What a big weekend in the southern part of heaven.
Where to start in chronicling - OK, blogging - the news from Chapel Hill. But that's an easy question; as all Heels know the conversation ALWAYS starts with basketball.
Fun game, and win, tonight for Carolina as they took care of Long Beach State 86 to 78. For the first time this season the Heels trailed at half. I missed most of the opening 20 minutes due to some hitches with ESPN3. But in the first half the 49ers - another theme for this weekend as we'll get to later - were red hot from three and out rebounded the Heels on their way to a 45 - 40 lead.
Long Beach State played a lot like Duke; spread the floor and cut to the hoop. If the defense collapses on the driver kick it out for a three, and if they don't take it to the rack.
In the second half Carolina did a better job of cutting off the driver and playing the passing lanes, which also helped generate some fast break inducing turnovers. Kendall Marshall also did a pretty nice job covering hot-shooting Casper Ware in the second half. Dexter Strickland, who often covers the other team's point guard, only played 20 minutes tonight so Marshall had to - and did - step up on defense.
But on offense is where Marshall made his biggest contribution. Once again he finished with more than 15 assists. As it was on defense, Marshall and the offense were very efficient in the second half. Marshall set up his teammates extremely well.
When the Heels finally went on their run with around 15 minutes to play it was led by emerging super sub Reggie Bullock and Harrison Barnes. Both made a number of 2 and 3-point baskets from all over the court, and both looked confident when the Heels started to take over this game. Impressive performances from both.
Barnes even had a few assists (funny how our last two superstar players, Barnes and Hansbrough, were generally black holes when it comes to assists).
At one point Bullock was doing it all - hitting 3s, taking it to the rack, rebounded and even getting a steal then leading the fast break before dishing off for an assist. He was so good after the steal I tweeted 'Is there anything Reggie Bullock CAN'T do?"
As hot as both of those guys were - Barnes finished with 20, Bullock 15 - John Henson was our leading scorer with 24 points, on 12 of 17 shooting, to go with 10 boards and 4 blocks. Henson was the biggest beneficiary of Marshall's great play. Could anyone who watched that game live have guessed that Henson took that many shots? I was surprised when I looked at the box score.
Zeller had a nice bounce back game, too, with 17 points on 7 of 9 shooting and 9 rebounds (but 4 turnovers). He was unstoppable at times and hit a tough hook during the Heels' big run in the second half.
Despite some spotty defense in the first half, this was in general a great team effort to win an exciting game over an opponent that, despite having 5 losses, is a tough out (they beat Pitt in Pittsburgh and lost tough and close games at Louisville and Kansas).
Extra hoops points:
- Long Beach State's unis said 'the Beach' on the front. Makes one wonder if Kramer's fragrance of the same name is their corporate sponsor/
- Bullock was rewarded with 24 minutes tonight, taking time from the Dex Factor.
- He was our bench tonight, as Hairston and McAdoo both struggled.
The other big story from Chapel Hill this weekend is the final of the College Cup tomorrow for the NCAA men's soccer national championship. The Heels will once again play the 49ers, but tomorrow it will be the UNC Charlotte 49ers.
Friday night's semi-final, come from behind, win on a shoot out game versus UCLA was one of the most exciting non-World Cup soccer games I've ever seen. Lots of action and shots, and great effort from the Heels. The championship game is Sunday at 4 pm on ESPNU.
But the biggest story from Chapel Hill was the hiring of Larry Fedora as Carolina's new football coach. He comes to Kenan Stadium from Southern Mississippi, where he led Bret Favre's alma mater to an 11-2 record this year and the Conference USA championship.
Fedora certainly had a great press conference, and he seems very fired up. He said the right things about the values that Carolina stands for, though I would have liked for him to mention Dean Smith when he talked about those standards and history.
Fedora is a bit of a Mack Brown-type, and that worked last time Carolina tried that model. He's also young, so could in theory be in Chapel Hill a long time.
That said, I still wish Carolina had given interim coach Everett Withers a shot at being our permanent coach. Withers handled a tough situation with aplomb. There were a few missteps; giving the James Madison game ball to Butch Davis, the war of worlds with NC State to name two.
But the main reason I would have given him the job is that despite the distractions and last-second coaching transition, the Heels were a focused football team in 2011, with few turnovers, penalties or mental mistakes. Withers kept the team together, motivated and disciplined, and for that I thought he deserved a chance to be our long term coach.
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