Worst blog of the year

The worst blog of the year is always the one that wraps up the season. Of course, I shouldn't be so pessimistic or melodramatic.  As I was saying to Evan as he cried after the loss to Kentucky today, this is still arguably the golden era of Carolina basketball.

Losing today stinks; to be one game away from our 19th Final Four is tough to take.  But again, it was a great season - 14 and 2 in the ACC, beating Duke in Chapel Hill, seeing the development of players like Zeller, Henson, Marshall and of course Barnes.  

And it's still the golden age, an age that will add luster next season if at least either Henson or Barnes come back.  Barnes may not, of course, though a lock out in the NBA may keep him in Chapel Hill.  Either way, a team made up of Marshall, Stickland, Bullock or a new hotshot freshman to take Barnes' spot, Henson, Zeller as starters, backed up by McDonald, Watts and a few more freshmen, will be formidable to say the least.

Anyway, back to the golden age.  Since Roy came back, in 2004, here are our results:

2004: 1-1 (lost to Texas)

2005: 6-0, National Champs

2006: 1-1 (lost to George Mason)

2007: 3-1 (lost to Georgetown in Elite 8)

2008: 4-1 (lost to Kansas in Final Four; worst loss of Williams era)

2009: 6-0 National Champs

2010: DOH!

2011: (3-1, lost to Kentucky in Elite 8)

Five Elite 8s, three Final Fours, 2 National Championships in 8 years.  That's more elite 8s, Final Fours and championships that most Division I schools (schools like Georgetown, UConn*, Pittsburgh,  Villanova, Texas, Purdue, Arizona, Illinois, Michigan, St. Johns, Syracuse, that's just off the top of my head) have in the last 60 years, let alone 8.

Still losing stinks, losing to a shyster like Calipari is even worse.  And Kentucky is like the perfect blend of Duke and State, arrogant red necks. 

Today's game was basically a toss up.  The Heels turned it over way too much in the first half, Henson was in foul trouble and Kentucky went nuts with the 3s today shooting over 50 percent for the game.  

But despite all that, the Heels fought back and with 2 minutes left it was a tie game.

To their credit, Kentucky made plays down the stretch.  I honesty thought they would fold - as most teams have historically done - in the face of Carolina's excellent comeback, this time led by a very aggressive Barnes.

To their credit Kentucky made plays, 2 more than Carolina did, to win.  That three to make it a four-point game was huge, but bigger was the block of Marshall's drive with the Heels trailing by one. 

That possession summed up the season for us.  Love to see Marshall take the initiative; he had a lane to the rack for the go-ahead basket.  Unfortunately, Liggins made a big-time block to stop the comeback for good.  

That drive was a good decision.

However, the great decision would have been to be a click more patient and get the ball to Zeller down low, where he was unstoppable down the stretch, or to Barnes to get a foul or a shot. 

Marshall made our season this year, so no complaints.  But freshman don't always make the great play all the time.  That comes when they're juniors or seniors.  

A great season where the Heels got better and better, and were fun to watch.  Next year, with improved players like Marshall and Stickland, and guys like Zeller coming back, the Heels will be exciting and fun and hopefully even more golden than this year's squad.  

GO HEELS!

A few more hoops notes:

• Still hard to believe that both Butler and VCU are in the Final Four.  VCU is the first Final Four team to advance with 5 wins (it usually takes 4) as a result of their play in game win over USC;
• VCU showed incredible composure in withstanding Kansas' second-half comeback; that was impressive;
• I'd be happy if either of those guys in the national championship, and have no idea who will win.
• How stark a contrast would it be if the final is Kentucky, a school that has been on probation once a decade for the last six decades coached by a coach who's two other Final Four appearances have been struck from the official records due to violations, versus a team like Butler?  Style versus substance? Self promotion versus humility?  The comparison's are endless.

Greek Independence Day Observations

As I wake up on Greek Independence Day - Zito H Ellas - I finally get to catch up on some blogging.  I also posted plenty of photos on my Facebook page last night.

I was hoping to blog more from Greece, but our schedule kept me from sitting down long enough to do so (and when I did have time, for instance when we were waiting for a bus near the theater of Epidauros, my battery died).  So here my impressions; I’ll post a longer tome - on my impressions of Greece since our last visit in 2009 - later.

The good news is after two years the Greek smoking ban is holding; there seems to be less smoking happening in public and folks are abiding by the indoor smoking ban.  We were in Greece two years ago when the indoor smoking ban was initially enacted – and universally ignored by businesses everywhere. Two years later Greeks have adapted AND are abiding by the rule of law – two landmarks for a population that prides flaunting authority.

We did get to watch part of a left-wing protest on Tuesday night.  Lots of police lined the march route, and the march itself was pretty standard for left wingers: lots of chants and signs protesting the EU, World Bank and U.S. intervention in Libya. 

We visited the Panepistimio, university section, of Athens for a meeting with the Hellenic American Union on Thursday.  Saw lots of left-wing graffiti, some Afghan refugees protesting for political asylum – standard liberal college stuff.  But I thought it was high-larious to see a Starbucks, Pizza Hut and Cinnabon near what is widely thought to be a hotbed of anti-Americanism.

Speaking of leftists, most interesting graffiti spotted so far: “Refugees welcome; tourists fuck off.”

We saw that spray-painted on a wall in the Monastiraki section of Athens. It was my first time there, and it was pretty cool.  Ariadne loved the shopping, and the area featured a myriad of shops but most of the shoppers were Greeks not tourists.  We ate most of our dinners there all week.  

Monastiraki is also home to some of the best souvlaki restaurants in Athens.  We had lunch in one shop called “Thanassi’s” and dinner in another, ‘Savvas” which had excellent chicken gyros and a goofy sauce made of yogurt, mustard and Greek parsley (maithano).

The Plaka, in contrast, was empty the night we ate there.  We had a nice meal at Vyzantino (I had some fresh red fish, Ariadne some chicken with Greek pasta) but most of the stores and streets were empty.

Of course, that allowed some longish conversations with the storeowners.  Everyone we talked to complained about raising prices and lower wages, but things are still fairly cheap here.  The Metro, for instance, has risen 40 percent to 1,40 for a round trip.  I pointed out that in D.C. most one-way fares on our Metro during rush hour are now $1.90.

One storeowner was more worried that it’s not just prices, but a general malaise that has taken over Greece.  She said that Greeks used to be more community oriented and watched out for their neighbors more. However, the financial crisis has caused many Greeks to be more selfish.

Despite the complaints and problems Athens still seems busy and prosperous.   A stroll down the main shopping drag in downtown Athens was full with shoppers and not many – if any - empty storefronts.  And you still immigrants selling cheap goods and trinkets.  And Monastiraki and the Psyrri sections of Athens were packed at night.

Perhaps the biggest shock, not really a shock, for us this trip is the weather.  It’s odd being in Greece when it’s cold and windy.  It’s been so windy, and thus the seas have been choppy, that ferry service to many islands has been cut off - including our trip to Poros.  So instead of taking a boat there we staying in Athens and took a bus for a day trip to Nafplion and the ancient theater of Epidauros.

Fantasy Travel has been awesome.  Our travel agents and drivers have been very friendly and love hearing from a Greek-American about both our impressions of Greece and America.  I also may have picked up a blog follower in Neli, who works for Fantasy Travel and writes for The Epoch Times.   

My favorite ‘snack food not available in the U.S.’ has got to be Baked Lays with Mediterranean Herbs.  Could eat those all day. I even heard an American father and son come to the same conclusion on the Acropolis one day.

Is there anything worse than being mistaken for a Canadian?  Many folks in Greece, when they hear me speak Greek, have assumed I was Canadian. When I asked why, one storeowner thought that Greek-Canadians are less assimilated and therefore more likely to hang on to their Greek, where Greek-Americans are more assimilated and therefore speak less Greek – which makes sense.

One also said I looked like I was good at curling.  Either way, it was embarrassing.

Greece pulls it out

Though they can't rely on Harrison Barnes to make a big shot down the stretch, the country of Greece pulled it out today after a couple of long flight from DC to Athens.

When Ariadne and I arrived today we were beat, but after a nap and a shower we got our kefi back and strolled the Plaka for a while.  It was kind of weird; cold and relatively empty, in short the opposite of the Plaka in the summer.

But after a frappe and an Evy soda Greece rallied.  We strolled among some shops, picking up a handmade leather back pack for Ari and a new Panathinaikos shirt for Evan with a couple of nice conversations - in Greek - with the store owners.

Then an unexpectedly nice dinner at Vyzantino.  Of course, we were looking for another taverna but could not find it, winding up in a small square that featured Vyzantino among other touristy tavernas.   But our food, and conversation, was great.  Ariadne got some nice chicken with hilopites, dry like she likes it, and I had a excellent and flavorful red fish that the waiter claimed to have been caught over the weekend.  We started with a garlicy but not dilly tzatziki sauce, and finished with a glass of  fruity white wine.  Everything was great.

And how can you beat strolling home under the lights of the Acropolis, with an added bonus of the excellently lit new Arcopolis Museum?  

Like Harrison Barnes, Greece pulled it out.  Zito H Ellas!

Almost a perfect day

Great to see (though I missed most of the game on a plane) pull out a tough win yesterday over Washington.  Best part was we got contributions from everyone, especially Strickland on D and O. 

Harrison Barnes was once again his clutch self nailing that huge 3 late, Zeller was steady and unstoppable in the second half, and KButter5 had a great second half.

Downside was not much defense on anyone not named Isaiah Thomas.  But got to give it up for Strickland's effort on Washington's best player.

The other downside, Duke pulling it out against Michigan.

And though I'm not happy when the Hansbrough family is sad great to see FSU make it to the Sweet 16.  My years in Tallahassee have made FSU my (distant) second-favorite ACC school.  Not only did the Noles advance, over a Big East team, it gives the ACC 3 teams in the Sweet 16 - the most of any conference.

The dozens of readers of this space now I think the Big East is overrated, and this weekend's games prove it.  Odd to see Marquette as one of the survivors.   UConn makes sense, and I'll be pulling hard for the Huskies to beat Dook if they manage to defeat Arizona (a tough out),  but I thought Pitt was the only other legit Big East team.  I guess I gave that un-offfensive minded conference too much credit.

GO HEELS!

Travel Notes

I type this in the Frankfurt Airport, a nice enough place but not very efficient.  Getting our boarding passes and going through security here took forever.  

But the good news is we'll be in Athens in a few hours, and Ariadne has been a great travel companion - very mellow - despite some difficult connections.

Got one out of the way

Glad to see us get it inside, happy to see us shoot it well, and glad to see us win - but very nervous about all the turnovers.  Zeller, Barnes and Henson looked great but our entire back court, especially Marshall, looked way to shaky.

I caught parts of the Washington - Georgia game,  and neither team shot it well on Friday night.  Overall, neither team looked as good as LIU.  

But, still a little nervous.

And have to mention how much I'm bummed seeing Irving back for Duke.  Or is his return the first sign of the Sports Illustrated cover jinx starting to infect Nolan Smith?  Let's hope so.

GO HEELS!

Another one bites the dust

I've often used this space to opine that Mike Krzyzewski is NOT a great Xs and Os coach.  He certainly in an excellent recruiter and motivator.  But Duke usually succeeds due to effort and attitude, not necessarily skills and sets.  In fact, their offensive stats are pretty simple.  

Krzyzewski gets his players to play extremely hard and extremely smart, especially on defense. 

But his players often struggle once they leave Durham.  Without Krzyzewski in their ears and in their heads they don't have the skills to fall back on to succeed in the NBA.  The  most successful Duke professional of the K era, Carlos Boozer, had to reinvent himself in the League.  At Duke, he was a back to the basket center; in the NBA he is a face-up smallish forward who has turned into an all star.

The lack of success of the players is also true with ex-assistant coaches.  With the firing of Fayetteville native Jeff Capel, the Coach K coaching tree looks bad.  First Tommy Amaker crashed and burned at two schools in big-time conferences (Seton Hall and Michigan) before finding moderate success at a non-big time conference at Harvard. Quinn Snyder lost AND was embroiled in a recruiting controversy at Missouri.  And now Capel, who only won when Blake Griffin was on campus. 

Johnny Dawkins, losing his way through the Pac 17 at Stanford, is just killing time waiting to join the unemployment line outside of Krzyzewski's office.

All these guys were hired by ADs who assumed they could transfer Duke's style to their campuses.  But you can't duplicate K's motivational skills or emotional work.  And with not many X and O tricks to fall back on, coaches like Amaker, Snyder, Capel and Dawkins fail.  

The 'Carlos Boozer of coaches' is Notre Dame's Mike Bray, who unlike the other Duke coaching alums did NOT play at Duke.  Maybe there is some there there on the sidelines, but ex-players fail to notice it among the shouting, cursing and motivating coming from Coach K.

NCAA Tournament Observations

Besides watching the Heels lose the other big outrage from today is the field of 68.

• Sure, the ACC was down.  And Virginia Tech is a pretty stinky team in general: not that skilled, not well coached and thus not that focused.   But how the selection committee thought that VCU or UAB was better than the Hokies is beyond me.
• The new 68-team field stinks.  It should have stayed at 64.  The possibility, no matter how remote, that one team would have to play 7 games is unfair. I don't even want to fill in those four games in my bracket; it a charade. Go back to the old system, but select better committee members.
• Villanova, Marquette, and Cincinnati - whose strength of schedule was similar to snubbed Colorado's - did not deserve bids. In a fit of anti-BEast bias I'm picking Clemson to beat UAB, then take down West Virginia in the second round. Ditto Michigan, Michigan State, Illinois or Penn State.  Boston College would have beaten those last 6 teams, and probably Villanova the way the Wildcats finished the season.
• Alabama beats Georgia 3 times, and GEORGIA gets in?

My first draft Final Four has Carolina, UConn, Kansas and I guess Pitt.

EAST

Carolina has a decent but challenging draw.  They'll have to beat Syracuse and their zone, which will be a challenge but Barnes, McDonald and Marshall have been hot of late.  Then the Heels have to take down overall number one seed Ohio State.  If Carolina was not in that bracket I would pick the Buckeyes in a walk to make the Final Four. 

I don't expect many upsets in the East, other than Clemson over West Virginia, and Georgia beating Washington.

WEST

Duke has a semi-difficult draw for a change; no Baylor or West Virginia on the horizon like last year. I have some PIRG solidarity for UConn, and Kemba Walker is hot again.  It's their bracket to lose to me. 

This bracket features not one but TWO games featuring four teams from power conferences that nonetheless stink: Tennessee versus Michigan, and Missouri and Cincinnati.  I have Tennessee and Missouri winning.   No real upsets here, just stinky games.

Tennessee may give Duke trouble, but like many I see Texas taking the Devils out, and for UConn to end San Diego State's 15 minutes of fame.

SOUTHWEST

This bracket is sound and fury signifying nothing.  There may be some interesting background noise from my sleeper team but Kansas will make the Final Four. My sleeper school is Morehead State.  I have them taking down Louisville and Vanderbilt to go to the sweet 16 before losing to the Jayhawks.

I went back and forth on FSU-Notre Dame and Georgetown-USC. I ended up picking FSU to lose to Notre Dame in a game that will feature little scoring (even though they are a Big East team it's hard to pick against a Hansbrough; big brother Tyler had 29 points tonight, his fourth consecutive 20 point game, to single-handedly take down the Knicks).  I guess Georgetown will defeat USC but no way they handle Purdue. 

SOUTHEAST

Is this the year Pitt makes the Final Four for the first time since World War II?  Probably, since their bracket is full of bad basketball teams.  Wisconsin, Florida, and St. John's are the other top four seeds, hardly world beaters. Lot of toss up games - UCLA vs. Michigan State, UF versus that winner,  BYU vs. St. John's.  My other sleeper - Utah State - is in this bracket.  I have them in the sweet 16 before losing to Pitt.  

Of course, I have Carolina winning the national championship, taking down UConn and Kansas (payback for 2008) in Houston.  I love our four dudes - Zeller, Henson, Marshall and Barnes - and see them getting hot enough to win six in a row.

GO HEELS!

Speechless, Part III

Did not think, in a million years, that Duke would play that well, especially on defense.  The Devils had looked listless for the last few weeks and I honestly did not think they had that game in them. 

Tantalizing to think how things would have gone if Strickland's dunk had not be erroneously called a charge.  Duke gets those calls all the time, but that one was particularly outrageous.  Calling charging on that kind of play - with a defender lazily standing under the hoop, the place where you know the ball is heading - is always cheap and rewards NOT moving your feet.  Rather, refs are rewarding standing there like a statue.  

But Singler's play today was even worse.  The refs did NOT reward him for playing defense.  Instead, he was rewarded to not paying attention and hastily turning around to see what the hub bub was all about.   The last thing refs should do is reward that kind of 'play.'  Sheesh. 

I also wonder if fatigue was a factor for a team that only really plays 7 players and was playing it's third in three days.  But enough whining, which makes one sound like, of course, a member of the Duke Blue Devils.

Speechless, Part II

Another phenomenal game by Harrison Barnes today at the ACC tournament.  Unguardable gets thrown around a lot, in fact today by Clemson coach Brownell, but Barnes WAS truly unguardable on his way to 40 points in a tough win over the Tigers.  I was shocked to see he missed 5 shots all day.  To state H-Barn is playing with confidence would be an understatement.  

Barnes kept Carolina a float in the first half was Marshall and Henson had underwhelming first halfs, and Tyler Zeller barely made an impact.  

Ditto the second half as Barnes was incredibly efficient on offense.   Actually the entire team stepped it up; Henson was all over the place on D and on the boards and started to score in the second half, and Marshall shook off his funk, too.  Finally, down the stretch in regulation and in overtime Barnes and Zeller hit clutch basket after clutch basket.

It took an entire team effort to win this game.  Clemson played some very tough basketball today against the Heels.  They were very active defensively, and offensively Clemson has some scorers.  Their recent history has been as a defensive team, grinding out games.  But with Stitt, Tanner Smith, and Jennings the Tigers have some fire power, too.   They are a tough team and were a tough out today that required Carolina's A+ game.

Man, did they hire the right coach, too; I would not be surprised to see Brownell lead a less-obnoxious Rick Barnes-like renaissance in Clemson.

So now, the game of games this season: Carolina versus Duke for the ACC tournament championship and perhaps a number one seed.  I love our chances, as we have handled Duke both times we've played them this year.

But mainly it's about Harrison Barnes.  This guy could be getting Carmelo Anthony-hot at the right time.  Last week in Chapel Hill against the Devils he was unstoppable, which was just a prelude to today's version of unstoppable.   Of course, in addition to Barnes I think Zeller, Henson and Knox are too much for Duke inside, too.

GO HEELS!
Of course, if I was literally speechless this would not be much of a blog post. 

I still love the ACC tournament

Though it's not - thankfully - the old do-or-die event of my youth, I still love the ACC tournament.  Growing up in North Carolina it was THE sporting event of the year. 

Many ACC vets complain that the event is too NC-centric, and for years it was.  Back in the day it was always in Greensboro, and since each conference could only send one team to the NCAA tournament (until 1979 or so) it was HUGE. How huge? In school, teachers brought it TVs for the students to watch for two occasions: moon walks and the first day of the ACC tournament.

Of course, expansion of the ACC and the NCAA field has diluted the impact and significance of the ACC tournament. But I still love it, and it bothers me that even though Carolina has two national championships and has won the ACC regular season five of the seven years ol' Roy's been in Chapel Hill, Duke now has one more ACC tournament championship than we do. 

That will change this year, I hope. 

With a 1 pm conference call looming, here are my predictions:

• Virginia will defeat Miami, give Carolina a game in the first 10 minutes then succumb to the Heels on Friday;
• In a match up of the two worst coaches in the ACC, Virginia Tech will somehow defeat Georgia Tech. But don't be surprised if the Hokies choke big time, either;
• NC State will defeat Maryland, who seems to be phoning it in, then get waxed by Duke;
• BC will in turn wax Wake, then play a great game versus Clemson.  Both teams will be desperate, but I have BC winning and advancing to play Carolina.
• FSU will ride Chris Singleton's return to defeat a distracted and oddly complacent Virginia Tech team.

So Carolina will then have to play and defeat BC for a third time in the semi-finals, a prospect Dean always loathed.  But behind my pick for ACC tournament MVP John  Henson the Heels will make it to the final to play, FSU.

I was impressed by the Seminoles in their win over Duke - and their game versus Carolina.  With Singleton back and Singler and the Plumlees struggling look for an FSU upset, aided by Derwin Kitchen.

Then as it was versus BC, Carolina will need to defeat a team for a third time in a season, but the Heels will to win their 18th ACC Tournament Championship.

GO HEELS!

Should NOT Go Up to 11

After watching the Carolina-Duke game for the sixth time in the last four days, I tuned into a little of the Big East tournament tonight.  I've always thought the Big East was overrated, this year and every year.  Year and year, teams in that conference are usually not skilled at a key basketball skill called "making baskets."  

Other than being bad at the main goal of the endeavor, it's a great league (honest, why would ESPN lie?).

So after watching some Big East action, and checking on the records of some of the teams in that conference, I am more convinced than ever that there is NO WAY the Big East deserves 11 bids.  

Pitt and Notre Dame are good teams playing well, and Syracuse, Louisville and St. Johns each won two-thirds of their conference games (though Louisville lost to Drexel and they only have one real quality non-conference win over UNLV; St. Johns defeated Duke but lost to Fordham and St. Bonaventure).

Those 5 are legit, as are UConn - with wins over Tennessee (a team that beat Pitt), Texas, Kentucky and Michigan State - though there were only 9-9 in conference.  Georgetown is limping-out the season without an injured Chris Wright; the Hoyas have lost 5 of their last 6.  But you have to keep them in the big dance due to their wins over Memphis, Missouri, and Old Dominion.  

Up to 7 bids for the Big East.

But the other teams often discussed - West Virginia, Cincinnati, Villanova and Marquette- have very weak cases for making the NCAA tournament.  All four feasted on bottom dwellers like DePaul, South Florida, and Rutgers.  Conversely, none of those squads have more than one impressive win.

West Virginia defeated Vanderbilt, but lost to Miami, Minnesota - two legit teams - but also to Marshall.  They have one win.

Villanova has been exposed as a fraud, losing 5 in a row and going 5 and 10 in their last 15 games.  Their best wins were early in the season to UCLA and Temple, but they too lost to Tennessee.  They do not deserve a bid.

Cincinnati has one of the weakest cases of all.  To their credit, they have no losses to Marshall or Drexel.  But their best win out of conference is Xavier.  That's it.

As weak as the Bearcats' bid is, Marquette's is even weaker. They are 19-13, and 9-9 in conference  with NO good wins outside the Big East.  They did manage to lose to every legit team on their schedule: Duke, Gonzaga, Wisconsin, and Vanderbilt. 

Maybe the Big East, a conference with approximately 47 member schools, should have 7 bids, perhaps 8 to reward West Virginia for defeating Vanderbilt.  But anything more than 8 is a joke. 

Good Guys Win, Bad Guys Lose

In assessing anything Carolina-Duke it's easy to pivot to the obvious differences -  liberal versus conservative, public versus private, Paul Wellstone versus Rand Paul, humility and authenticity versus arrogance and entitlement - that animate the rivalry.

Tonight none of that mattered.  What did was that Carolina was simply better than Duke on the basketball court.

As it has been of late, the Heels played a complete game.  Everyone contributed, from the walk-ons who played hard and were NOT scared for the first two-minutes, to Leslie McDonald and Justin Knox making plays off the bench, to Henson continuing to be a force down low even with 2 early fouls, to Zeller bringing it down the stretch, to Dexter Strickland throwing down the best dunk since Danny Green stole Greg Paulus' manhood a few years ago.

But the first among equals were Harrison Barnes and Kendall Marshall.  

Barnes was steady all night, but was HUGE in stopping Duke's deja vu run to start the second half.  As it was at the University of Long Island at Durham a month ago, the Devils cut into a double-digit halftime lead with a 7-0 run to start the second half.  Barnes would have none of it.  The alleged 'freshman' from Iowa went on his own seven-zero run and the game was, but for the shouting, over.   When the Heels needed to answer the Devils, Barnes did.

The H Barn was not the only freshman to step up.  It's easy to forget how young this team is when you see guys like Barnes and player of the game Kendall Marshall play the way they did tonight.

Marshall was steady, not spectacular, in leading the Heels to a spectacular and methodical win over the right-wing boobs from Durham.  KButter finished with 15 and 11 assists.  This is his team.

Finally, one more word on the walk-ons.  As impressive as Barnes and Marshall were, I was equally impressed by the 2 minutes of play from DJ Johnson, Van Hatchell, and Daniel Bolick - and by Roy's decision to start 3 walk-ons in the most important game of the year.  

How cool is that?

Private versus public, conservative versus liberal, etc. but the reason Carolina is better than Duke - in every way, not just on the basketball court - was that decision to start the walk-ons.  Roy rewarded unheralded, unsung Tar Heels who play hard in practice and make this team better.  For that, we are cooler than Duke, with better karma.

And this year a better basketball team.

GO HEELS!

Speechless

Two hours later and I'm still speechless.  Harrison Barnes' shot to defeat FSU, 72-70, was unbelievable. The confidence, to willingness, the cold no-nonsense approach was pretty impressive and inspirational.

In general, that was a great college basketball game.  Both teams played well and played hard.   And though me made some mistakes late to open the door for their comeback, hats off to the Seminoles for playing so well with their best player, Chris Singleton, out with a broken foot.

Barnes made the big shot, but as it was against Maryland on Sunday, their entire team played well in defeating FSU on their senior night.  Zeller was in foul trouble but made some tough shots and grabbed key boards, Strickland had a huge take and old-fashioned three-point play to stop a Seminole run, Leslie McDonald was a microwave off the bench with 10 points, Marshall (despite two questionable plays in the final minute) had another great game with 8 assists and his own huge shot, a three, to stop a Noles run. 

And then there's Henson and Barnes. Henson, who quietly has made 9 of his last 10 free throws, had another double double tonight on a variety of step throughs, dunks and shot jumpers and hooks.  He was only credited with 3 blocks but it seems like he many more than that.  On the boards he was like Spider-Man, grabbing balls out of the air as if he was shooing a web.  Like Marshall he had a few bad possessions with sloppy passes for turnovers, but he was dominant for most of tonight's game in Tallahassee.

What do you say about Barnes?  The shot was another clutch one in a season full of timely offensive outburst by the Ames, Iowa freshman.  Not only is Barnes confident, he's also maturing.  He did not force anything tonight, made 6 of 10 shots for an efficient and awe-inspiring performance.

This team is making plays, and everyone in contributing - with Barnes the first among equals tonight.  The result is a team peaking at the right time, playing with confidence and playing as a unit.  

GO HEELS!