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.