It was a great win no matter how you look at it, but especially sweet in the context of recent nail biters and over time wins, to say nothing of the many injuries and ailments the Heels have had to deal with. Under normal circumstances, a 39-point beat down by the Heels would not be that noteworthy, but for me me there were three nice story lines from the 92-53 win.
One, don’t forget that Virginia Tech swept the season series against the Heels last year. The loss in Chapel Hill was the most galling, as Carolina lost another overtime game to Jamon Gordon and last year’s pretty good Hokie squad. This year the Heels are excelling, or at least making plays and winning, in overtime.
Two, the Heels blew out an ACC team while using second and third-string players for much of the game. Not only did Q have a tremendous game - more on that later - but Alex Stephenson played a great game on both ends of the court and Will Graves was on the floor during key stretches of the tilt versus Tech. It’s been said quite a bit lately, but the silver lining of these injuries is more time and experience for players like Graves and Q.
And three, how great was Q today? By far this was his best game as a Heel. He is playing with such confidence now, as evidenced by his two DUNKS against the five from Blacksburg. His dunk in the first half also featured a great cross over dribble to get him into the lane and to the rack. Great to see a guy who has persevered play so well when given the chance. Thomas finished with six points, seven boards and six assists against Virginia Tech.
I think he will be able to handle State on Wednesday, and the Heels should be in great shape again when Lawson returns.
Hoops Random Thoughts
- I guess Wake has recovered from the post-Chris Paul talent slump they’ve endured, to say nothing of the challenge of recovering from the sudden death of Skip Prosser. I only watched the second half of that game, but came away impressed by the way Wake fought back after Duke retook the lead after trailing at half. It was the first time I’ve seen Wake play, but they looked pretty athletic on offense and defense.
- Wake’s defense kept Duke’s perimeter game in check, but the foul trouble didn’t help the Devils either. Most of those fouls looked legit; I don’t know if Duke was tired or that much slower than Wake or what. But whatever the reason, I think it’s ridiculous for the referees to foul out six players - six starters - in a game. And here’s an excuse for me to repeat one of my core hoop beliefs: 9 times out of 10, when an offensive player drives to the hoop and a foul is called it SHOULD be on the defense for a block; let the offense flow.
- It was quite a Wake Forest weekend with the NBA all star game in New Orleans revolving around Chris Paul. Interesting to note that only three schools had two players each in the All Star game: Wake with Paul and Tim Duncan, Carolina with Sheed and Antawn Jamison, and UConn with my man Caron Butler (nice article in the Post), Ray Allen and Rip Hamilton.
- UConn and Carolina makes sense, but who would have ever thought that Wake would be in that company? [Then again, 20 years ago who would have thought the Huskies would replace Indiana in the college hoops pantheon of Carolina, UCLA, Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, ?Arizona?UConn?] Also interesting to note that neither player was able to lead Wake to a Final Four in their six years in Winston-Salem.
- Wake has to be considered a bubble team for the NCAA tournament now, and Miami can played itself back onto the bubble after their win this weekend over Georgia Tech (if Tech had held on to defeat the Huskies two weeks ago they could have gotten back on the bubble too). So the ACC should get at least four: Carolina, Duke, Clemson, Maryland; hopefully five with Wake, and maybe six if Miami rises to the occasion.
- The Canes are intriguing. They are 4-6 in the conference but control their destiny. Their next three games are key: they host Duke and Maryland, then visit Clemson before finishing with three winnable games - against Virginia and BC in the Gables then a rivalry game at FSU - to close out the season. Eight wins in the ACC should get them in, especially if - and it’s a HUGE IF - they can take down Duke and/or Maryland and Clemson on the road.
- I didn’t watch any of the All Star game though I intended to since Jamison and Sheed were in there. The whole weekend has gotten too hype-driven and superficial to watch or enjoy. That said, I have to give David Stern and the NBA props for going to New Orleans. The mandatory service day on Friday was nice, but almost more importantly it was good to focus the media - what media the NBA generates - on the still shameful state of post-Katrina New Orleans. How that story has faded off the front page of the papers is embarrassing.
- Finally, some Greek soccer news. Olympiacos plays at Chelsea tomorrow in the sweet 16 of the European Champions league. Chelsea is favored but Olympiacos comes in feeling confident after winning a road game for the first time in 32+ years in the Champions league.
- Panathinaikos plays Rangers in the round of 32 of the UEFA Cup (the consolation-prize tournament to the Champions league). Pana scored a mild upset in the first game of the two-game series by tying the Scottish squad over the weekend. Game two is in Athens on Thursday.
- How about that James Knox Polk, UNC 1818? He helped launch a semi-bogus war against Mexico in an effort to spread slavery (plan was to admit Texas but also New Mexico and Arizona as slave states). But the Mexican-American war also got us California, which seems like a good thing. The war also gave a one-term Congressman from Illinois a national platform to criticize an unjust war. Of course that lanky member of Congress was Barack Obama, I mean Abraham Lincoln.
February 18, 2008
2 comments:
Nice James K. Polk reference. Why isn't that guy on the $5 bill?
Thomas has played 165 minutes and scored 36 points in his last five games. He played 164 minutes and scored 14 points in his entire junior season.
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