The ACC should close the deal tonight on its 8th straight victory in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. The ACC currently leads 4-2 with five more games tonight. The marquee matchup, of course, is Ohio St. vs. UNC (the Heels are only 2-5 in this event). This is a much, much bigger game for Carolina than it is for OSU. Read the rest of this entry »
At roughly 3:30pm this past Saturday, the John Bunting era ended at North Carolina and the Butch Davis era began.
**Before I discuss Davis, I have to mention the UNC-Duke game. I feel sorry for Ted Roof.
As I predicted in my earlier post, the Zags stretched the lead out in the second half. Give the Heels a little credit though. They crawled back to within two with a couple of minutes left. But you can’t beat a good team without leadership. And the Heels lacked that tonight. Last year, David Noel was always there. Always there with a key put-back. Alwasy there with a key pass. Always there with a key word of encouragement. Always there. Tonight, he was not there.
The Heels looked lost all night long. They were searching, and searching and searching…but never finding. Gonzaga didn’t think they were going to win. They KNEW they were going to win. Josh Heytvelt KNEW his was better than Tyler Hansbrough (and his postgame comments revealed as much. In fact, Mark Few had to step over Heytvelt a time or two in order to temper his big guy’s cocky responses). Derek Raivio, out of control at times, KNEW he was better than UNC’s guards. And lord knows Matt Bouldin KNEW he was better than anybody Carolina put in front of him. Last year, David Noel would have figured out how to get Hansbrough the ball. Noel would have helped shut down Bouldin. And Noel would have talked to the guards about how to defend Raivio. Tonight, however, there was no stand-in for Noel.
Just finished watching the first half of UNC’s game vs. Gonzaga. The Heels are down three. They may win, but my guess is they will not. Carolina looks very confused vs. the Zags zone. Clearly, Mark Few is not going to allow Tyler Hansbrough to beat him. And, clearly, UNC has no answer for Josh Heytvelt. He’s too much player on offense for either Brandan Wright or Hansbrough at this point. Couple that with Tyler’s two fouls (check earlier post today….not what UNC needed), and Heytvelt will control the rest of the game. Frasor’s two quick fouls hurt the Heels as well. Strategically, the Heels need to go zone a good bit in the 2nd half. They’re doing a lousy job of guarding the high-middle screen-roll. Roy was wise to call off the trapping, and not smart to do it the one time at the end of the half when Raivio nailed the wide open three.
Bottom line: Unless Carolina can make a slew of 3’s in the second half, Gonzaga will slowly extend the lead until the margin is too great. Look for a decent half for a while until UNC’s youth and inexperience tighten them up. That tightness, and Hansbrough’s ineffectiveness, will result in a 15 point Gonzaga win.
I said yesterday that I thought that Duke would make it to Atlanta this year. Last night’s loss to Marquette has not diminished that belief. The Golden Eagles were ferocious and a bit fortunate. Josh McRoberts had numerous good looks from 5 feet and in, but failed to convert on most of them. The Devils will struggle with super quick teams, but few teams will be able to exploit Duke’s deficiencies as capably as Marquette.
Georgia Tech pulled out a very nice win in the semis of the Maui Invitational. It looked bleak for a while,…..
As I was watching the first half of last night’s Carolina-Winthrop game, I thought there would be no way the Heels would come back and win the game. When a guy from a mid-major (Torrell Martin) hits 6 three’s in a half on his way to 20 points you generally don’t overcome that. When you throw the ball away 14 times in a half giving the opposition multiple fast break opportunities, you usually lose the game. Add to these things to the fact that Winthrop is well-coached and is used to winning and you have a have an upset in the making.
The North Carolina Tar Heels played their first basketball game of the season tonight. After the lackluster effort in the last four minutes of their preseason game against Pheiffer, it was assumed that the Heels would come out with fire and passion and crush the Pioneers of Sacred Heart. The crush part happened, but it happened much later than anticipated.
Employing an offense UNC is likely to see over and over again this season, the Pioneers spread the floor, worked the shot clock and launched one three-pointer after another. Unfortunately for UNC, Sacred Heart knocked down a good many of those threes. The Pioneers kept the game close for a half, and never really let Carolina put them away. It’s hard to be disappointed with scoring 103 points in a 22 point win. However, Sacred Heart did expose several glaring weaknesses the Heels have right now.
A big question looms out in the world today: The Tar Heels scored 140 points in their pre-season game against Pheiffer yesterday. I have to say, that’s the most points I’ve ever seen scored by one team in a college basketball game. Obviously, UNC won the game. The Heels won by 39, which is a sizeable margin. In fact, Carolina led by 50 or more for most of the second half.
But do the math. UNC won by 39 and scored 140. That means, of course, that Pheiffer scored 100 too (101 to be exact). Scoring 140 is good. Giving up 101 is not. Roy Williams was none to pleased. To be fair, the Heels defense was non-existent only in the last 4 minutes of the game. At the last time-out of the game, UNC led 128-73. Had both teams emptied the bench at that point, the final would have been something like 135-85. 135 points and a 50 point win - all would have been joyful on the Hill.
It has become fashionable to push the Tar Heel basketball team all the way through the season and in to the Georgia Dome (the site of this year’s Final Four). The Heels are good, no doubt about it. But they’re young.
Of course, they do have Roy on the bench. So, that’s a plus. But Coach Williams will have to figure out a way to get minutes for a slew (10-12) players on a nightly basis.
Top News Stories