't Get You Lower Level Seats

2005-12-28T23:20:00.000-08:00

The one game I get to attend this entire year, and I miss almost half of it, thanks to the Park and Wait and Stand in the Rain and Finally Ride 45 Minutes Later system. By the time I set foot in the Dean Dome, UNC had a nailbiting 47-11 lead over UNC-Ashville. So if you're looking for scintillating game commentary, this is probably not the place to turn.

It was good to make it back. No matter how many screens and LED displays are added, it's still a place I walk into and immediately recognize folks I went to school with. The crowd was relaxed and jovial - a large margin of victory will bring that out - cheering for Asheville's half court buzzer beater at halftime, and overencouraging the rarely seen backups to shoot. And the campaign to get folks to wear more Carolina Blue has made great strides to bring out that many team colors for an uneventful Winter Break game.

The basketball itself was relatively sloppy, but with a thirty-plus point lead that's to be expected. I'm continually impressed by Hansbrough, Frasor, and Ginyard. (I hadn't realized just how incredibly fast Ginyard is - it's impressive to watch.) As for Terry, well, the guy who did so well at Kentucky had left the building by the time I arrived. There still doesn't seem to be anyone who can step up and hit a three, but when the biggest guy on the floor ends up with eight steals there's not much to complain about.

Of course, the crotchety old man in me hates the Wachovia ads, the less than stellar attempts to pump the crowd with audio clips (The interminable rocket launch sequence before showing one David Noel dunk? That needs to stop. Mia Hamm's celebratory whoop over last year's national championship brings the comedy, though.), and the fact that the pep band sounded awful, but hey, it was good to be back. Although it'd be better with more buses.

Gopher of Christmas Past

2005-12-27T13:26:00.000-08:00

I first noticed this during the Minnesota-Arizona State matchup a couple of weeks ago, but didn't think to mention it. The injury-plagued Golden Gophers are a surprising 8-2, due in large part to the leadership of Adam Boone. Boone was granted a sixth year of eligibility after sitting out last season, and it's good to see he's doing well.

Southern Cal

2005-12-21T21:48:00.000-08:00

To the East Coasters watching the game: Yes, this is the typical quality of Fox Sports West play-by-play crews. There are a couple of posts that should be written comparing Fox announcers to either West Coast pick-up basketball (a similar emphasis on flash over ability) or Fox News (unapologetic bias towards the home team) by better folks than I.

I only got to see the second half, but this was a game where a previously cohesive Carolina team reverted to the freshmen most of them happen to be. The poor shooting, panicked late-game play and the endless turnovers killed this teams' chances. I don't know if it's a coincidence the second half slide started with Terry's unlucky consecutive fouls - he could be a much more important on the court influence than I (or the Fox Sports crew) have previously considered.

The optimist in me wants to believe this is a good wake-up call, bringing an overachieving team back to earth and providing time to fix glaring problems before the conference season begins in earnest. The errors were ones of exuberance and hustle, rather than tenativeness, at least. It's hard to find the bright side in this performance, however. Here's to the home stretch going better.

Shallow Eagles

2005-12-16T21:09:00.000-08:00

Just athought, but now that everyone's panicking over BC's two game slide, has anyone stopped to consider that the Eagles just aren't very deep? When you factor out the minute or so of playing time Neville, Dunlap & Neisler get in the blow-outs - which are fewer than expected for a school scheduling Sacred Heart - they've spent the fall playing only seven players. Maybe that will improve with the return of Akida McLain, but it's the rare team that can make a run for the ACC title with a seven-man rotation, and even with eight you want to have a couple of guys you can stick in for a minute or two.

Cupcakes with Schadenfrosting

2005-12-15T23:22:00.000-08:00

State Fan Nation took some time last week out of their schedule of demanding the firing of their basketball coach, football coach and athletic director to complain about the opponents the Wolfpack play. Their point is a good one - your standard Raleigh schedule has more directions than Mapquest - and if more fans demanded this I think they'd be pleased with the results.

Ignore the RPI and its bearing on the NCAA tournament and choose your opponents based on this simple rule: Good teams improve by playing good teams. Yes, you play in the ACC, but wouldn't it be nice to not entire the conference season having no idea if your team is any good? Beef up the schedule and either the Wolfpack will win more games, impress more people, and go farther in the tournament, or they'll be sub .500 squads, and the firings you're rooting for can commence. (Personally, I label the former of these scenarios Option Sendek and the latter Option Amato, but come up with your names if you like.)

Demands for heads to rolls from the rank and file fans doesn't produce much in the way of results. (Especially when you also want the guy in charge of firing to be fired as well. He's not particularly likely to agree with your assessment.) Focus on demanding better games. Skip the military schools and hit up the major conferences. You'll end up with either better teams or better coaches.

Does the Lack of Handy and Grouchy Foretell Further Expansion?

2005-12-06T16:19:00.000-08:00

A Georgia Tech sportsblog has reframed the discussion of ACC football in mushroom-housed terms. The insights are quite, well, insightful, but the rumor of Mack Brown being told he'd never be paid as well as the basketball coach rankles a bit.

The story sounds apocryphal, but even taken at face value, it runs up against the harsh reality that colleges don't have that much control over coaching pay. The best Google can tell me eight years after the fact, is that Mack Brown was getting $165,000 from the university at the time of his departure, while Dean Smith was earning $137,000 in 1996. Now I don't doubt Smith was recieving more money overall - Nike had spent years and quite a lot of cash trying to stamp their logo on the previously Converse affilated basketball team (and Adidas branded soccer teams) but such money is distressingly outside the university's control. Expecting the university to subsidize a shoe company's decisions is much too much too ask.

I'm happy for Mack Brown, and no longer resent the manner in which he left North Carolina. (And to be clear, I didn't begrudge him the Texas job, just the poor way he informed the players, and the self-aggrandizing phone call during the Gator Bowl.) But to ascribe him leaving for a more prestigious football job to laziness on the athletic department's fault is, well, lazy.

(Oh and as a comparison, here's Roy Williams' paycheck. Outside compensation is only getting worse, and it's probably the most distasteful aspect of college basketball. A close second? The kids out there actually executing these coaches' visions not seeing a dime.)