Random holiday sports blog

As the two-week holiday break comes to a close a variety of sports-related items come to mind and are hopefully blogable.  Two of those items were prompted by events Evan and I attended.

• One was going to see 'Grudge Match' starring Robert 'Raging Bull' De Niro and Sylvester 'Rocky' Stallone.  I'm not going to review the film, which was better than I expected (despite Kevin Hart's complete lack of self respect/minstrel show-like performance) and had an ending that was not obvious or formulaic. There were many mostly-tongue-in-cheek homages to the Rocky movies, which struck me most obviously during the climactic fight between De Niro and Stallone. Once that sequence started I found myself rooting hard for Stallone.  How can anyone root against Rocky?  I stopped watching that franchise after number III, but 'Grudge Match' reminded me how great the first Rocky film was, and how great of a character Rocky Balboa was, I mean IS. 
• in 'Grudge Match' Stallone's character is an out and out liberal. He buys dolphin-safe albacore tuna which he pulls out of a reusable shopping bag while standing in front of a Union Yes sticker on his fridge in a house without a TV but with an artist studio where he fashions small sculptures out of reclaimed scrap metal. All that's missing is NPR on the radio, some free trade coffee and a copy of The New York Times.
• Our second event was last night's disappointing loss to the Tyler Hansbrough-less Toronto Raptors. Though it was only one game, one in which the Wizards came out inexplicably flat and only had about 6 productive minutes the entire game, the loss was another reminder about how cursed DC sports teams are. And the biggest curse is the one of expectations. The 2013 Nats and Washington football team are the most obvious examples, but the 'Zards are doing their part. Every time they come close to .500 they stink up the joint, as they did again on Friday night in dropping their record to 14-16. The only good news is that in the Eastern Conference they are still the 5 seed for the playoffs, and that John Wall is playing like an All Star.
• I guess Washington sports resembles our current political situation. Breaking even is the best we can do - perhaps the most we can expect - with a Democrat in the White House, Dems in charge of the Senate but crazies in charge of the House.
• The best basketball news of the break - NBA division - has got to be Kendall Marshall signing and now excelling with the Lakers. K Butter had 20 points and 15 assists in last night's win over the Jazz. Here's hoping he can build on that and craft the successful NBA career he deserves.
• Speaking of the NBA, I still can not understand how limited Hansbrough's success has been. Some of it has been injuries, but I thought on effort alone he would be more established and successful at this point in his career. Carolina's best NBA player now is probably Ty Lawson, though injuries have slowed him down lately after a great start to the season. Danny Green seemed poised for the title after last year's breakout performance in the NBA finals but has been replaced in the starting line up by Marco Belinelli. 
• San Antonio's starting line up features 4 players - Belinelli, Parker, Splitter and Tim 'U.S. Virgin Islands' Duncan - born outside the 50 United States. Not to be outdone, their in-state colleagues the Texas Rangers' starting line up will likely feature players from EIGHT different countries (if you count Puerto Rico; Japan, Korea, Curacao, DR, Venezuela, Cuba, and the U.S.) on opening day. And the Mavericks' best player is from Germany, their point guard from Spain, and their center from Haiti. Ironic that one of America's most nativist states features sports teams with so much diversity.
• GO HEELS! My ACC preview is coming soon.

Another scattershot blog post

A variety of bloggable topics are available this weekend. Here goes:


World Series


I was initially surprised to see the Yankees comeback from an early 0-3 deficit.  But I shouldn't have.  Cole Hamels has been shaky this postseason, and unlike some of the Phillies these Yankees are professional hitters.   They swing at strikes, and fielded a relentless line up that even featured pitcher Andy Petite driving in a run.


[Interesting take on these Yankees today in the Times.]


The Phillies' approach last night was not as professional.  Case in point is Shane Victorino.  Batting in the third inning with the bases loaded and one out, Victorino came up after Jimmy Rollins walked - WALKED - to drive in a run and give the Phillies a 2-0 lead.  Most ball players know to take the first pitch if the previous hitter walked.  But Victorino was a bonehead twice, swinging at two balls waaaaayyyyy outside the strike zone to quickly put himself in the hole 0-2.


He eventually drove in a run - on a defensive swing - on a sacrifice fly but instead of breaking the game open with a hit, driving Petite off the mound in the process, Victorino's sacrifice ended the chance for a big, game -changing inning.

• Good column by Tom Boswell today that semi-explains why umpiring in baseball has declined so badly in recent years.  Bad umpiring/refereeing seems endemic to all sports these days but in baseball the umpiring stinks worse than in other sports.  From calling a terrible strike zone, to allowing hitters and pitchers go on a walkabout after every pitch, to missing fairly obvious calls this postseason - fair and foul balls, two runners on the same base, plays at first - baseball has a fairly serious issue to deal with. Boswell makes a good case that instant replay deserves a chance to solve some these problems.

Carolina football


Huge win for the Heels on Thursday night against Virginia Tech. There are almost too many story lines to talk about: a road win versus a ranked opponent, bouncing back from a terrible home loss the previous Thursday that also was a nationally televised game, coming back late in the game after falling behind due to a terrible turnover/interception by Yates.


The win was inspiring; the Heels could have mailed in the rest of their season and done what some so-called scribes had done and turned to basketball.  But instead they played with pride and determination and were rewarded with a meaningful and season-saving win.


The Heels will need to sustain that effort and focus if they truly want to save the season.  Carolina has four tough game left, versus Miami, at Boston College, and rivalry games versus NC State and Duke.  The Duke game is homecoming next week - Evan, Johnny, Alex and I will be there - and the Blue Devils is no pushover.  The Dukies are 5-3 after defeating Virginia in Charlottesville yesterday.  Beating the 'Hoos may not be that big a deal, then again the Heels lost to them in Chapel Hill.


Either way, I'm looking forward to spending a day and a half in Chapel Hill for homecoming (something I never thought I would ever want to attend).  This will actually be the fourth Duke-Carolina game in five years for Johnny, Evan and myself.


Wizards


Got to catch part of the Wizards win last night over the Nets. Arenas continues to look fantastic, and Andray Blatche off the bench almost matched Agent Zero's 32 points.  Brendan Haywood finished with 10 and 7 (a reverse of his opening-night numbers).


I may be the only guy I know who is paying attention; only 3 people voted in my favorite Wizards poll (and I think those 3 were me, Evan and Ariadne).


Heels in NBA


Of all the Heels in the NBA rookie Ty Lawson is probably off to the best start.  Lawson was the best player on the floor for Denver as they rallied to defeat Portland on opening night.  Lawson finished with 17 points in that game in 26 minutes.  He scored 7 in 17 minutes last night in another Nuggets win.


Here's a look at what the others Heels are doing so far:


Wayne Ellington: Ellington is playing, getting 23 min/game, while averaging 6 pts on 32% shooting; has yet to hit a three-pointer in two games.
Sean May: May is starting for 0-3 Sacramento but still playing 'out of shape' minutes, around 19 a game and averaging only 6 points a game.  I hope May gets healthy and gets his career on track.  He should be a good pro.
Brendan Haywood Off to a pretty good start - averaging 12 and 9 - though his timing on offense appears off as he returns from a wrist injury that kept him out of 79 games last year. Physically looks great, trim and agile.
Jawad Williams Has only played 2 minutes of mop-up time in one game, but hey he's in the NBA!
Rasheed Wallace Happily coming off the bench and playing a lot at crunch time, Ra is averaging 9 points a game. Twenty of his twenty-six shots have been three-pointers.
Raymond Felton Continues to struggle with his shot for the 1-2 Bobcats. Averaging 14 points (39% shooting) and 5 assists in 28 minutes a game. I still can't figure out why Ray has not become Chris Paul.
Marvin Williams Is third option on a young and dynamic Hawks team.   Averaging 12 points though 2 games.
Vince Carter The Magic are 2-0 with Carter, but Vince only played 15 minutes in their second game due to a sprained ankle (and did not play today versus the Raptors).  Carter is averaging 15.5 points a game on 55% shooting in two games.


Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green, Brandan Wright and Antawn Jamison have yet to play this season due to injuries, and both Jerry Stackhouse and Rashad McCants have yet to sign with a team.  For a while rumors circulated that McCants would join Aris Thessaloniki (in my dad's hometown) in a Carolina-Hellenic Blue blog-driven move.


Completely Random

• What ever happened to Jurassic 5?  'Day at the Races' came on my iPod the other day, a song that hinted at their promise.  Maybe I missed something, but what happened to the group who rapped 'you're out of your league like Jordan was with baseball' and featured the 'verbal Herman Munster' as one of their members?
• Lots of comments on our Halloween 2009 iPod mix for our party last night. Most often asked question "Are we listening to ABC?"  With Halloween as the obvious theme the mix featured "Poison Arrow" - due to the word poison - "Back from the Dead" by Spinal Tap, the "Buttercup" theme from the Power Puff Girls soundtrack, and more cliched songs like "Thriller," "Dead Man's Party" and "Everyday is Halloween." 
• Sorry for some of the font problems with this page.  The software was upgraded and I have yet to find my comfort zone.

Bad News for Wizards

Terrible news this morning regarding NBA All-sTar Heel Antawn Jamison. His shoulder injury is not expected to heal as quickly as originally expected, and 'Twan will likely miss a few games to star the season.

Though I hadn't blogged about them yet, I am looking forward to the start of the Wizards' season with Arenas, Jamison, favorite-NBA-player Brendan Haywood and Butler expected back on the floor. But this team seems incredibly snake bitten.

BTW - don't forget to vote for your favorite Wizards player, too.

Hard to remember that "just" three seasons ago, prior to Arenas' first injury, the 'Zards had the best record in the Eastern Conference.

Of course, I'm also excited about watching the '09 Heels play on the next level, especially Danny Green and Tyler Hansbrough. I hope to StubHub - have had great luck using StubHub to Wizards games - tickets when Cleveland and Indiana come to town. And I imagine I will be the only fan in the building (besides Evan) primarily there to watch the Cavaliers second most famous due, Danny Green and Jawad Williams.

NCAA Preview

I'm a little nervous three hours before tip-off, but mainly calm. Some of that is age, but I think most of that calm comes from the Carolina basketball team. Their resolve and determination, coupled with pretty phenomenal talent, should be enough to win Carolina's fifth NCAA championship tonight (sixth overall if you count, as Carolina does, a team in the 1920s that was voted the number one team in the nation).

Michigan State will be very tough, especially on the boards, but the Heels should prevail. Offensively, teams that shoot the three effectively are the ones most likely to give Carolina problems, and the Spartans are not a great three-point shooting team. The Heels' three-point defense has been very effective in the last two games, so that will probably not be a problem tonight.

The bigger threat is probably from the crowd and the hype around playing for a downtrodden state. Adrenaline can make up for a lot. Hopefully Carolina starts strong and keeps the crowd from getting into the game early and effectively.

But bottom line, I can't see Michigan State stopping all of Carolina's weapons. If they focus on Hansbrough down low, that leaves things open for Ellington and Green. Finally, the home-state team will not be able to stop Ty Lawson. Travis Walton will probably guard Lawson, but he's similar to Oklahoma's Warren, another taller, longer guard. Warren couldn't stop Lawson, and neither will Walton.

As you know, Tar Heels love to brag about how humble we are. Nonetheless, I'll point out that I correctly picked Carolina to defeat Villanova by 14, accurately predicted that the Heels would win by 12 over Oklahoma, and was off by one point on the Gonzaga spread (I said 22, final score was by 21).

So my prediction for tonight is an eleven point win for the Heels, led by balanced scoring and tougher than expected defense. I'm sticking with my pick of Ellington leading Carolina to the win, but with Lawson having another strong game and being named MVP of the Final Four.

GO HEELS!

What a win

An exhilarating - way too exhilarating - win tonight over LSU.  Carolina closed like Mariano Rivera against LSU to gut out the win and secure a place in the sweet 16.

LSU came out of halftime looking like Greece versus the US at the 2006 world championships by hitting 9 of their first 10 shots. I'm not sure if Carolina came out lackadaisical or cocky after their nice to run the end the first half, or LSU simply came out fired up, but the Tigers started hitting shots from all over the floor.

Conversely, Carolina looked tentative, especially Hansbrough and Thompson.

But that's when Ty Lawson shook off his bad toe and the bad juju.  He started by hitting two three-point shots to blunt the Tigers' new-found momentum.  Carolina finally tightened up the D a bit - led by Bobby Frasor (3 steals in 17 minutes!) and Ed Davis (9 points/7 boards/2 blocks in 25 minutes) but also Danny Green after Roy 'talked' to him on the bench. Then Ty Lawson started doing what Ty Lawson does: aggressively and repeatedly taking the ball to the rack.   

The ACC player of the year had a number of tough takes for baskets, with a few and-1s too. It was inspirational on more than one level: a guy stepping up when his team needs him, a guy excelling while playing on a bad wheel that visibly bothered him in the first half; a guy sacrificing his body on defense (2 of Carolina's 11 steals).  In the end he scored 21 of his 23 team-high points in the second half.  Great stuff from a great player.

But Lawson didn't do it alone.  Wayne Ellington was Georgelynchesque tonight, making plays all over the floor. He was 9 for 16 overall and 3 for 6 on three-pointers to finish with 23 huge points.  But his excellent shooting only tells part of the story. Ellington was strong on every part of the floor, and finished with the points plus 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and a blocked shot.  He was also strong on defense, and had two nice 'wall' plays in addition to the steals.  And on Danny Green's huge three down the stretch Ellington made a game-changing play when he tapped a loose ball, volleyball-style, to his teammate.  As great as Lawson was, Ellington was his equal.

Hansbrough was very strong in the first half, then seemed intimidated a bit in the second.  Still, he had his own big shot down the stretch too to extend the lead.

Those three, plus Frasor and Davis, helped the Heels really tighten up the defense down the stretch. Frasor in particular had a two important steals during the decisive Carolina run to put the game away,  The Heels eventually figured LSU out, and their oft-maligned defense came up strong in the last 10 minutes of tonight's game.

Bottom line, it looks like Lawson is back.  Five days of rest should help Ty recover in time for the sweet 16 next week  As long as he feels good, I'm feeling good.

ONLY A FEW MORE NOTES

• I hope that 3 gets Danny Green back on track. He looked very tentative today, but to his credit he took that second three to help put the game away.  If Green is on and Lawson is healthy - and tonight for Carolina that was for only about 15 minutes - the Heels are unstoppable.  
• So much for conference loyalty: the Dukies were repeatedly shown cheering on LSU.  I doubt the Devils will make it that far, but I'd love to beat them for a third time in the Final Four.
• Oh yeah, Go Longhorns (even if they are coached by Dean enemy Rick Barnes)!
• Roy did something tonight that he and Dean are usually reluctant to do: he called time out three minutes into the second half during the massive LSU run.  Tar Heel fans recall that Roy did NOT do that during the Kansas onslaught in last year's national semi-final.

Heels Sweep Devils; Win Regular Season

In a game that eerily mimicked the win in Cameron in February, Carolina used a great second half to sweep the season series against Duke, winning 79 to 71 on Senior Day in Chapel Hill.

Carolina played an almost nonchalant first half and trailed by one after 20 minutes. As it was in Cameron, Carolina got the ball down low for an early lead, but then allowed Duke to get decent looks. The Devils shot 60 percent in the first half, led by Singler, and as they did in Cameron led at half (this time by only a point).

The Heels may have been a little tight on Senior Day.  Danny Green wasn't aggressive, Ellington missed three free throws, and after his good start Hansbrough went to the bench sucking wind six minutes into the game when he ran out of adrenaline.

In the second half Carolina played much better defense, made some adjustments to keep Henderson and Singler in check, and used two spurts of 7-1 and 7-0 to build a working margin.  Even in the first half, you had a feeling Carolina was going to win this game.  The two spurts ended all doubt.  

Duke cut the lead to 4, 3 and even 2 points at times, but Carolina was in control the entire second half, played nice defense down the stretch to close out the win, and it showed in a tidy win. This season Carolina is a lot better, more talented than Duke.  Simple as that.  

As evidence I offer Deon Thompson.  After Henderson converted a fast break basket - off a missed Danny Green dunk of all things - to cut the lead to 2 with 5 minutes left, Carolina came down and got an old fashioned three-point play from Thompson. Carolina's FIFTH most talented player iced the game for the Heels, as Henderson's basket was the high-water mark for the Republicans from Durham.  After the Thompson basket Carolina converted a Singler miss to an Ellington fast break basket, and the game was over.

Duke's fifth best scoring option is . . .? Lance Thomas? Elliot Williams? David McClure?  Those guys stink. Our fifth guy wins games. Case closed.

And all of Carolina's talent was on display today.  Carolina's top seven players had great games and great moments.

• Tyler Hansbrough was strong and effective as he scored 17 points from all over the floor, including two three-pointers (though the third one he took was a bad shot);
• Ty Lawson was one again unstoppable against Duke.  He nearly had a triple-double with 13, 8 and 9 assists.  More importantly, he dominated the pace and tempo of the game in the second half, and made great decisions on whether to shoot or pass.  His three-point play with a minute and half left iced it for the Heels.
• Ellington had 16 points as he wisely slashed to the basket each time Duke played him to shoot a three. He finished 7 of 10 from the field.
• Thompson complimented his big three-point play with 14 points on 6 of 10 shooting, and almost fouled Singler out in the process.
• Danny Green was Danny Green.  After a tentative first half Green ended up with 12 points - on 5 of 10 shooting - and 4 boards, 3 steals and one big block late.  It seemed as if all of his baskets in the second half were huge.
• Bobby Frasor had a great Senior Day, hitting a three, grabbing some rebounds and tying up Henderson in the last two minutes for a turnover.  Henderson 'only' scored 14 points today and never really took over, and much of that is due to Frasor's defense.  A great way for Frasor to go out.
• Ed Davis got limited minutes but was a beast when he was in, hitting a nifty little hook and a nasty dunk.  And in only 10 minutes he picked up 4 boards.

Finally, Carolina out rebounded Duke 31-22.  Duke is very weak in the middle, and does not match up well with Carolina on the boards or against Hansbrough and Lawson. That's that. A great team effort by a talented bunch added up to a satisfying win over the Dookies.  Carolina has now won 6 of the last 7, and 8 of the last 10 versus Duke. And Krzyzewski's record against Carolina is 32-36. 

GO HEELS!

Quick ACC Basketball blog

Maryland looked like an NIT team in their loss to Virginia on Saturday.  And they looked very very tight for most of the contest as the weight of this game took it's toll.  Their 7-9 record means that unless they win the ACC tournament, or perhaps if they advance to the final, they will not make the NCAA tournament again this year.

Boston College won yesterday, on a last second shot by Rakim Sanders, to secure their ninth ACC win. Their conference record and wins over Carolina and Wake make them a lock.

Obviously, the big story for me is Duke at Carolina on Sunday. But the biggest game in terms of the NCAA tournament is Virginia Tech at FSU. Tech needs a win to get to 8-8 in conference, and have another marquee win to add to the resume.

If Tech loses the ACC will have three teams at 7-9 - Miami being the third - who have to use the conference tournament to play themselves into the big dance.  And the tournament is stacked with top level teams including Carolina going for their third straight ACC championship.

The ACC is the best conference in the country this year, so one or two 7-9 team may get in simply for surviving conference play.  Right now the ACC only has six teams in (Carolina, Duke, Wake, BC, Clemson, and FSU) and deserves at least eight, so two of those 7-9 teams could get in especially if they win at least one game in the ACC tournament.

Duke has played better of late, avoiding their patented late season swoon of the last couple of years, but I feel great about the Heels' chances today.  Despite the emergence of Elliott Williams the Devils have no one who can stop or slow down Ty Lawson.

They also don't have anyone who can stop Tyler Hansbrough.   Look for both Tys to have big days today, especially Hansbrough. Psycho-T looks like a nice guy but seems to really hate the Dukies.  I think Gerald Henderson knows one reason why.

It will be an emotional day as Hansbrough, Danny Green and Bobby Frasor play their last game in Chapel Hill.  Hansbrough is one of the all time greats, in both college and Carolina basketball, and I and millions of other Heels fans will miss his play and his pure Carolinabasketballiness.

But even if they cut down the nets this year that class will always be special for their 2006 run. Easy to forget that Carolina went into that season with four freshman - those three plus Marcus Ginyard - and not much else.  Of course, that 'not much else' including two of my favorite Heels of all time - David Noel and Reyshawn Terry - who led the young Heels to an improbable run that year. 

How lucky are we as Heels fans to be able to watch those back to back classes, first May-Felton-McCants (with Manuel, Williams, Williams in there too) then Hansbrough-Green-Frasor (with Lawson-Ellington right behind)?

Of course, this year isn't over yet.  Here's to seeing each class end their runs the same way.  Go Heels!

Two Quick Merow-Manuel Notes

• Alison won the raffle for a new MacBook at our school's auction last night. Cool news for the one member of our family you regularly uses our old desktop computer.
• So far Ariadne has heard back from one of the three schools she applied to, and it was good news as she was admitted to St. Andrews in Potomac.  She's very excited to be admitted, but also excited about a school that has a modern dance department.  We should hear from Edmund Burke and The Field School, her other two schools, early next week. 
• Finally, though I voted for Anoop Desai, this week I would vote for Barack Obama since he overturned the Bush ban on stem cell research.  And said he said wanted to strengthen the endangered species act . . . 

Thorough Dismantling

What a thoroughly satisfying - and just plain thorough - dismantling of the right-wing boobs from Durham tonight. Led by Ty Lawson, Carolina did what they wanted to in the second half on their way to a 101-87 thrashing of the Blue Devils.

The win means Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green and Bobby Frasor end their careers undefeated at Cameron. Duke's class of 2009 spent $160,000 for a second-rate education and never got to see Duke beat Carolina. That's what you get when your alumni number Richard Nixon, Ken Starr, Elizabeth Dole, Henry Hyde and some other right-wing boobs I probably missed.

It also means that Krzyzewski is now 32-37 lifetime against Carolina (with a lifetime losing record IN CAMERON against Dean, I might add).

Carolina got contributions from everyone. Thompson was aggressive early in scoring 10 points in Singler's grill and Frasor, who had missed his previous 12 three pointers, buried three 3s to give Carolina an early lead. I had a feeling Frasor would have a good game, a la 2006, and he did.

Late in the first half Duke got rolling and Carolina got sloppy and lost it's aggressiveness. The combo led to a Duke surge and an 8 point half-time lead. It could have been much much worse, but Danny Green hit a huge, nerve-calming three to keep Carolina's head above water.

I imagine folks noticed that instead of panicking during Duke's run Roy 1) did NOT call a time out, and 2) actually went to his bench to protect Hansbrough, who had two fouls, and give Lawson a blow. I liked the calm way the team reacted to that run. Pure Carolina; we'll take your best shot, but we are going to beat you in the second half.

And man, did they EVER beat down Duke in the final 20 minutes. I bet Roy reminded Lawson in the locker room that he was unstoppable against Duke's very weak back court. And he was, scoring 21 second-half points, mostly on lay ups as he repeatedly blew by any Duke defender assigned to 'guard' him. Lawson was completely dominant.

But it was a team effort. The second half swamping was methodical, pure, simple and total. There were a few big plays - Hansbrough's three to boost the lead back to 12 with the shot clock winding down, the steals by Green and Ellington early in the second half - but it was mainly Carolina playing smart Carolina basketball. They moved the ball, got the ball down low, got great looks, and shot more than 60 percent in the second half. Almost all of that was due to Lawson's total game.

Carolina scored at will in dropping 101 points IN CAMERON. Duke's vaunted defense had held teams to an average of 61 points a game. The Heels scored 57 in the second half!

The good-hearted liberals from Chapel Hill played great defense in the second half. They played the passing lanes, denied the ball, and kept guys like Henderson in check.

Frasor was the final piece of the puzzle. His early threes were big, but he played 27 minutes and completely dominated Henderson on defense.

Simply a great great win. As I blogged after the win at N.C. State, it is great to beat Duke, even better at Cameron in front of their spoiled capitalist-pig fans, better still to dominate them so totally. But even better than all that, it's just great to watch Carolina play Carolina basketball - running, moving the ball efficiently and moving without the ball, playing smart, staying calm, storming back, winning a big game.

The Heels were much better than Duke, and lead the lifetime series 130-97. And that gap will get wider as long as Roy is on the bench. This is Carolina's sixth win in the eight games against the Devils.

Tonight was just a great Carolina win, made sweater by the opponent and the venue.

A Few More Thoughts

• Duke showed their true, bitch-ass colors more than a few times tonight. And one instance, Singler's stupid and petulant elbow to Hansbrough's jaw, gave Carolina two free throws and some momentum early in the second half. A stupid and typical Duke play.
• But Duke's biggest scalawag is Gerald Henderson. Frasor ate him up in the second half, taking him completely out of his game. How did Henderson react? By elevating his game? No, but with two cheap shots to Hansbrough late in the game. At least he didn't elbow him in the face, so I guess that's progress.
  
• Hansbrough was not as dominant as Lawson, but he had a magnificent second half. He drew a charge on the perimeter, played great defense when Carolina was switching on screens, hit that big three, got some big boards - Hansbrough played smart Carolina basketball. Hansbrough hit a similar big three against Duke in 2006 (but I imagine you knew that already).
• Duke's point guards are terrible. I wouldn't be surprised if Duke limps along the rest of the season and finishes with a whimper. Book them to lose in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Go Heels!

Exciting Week

In the ACC and for the Heels.

Carolina's win in one of my three home towns on Wednesday night was a good one.  Sure, it was too close but the great finish capped off a great win.

By now folks know the details - Carolina won on Lawson's running three pointer at the buzzer.   That play alone could put a punctuation mark on any game.  But here are the other reasons I think the win at Florida State was a big one:

1. Carolina had to win a road game with Hansbrough in foul trouble
2. Carolina had to fight back twice to defeat the Noles
3. The Heels played great defense when the game was on the line
4. It was a complete team effort.

On points 1 and 4, Hansbrough was not Hansbrough after he picked up his third foul in the first half.  He had a mini-run in the second, but for a player as aggressive as Hansbrough foul trouble is a serious impediment. To point 4, the silver lining was that the entire team stepped up to make up for Hansbrough's lack of production offensively. In the first half Ed Davis played great, offensively Green, Lawson and Ellington did a good job as they shared the wealth, and Deon Thompson hit two big free throws late.  Contributions from all over.

Perhaps best of all, even with Hansbrough in foul trouble Carolina out rebounded a very tall Florida State squad 42-34 (with the shortest Tar Heel Ty Lawson leading the way with 9).

The rebounding pales only to Carolina's defense down the stretch, which was highlighted by Green's steal and subsequent three-point play and Hansbrough's TWO stops on Toney Douglas.

Green's steal was made possible by great team defense, as Douglas had to pass out of a jump-double team by Lawson and Ellington. We've come to expect those kinds of plays from Green, but that one was aided by his teammates.  Green had another great - phenomenal - all-around game: 20 points including 4 three pointers, 7 boards, 3 assists and 6 steals. This guy is a first team all-ACC player, despite matching his 6 steals with 6 turnovers.

And as many have pointed out, how great was it to see Hansbrough impact a game with his defense, and defense on the perimeter at that?  Carolina chose to switch on screens, something you may recall they did last year in Cameron as they dismantled the Blue Devils on Senior Night.  FSU though they had an advantage and ran Douglas off screens to isolate their leading scorer on Hansbrough.  But it didn't work, as Hansbrough stayed in front of Douglas twice in the last minute.  On FSU's final play of the game - drawn up by Leonard "What do these Xs and Os on the white board mean?" Hamilton - Hansbrough kept his man in front of him and stood up straight to alter Douglas' potential game winning shot and drive.   Great fundamental defense by Psycho T. 

Finally, winning a road game against an NCAA-worthy conference foe is significant.  Leonard Hamilton may not be a great game coach, but he has recruited a fairly talented bunch to Tallahassee.  Like Wake Forest, the Seminoles are deep enough to hang with the Heels' running game. Carolina had a 13-point lead in the second half.  At that point, most teams - see Clemson or Miami or Kentucky - fold as fatigue and frustration and Carolina's talent breech their defense and flood the floor with fast break points.  But FSU hung tough, and had enough talent and players to comeback and take the lead.  Unlike in previous seasons, FSU does not have any bad losses this year and have a win over Florida under their belt.  If the Noles finish 9-7 they will make the NCAA tournament.  

A great road win as the Heels head into Raleigh for a rivalry game versus N.C. State.  State is coming off an exciting win of their own, as they defeated Miami with their own buzzer beater, and the crowd is always tough in Raleigh.  But look for Ellington and Lawson to dominate the Wolfpack's weak back court and another Tar Heel victory.

Exciting Week in the ACC

• Clemson had a big week in coming back from 16 to win on the road against Virginia Tech.  The Hokies had been on a roll, including a road win over then number one Wake Forest.  Clemson is 18-2 and 4-2 in the ACC.
• Virginia Tech is also 4-2.  A winning record in the conference and their win over the Demon Deacons should get them to the tournament, and I think the home loss to Clemson says more positive things about the Tigers then negative things about the Hokies.
• The loss to State dropped Miami to 3-4 in the league.  The U could be in trouble; they've lost 3 of their last 4 and to paraphrase Michael Ray Richardson, 'the ship could be sinking.'  The good news for Miami is they play at Maryland tonight against the dysfunctional Gary Williams-led Terps.  But the Canes could easily lose their next four games - home to Wake, at Duke, home to Carolina then at FSU - and punch their ticket to the NIT.  Even though their last four games are winnable, 8 leagues for Miami will not be enough so they need to win one of those four difficult games.
• As bad as Maryland has been, I'll point out that at 13-7 they have a better record than cross-town rival Georgetown who has swooned to 12-7 in the overrated Big East.  
• Finally, Wake defeated Duke with their own last-second shot.  Wake should have won the game going away but missed free throws, inspired play by Kyle Singler, and tentative play by Jeff Teague let Duke back in the game.  The oddest thing about the game-winning play was that it was predicted flat out by none other than Dick Vitale!  Vitale knew what was coming but Krzyzewski did not.  How about that?

Random Notes

• I am all over Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill's idea to cap CEO pay for companies who receive federal bail out money.  A simple yet great idea to limit compensation to what the president makes.  Some of you know I don't think anyone in the U.S. should make more money than the president. All income over $400,000 a year for anyone - CEOs, ball players, actors and celebrities - should be taxed and redistributed via Medicare for all Americans, a new clean energy grid, cures for diabetes/cancer/other chronic diseases, light rail everywhere, etc.  A nationwide salary cap was actually debated in Congress in the 1930s.
• Finally, folks can see me, Michael Degnan and Ed Hopkins lobby Rep. Jared Polis on CNN's website. Coincidentally, Polis' Chief of Staff is friend and fellow Heel Brian Branton.  It actually was a coincidence; we just happened to be Rep. Polis' first meeting that morning.

Heels Get Back on Track

Carolina looked like Carolina again on Thursday in defeating ACC-bottom dweller Virginia in Charlottesville.  Carolina got out to an early lead, and the Cavaliers could only make it a game when Roy went to an odd line up at the 10 minute mark of the first half.

Carolina did the things a classic Tar Heel team does:  feed the post and get good shot, and run every time you get a chance.  The best news from this game was the play of Ty Lawson.  He ran often - quite often the result of nice defensive plays by my man Danny Green - and did a great job feeding Hansbrough.   Psycho-T got lots of touches, lots of trips to the free throw line, and lots of points.  Both Tys looked good, with Hansbrough netting a double-double.

Danny Green had another typical Danny Green game: some steals, some 3s, some great D, and a freak nasty dunk.   His versatility makes his a great Heel, but also an intriguing NBA prospect.  The fact that he makes plays on both ends, and has cut down on bad plays, could translate into a later first round draft pick in the June draft.

So lot of good things to take away from this game, but it's hard to gauge how good a team is when it plays Virginia, a team that lost to Liberty University earlier in the season.   Nonetheless, it was the first ACC win of the season and a road game at that so I shouldn't quibble.

The Heels host the Hurricanes Saturday a 9 pm.  Miami seems to be back up and is on a six-game winning streak.  Their last win was a come from behind victory over lame Maryland on Wednesday.

ACC NOTES

• Big game today between number 3 Wake and number 9 Clemson in the lesser Carolina.   I wonder when the last time there was an ACC game between two top 10 teams and neither team was Duke or Carolina?  I was going to have my research team look that up this morning but he was on a play date.
• Duke just defeated Georgetown in Cameron.  I wasn't rooting for Duke but was glad to see them defeat the Hoyas, and for an ACC win over the overrated Big East. The Big East has good teams, but their strength is more quantity than quality; it's two conferences fused into one.  I also think the Big East benefits from it geographic overlap with New York and Bristol, the two poles of sports of journalism.   And outside of the Huskies, teams from that conference have under achieved in the NCAA tournament of late.
• FSU won two games this week, including on the road at NCSU on Tuesday.  That may say more about how bad State is than how good the Seminoles are, but if FSU finished with 8 wins in the ACC their non-conference schedule may allow them to sneak into the NCAA tournament.
• Maryland went 0-2 on their Florida road trip and may end up challenging Virginia and Georgia Tech for the worst team in the ACC.