Not Much to Say

Not much to say after a total beat down like the one the Heels took at the hands of the Seminoles yesterday. In Carolina's first road game in 42 days, the Tar Heels were humiliated and buried under a barrage of three pointers, led by Davidis Dulkys' 8 of 10 shooting.

There is a smorgasbord of problems or issues one can talk about (so I lied, there is much to say), but two stand out for me.

One, the play of Kendall Marshall.  Some post mortems from the game have mentioned that FSU put pressure on Marshall.  On one hand, they did pick him up full court.  But on the other, his turnovers all were seemingly unforced.  It was as if he was a pitcher with tired legs; so many of his passes sailed out of bounds over the heads of their intended target.

This team goes as Kendall Marshall goes, and when he struggles that bad the Heels will look and play bad, too.  There certainly were other terrible performances by Carolina players yesterday; Barnes had his second straight terrible shooting day, Henson left his head and concentration skills in Chapel Hill (0-8 free throws, an embarrassing technical), and perhaps Strickland's ankle bothered him more than it looked and thus he could not effectively cover Dulkys or Loucks or anyone on the perimeter.  And our bench - P.J. Hairston in particular - was horrible.  

But Marshall is the keystone for this team; without him we collapse.

So players - and sometime teams - can have one bad game.  But for me the other disturbing thing, issue 2, was our play to start the second half.  

How many Carolina fans thought at half "Ok, the Heels played badly but we're only down 8.  Barnes will get on a roll, Marshall will feed Zeller and Henson, and we'll win this game.  And FSU can't keep shooting this well"'?  I'd bet 90 percent of Tar Heel Nation saw that scenario ready to unfold.

Unfortunately, things got worse in the final 20 minutes. The Heels thought they could turn it 'on' the second half, but other than Zeller did not. Or worse, Carolina expected the Seminoles to wilt - and they did not. The Heels failed to raise their level of play, turning it over and failing to guard to start the half, and were buried.

Very disappointing to say the least.  Carolina was in a position to win this game at half time - we had seemingly taken FSU's best shot - but did not. That's VERY un-Carolina.  And that's the worst part of this loss - we did not look like Tar Heels.

Few More Heels Notes:

• I wonder if ol' Roy will schedule any more extended home stands in the future?  Hard to measure how much impact the schedule had on this flop, but Roy is superstitious enough to avoid another stretch like that.
• Props to Tyler Zeller, who many fans have questioned this year but who was the only Tar Heels player to show some effort for 40 minutes.  He kept us in the game the first half.
• Within an hour of the loss the Dex Factor tweeted "embarrassing but a learning process; we'll bounce back!' Ah, youth. I like following Strickland (@DStrick01), who generally tweets in proper English, which I appreciate. 
• Wayne Ellington (@WayneElli22), who had 13 points last night for the Timberwolves, also tweeted "I'd hate to be at the next practice!"
• Virginia Tech looms next, though looms is a strong word.  They lost yesterday to Boston College.  I feel sorry for Hokies fan: I expect the Heels to be very focused and fired up for that one; and Seth Greenberg is still their coach.
• No time to panic yet; it WAS only one game.  But if the Heels come out flat in Blacksburg that will be a very troubling indicator about the leadership and fortitude - the talent this there, obviously - of this year's team.

GO HEELS!

Can't Spell Ho HUM without UM

Tonight's win over Miami had to be the most boring Carolina beat down of all time.  The only suspense for the last 15 minutes of the game was whether or not Harrison Barnes would score again.  For the record, he didn't.  His 6 points on 2 of 12 shooting ground his recent hot streak to a resounding halt.

But Carolina is this good - and Miami that lackluster - that on a night when our best player struggles the Heels still dominated and were never really threatened in Coach Jim Larranaga's Dean Dome debut.

There were 3 keys to the game.

One, Carolina's guards were fantastic.  Kendall Marshall had his first double-figure scoring game of the season and repeatedly slashed to the basket for scores.  Dexter Strickland was even better, turning defense into points on his way to a 14-point effort and hitting a few jumpers.

Carolina's defense was the second key tonight.  This team is started to get tough on D, especially since the Texas game.  Jon Henson and Tyler Zeller seemed to block or disrupt every 2-point shot attempted by the Canes.  On the perimeter Strickland was particularly effective, shutting down leading scorer Malcolm Grant (5 points, 2 for 8 from the field) and doing a great job playing the passing lanes.

Three, the Heels stayed focused after building a 20-point.  Unlike against Boston College, where the Heels allowed the Eagles to get within 9 points before waking up and putting the game away, Carolina maintained their defensive pressure and fed the post down the stretch against the U.   Miami never had a chance.

The Heels' next opponent is their suitcase as Carolina has to remember how to pack for back to back road games in Tallahassee and Blacksburg.  Packing a suitcase may be as exciting as tonight's win over Miami. 

On second thought

I didn't get a chance to blog between Carolina's blow-out win over South Carolina and the disappointing loss to UNLV last night.

But upon further review, the blog topic would have been the same - Kendall Marshall.  He was once again unbelievable against Lesser Carolina.  He finished with 14 assists - many of which were spectacular - his third double figure total for this young season. 

John Henson may be our best player so far with Harrison Barnes poised to assert that title during the season, but Marshall is Carolina's most important player.  I agree with Jay Bilas' assessment that we may be seeing the second coming of Jason Kidd.

The loss to UNLV also highlighted how important Marshall is. As my brother pointed out during the game, Carolina counts on our point guard to disrupt the other team's offense via ball pressure. The Tar Heels' recent championship teams have featured point guards who could dominate a game defensively: Derrick Phelps in '93, Raymond Felton in '05 and Ty Lawson 3 years ago. 

Roy recognizes that Marshall might not be fleet enough to do that, at least not yet, so Dexter Strickland - who by the way was the only starter to play well for 40 minutes versus the Rebels - has been covering the other teams point guard.

Saturday night plenty of things went wrong for the Heels; Carolina could not rebound, guard or shoot.  Even good teams will struggle with one of those facets of basketball during a game, but rarely do good teams stink at all three at the same time. Saturday night, Carolina certainly did.  Zeller had a terrible game, both Z and Henson were pushed around on the boards where Carolina got killed, no one made free throws, and Barnes and the starters had a collectively terrible shooting night and settled for a shocking number of bad shots.  

And on both ends of the floor Marshall struggled; he didn't disrupt their defense or run North Carolina's offense as well as he has throughout his tenure as our starting one. When he struggles, this team will struggle. The good news is Marshall - and by definition the 2012 Tar Heels - is too good to have THAT happen again.  

This week will be a big one for the Heels as they welcome Wisconsin to Chapel Hill as part of the ACC-Big 10 challenge before heading to Lexington to face Kentucky in a match up of college basketball's two winningest programs.  This loss to UNLV will bring out a more focused, determined Marshall and Carolina squad (and ol' Roy, too).  In particular, look for huge games this week from Zeller, Barnes and of course our most important player, Kendall Marshall.

As few extra points:

• James Michael McAdoo, though not as key as Marshall, will be a very important part of our season. The Heels will need him to produce off the bench in general, but in particular as our lone reliable big man off the bench he will be key in spelling both Zeller and Henson. He had some nice moments versus UNLV, especially running the floor, but he also missed some important free throws in the second half that could have impacted the final outcome.  
• Besides Strickland two other Heels had nice games versus UNLV: Reggie Bullock and P.J. Hairston.  Both have put together back to back to back nice games.  McAdoo, Bullock and Hairston give Carolina a phenomenal bench. 
• Great to see Carolina stick it to Duke for the 20th time in the last 21 games, including 8 straight wins.  At 7 and 5 Carolina is bowl eligible, no small feat considering the turmoil of the off season and the firing of Butch Davis.  Kudos to Everett Withers and seniors such as Dwight Jones for leading this year's squad.
• Next year is already tantalizing, with Bryn Renner and Gio Bernard poised to lead the Heels to the promised land - 9 wins, including one over N.C. State!
• Finally, while were talking leadership one of my favorites is T.J. Yates, who led Carolina to 8 wins last year despite numerous suspensions and disruptions.  Today, Yates played in his first NFL game and helped lead his Houston Texans to a 20-13 win. Yates took over for injured second-string quarterback Matt Leinert at the end of the first half, and completed 8 of 15 passes for 70 yards.  Leinert may be out for the season so Yates is likely the de facto starter for the AFC South leading Texans.
• GO HEELS!

Heels are back

Outside of my family nothing makes me quite as happy - most of the time - as watching (and of course blogging about) the Tar Heels. They could have been playing inside a phone booth, let alone on the deck of an aircraft carrier, and I would have watched - and enjoyed watching.

To say today's game was different than most openers is an understatement.  The president sitting court side, the court being outside on an aircraft carrier, playing on a national holiday - a holiday we usually ignore as much as we currently ignore the wars being fought in Afghanistan and Iraq - were all unique experiences, even for a team as used to the spotlight and hype as Carolina.

Those factors, especially being outside with a weird backdrop, plus the first game of the season, make it hard to really evaluate how the Heels and the Spartans (putting the Hellenic in Carolina Hellenic Blue blog) played tonight.  It was a disjointed game, without much flow. 

The good news is the Heels played very well in the last 5 minutes of the first half both on offense and defense, and especially in the first 10 minutes of the second.  The Heels got and made easy baskets, some created by their work on the board but many from their defensive pressure, some because Michigan State was sloppy.  But the Heels looked like the Heels for those 15 minutes - running and scoring and forcing the action.

The other 25 weren't that bad. There was a 10-minute stretch in the first half where the Spartans killed us on the boards, and a 5-minute one where we lost focus and allowed Michigan State to cut our 20-point lead in half.  

But the main reason it was disjointed is the Heels missed many makeable shots, including free throws, early.  The silver lining to both is that one, Carolina was getting good shots, and two, the Heels were being aggressive on offense and getting fouled.

So we can quibble with the execution, execution that may have been impacted by the weather, an outdoor court, nerves, playing in front of the president AND on the deck of a massive war machine, etc.  But Carolina generally did what Carolina wanted to do, which bodes well for when the Heels move inside, you know into a building to play basketball.  

In terms of the players, John Henson was probably our player of the game.  He finished with a near triple double - 12 points, 9 blocks, and 7 boards.  The blocks are part, a HUGE part, of his game, but tonight Henson showed off a more polished offensive game.  He was impressive. Henson also had a great post-game quote: "It was fun. My excuse was sometimes I felt like the boat moved a little bit when I shot. That's why I missed."

Harrison Barnes lead the team with 17 points, and looked calm and confident for most of the night.  His 3 late, that ended a Spartans run that cut the lead to 10, effectively ended the game.  Barnes was also active defensively versus Michigan State.

Kendall Marshall and Dexter Strickland looked good in the back court, with Marshall looking in mid-season form on a number of impressive passes to start fast breaks.  Strickland benefited from 2 of those passes on his way to 10 points.  I was disappointed to see that Strickland still occasionally shoots fading away off his back foot, but he did hit his first 3-point attempt of the season.

Tyler Zeller's inability to hit shots or grab a board early lit up the twittersphere, but he had a nice second half and picked up 3 charging calls.

Carolina's bench looked solid with nice moments from Reggie Bullock and freshmen P.J. Hairston and a very active John Michael McAdoo, who finished with 4 points, 3 boards and 1 blocked shot in 17 minutes.

Not a perfect game from the Heels in terms of execution, at least when it came to shooting early, but defensively Carolina looked good, they did not turn it over much (14 for the game, 5 believe it or not from Marshall, a stat you assume will come down), they beat a good team while facing a once-in-a-lifetime scenario, but best of all did what Carolina wanted to do - at least for 25 of the 40 minutes.


Next up for the Heels is a visit to ol' Roy's hometown to inaugurate UNC Asheville's new gym.


GO HEELS!


A few more sports notes:

• Great to hear that Wilson Ramos has been rescued.  The Venezuelan police report that an aerial raid freed Ramos.  Can't imagine what that is like, but I assume Ramos will report early, VERY early, to spring training this year.
• Somehow, a halftime contest that featured Brooklyn Decker, James Worthy AND Tyler Hansbrough was incredibly lame.  How on earth could that happen?
• I have nothing to add to the sad and disgusting Penn State situation. I initially thought it was harsh to not allow Joe Paterno to coach one final game in State College.  But the more you think about it, how could Paterno tell his higher ups what he heard about a child being raped in the shower, then drop it?  Never tell the police or worst of all, never confront Sandusky? How could anyone ignore those kinds of crimes against children?  Time to clean house completely in Happy Valley.

Good Guys Win, Bad Guys Lose

In assessing anything Carolina-Duke it's easy to pivot to the obvious differences -  liberal versus conservative, public versus private, Paul Wellstone versus Rand Paul, humility and authenticity versus arrogance and entitlement - that animate the rivalry.

Tonight none of that mattered.  What did was that Carolina was simply better than Duke on the basketball court.

As it has been of late, the Heels played a complete game.  Everyone contributed, from the walk-ons who played hard and were NOT scared for the first two-minutes, to Leslie McDonald and Justin Knox making plays off the bench, to Henson continuing to be a force down low even with 2 early fouls, to Zeller bringing it down the stretch, to Dexter Strickland throwing down the best dunk since Danny Green stole Greg Paulus' manhood a few years ago.

But the first among equals were Harrison Barnes and Kendall Marshall.  

Barnes was steady all night, but was HUGE in stopping Duke's deja vu run to start the second half.  As it was at the University of Long Island at Durham a month ago, the Devils cut into a double-digit halftime lead with a 7-0 run to start the second half.  Barnes would have none of it.  The alleged 'freshman' from Iowa went on his own seven-zero run and the game was, but for the shouting, over.   When the Heels needed to answer the Devils, Barnes did.

The H Barn was not the only freshman to step up.  It's easy to forget how young this team is when you see guys like Barnes and player of the game Kendall Marshall play the way they did tonight.

Marshall was steady, not spectacular, in leading the Heels to a spectacular and methodical win over the right-wing boobs from Durham.  KButter finished with 15 and 11 assists.  This is his team.

Finally, one more word on the walk-ons.  As impressive as Barnes and Marshall were, I was equally impressed by the 2 minutes of play from DJ Johnson, Van Hatchell, and Daniel Bolick - and by Roy's decision to start 3 walk-ons in the most important game of the year.  

How cool is that?

Private versus public, conservative versus liberal, etc. but the reason Carolina is better than Duke - in every way, not just on the basketball court - was that decision to start the walk-ons.  Roy rewarded unheralded, unsung Tar Heels who play hard in practice and make this team better.  For that, we are cooler than Duke, with better karma.

And this year a better basketball team.

GO HEELS!

Better than it looked

It would be easy to characterize today's win over Clemson as an ugly one.  But that would be unfair to this year's squad.

Bouncing back - on the road - after a tough loss to your arch rival makes a powerful statement.  This team has more resolve than the previously thought.  

The talent started to emerge once Kendall Marshall was installed as the starting point guard.  The resolve started building shortly after that.   It rounded into full form today at Littlejohn Coliseum.  

The Heels got off to good start, and led at half despite playing some ugly ball.  But like it was at Duke, the Heels let the home team come back and take the lead late.   

But today, the Heels didn't back off and made plays.  The second-best one was Marshall's steal and lay up to essentially ice the game with less than two minutes left.

The best play was the out-of-nowhere dunk by Barnes. Late in games he really loses himself in the action, and he definitely did on that freak-nasty dunk!  If Marshall's steal iced it, Barnes' dunk was a frigid blast that started the process.  

The game may have looked ugly, but that dunk was not!

GO HEELS!

Quick random note:  I watched the first 30 minutes of this game on ESPN3; Maryland was playing at the same time so the Carolina game was not shown on TV in DC.  ESPN3 was okay but I had to deal with lots of buffering and delays, etc.  That may have more to do with Earthlink than ESPN3 but either way it harmed my viewing experience.  

But after a commercial reminded me that I can watch live games on my iPhone with the ACC Sports app.   I switched over, and it was great - no delays or buffering at all. 

The Barnes quote is from Jim Hawkins at www.insidecarolina.com

Marshall Plan

As a Greek-American I've always liked the Marshall Plan. A magnanimous nation helping a poor country like Greece rebuild and retool after being devastated by 4 years of Nazi occupation.

Well, I love the Carolina-Hellenic Blue version we saw today as Carolina won it's third straight game by at least 20 points, 89-69,  against a pretty good FSU team.

Playing his first extended minutes of the season due to Larry Drew II's decision to leave school in the middle of the season, Marshall excelled.  His 16 assists are a Carolina record for an ACC game.  

Let that sink in for a while.  Marshall - not Phil Ford, Jimmy Black, Derrick Phelps, Ed Cota, Raymond Felton, Ty Lawson, Quentin Thomas - has that record for assists.  At Carolina.

Marshall was the first among equals in tonight's win. The list of contributors was not as deep as it was versus Boston College, but most everyone played great today.  It looks like every Heels player - not just Harrison Barnes - is losing themselves in the game, and it has showed of late as Carolina has rolled to some very convincing wins.  And a 7-1 record halfway through the ACC season.

Against the Noles Carolina was never really challenged.  The Tar Heels had a nice working margin most of the game.  In the first half it was Marshall, but also an aggressive Dexter Strickland, Barnes, and some great contributions from Justin Knox leading the way.   Carolina had a 9-point lead at half without significant contributions from Zeller or Henson.

That changed in the second, as Zeller in particular got great position down low and Henson was much more aggressive and hit a variety of shots - including my new favorite, his sweeping left handed hook. He looks like Randy Johnson when he extends, and his arm looks even longer than usual. 

I also like Barnes' toughness, hitting 3 shots after hurting his left shoulder.  Best way to rehab an injury is to make shots!

That's what the Heels did all game, as they became the first ACC school to shoot more than 50 percent against the Seminoles this season.

A lot of the credit goes to the Marshall Plan.  Ever since Roy made him the starter the offense has really flowed, guys are generally making good decisions and taking good shots, and the Heels are looking very, very confident.   Oh yeah - they're also winning  ball games.

A few more Heels notes:

• Larry Drew II looked small for leaving Carolina the way he did; Marshall made him look even smaller today (if that's possible).
• Carolina didn't need a whole lot from Bullock or McDonald today, though each made a three-pointer.
• Knox made some tough shots, but also set a couple of nice screens and defended well especially in the first half.
• Some interesting numbers: Barnes finished with a double double, 17 and 10, and Marshall and Strickland each played more than 35 minutes. 
• Carolina enters Wednesday's big game versus Ran Paul's alma mater full of confidence.  It will be a big test for freshmen like Barnes and Marshall and Bullock, but I love our chances.  Duke is a little weak down low - though Mason Plumlee has played better of late - so if Marshall and Strickland can get it to Zeller, Hanson and Knox and open things for Strickland, McDonald, Bullock and Barnes watch out!  Go Heels!