Back? On Track for Greece

On one of my earlier blogs about the Greek crisis, I semi-cynically observed that though it's bad news at least Greece is back IN the news.  Over the course of the last 3,000 years or so, Greece was usually at the center of the universe, making news, setting the agenda, etc.  In modern times, however, Greece has not been as relevant or newsworthy.  Of course, that changed with the crisis. 

But I lament even saying that with tongue in cheek. Being in the news for a devastating financial crisis is certainly not a silver lining to no longer being an afterthought.  

Every Sunday lately, and yesterday was no different, there have been long stories about what Greek society looks like now in the wake of drastic government cuts, EU imposed austerity, and a stagnant and shrinking economy.

Sunday's New York Times article on Greece - saying the motherland is basically a failed state - was much more depressing that last week's New York Times Sunday Magazine story on 'How Greeks Live Now.'  The latter article at least included some hopeful signs of economic growth and Greek dignity, whereas the former features a photo of a husband and wife literally on the ledge of a building, contemplating suicide in the wake of cuts and uncertainty about raising a child in modern Greece.

We've gone from inventors of western civilization to guinea pigs for austerity and growth, with an 1100 year run of the Byzantine Empire and 400 years of Ottoman rule in between.  Who can match that roller coaster? 

Anyway, most of the recent news has been tied to this week's bailout that will allow Greece to avoid default.  That announcement on Tuesday, coupled with the earlier debt negotiations that resulted in private foreign banks agreeing to only collect 50 percent of what Greece actually owes, is supposed to signal the economic rock bottom, the end of the beginning.  Now, with Greece's financial situation and debt repayment schedule 'organized,' and with representatives of the troika given a permanent oversight role in Athens, growth and foreign investment is supposed to follow.

But it's hard not to be cynical about what comes next.  When this week's bailout was announced, the International Monetary Fund's Managing Director Christine LeGarde was quoted as saying the bailout and debt restructuring "should really give enough space for Greece to restore its competitiveness ... so .... it can get back on track.”

"Back on track" - when was Greece on track, economically?  Was she pointing to .... what?  I guess there was a golden age, right before Greece adopted the euro (or the era between joining the European Union in 1980 and the adoption of the euro currency). With the drachma Greece at least had some flexibility, western tourists flocked there to take advantage of the favorable exchange rate, and the world economy was still humming so Greek shipping was doing well.  Tourism and shipping, with some agriculture mixed in, is how Greek's earn real money.

So it's both cynical and ironic that one could argue for Greece to really get 'back on track' and 'restore competitiveness' they would have to go back to the drachma.  That would make Greek shipping, tourism and yogurt cheaper and more competitive.  Of course, doing that would in theory collapse the euro and eurozone, throwing Europe's economy - not just Greece's - into a momentary yet significant tailspin.

I hope Greece can pull it off; as all Greek patriots will point out, the nation and culture have faced greater challenges in the last 3,000 years.  But when we do, it probably won't be by getting 'back' on track.  Greece's saving grace is that it has very educated and very European-focused young people who will get involved in the recovery and can hopefully lead the motherland forward, not back.

Weird, Ugly and Stubborn.

Another weird and ugly win for the Heels this afternoon over Virginia.  Carolina has fallen into an odd pattern of shooting badly (33 percent in this game) on the road - yet winning.  The way Virginia plays defense, by packing their zone in the lane, you would the think the Heels would have needed another Raleigh-on-Thursday-night shooting display to win.

But that's not what happened.  

None of Carolina's perimeter players had a decent game.  Kendall Marshall was stymied all night, Reggie Bullock was off and generally had a terrible game, and Harrison Barnes never got into the flow of the game at all.  Those three were a combined 4 for 24.

Of Carolina's wing players only PJ Hairston was productive, with a mini, personal 5-0 run in the second half.

So how did Carolina win on a night Virginia dared our wings to win the game, but they didn't?

That's where stubborn comes in.

Despite the packed and swarming Wahoo defense (toughest question Evan asked me this game: "What's a Wahoo?") the Tar Heels insisted - stubbornly - to feed the paint and rely on Tyler Zeller and John Henson to win this game.  

And those two came through.

Zeller was unstoppable early, and scored our first 8 points, and of course that freak-nasty, step-threw dunk with 13 seconds left were our final 2 points of the game.  He finished with 20 and 8, another solid and player-of-the-year type of performance, one the Heels needed on a day Barnes went 3 for 15 from the floor.  Foul trouble and a momentum changing run at the point by Stilman White helped take Z out of the middle part of this game but he was great at the end.

If Psycho Z carried the Heels early, Henson carried Carolina late.  In the final 10 minutes he WAS the Carolina offense.  And he, too, had a freak-nasty dunk off of an in bounds pass in the second half.  Henson also was very tough on the glass in the final 10 minutes,  made 7 of 8 free throw for the game, and made a big defensive play and steal off a Virginia in-bounds pass late.  Like Zeller, he disappeared a bit in the middle of the game and had a few very bad turnovers, too, but late he was money.  Oh yeah, Henson also had another double-double, 15 and 11 boards.   

And though he didn't shoot like he did in Raleigh, kudos for Marshall for finding his big men down the stretch as the Heels pulled out another ugly win in a weird game, thanks to Carolina's stubborn insistence on going inside and getting the best and easiest shot possible.

GO HEELS!

A few more notes:

• Hard to measure Carolina's defense in this one.  On one hand, Virginia only scored 51 points. On the other, it mainly looked like they missed some makeable shots especially in the last 5 minutes.  The Cavaliers also took lots of bad shots, none worse than Mike Scott's 18 footer with about a minute left.
• Not much bench play in this one, though James Michael McAdoo did make 3 of 4 free throws and Hairston did have that nice run; each played 12 minutes, while White and Justin Watts managed just 3 minutes each.

The Answer is NO

Earlier this season, I tweeted or blogged or some-word-that-did-not-exist-in-the-year-2000 "is there anything Kendall Marshall CAN'T do?"

Clearly, the answer to that question is no.  Just ask NC State.

Marshall easily had his best offensive game of this career tonight, expertly looking for - and making - his shots at exactly the right time.  The result was a career high 22 points - including 4 of 5 from three - to go along with his usual 13 assists.  His assist to turnover ratio was an unmeasurable 13 to 0.  

22 points. 

80 percent from three, on 5 shots.

13 assists. 

ZERO turnovers.

Add those crazy good numbers to four fellow starters who also finished in double figures, and you have a 12-point beat down of arch in-state rival NC State, in Raleigh.  The Heels have now beaten NC State 12 straight games.  

Marshall lead a methodical and efficient offense for Carolina.  The Heels shot 51 percent for the game, and 52 percent from three.  Marshall and the three-point shooting were the story of the game.

Bullock had his third straight nice game from outside.  His touch has returned as he went 3 for 6 tonight.  And PJ Hairston made his first three in over a month.

Barnes was engaged all night, and mixed in 2 three-point shots with drives, pull ups, and free throws on his way to 20 points.

Henson was active on both ends for another double-double, 14 and 13 and 2 blocks, and Zeller got on track in the second half on his way to 14 and 8 and 4 blocks.

The only down sides were Zeller did not get many touches, McAdoo had an off night, and of more concern the number of minutes played.  All 5 Heels starters played 31 minutes or more, including Marshall's 38.

But Marshall's other numbers are the real story tonight.  His performance, along with Bullock getting his touch back, makes Heels fans everywhere excited and anxious and giddy.  If this is a foreshadowing of Marshall's play down the stretch. watch out! 

GO HEELS!

Tigers Provide NCAA Preview

The easy take away from yesterday's win over Clem(p)son (as pronounced in the southcalina dialect) is the continuation of one of the most confounding and inexplicable streaks in sports.  The Tigers continue to be 0-forever - 0-56 to be exact - in Chapel Hill. 

The real takeaway, at least for me, in the 22-point win was the way Carolina had to play. Clemson was determined to keep Carolina from running, and usually only had 2 - sometimes 3 - players crashing the boards. Their emphasis was to stop the Carolina fast break and prevent the Heels from scoring easy baskets (similar to most NBA teams, by the way; that's one reason scoring has trended down over the last 15-20 years in the League).

A corollary to that strategy is to get back - and set - on defense, and force Carolina score in the half court.  

It's not a bad strategy - few if any teams want to run with the Heels - one Carolina will almost certainly see in the NCAA tournament. That's why yesterday's win may be more significant then it otherwise appeared.

Carolina looked pretty good in the half court against a pretty good defensive team.  Thanks to Kendall Marshall the Heels got good shots, and were generally pretty patient on offense. 

The Tigers also augmented their 'forget rebounding let's get back on D' scheme by packing it in against Zeller and Henson. Zeller eventually got his points but may of those were on turnover-fueled fast breaks.  Henson faired better, and got some good open looks in half court sets.  Desmond Hubert even got into the act with 2 dunks.

But with Clemson getting back and packing it in, Harrison Barnes and Reggie Bullock had to respond, and did with great games from the perimeter. As is often the case, Barnes took over the game early in the second half on his way to 24 points, including 3 of 6 from behind the three-point line.  And Bullock was right behind him, going 3 for 5 from behind the arch. Ol' Roy keeps saying the Heels are good shooters, and it was true yesterday as the Heels shot 43 percent on threes.

[As for P.J. Hairston, oy!]

Carolina's defense was generally good, too, at least it looked good.  But frankly it's hard to judge against a team like Clemson, who took lots of early shots and did not work the ball around the perimeter that much.  But the Heels did force shooters like Tanner Smith to put the ball on the floor, which was nice to see.

So in addition to extending the streak, great to see the Heels make some threes, play some D, but more importantly have to run their half court offense for most of the game, a game they won by 22 points.

GO HEELS!

Hoo ha

At half time of yesterday's Carolina game, the in-studio commentator for ESPN went on about 'this Tar Heels team may not be good enough to merely flip the switch and play great ... blah blah blah" or some such hoo ha.  

That kind of 'analysis' has become quite common place, at least it was in 2008, 2009, and the last two years.  Commentators love blathering on about what's wrong with Carolina; so much talent the players get lackadaisical or indifferent, they don't play hard, imagine if they always gave maximum effort, etc.

Like I said, hoo ha.  

You may recall that in 2005 there was a similar narrative; the Heels had tremendous talent but did they play as a team. Can you imagine Dean's reaction when he heard that?  A Carolina squad being accused of NOT being a team?  

The old Dean-era narrative was the opposite.  Carolina's 'system' suppressed individual talent and players in service to the team.  At one point, that was actually one excuse given for why Dean could not win the big one - too much focus on the team and not enough freedom for individual stars to take over a game.

Old hoo ha.

But all those analyses are incorrect and display a lack of knowledge of Carolina basketball.  Carolina basketball is defined by effort on both ends of the floor, feeding the post first in search of the best and easiest shot, and increasing possessions by playing aggressive defense and rebounding. 

There is no flipping the switch, or even a system really.  It's a philosophy of playing winning and consistent and honest basketball, confident that effort, feeding the post, defense, rebounds and possessions will win most games.

Now, as we saw last night in Coral Gables, some games the easy shots don't fall, the defense gets a little sloppy, and the other team gets a head of steam.  As a result, the Heels found themselves down by 8 with 15 minutes left.

But eventually, the Heels will usually get it right.  And coming out of the under 16 time out, they did.  The defense got tougher and forced turnovers on 4 straight Hurricanes possessions.  Carolina quickly turned those turnovers into points. The rest of the half was more of the same, with the Heels playing tough D particularly against Miami's guards and center Reggie Johnson, dominating the boards on both ends, and making shots.

John Henson was tough down low to start the second half as Carolina fed the post, and had a great game on the glass.

In addition to defense, rebounding and more possessions, it's always good to enhance a philosophy with some simple and excellent talent, talent like Harrison Barnes.  Barnes' 14-point burst coincided with the Canes' turnovers and Carolina's defensive pressure, and helped lead the Heels to a nice, at times ugly but validating, win.

Maybe this team does flip the switch.  But it's not a switch as mundane as talent or a wake up call. It's much more profound than that.  That switch says Carolina basketball.

GO HEELS!

A few more Tar Heels Headlines

• Carolina basketball breeds confidence.  That's how Reggie Bullock, after misfiring for most of the night, was cool and collected enough down the stretch last night to hit 2 big three pointers.
• It's also the reason we continue to see the evolution of James Michael McAdoo.   For the fourth game in a row he was confident and aggressive.  Love to see that.
• Psycho Z was not as dominant offensively, but totally shut down Johnson down low.  He was big.
• Finally, Kendall Marshall was off for 20 minutes, and steadily fantastic for the final 15. Like Bullock, he missed lots of shots but kept his head up as he played all 20 minutes of the second half.

Zeller, Heels Bounce Back

What a great bounce back performance by Carolina, led by Tyler Zeller, in their win over Virginia today.  The Wahoos, though boring and at time excruciating to watch, are nonetheless a tough out.  

The Cavalier defense (another great ACCism like Hokie Pride, Hurricane Basketball, and Duke cheerleaders) kept the Heels from getting up and down the floor, but at least we looked like Carolina in frequently and successfully going inside for scores and winning the rebounding battle.

Finally, we looked like Carolina is methodically closing out the win. The Heels stretched the lead from 4 to 18 in the final 5 minutes of the game, a stark contrast with, well, you know what I'm talking about.

One thing that DID carry over from Wednesday night was the stellar play of Tyler Zeller.  At one point, after a nice blocked shot, I tweeted 'is there anyone playing better the Zeller right now?"*  Psycho Z had another great game with 25 and 9.  On a day when most of the Tar Heels missed most of their shots, Zeller was an efficient 9 for 16 with 3 steals, too.

It was inspiring to watch Zeller bounce back from easily the 3 worst minutes of his life.

As great as Zeller played, it was also excellent to watch the Heels close out a game Carolina style. The defense in the second half was excellent as the Heels rebounded well, closed out on shooters, put up walls and held Virginia to 20 points in 20 minutes.  

That defense was especially tight in the last 5 minutes.  Ol' Roy called a time out just prior to the under 4 time out and the Heels got the message, tightened up their defense, and did NOT let Virginia get back in the game.

Great stuff.

But it wasn't just Zeller that carried over back to back (and for him, back to back to ...) positive performances. James Michael McAdoo did, too, as he looked confident and aggressive this afternoon on his way to 9 points, 7 boards and 2 steals in 18 minutes.  That's at least 6 straight good halves for McAdoo, who appears to have turned the corner.

Carolina's bench this game was the unlikely trio of McAdoo, Justin Watts and Stilman White.  White looked good, and played with confidence in giving Marshall a break. The offense did stall with him at point, a significant accomplishment.

Watts was effective, too, and was rewarded with 18 minutes filling in for P.J. Hairston, Dexter Strickland, Leslie McDonald, and Wanda.   

A nifty 18-point win over a ranked and tough team. That line would have been impressive no matter the circumstance, but coming off a agonizing loss even more impressive.  

GO HEELS!

*paraphrasing myself. I'm too old to remember what I tweeted 3 hours ago.

Carolina Hellenic Tragedy

What a terrible loss.  Have any Carolina teams endured two terrible defeats in one season?  First FSU, now Duke?  

Of course, there is one huge difference in those two games; against FSU, the Tar Heels were horrible. But last night was truly tragic in that from the 8 minute mark in the first half (after a relatively slow start) to the 4 minute mark in the second - a span of 24 minutes - Carolina was dominant. Dominant. 

The Heels were better than Duke but lost. If that's not the definition of a Greek-style, Carolina tragedy, I don't know what is.

And it was Greek style. Similar to the Greek myths our heroes soared only to be dragged back down to earth in the end by the (blue) devil(s).

How else do you explain Kendall Marshall driving, dishing and dominating, then making a sloppy pass and turning it over with less than 2 minutes left?

Explain Harrison Barnes dominating and scoring at will for most of the second half, but missing two of four free throws late and turning it over on an albeit highly questionable charging call?  He was tripped but still should have made a better decision before barreling down the lane (perhaps it was hubris, the greatest sin in the eyes of the ancient Greeks.)

Or John Henson owning the glass but failing to box out Ryan Kelly after a missed three, allowing him to follow his shot and score?

And finally, the most tragic figure of the night, Tyler Zeller. He was unstoppable, especially the first half. But the devil dragged him down the most cruelly, as he missed two big free throws late, tipped in Kelly's missed three for 2 big points for Duke with under a minute left, then had to cover Austin Rivers(tyx) on the game winning shot.

No gods were ever more cruel, and few losses were so tragic.  

The loss put most Heels fans in the world of another Greek word: agony.  The root of the English word is the Greek word for 'game,' more accurately 'contest.'  To the Greeks, athletic contests were literally agonizing.  Sounds familiar 24-hours later, doesn't it?

A few more Heels notes: 

• We've all known free throw shooting was an accident waiting to happen.  Well, that accident was last night.
• I just rewatched most of the second half, and it did seem that Duke got away with an inordinate number of flops and travels. Much of that game was game was badly officiated; McAdoo was whistled for two borderline calls in particular late.
• That said, JM McAdoo had some spectacular moments in the second half.
• What's worse, losing due to costly and atypical mistakes, or losing to a one-man band?  Austin Rivers was phenomenal last night. Watching it live it looked like Carolina defenders were too often going underneath screens. But upon further review he made quite a few shots with a hand in his face. Rivers was a stone-cold assassin.
• But you have to give the entire Duke team credit. They would not go away, would not let Carolina close this game out. They believed if they hung in there long enough, something good might happen.
• Tough to lose when Carolina played so well for so long. One more free throw, one less own-goal tip in, and we win this game.  Tragedy.

Not Epic, But Still Great

What a great comeback win for the Heels today.  Sure, it wasn't the kind of epic, '8 points in 17 seconds' Carolina comeback that has helped make the program famous.  After all, Maryland is down a bit this year and the Heels were only down 9 with about 15 minutes to go.

But it WAS a game where Carolina took repeated blows to the head - from Stoglin and Len in the first half, from the referees, from their own turnovers, and from a hostile crowd - all game long.  The great news is the Heels refused to get knocked out - though they were knocked down - and eventually rallied to win 83 to 74.

This game had upset written all over it.  Actually, not all over it - but it was in the margins, and that writing got bigger and bigger as the first half progressed.  Harrison Barnes looked bothered by his ankle, Kendall Marshall was turning it over, John Henson looked unfocused and our bench intimidated.

Only the surging Tyler Zeller kept the upset story from developing  He was excellent again today - he played a man's game on his way to 22 and 7 despite 4 fouls and only 22 minutes - and continues to peak as the season progresses.  We even saw some emotion from Psycho Z today during Carolina's decisive second half run.

But as it was last year, and again of late, Harrison Barnes asserted himself with some scintillating play in the final 15 minutes in College Park to lead the Heels.  After Carolina fell behind by 9 points, Barnes took over and hit a variety shots from all over the floor - 3s, drives, and a clutch pull up jumper with 3 minutes to go.  The only common denominator?  Every shot he took was a tough one.  Barnes' focus was freaky and inspirational - and the deciding factor in today's win.

Zeller and Barnes were excellent today but they got plenty of help in the second half from Marshall and Henson.  Marshall was spectacular in the second half, both with his big three-pointer and his timely drives to the hoop and trademark passes.  He finished with a career high of 16 assists, a ridiculous stat that does not come close to quantifying how precise he was in the last 15 minutes of this win.

After 30+ minutes of ragged play and bad shooting Henson joined the fun late, too.  His stone-cold turnaround jumper late was Rasheed-esque, and defensively he was huge down the stretch with a game-changing block that went a long way in silencing the Comcast Center crowd.

Finally, kudos to Reggie Bullock for some great plays late on offensive, 11 points and 5 boards, and a game-long harassment of Terrell Stoglin.  Stoglin got his points but missed 13 of his 21 shots and late he was gassed and could not buy a basket, much of that due to Bullock. 

Not epic, but still a great road win.  Not epic, but a comeback that saw every Tar Heels player make a big play in the second half.   Not epic, but the kind of road win that gives a team lots of confidence and swagger.

GO HEELS!

A few more Heels notes:

• Looking for another reason to be disgruntled about the next round of ACC expansion? With 16 teams in basketball, each team will only play one team twice a year in a home-and-home series every year. That means that Carolina will only play State twice a year once every three years (four times total in 3 years as part of the regular rotation).  BOO on that.
• Finally, I do not have a problem with John Henson's dunk as time expired.  There was time on the clock, Maryland had a player come over to try to stop him, and frankly it was a fitting and emphatic exclamation point on a big road win.
•  
• And finally, finally, folks probably remember that Michael Jordan's epic 'rock the cradle' dunk came in College Park as time expired on a UNC road win.  So Henson's dunk had some historical precedent. 

UGH

What a dreary game - and win - over Wake Forest the other night.  But a road win is always good, even against a hapless, hopeless, fanless opponent like the Demon Deacons.

There were a few shoots of grass that popped up through the rubble created by bricking so many shots.

One, Tyler Zeller keeps getting better.  As Carolina fans remember, he peaked during the post season last year, and continues on that track in 2012.  

Two, I thought the defense was pretty good.  Once again the Heels rotated and helped well, put up numerous walls, and played the passing lanes aggressively. Reggie Bullock in particular played great on D.

Three, Kendall Marshall's offensive game took another step forward. We've always known that Marshall is a smart player and of late he has been applying those smarts to his offense.  He's making great decisions on when to drive and when to take a three-pointer, decisions as spot-on as the ones he makes when directing the offense.  By the end of the season will there be anything this guy CAN'T do?

GO HEELS!