An Exhausting and Exhilarating Day of Hoops and Hansbrough

Pretty phenomenal day of basketball at the ACC tournament today - to say the least.  Twenty-five years after Jim Valvano coined the term, for the Heels against the Hokies it was survive and advance in Charlotte on Saturday.

What more can you say about Tyler Hansbrough? When you need one player to make one play to win one game, that player is Tyler Hansbrough.   

But against Virginia Tech tonight he made more than one play; his rebound with 30 seconds left was just as big.  That flurry left me exhausted, and I'm just a fan!  How do coaches and players do it?

One more thing about Hansbrough's shot.  He's quoted all over the place saying "I just caught it and let it fly."  But that's not what he did.  Check out the photo (courtesy of the N&O): his form is perfect.  He grabbed the rebound , squared his shoulders, and shot a text-book jumper.  Some say good luck is the residue of hard work.   Well, you saw it on that play.   

Hansbrough finished with 26 and 9 for the game, and the Heels needed every point and rebound to defeat a very game Virginia Tech squad.

The Hokies played a great game today.  They ran - successfully - with the Heels in the first half, and then slowed it down - successfully - in the second. Kudos to ACC coach of the year Seth Greenberg.   The Hokies didn't shoot that well, but led for most of the game - actually controlled the game - behind their defensive pressure and rebounding.

Carolina never got any rhythm going as a result of that rugged Hokies defense. Lawson was especially tentative, Green had a nice stretch in the first half then disappeared, and both Thompson and Stevenson were practically swallowed whole by the Virginia Tech defense. 

Hansbrough was the obvious hero for the Heels, and played a great game in each half.  In the first, he took what the defense gave him and hit a number of perimeter shots.  Ginyard was the other hero of the first 20 minutes, and was the only Heel taking the ball to the rack with authority.

Three Heels distinguished themselves with aggressive play against the Hokies, but who would have thought the third player would be Will Graves?  His strong take late in the first half helped the Heels go into the locker room tied with Tech. With Stephenson and Thompson non-factors Roy gave Graves some good minutes, and was rewarded with some fine play from the freshman.

In the last 20, Hansbrough started having success inside but the Heels still fell behind.  It wasn't until Ellington got hot late in the half that the offense showed any kind of flow or spark. I've said this before, I'll say it now - this team only goes as far as Ellington will take them.

The unsung part of this game - and Ellington's - was the defense he played against Vassallo.  The senior from Puerto Rico had a great first half, but cooled down considerably in the second thanks in part to Ellington's defense. Wayne also finished with 8 rebounds.   As big as his two threes were down the stretch, his defense of Vassallo was just a key to this win.

The defense in general was pretty good for the Heels; they got stops down the stretch when Carolina needed stops.  Besides Hansbrough's performance from start to finish and Ellington's late game heroics, the Heels' defense was the best part of this game for Tar Heel fans. 

So on to a date with Clemson for the ACC championship.  As I blogged about the FSU game, it is hard to beat a team three times in one season.  Carolina barely defeated the Tigers in Clemson and in Chapel Hill, so maybe those close games don't count as 'real' wins?

Go Heels!

A few more ACC tournament thoughts

• Impressive win by Clemson over Duke, for two reasons - one ridiculous, one sublime.  One, Clemson made their free throws.  One would assume kids on scholarship to an ACC school could routinely make an unguarded 15 footer; but that hasn't been the case with Clemson this year.  Today they made their free throws and won. Two, Clemson did not panic after Duke retook the lead with 9 minutes left.  Instead the purple clad Tigers looked like Carolina and methodically ran their offense.   They made plays down the stretch and won a huge game.
• Duke lives by the sword and dies by the sword, and today they died as a result of too many missed three pointers.  Though talented, the Blue Devils often times become too enamored with the three point shot and devolve into a one-dimensional team.  That makes them easy to guard.  The odd thing is in Nelson, Henderson and Singler - even Scheyer - they have some slashers who can finish at the rim.  I wonder why they don't utilize that kind of attack more?  Anyway, they are another cold shooting night away from elimination, which I predict will be in the sweet 16 game.   
• I'm going to watch tomorrow's game live (as opposed to TiVOing it, which I did today and started watching around 3:15 pm), so may try some live blogging during the game if folks are interested.  Feel free to join the conversation during the TV timeouts.