THE DAILY HOOP

Last year, the Florida Gators proved that a young team can figure out how to win a National Championship. The Gators were full of freshmen and sophomores, with sophs Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Taurean Green leading the way. Their season was nondescript until March rolled around. Then, Florida ran off 9 straight wins to capture the SEC and NCAA tournament championships. So, coming in to this season lots of folks wondered whether North Carolina could do the Gators one better. The Heels were led by freshmen and sophomores just like last year’s Florida crew. The difference is that UNC’s lead players were freshmen Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Brandan Wright. These three teamed with sophomore Tyler Hansbrough to form the nucleus of the youngest national power since Michigan’s Fab Five.

On the surface, this year’s Heels didn’t disappoint. 31 wins, tie for the ACC regular season championship, ACC Tournament title, 3 wins in the NCAA tournament and coming within 6 minutes of the Final Four - all in all, that’s a solid season that bordered on great. So why does it feel like an unfulfilling year? Well, that’s a loaded question. It’s difficult to be objective 2 days after such a draining loss. Still, it is important to figure out why the nagging feeling of unreached potential is so pervasive. Read the rest of this entry »

Having seen 29 Tar Heel games now, here are some observations:

1. Why no line-up change? – You could argue that 5 losses doesn’t mandate a shakeup in the starting five. But this is a young team. Line-up consistency usually equates to experienced squads. So one of two things is happening: Either Roy Williams really doesn’t believe there is anyone on the bench who has earned a start the ENTIRE season, or Williams doesn’t believe the players that would lose their spot could recover mentally from being benched. Read the rest of this entry »

In case it has slipped up on you, tonight is the season’s first installment of the UNC-Duke basketball game. Here are some thoughts:

- Brian Zoubek will have a nice game. Nothing awesome, mind you, but a nice game.

- I expect to see UNC’s Sophs and Terry on the floor in some crunch situations. Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green, Marcus Ginyard and Bobby Frasor were on the floor when the Heels cut State’s 2^nd half lead down to almost nothing. If Terry, Brandan Wright, and Ty Lawson play poorly, out of control, without intelligence or passion, they’ll be on the bench. Frasor and Ginyard were absolutely HUGE last year at Cameron.

- Josh McRoberts will have a near-career game. Roy Williams won’t put Hansbrough on him much because Josh will just stand out on the perimeter and take Tyler off the bounce. If Wright is on him, Josh will go down in the hole. Since Wright will not be able to help when McRoberts feeds cutting Dookies, the Heels may give up a fair number of lay-ups. And, as we know, Brandan is not the greatest rebounder. McRoberts is outstanding on the glass. Do the math – Josh may light up the Heels.

- As always, Reyshawn Terry could be the difference. No team not named Florida has a player like Terry. When Rey comes to play, he changes the game at both ends. This is especially true tonight. K would love to get away with covering Terry with Demarcus Nelson and Gerald Henderson. That would allow Duke to use Lance Thomas and David McClure (along with McRoberts and Zoubek) to counter the Heels front-court depth. If McClure and Thomas have to check Terry, that makes the other matchups a little more difficult for the Devils.

- The other X factor could be Alex Stepheson. I know he only plays a handful of minutes a game, but he’s great around the basket. If Tyler starts to get it going, the other Tar Heel big should have an opportunity to clean-up on the weak side. And, with Stepheson’s propensity to grab rebounds he might be perfectly suited to influence the game.

The game will be close throughout, and Duke will hit some timely 3’s down the stretch to win the game. If UNC is going to win it will take good games from some folks who haven’t been great lately. Wayne Ellington, Bobby Frasor, Terry and Wes Miller will need to hit some 3’s. Duke isn’t going to play off UNC’s perimeter players, but the Devils aren’t about to let the ball go inside easily. The 3-ball will be critical for the Heels.

Last thing – something tells me this one is headed for at least one OT. I just have a hunch.

Saturday was a bad day for the Tar Heels. Every defeat stings, but the way the loss to N.C. State unfolded was especially painful. This has to be the last “wake up” game of the season for UNC. Teams with title aspirations - and surely the Heels would be in this group - don’t go down the stretch still looking for toughness, passion, intelligence and “want-to”. Had Saturday’s game been against a better team, the margin of defeat would have been much, much larger. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, the Devils and Pack lose over the weekend while the Deacs manage to eek out a decent win on the road against Miami. The Tar Heels whacked Florida St. in a nice home win. The Heels didn’t look all that sharp, but they still won by 26. That doesn’t bode well for the rest of the league. Carolina gets the Wahoos on Wednesday and then travel to Blacksburg on Saturday. Playing at Virgina Tech will be a big test. If UNC leaves Hokie land with a W, they will have earned it. As the game at Cameron proved, Va Tech is a tourney-worthy team.

Less than 10 weeks from the start of the NCAA tourney. Buckle up!

If you ever wonder why UNC-Duke is the most heated, the most intense, the most…everything, rivalry in America all you have to do is read this little piece from the AP. This kind of slap in the face doesn’t occur between Buckeye and Wolverine fans, or between Yankee and Red Sox fans.

I would bet a small fortune that the UNC student government retaliates in the very near future.

8 years, 8 drubbings of the Big Ten. The ACC-Big Ten Challenge has become an annual win-fest for the ACC. Since nearly every win the ACC picks up in the Challenge is considered a “quality” win come March, why is it that the Big Ten repeatedly has sent more teams to the dance?

Mike DeCourcy has several answers to that question. With Wake, Miami and possibly NC State being way down this year, many middle-of-the-road teams may be able to notch enough wins to impress the selection committee. Of course, it doesn’t help that the Pack looks far better than anticipated, and that Miami has already knocked off Georgia Tech.

Help. That’s a meaningful word in basketball. You provide defensive help, you help your teammate off the floor, you help a shooter with a good pass (aka an assist). The Tar Heels had too much and not enough help last night against Ohio St. Read the rest of this entry »

98-89 win vs. OSU. I’ll have more on this in the morning, but Carolina gutted out this one. Defensively, the Heels were awful - really, they worse than that. It is rare, rare, rare that a quality team knocks down 13 3’s and loses the game. Except for the non-existent defense, UNC won the old-fashioned way - FT’s, layups and ball security. Don’t turn it over, dump it down low, get to the line = win a big game. If the Heels had been a little better from the FT line, the margin would have been 15-16 points.

DiMaggio’s 56 game hitting streak is cited often as the greatest record of all time. And, no doubt, that is a monster of a streak. UCLA and Oklahoma had serious unbeaten runs in college basketball and football respectively. But ESPN.com has a cool piece on what may be the most unbreakable record of them all.