The good news for Carolina is they've shown they can win on the road, winning at Rutgers and Miami, and should be very motivated. With Virginia Tech’s loss to Miami on Thursday night the Heels can win the Coastal Division (doesn't that sound stupid ACC fans?) if they run the table and win their last three games.
So that's a pretty big football game. But no matter how big a Carolina football game is, it will always pale to a Carolina basketball game. Carolina's 2008-2009 season begins this afternoon - tip-off is only half an hour after kick-off - when the Heels take on Penn in Chapel Hill at 4 pm.
There are two very big stories as we head into this game. One, the Heels 'return' all five starters from last year's ACC champion-Final Four squad, and are expected to win the national championship.
But probably an even bigger story is the health of Tyler Hansbrough. He'll miss today's game with a stress reaction (the precursor of a stress fracture), as will Marcus Ginyard. Hansbrough is not expected to miss significant playing time once he heals, but nonetheless could miss the first two or three games of the season.
Hansbrough is Hansbrough, the best college player in the country and one of the top five Heels of all time. And Ginyard is important too, but will be replaced in the starting line up by the ever capable Danny Green.
However, as it usually is with hoops, the key to this season will be at point guard. Hopefully Ty Lawson stays healthy, and he should be very motivated this season. Not only is Lawson playing for a national championship - a no-brainer for most - but he also clearly wants to go to the next level after the season. Those twin motivations will ideally keep him from disappearing during games, something that was an issue in the first half of the debacle against Kansas.
Penn traditionally dominates the Ivy League but finished third last year in the conference, and with an overall losing record. Carolina blew them out in the Palestra last year, after the Quakers stayed close for the first 5 minutes, in Wayne Ellington's homecoming game. This year they are expected to challenge Cornell and boast high school All-American Zack Rosen, who turned down Virginia Tech among others to play and study at Penn.
Finally, the Carolina women's soccer team, the most successful college sports team of all time if you go by national championships, won their first round NCAA tournament game last night against Western Carolina. Their second round game is against Charlotte on Sunday.
The NCAA final will be played in Cary, which should help the Heels if they advance to the Final Four. But as we know, this year advancing to the Final Four is not enough.
From Salt Lake City - GO HEELS!
2 comments:
Huge, huge football loss for the Tar Heels. Very disappointing, for a football game. Missed FG, dropped passes, inability to convert third downs ... we had no business winning the game, and still almost won. Too bad.
Hoops game was good, with everyone showing flashes and yet room for improvement. Just wish Lawson & Ellington knew how to go 100 percent all the time, on both ends, realizing we're deep enough for them to do it. Zeller & Davis looked good & yet need work; pretty nice 3rd & 4th big men to have. I'm quite optimistic on the hoops side.
While Hansbrough is the best player in the country, he might be the worst dresser. Did you see his "suit" for the Kentucky game? Black pin-stripe with a black turtle neck underneath. Nice.
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