Heels Look Good; Rest of College Basketball Looks Boring

The Heels rolled behind Wayne Ellington, Tyler Hansbrough and Bobby Frasor to an easy 40 point win over Radford in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Even with Ty 'Nine Toes' Lawson on the bench the Heels still ran to more than 100 points.  Sure, it was only Radford but scoring 100 points in 40 minutes of play is almost always worth noting, and the Heels did it with their back up point guard (technically their third-string point guard since Frasor has primarily played the 2 this season).

As predicted here at Carolina and Hellenic Blue, Wayne Ellington led the way. The offense was very very efficient, especially to at the end of the first half and beginning of the second, and the Heels generally got any shot they wanted.

It was also good to see Danny Green score in double figures and end up with his first career double-double.  A relieved Green gave a small fist pump when he scored his first basket.  

Next up for the Tar Heels is LSU, who defeated Butler.  Lawson may play, but I would not be surprised if he is held out one more game. LSU won the very weak SEC, and I don't think they match up well with Hansbrough, Deon Thompson, or Ed Davis down low.  

Carolina's win was the only bright spot in what can be generously described as a lackluster first round of games.  Some games were partly interesting, led by our Nebraska Avenue neighbor American University's 10 point halftime lead over Villanova.  But the Eagles eventually faded and lost by 13.

Today, East Tennessee State hung with number 1 seeded Pitt for 36 minutes before losing, and Morehead State trailed Louisville by 2 at half before losing by 18 points.  So three close and interesting games, but not much excitement overall in the tournament.

Nicaa Noodlings

• Carolina's score is noteworthy for another reason; outside of UConn no one else in the field knows how to score.  Most games seem to be in the 60s or lower 70s, including high seed teams like Pitt (72) and Louisville (74).  Scoring in the 70s is okay if you're playing a good team, but not when you are playing a 16 seed.
• BC and Clemson thoroughly embarrassed the ACC. Clemson looked terrible and made a Big 10 team look efficient on offense. They should ashamed of their play and total lack of concentration against an NIT-quality opponent in Michigan. BC was just bad. Tyrese Rice played like a frustrated freshman not a seasoned senior.  The Eagles also made a plethora of bone headed fouls, passes, and mistakes.  How they beat Carolina in Chapel Hill I'll never know.
• Maryland played a spirited game against Cal, and Duke took care of business after a slow start to defeat Bingamton. So the ACC is 3-2 with Wake and FSU about to play tonight.
• Hard not to notice the empty seats in every locale, except for Greensboro where Carolina and Duke are both playing.  It seems like the NCAA books too many of these games in venues that are too big.  But there were empty seats in Philadelphia even though Villanova was playing. 
• So far I was correct about Dayton defeating West Virginia, and Western Kentucky taking down Illinois.  But was wrong about all the Utah schools - I had all three advancing - the Arizona schools - I had them both losing - and Virginia Commonwealth.