On to Monday night

The second half went according to plan and the Heels held on to defeat Villanova by 14.  And as good as Ellington and Lawson were, the best player on the floor for the final 20 was Danny Green.  

Villanova hit shots and turned the Heels over coming out of halftime and cut the lead to five points.   At that point, Green hit two big threes around an old-fashioned three-point play by Lawson - after one of Hansbrough's four steals - to practically ice the win for North Carolina.  

Green has done that all season, hitting so many game-changing shots that I've lost count. But tonight, as it always is with Danny Green, it was about his total game not just his three-point shooting.  As was the case when he ripped an offensive rebound away from the Griffin brothers, Green had a big offensive rebound he simply wanted more than two Wildcats in the second half.  Ditto with a big blocked shot and charge that he took to end Villanova's second half run. He's a deity in my book.

  

Green's second half play looks even bigger when you look at the overall play of both teams. Neither team was very smooth on offense, with Carolina leaving good shots on the rim and stubbornly missing lots of free throws. The silver lining, besides Green, is that Ellington hit two key baskets at key times and Lawson continued to push the ball up court.   But Carolina missed shots because they missed shots.  Villanova missed mainly due to Carolina's defense.  Every Wildcat shot seemed to be contested. Carolina's defensive intensity and aggressiveness on offense wore out Villanova, who as predicted were overwhelmed by the Heels' defense, focus, and talent.

That focus and toughness and improvement on defense, coupled with the fact that on offense Carolina has been able to get any shot they want all tournament long, will hopefully lead to their 5th NCAA title on Monday night.

GO HEELS!

One last note; one reason the second half had no flow was the referees, who generally stunk and I thought called a self-conscious game.  In the first half, they appeared spooked by both teams being in the double bonus and swallowed their whistles.  In general, college officiating is getting worse and worse, so bad that Sport Illustrated noted that the college game is much rougher than the NBA.  And the flow and beauty of basketball - and offense - suffer mightily.  Here's hoping the NCAA adopts two great NBA rules: no hand checking, and the 'no-charge zone' under the basket.  The way games are officiated now in the NCAA the defense has a big advantage.  

That style of play is one reason why I keep criticizing the Big East. That league is way too physical and as a result is simply bad and unattractive basketball.  Ironic that that overrated conference will - in effect - have 3 refs on the floor Monday night but no teams playing for a national championship.

A godly Sunday

Did you know that if you do a Google search for the phrase "Danny Green Is God" this website is the first - and last I checked only - site that pops up? 

I hope that phrase turns into a few more hits, and after today I wouldn't be surprised.  Danny Green dominated the first half against Oklahoma as the Heels cruised to a 72-60 win.   Where to start in reviewing Green's game?  He hit threes, drove to the basket, played great help defense.  

But for me two plays stand out. One was his offensive rebound and put back against the Griffin twins.  He simply out muscled and out willed both brothers on that play.  I predicted that Hansbrough would out will Griffin; on that play Green did. Two, I loved his little pull up 8 footer with about three minutes left when Oklahoma was flirting with a comeback.  Instead of launching a three - as he did three years ago in the regional final against Georgetown - Green put the ball on the floor and sank an easier shot.  A smart play that was the final nail in this win.

And what a win.  For the second game in a row Carolina calmly dismantled a foe that on paper was supposed to be a challenge. But today Carolina was never really threatened.  The Heels jumped out to an early lead behind Green and Tyler Hansbrough - and did not look back as they moved on to their second Final Four in a row, third in five years, ninth in the last eighteen.

The second half started much like the first, but instead of Green it was Ellington hitting two shots, Lawson hitting from three and driving the lane, and Deon Thompson getting and making great looks.   The rout was on and the lead eventually grew to 21 points before some sloppy play made the game look closer than it was.  The Heels dominated.

In fact, the domination was so complete that it made me wonder if Oklahoma was actually any good.  Other than Blake Griffin, who is incredibly agile, the Sooners looked like a high school team against the Heels.  One good player and that's it.

I'm surprised Jeff Capel (Fayetteville South View High, and Duke) didn't call a few timeouts to tell his team to stop shooting so many threes.  Oklahoma had absolutely NO offense other than Griffin.  So let me know, why did folks think Oklahoma was any good?

Then again, he is a Dookie so I shouldn't have expected much.  And I went to Smith, not Southview.

But the other story here is how good Carolina's defense was.  They effectively doubled Griffin, particularly in the first half when Hansbrough was on the floor.  For a guy who got his 22 and 12, his play was a non-factor on the final outcome.

Chalk up another dominant win for the Heels.  A dominant win where Hansbrough was in foul trouble, Ellington broke his streak of more than 20 double-figure games after finishing with only 9 points, where our fifth option on offense is our third leading scorer.   That's how good this team is.   I like our chances next weekend.

A FEW MORE NOTES

• Today's game was a battle of the last two states to hold the designation of "The Worst and Most Embarrassing Senate Delegation."  The title had resided with my home state for six years when we had Jesse Helms and Lauch Faircloth "representing" the Tar Heel State.  But now Oklahoma wins that title hands down with Tom Coburn and James Inhofe representing the Sooner State in the Senate.
• The referees really stunk in this game.  They called too many ticky-tack fouls against both teams, and as a result the game had absolutely no flow or pace.
• Louisville, the overall number one seed, looked as bad as Oklahoma today in choking to Michigan State.  They were completely out-classed by a Spartans team that was not intimated.  The Cardinals looked tight and nervous and were playing not to lose.  They cracked under the stress of making the Final Four and the pressure from Michigan State's defense.  
• That game was also a testament to Tom Izzo, who wins every season yet seems underrated.
• One of the most shocking parts of today's game was the commentary of usually off-base Clark Kellogg.  Kellogg was on the money 3 times today: calling out Capel and Oklahoma for being too reliant on Griffin for all their offense; comparing Danny Green to all the wonderful things baking soda can do (for baking, cleaning, as an air freshener, etc.);  and for pointed out that while Griffin was enjoying his home run trot after a freak-nasty dunk Ty Lawson had raced to the other end of the floor for two points.

That play summed up the game.   Griffin had some nice dunks, but the Sooners had nothing else.   A motivated and balanced Carolina team played a great game - especially on defense - and are on their way to the Final Four.  

Oh yeah, and Danny Green is god!

Putting the Elite in the Elite Eight

Carolina administered a thoroughly enjoyable beat down last night to the Bulldogs of Gonzaga to reach the regional final for the third consecutive season.

I enjoyed this game for three reasons:

1. I like watching Carolina basketball, and despite perhaps a few too many three-point shots, this game was pure Dean-inspired Carolina basketball.  The Heels ran, fed the post, took what they wanted from the over-matched Zags, made great decisions, and played the passing lanes; that's the way the game is supposed to be played.
2. It was a bit of a revenge game since Gonzaga beat Carolina the last time the two teams met, and I enjoy watching the Heels beat teams that have it coming (like defeating Coburn in the Senate on wilderness, or taking down the Dukies in front of their entitled fans in Cameron).  I especially like watching them beat teams like that my a wide margin.
3. But more importantly, and most satisfyingly, Carolina's play in the last two games has reenforced the notion that this team is focused on winning the national championship. They looked efficient and confident last night, and the stats tell the story.  The Heels shot 55 percent (if you omit the play of the scrubs) and 58 percent from three, and had 12 takeaways - 4 blocks and 8 steals - to only 9 turnovers.  

So a great win over an allegedly good team.  

Finally, I like our chances against Oklahoma.  Look for Hansbrough to out will and out fight Blake Griffin.  Psycho T hit a number of tough shots last night on his way to a ho-hum 20 and 10.   I expect Griffin to get in foul trouble against Hansbrough. 

But this game will be won by Carolina's back court.  Gonzaga's Pargo was supposed to be a match for Lawson, and we saw the beat down "Nine Toes" administered.  Then look for Ellington and Green to complete the job.  Ellington is playing the best basketball of his career and is the best 2 guard in the tournament if not college basketball right now.  And Green is fully out of his funk; he went 3 for 6 on three-pointers, and had his usual stat sheet stuffing game last night: 13 points, 7 assists, 3 boards, 4 steals, 2 blocks.  Man, I love that guy.

Anyway, I like our chances.   GO HEELS!

ACC in the Dumps

I was actually rooting for Duke to beat Villanova out of ACC loyalty two nights ago.  What an embarrassing run for the conference.  I still assert that the ACC was the better conference this year, but obviously the Big East has had a better run in the tournament. 

The mystifying part is trying to explain how badly ACC teams have played. Duke looked completely out of it - mentally and physically - against Nova. Ditto Boston College and Wake in their humbling and bumbling losses in the first round.  Duke, FSU and Wake - along with Carolina - should have made it to the Sweet 16.  Instead, we're left with head-scratching losses and second-rate status.

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 . . . 

Heels Tough Out Road Win in Blacksburg

Carolina did a nice job closing out a tough road game tonight in defeating Virginia Tech, on senior night in Blacksburg, 86-78. 

The Heels controlled the game - the Hokies never led - but could not put Virginia Tech away until late in the game. That in itself is great news. Carolina has not been great in closing out games.  Even in games they've won - at Florida State and at Miami, for instance - the Heels lost leads late.  And of course there's the Maryland game.

Losing on the road in the ACC is nothing to be ashamed of, even for a team as talented as this year's squad. But winning on the road tonight is something to be proud of. Similar to the Terps, the Hokies were desperate for a win. Carolina's offense didn't flow for 40 minutes straight, but they did have 3 significant spurts to build and hold a lead. My man Danny Green hit a big three with 8 and half minutes left to stop one Hokies run, and down the stretch Hansbrough and Lawson made enough baskets - and barely enough free throws - to ice it. 

And in the last four minutes, Carolina's defense kept Virginia Tech's desperation from turning into points. So on both offense and defense, Carolina toughed it out, and put a good team away, for a nice win against a desperate team playing on senior night.  Good stuff.

A Few More Notes

• A large portion of Carolina's defensive toughness was provided by Virginia-native Ed Davis.  In the first half Davis scored and in the second he controlled the defensive end of the floor.  He altered or blocked a number of shots - 6 to be exact - during various Virginia Tech runs and played a very effective 17 minutes.  In less than a half he finished with 8 points, 4 boards and 6 blocks.
• Wayne Ellington and Hansbrough carried Carolina in the first half, with help from Deon Thompson and Davis.  Ellington got back on track from 3 in the initial stanza, and in the second half had a few nice drives to finish with 15 points.
• As they did against Georgia Tech, Carolina did a great job feeding the post especially in the first half. It was great to see Hansbrough have back to back great games, as Psycho T finished with 22 and 15. Deon and Davis also got some great looks in the first half.
• Danny Green was off for most of the game, but when his team needed him he hit two big trademark 3s.  Danny Green, BTW, is god!
• In the second half Green hit his two 3s, Carolina kept going to Hansbrough, but the last half of the game was controlled by Ty Lawson. He did a great job picking his spots to drive, pass or feed the post.  Smart and in control the entire second half.

So another quality road win against a tough team. The Heels made plays on both ends of the floor and closed out a team playing their final road game.  A good night's work for the Heels as they head into a bittersweet day: the final home game for Bobby Frasor, Danny Green and Tyler Hansbrough against Duke this weekend.

A few random notes:

• Two ACC teams really hurt their chances to make the NCAA tournament tonight.  With the loss Virginia Tech needs to defeat FSU in Tallahassee on Saturday to finish 8-8 in the ACC. 
• But the team that REALLY shot themselves in the foot is Miami.  They lost to Georgia Tech, granted in Atlanta, for their ninth loss. The U will need to beat NC State in their final game at home, then probably win two games in the ACC tournament to make the NCAAs for the second year in a row.
• But the Wolfpack will be a tough out.  They defeated Boston College tonight, and the Pack can finish 7-9 if they defeat the U.  If they do that, then win a couple in the ACC tournament, NC State could conceivably make the tournament.
• Despite the loss, BC can finish with 9 wins if they take care of Georgia Tech in Chestnut Hill this weekend.
• Finally, Maryland is probably out after losing their ninth game last night to Wake.  

Lots of action this week in the ACC, and coming up this weekend. Carolina, Duke, Wake, Clemson, FSU, and BC are in; Virginia Tech can play themselves in with a win in Tallahassee.   Then on to the ACC tournament for Miami, NC State and maybe Maryland.  

GO HEELS!

Almost forgot the other big Tar Heel win tonight - Anoop Desai is back on American Idol after winning wild card night!  Anup is a native of Chapel Hill, and I think has two degrees from Carolina. 

Heels Get Back On Track

Pure Carolina basketball was once again on display yesterday as the Tar Heels dismantled the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 104-74. The Heels did all the things preached by Dean Smith - fed the post early in each possession, ran every time they could, played the passing lanes (12 steals), and did not shoot an inordinate amount of three pointers. After an uncharacteristic - and un-Tar Heel like - collapse in the last 2 minutes at Maryland, Carolina played Carolina-style basketball for (the final) 35 minutes.  That usually means winning, and against a young team like Tech it means winning by 30.

It was great to see Hansbrough get involved early.  Carolina did a great job with their spacing on offense and as a result Psycho-T had lots of room to maneuver and get open down low.  Then my man Danny Green led a one-man spurt to put the game away early in the second half.  Other than Ellington, who missed all three of his three-pointers, the offense really flowed yesterday.  

Finally, odd as it may sound for someone who did not make a field goal, Lawson dominated the offense side of the ball and set the tone for the game despite hitting only four free throws.   Carolina passed the ball very well the entire game.  Some games, like against Duke, Lawson needs to take over.  In others, he needs to feed the post.   I think he is starting to figure that out. 

• Paul Hewitt reminds me of the rental-car agent in a Seinfeld episode, the one who gives away Jerry's car even though he had a reservation. To paraphrase, "Hewitt knows how to get talent, he just doesn't know how to hold it." Chris Bosh, Thaddeus Young, Javaris Crittendon, Ishmael Mohammed are all Tech guys who left early and play in the NBA. 
• I like Crittendon, who is getting some decent minutes for our hometown Wizards in what should be his junior year in Atlanta.
• Bobby Frasor had a nice game, hitting three two-point shots including one nifty drive with a ball fake.  I think he needs to do that more rather than exclusively settling for jacking up threes. 
• Carolina's bench scored 25 points (29 if you count the deep bench players/walk ons).  Zeller seemed much more comfortable and finished with 8 points.  And Ed Davis continued to be Ed Davis.  I loved his Olajuwon-esque turn around in the first half.
• In addition to watching the Heels win by 30 is was great to listen to Gus Johnson and Greg Anthony work the game. Johnson loves calling games; check out his greatest hits on YouTube. And Anthony, though he's a high-profile Republican, is insightful and precise with his language.  They make a nice team.
• The Post has set it's sights on the Maryland mens basketball. Two weeks after a three-part series on Gary Williams, today's paper has a long piece on the interaction between Under Armour, the Baltimore-based apparel company founded by a Terp grad, and potential recruits. The relationship is dicey since the founder of the company is also a member of the Maryland Board of Trustees.
• I'm obviously very biased, but for my money the only conference worth watching is the ACC.  Everyone knows Big 10 games are brutal contests that lack any kind of offensive flow.  The Big East is not much better; no one in that conference seems to know how to get up and down the floor and most Beast games seem to be in the 60s (though Pitt did score 89 yesterday at Seton Hall). It's a Herb Sendek league. 
• And speaking of Sendek, his Arizona State team needed overtime to score 49 points yesterday. They lost, 49-51 to Washington State.  I have a morbid fascination with these low scoring games.  ASU and WSU only turned the ball over 16 times - combined - and took a combined 21 free throws for the game.  That means not many drives to the basket or bad passes but LOTS of missed and probably open shots; they likely didn't drive because they were getting open looks.  Both teams milked the shot clock and missed lots of shots, and played bad non-ACC basketball.  ASU will probably make the tournament but will stink it up once they do.
• Big win for Boston College at home earlier in the week against FSU, and then a big win by FSU over Clemson (who has lost two in a row) yesterday.  It looks like right now the ACC has six locks for the NCAA tournament: Carolina, Duke, Wake, Clemson, Florida State and Boston College.  Miami, which has a very favorable schedule, should get in if the U win their last two games and finishes at 8-8.  
• The ACC has on outside shot at 9 bids, and deserves the most.  At 6-7 Maryland needs at least two wins in their last three games, no small task.  The Terps go to NC State tonight followed by a home game against Wake then another road game at Virginia.  All three will be tough. The Terps really needed to beat Duke in College Park on Wednesday, but as is often the case suffered a bit of an emotional let down after their big win over the Heels.  
• Virginia Tech is 7-7 and is still not dead yet.  They host Carolina on Wednesday in a must win game, similar to the Maryland game for the Tar Heels.  A win gives the Hokies a 500 record in conference and another marquee win.  They close the season at FSU, so neither game will be easy.  
• Finally, I got a chance to watch 'Battle for Tobacco Road" the other day on HBO.  It's worth watching for a number of reasons: Dean, Worthy, and Jordan get plenty of screen time, and it's a nice reminder that historically Carolina leads the series by more than 30 wins, that Krzyzewski has a lifetime losing record against Carolina (despite the Gut and DOH years) and that Roy will make that record even worse.  I'm surprised that the series did not put more emphasis on how each school graduates its players and doesn't cheat, but in general they did a nice job.

Nats Note

Jim Bowden finally fell on his sword today and resigned as the Nationals' General Manager.  We should be happy that he didn't miss the sword or screw that up, too.   Though his scrap heap line up led to an unexpected 81 win season three years ago, the bottom line is his moves led to a102-loss season to debut a new taxpayer funded stadium (with another retread, Odalis Perez, throwing the first pitch!).

Bowden was finally undone by the signing and tawdry and shallow mea culpas surrounding the signing of  one-time teenager "Smiley" Gonzalez. Ironically, he resigned as some of his moves may be poised to pay off. Bowden did bring Lastings Milledge, Adam Dunn, Josh Willingham, Jesus Flores and Elijah Dukes to DC, and he did draft Ryan Zimmerman, Jordan Zimmerman, and other prospects. That's a decent amount of talent, talent he won't be around to see develop thanks to his inept handling of the Gonzalez signing.  

Despite those moves, he will not be missed.

PS - Congrats to Fire Jim Bowden blogger Steven Biel. 

 

Character Win Over The U

An important, gut-check, character-building, fill-in-any-other-cliche-here win for the Heels last night in Coral Gables.   Carolina endured a sub-par offensive night - and a great shooting display by Jack McClinton - to net an impressive 69-65 post-Duke road win over Miami.

Carolina won despite not reacting very well to Miami's zone.  Instead of being patient and feeding the post the Heels shot way too many jumpers.  The good news of course is that Carolina's starting back court had a great shooting game, with Ty Lawson once again leading the way.

As he did in Cameron, Lawson was dominant in the second half, especially down the stretch in hitting 3 big three-pointers. Wayne Ellington also had an excellent night with his first career double-double.   His 15 points/10 rebounds was paired with 5 assists and only one turnover.   

On a night when little went right offensively, and the Heels were held to a season-low 69 points, the Carolina made enough plays and Lawson made enough shots to win a tough road game.

That's the good news for the Tar Heel back court.  The bad news is they failed to get Hansbrough enough touches.  Some of that was mitigated by effective rebounding, led by Ed Davis' eleven off the bench.  For the five minutes before halftime Davis helped carry the Heels, and after half time Deon Thompson had a nice run as the Heels built up a 14-point lead.

Even after Miami made their late run to cut the lead to one you just had a feeling Carolina was going to win this game; they had simply been too tough and resilient to lose.  Specifically, those traits were on display on four key plays:

• Danny Green's huge block on McClinton on what would have been a lay-up to give Miami the lead; Green had what could be generously called a so-so game, but on that play he showed why some people say "Danny Green is God!"
• Bobby Frasor's late game defense on McClinton; with about a minute left Frasor forced McClinton to take a desperation three that barely drew iron. Frasor also had a nice drive for a basket late.   Frasor's had back to back good games, and along with Davis and Larry Drew give Carolina a very reliable 8-player rotation.
• Hansbrough drawing a charge with 44 seconds left.  As he did against Duke Hansbrough influenced a game with his defense and quick feet.

But the night belonged to Lawson, who made the fourth and biggest play of the night against he Hurricanes.  His three with 11 seconds left sealed the win.  He was remarkably open down the stretch, which I guess reflects the concern and attention Miami had to pay to Hansbrough.

It also means the Heels will be tough to beat the rest of the season.  The need to clog the lane against Carolina is going to mean lots of open looks for Green, Ellington, and Lawson.  Green and Lawson are shooting better than 45 percent from behind the three-point line, and Ellington has shot just as well in his last 8 games (27 for 59).  And in their last two games in particular, the Heels have shown the ability to play lock-down defense, at least at key times of the game.

Winning tough games means a lot, especially when you win them with the kind of big plays the Heels made last night.

Few Random Notes:

• How good is Jack McClinton?  He made a number of tough shots on his way to 35 points last night. Remarkably, McClinton has scored more than 30 points against Carolina, Duke and Wake; a pretty good resume. His effectiveness makes you really appreciate the couple of times Carolina was able to stop him.
  
• After the Duke game, Caulton Tudor at the N&O wrote that Lawson is the odds on favorite to win Player of the Year honors in the ACC; hard to argue against that after his play AT Duke and AT Miami.
• The annual Duke swoon seems to be on.  BC is a good team and was at home, but Duke controlled that game for 36 minutes. Once again their back court combo of Paulus and Smith looked terrible, and Scheyer left Tyrese Rice of all people wide open late. You don't go far in the tournament without good guard play, and Duke is simply not getting that this season.
• Clemson has Wake Forest disease, losing two in a row after dismantling Duke at Littlejohn; first to Florida State at home and then inexplicably at Virginia yesterday. 

Clemson's two-game swoon makes Carolina's win at Miami look even better.  As is often the case in college basketball, teams of 19-year-olds suffer emotional let downs after big wins (see BC losing at home to Harvard after beating previously undefeated Carolina; Wake losing at Georgia Tech after taking down number one Duke; etc.).  Carolina could have been ripe for the picking after mauling Duke at Cameron.  Instead, they endured and tenaciously made big plays on defense and offense to win a road game.   

GO HEELS!