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. 

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!

Another visit to the White House

I was fortunate to represent the Sierra Club this afternoon at the White House's unveiling of their 'America's Great Outdoors' report.  

Hard to objectively assess the event.  Though I'm a semi-cynical 48-year old it was still a genuine thrill to visit the White House and be in the same room as the President of the United States, especially this President.   

It wasn't as exciting as my last visit, when the President signed the omnibus lands bill into law and added more than 2 million acres of new public land to America's great - and protected - outdoors - but it was still a great time.

The ceremony itself was relatively short, probably 20 to 25 minutes.  But the President gave a great speech.  And for a lobbyist it was awesome; a chance to talk with senior Administration officials from all the federal land agencies, environmental grant makers, and coalition partners from conservation and environmental organizations (including my next door neighbor John Kostyack from NWF, which meant that wo residents of the 3800-block of Alton Place NW were in the White House today; that may not have been the first time that happened since many of our neighbors are reporters).

Anyway, it was a great day for a great event celebrating America's Great Outdoors, an initiative the Sierra Club has been very active in ever since it was announced in April 2010 (the link is to the report the Lands team delivered to the Obama Administration in August 2010).  

I liked the White House so much I almost left my coat in the coat check room - on purpose - so I'd have an excuse to go back tomorrow.  I tweeted that from the event and did not hear a thing from the Secret Service.  So much for the Patriot Act - "Mr. President, the tweet is coming from inside the White House!"

Carolina - Hellenic Tie In

The visit to White House is also part of a plan to win Carolina it's third national championship in seven seasons.  

As I mentioned above, the last time I visited the White House was in March 2009, one week before the Heels romped to their 5th national championship.  That summer we also went to Greece.  We also went to Greece in 2005, when Roy Williams won his first and Carolina's fourth championship.

I'm not taking any chances this year.  I went to the White House today, and Ariadne* and I are going to Greece for a 5-day visit during her spring break (and a conveniently-timed Congressional recess) in March.  So if the pattern holds and we win our 6th NCAA championship in a month don't thank Roy or Harrison Barnes or John Henson - thank this blog.

* To show Evan some love - and put a cherry on top of the Carolina-Hellenic sundae - I am taking him and his cousin Paul to the Carolina-BC game in Chapel Hill this weekend.

AmeriGO HEELS!

Oh well

Not the greatest game last night for the Heels, but a win is a win and Carolina is now 19 and 6, and 9 and 2 in the ACC.

 The bad news: 

• for the second straight game the Heels got good looks, good looks that they missed.  We jacked up 27 threes last night, making only 5 for a 19 percent clip;
• the 27 threes were a symptom of impatience on offense.  When we attacked Wake's zone we did well, making almost 48 percent of our 2-point shots.  

The good news:

• only 8 turnovers.  Part of that is Wake's do-nothing zone, part of it is improved play by Barnes, and Marshall's steady running of the offense.  Besides the low number, I was heartened by back up point guard Dexter Strickland's ZERO turnovers in 31 minutes (or the same number of jump shots he hit);
• the Heels played some pretty good defense last night, holding Wake to 38 percent shooting;
• when Harrison Barnes was aggressive, which he generally was in the second half, he looked great; he's clearly been working on his dunking/explosiveness.  Barnes also had 4 assists last night;
• despite missing some shots from outside Leslie McDonald had a nice overall game;
• and almost best of all, Jon Henson was fantastic on defense.  He left quite a few points on the rim in the second half last night, but defensively he was fantastic.

Go Heels!