THE DAILY HOOP

When I first heard that Rocky VI was really going to be made, I became ill. I love the Rocky series, but Rocky V was a miserable, horribly-conceived movie. So, Rocky VI was a bad, bad idea in my opinion.

I’m slowly warming up to Rocky VI though. The trailer looks great, Rocky’s son has been perfectly cast (Hero’s Milo Ventimiglia), and the use of a real (and talented) boxer as Rocky’s opponent - Antonio Tarver - was a smart move.

You can read a terrific interview with Sly at Ain’t It Cool.com. It’s worthwhile to click on the previous links first and start the Q+A at the beginning.

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.

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.

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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.

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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,…..

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I know I’ve mentioned this before, but Vince Gill’s new 4 disc box set is awesome. You don’t have to be a fan of country music to appreciate the great song-writing and melodies on these songs. You can sample all 43 tracks on Gill’s website.

Let me know what you think.