Heels Get Back on Track

Carolina looked like Carolina again on Thursday in defeating ACC-bottom dweller Virginia in Charlottesville.  Carolina got out to an early lead, and the Cavaliers could only make it a game when Roy went to an odd line up at the 10 minute mark of the first half.

Carolina did the things a classic Tar Heel team does:  feed the post and get good shot, and run every time you get a chance.  The best news from this game was the play of Ty Lawson.  He ran often - quite often the result of nice defensive plays by my man Danny Green - and did a great job feeding Hansbrough.   Psycho-T got lots of touches, lots of trips to the free throw line, and lots of points.  Both Tys looked good, with Hansbrough netting a double-double.

Danny Green had another typical Danny Green game: some steals, some 3s, some great D, and a freak nasty dunk.   His versatility makes his a great Heel, but also an intriguing NBA prospect.  The fact that he makes plays on both ends, and has cut down on bad plays, could translate into a later first round draft pick in the June draft.

So lot of good things to take away from this game, but it's hard to gauge how good a team is when it plays Virginia, a team that lost to Liberty University earlier in the season.   Nonetheless, it was the first ACC win of the season and a road game at that so I shouldn't quibble.

The Heels host the Hurricanes Saturday a 9 pm.  Miami seems to be back up and is on a six-game winning streak.  Their last win was a come from behind victory over lame Maryland on Wednesday.

ACC NOTES

• Big game today between number 3 Wake and number 9 Clemson in the lesser Carolina.   I wonder when the last time there was an ACC game between two top 10 teams and neither team was Duke or Carolina?  I was going to have my research team look that up this morning but he was on a play date.
• Duke just defeated Georgetown in Cameron.  I wasn't rooting for Duke but was glad to see them defeat the Hoyas, and for an ACC win over the overrated Big East. The Big East has good teams, but their strength is more quantity than quality; it's two conferences fused into one.  I also think the Big East benefits from it geographic overlap with New York and Bristol, the two poles of sports of journalism.   And outside of the Huskies, teams from that conference have under achieved in the NCAA tournament of late.
• FSU won two games this week, including on the road at NCSU on Tuesday.  That may say more about how bad State is than how good the Seminoles are, but if FSU finished with 8 wins in the ACC their non-conference schedule may allow them to sneak into the NCAA tournament.
• Maryland went 0-2 on their Florida road trip and may end up challenging Virginia and Georgia Tech for the worst team in the ACC.