The Answer is NO

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

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

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

22 points. 

80 percent from three, on 5 shots.

13 assists. 

ZERO turnovers.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

GO HEELS!

I Love Beating State in Raleigh

I grew up with State as Carolina's most heated rival.  The State teams of the 70s were giants, and unlike with Duke I grew up surrounded by Wolfpack fans.   The talent in Raleigh and the 50-50 split of in-state fans helped make that THE rivalry growing up.

So as it is now with Duke, I love it when the Heels bury the Pack, especially at home.  Though their fans are different (geographically, sociologically) to me they represent the modern Republican party; Dukies are the capitalist pig-dog low taxes uber alles Republicans, and State fans are the narrow minded nativists who care way too much about social issues for their own good.   Of course I'm way over-generalizing, but that's what each school represents to me.

Today the good-hearted liberals took it to the Wolfpack in a methodical and democratic win.  All five starters scored in double figures lead by Tyler Hansbrough's 31 points.   For the game the Heels shot over 57 percent.   State's defense was terrible, and the Heels pretty much got any shot they wanted.  The best part was that Hansbrough got to take 17 of them (making 12).

Tyler also had a nice block and played a nice overall game.  I liked one sequence where he altered one drive, and exploded back up for the rebound.  Hansbrough's explosiveness, or lack thereof, is supposedly one of his weakness but in the last two games he's shown he is a better athlete than people give him credit.

Danny Green had another typical game.  He hit two three-pointers early to match State's early success, and finished with 14 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 block and 1 steal.  That guy is fantasy league stat-sheet stuffer.

Ellington was good. He only took 2 threes, but drove quite a bit and made some nice passes.  Deon finished with 10, including 2 baskets to answer State runs and ran the floor nicely, too.

But for me the player of the game was Ty Lawson.  He dominated State's weak back court.  Though he finished with four turnovers - I think I counted 3 -  and only 6 assists he did whatever he wanted to throughout the game.  

Finally, once again Bobby Frasor was the unsung hero of a Tar Heel win. Courtney Fells was threatening to shoot NC State back into the game in the second half.  Largely thanks to his shooting State cut the lead to 10 with six minutes left.  At that point Roy reinserted Frasor, and he shut Fells down. Not only did Fells fail to make any more threes, he shot an air ball down the stretch. Frasor ended up playing 22 minutes. I only wish he would put the ball on the floor more instead of only taking three pointers. 

A nice win over a heated (and right-wing) rival.

A Few Random Notes

• Another strong game by Ed Davis, who finished with 6 points, 7 boards, and 2 blocks.  This guy is the defensive version of Marvin Williams.
• I wonder why Will Graves did not play? Is it because he broke a rule, was hurt/sick, or too turnover prone of late?
• Mike Copeland should not have gone after McCauley after that hard foul, and you know Roy will make a big deal about that.  But I hope McCauley does not escape scrutiny either. That was a bush league intentional foul.  Copeland overreacted, but remember what he was reacting to. Great work by the official to get Copeland out of there, even more impressive when you consider the referee was pushing back a young athlete who is 6'6".  
• Three days after hanging on to defeat Duke, how does Wake go on the road and lose to a dreadful Georgia Tech?  For some context Tech lost at home to Virginia. Wake lost despite a good game by Jeff Teague.  But that's college basketball, especially in the ACC. 
• The Tech fans stormed the court after the win. I imagine during the Chris Paul and Tim Duncan-Randolph Childress eras that may have happened but it still seemed kind of weird to me.

Big Games Loom As ACC Season Goes to the Wire

There are quite a few huge games left in the last 4 weeks of the ACC regular season.  This looked like a down year for the ACC.  Despite possessing the best RPI in the country, and dominating the ACC-Big 10 challenge for the seventh year in a row, for weeks it looked like the ACC would be a four and at best a five bid league in terms of the NCAA tournament.

But three games last week changed that.  Duke's two loses to Wake and Miami have placed those teams firmly on the bubble.  And Virginia Tech's impressive bounce back win - on the road - over Maryland coupled with their very favorable schedule places the Hokies back in contention.  

All of a sudden, one can envision a scenario where the ACC gets seven teams into the field of 65.

Here is my team-by-team breakdown - in no particular order - of the remainder of the ACC regular season (courtesy of my visit to the eye doctor on Friday; I was there for two hours and between tests was able to forecast the remainder of the season):

FSU: despite a nice win over Clemson last week I think the Noles will finish by going 1-3 and 5-11 overall; they only have one more winnable game on the schedule, at home vs. BC, with a huge game vs. Miami in Tallahassee to the last regular season game for FSU; that game will mean more to UM so I have the Canes winning that tilt.

BC: only one winnable game left on their schedule, against Georgia Tech at home; after a nice start to the ACC season I think they'll finish at 5-11.

Maryland: the Terps have the most challenging remaining schedule of any ACC team; you can see them losing their last four games - 3 roads games vs. Wake, Virginia, and Miami, and a home game vs. Clemson;  I think they'll beat Clemson and limp to an 8-8 finish in the conference; the selection committee heavily weighs how a team played in their last 10 games, so they may be in trouble at 8-8; that loss to the Hokies was huge; will their win against Carolina get them in, or will early season losses at home to American and Ohio relegate the Terps to the NIT? with 8 regular season wins it will probably take a win in the ACC tournament to get Maryland into the NCAA.

Miami - I blogged about this last week, but Miami controls their own destiny; win against Duke was huge; they have 3 more winnable games left against Maryland, BC, and Virginia, a winnable road game against FSU, and a big big game at Clemson; simply winning at home gets the Canes to 8-8, and taking the Noles in the finale gets them to 9 wins and into the NCAA tournament; it also means NC-native Frank Haith is the ACC coach of the year. 

Georgia Tech - should win their last 3 homes games and finish 7-9.

Virginia Tech - Seth Greenberg would be coach of the year if not for Haith, assuming of course that VPI wins their last 3 home games against Georgia Tech, Boston College and Wake; their one road game is winnable too, against Clemson; they should finish 3-1 and with 9 wins in the conference; 9 isn't always the magic number, but it should get them in.

Virginia - I thought they'd go 11-5 this year, but instead will likely finish at 5-11 after going 3-2 the rest of the way; I do have them upsetting Duke in Charlottesville, though.

NCSU - only one winnable game on their schedule against FSU in Raleigh; Pack will finish the season in last place as one of four 5-11 ACC squads while Herb Sendek returns to the NCAA tournament as coach of Arizona State.

Wake Forest - another great story a la Miami and the Hokies; Gaudio could win coach of the year as sentimental choice and with 8 conference wins; the Deacons are great at home but bad on the road; if that pattern persists they will finish at 8-8 and on the same bubble as Maryland; will Duke win get them in? huge game looming @ Virginia Tech; like Maryland, they probably need a win in the ACC tournament to secure an invitation to the big dance.

Clemson - if they win their remaining two home games - against Miami and Virginia Tech - they get to 9 wins and in; road games versus Maryland and Georgia Tech are also winnable.

Duke - should finish with 12 wins even with an upset loss to Virginia; I have Carolina beating them for the third year in a row in Cameron to end the season.

Carolina - I see the Heels running the table behind Hansbrough and Q, with Lawson returning to burn the Devils in Durham.

So my final standings are:

UNC 14-2

Duke 12-4

Clemson 9-7

Va Tech 9-7

Miami 9-7

Maryland 8-8

Wake 8-8

Ga Tech 7-9

BC, FSU, 

NCSU, Virginia 5-11

Huge games left:

Maryland at Miami - TODAY

Miami at Clemson - Feb. 27

Wake at Georgia Tech - Mar 1

Clemson at Maryland - Mar 2

Wake at Virginia Tech - Mar 4

Miami at FSU - Mar 8

Carolina at Duke - Mar 8

Maryland at Virginia - Mar 9