When will 2006 start?

Is it panic time yet for Tar Heels fans?  Panic is probably too strong of a word for it, but for the first time since when - 2002? - there seems to be cause for serious concern.

In losing to Clemson and Georgia Tech, for the first time in years to both schools, the Heels confirmed that there are some as yet uncorrected – and major - flaws with this team.

Actually, perhaps there is only one serious flaw with one major culprit.  There are way too many turnovers, and I fear that that problem can be laid at the feet of Larry Drew.

To be certain, there are other problems: a lack of assertiveness by Deon Thompson and Ed Davis; nagging off and on injuries to a mix of players; and less than stellar play from Marcus Ginyard. 

Going into this year, Heels fans were looking forward to another giddy, 2006-like ride led by players like Ginyard and Thompson.

But this year’s team is not as competent as the 2006 edition of the Tar Heels. I’ve blogged enough about how Ginyard is no David Noel, as a leader nor as a athlete.  This year’s team also lacks someone like – or specifically – Tyler Hansbrough (Psycho T phone home!), a relentless and consistent talent who assertively carries the team.  Carolina also lacks someone like Reyshawn Terry, and athletic player who could make plays all over the floor.

The good news is that four out of five freshmen – Dexter Strickland, Leslie McDonald and the Wear twins, at least Travis – are getting better.

But most importantly, we don’t have a point guard like Bobby Frasor.  We’ve been spoiled by Raymond Felton and Ty Lawson in the last 8 years, but don’t forget how great Frasor was at running the point in 2006.

Carolina basketball is about playing smart and playing hard.  Though he averaged less than 7 points a game Frasor – the son of a coach – quickly figured out how to run the Tar Heel offense.  Run, run smart, feed the post, move the ball around – do that and you get a good shot.

Unfortunately, Drew still struggles with running a Carolina-style game.  He will eventually figure it out, and he has in games against Michigan State and others this year. But until he consistently does this team will be up and down, from game to game and half to half, sometimes from one TV timeout to the next.

Even though he had 9 assists against Georgia Tech I imagine most of those were not to Thompson and Davis but to the wing and players like Will Graves. The Greensboro junior had a great game, but not just in shooting 3s; he played a total floor game, with good passing and playing defense. Graves seems to be rounding into a legit Tar Heel. Perhaps he will become this year’s Ray Ray?

Back to Drew, who made a number of shaky and un-Tar Heel like plays yesterday, none bigger than his failure to get the ball from Davis with a minute and half left and Carolina clinging to a one-point lead. A point guard has got to, GOT TO, come back and get the ball from a big man. That failure cost Carolina an important possession and helped give the Yellow Jackets the game.

More frustrating than losing is losing when not playing smart, Carolina basketball (go get the ball from Davis!). That was the biggest frustration with the Doherty era; he thought he had to change a philosophy that worked. Fine tune it, sure, but Doherty discarded smart basketball. Roy and Felton restored that, but we are regressing this season.

It sounds like ‘ol Roy and Drew are equally frustrated, and Drew II can turn it around soon. Drew is good. I just hope it happens soon, by Wednesday.

GO HEELS! 

A few random notes

• It’s worth following Bobby Frasor, who is playing professionally in Bulgaria, on Twitter.  His address is BFrasor.
• Felton and his Charlotte Bobcats are quietly putting together a good season.  The Bobcats are 19 and 19 after yesterdays shellacking of the Phoenix Suns.
• Evan and I got to watch the Wizards defeat the Sacramento Kings last night.  Sean May was inactive, but it was still nice to be in the same building with a Star Heel. When will his pro career take off?
• One last thought.  I and others need to stop looking back at 2006, a team with no expectations and therefore no pressure.  This year's team needs to find it's own way and forge it's own identity free of homages to recent Heels teams.

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.  

ACC Tournament Semi-finals

Great day of basketball today highlighted by the Heels gutting out a 79-76 win without Ty Lawson.  

I worked from home this afternoon, and got to watch the Heels, then half of the FSU-Georgia Tech game, most of the AU-Holy Cross game to determine the Patriot League champion, and then the Maryland-Wake Forest game (I'm blogging between that game and the Duke-BC game).

Carolina had to grind out their win over Virginia Tech without Lawson. It was odd to see the Hokies run more often and more effectively than the Tar Heels. Carolina compensated by effectively feeding the post for 40 minutes and Hansbrough, Thompson and Ed Davis had very nice games, especially Hansbrough and Davis.  Even Tyler Zeller, who didn't play that many minutes, scored a big and tough basket late.

The Heels augmented their low-post offense with two mini-runs: one led by Hansbrough and Davis in the first half, and Ellington in the second.  In the end, it was Hansbrough who closed out the win on his way to 28 points. Not only did Psycho T score our last six points, but got a big turnover in the final minute when he tied up Virginia Tech's Thompson.

Hansbrough's play was one of four consecutive stops Carolina made down the stretch.  In general, I thought Carolina's defense was pretty good today against the Hokies.

The Heels play FSU in the semi-finals Saturday afternoon.  Florida State looked ok in surviving their game against an energized Georgia Tech.  It will be an interesting game for the Heels without Lawson.   Carolina will no doubt try to go down low as much as possible but FSU's front line is athletic and big.  We'll need a good game from Ellington and especially Danny Green, who was uncharacteristically cold today.

GO HEELS! 

Lots of Random Things

• Got to give it up for Bobby Frasor, who played 37 minutes. It was his first start as Carolina's point guard since his sophomore year. He wasn't spectacular, and he had another bad shooting night, but he did a good job feeding the post and had only 1 turnover.
• This game was a nice advertisement for Carolina's depth. Frasor started, Drew played 14 minutes, and Ed Davis was a horse down low in scoring 10 impressive points with 6 boards.  Zeller only played 4 minutes but contributed 4 points and 3 boards.  And little used Justin Watts got 5 minutes in the first half.  Watts looked pretty good and set a nice screen for Hansbrough.
• Maryland looked good, but Wake looked awful today. As a result Maryland makes the ACC semifinals.  Grevieis Vasquez had a great game for the Terps, but it was a team effort as Maryland beat up the taller front line of Wake Forest. Maryland outscored the Demon Deacons in the paint and out rebounded Wake.  
• The win should get Maryland in the NCAA tournament; they now have wins over Carolina, Michigan State, Michigan and Wake Forest.  So the ACC should get at least seven teams in the big dance: Carolina, Wake, Duke, FSU, Clemson, Boston College and Maryland.
• I never thought I would regret watching a Big East game, but I wish I had stayed up to watch the six-overtime game between UConn and Syracuse.  As a result of that game, I will not pick either team to go far in the NCAA tournament. I imagine both teams are toast, emotionally and physically. 
• Congrats to Ty Lawson for being named ACC Player of the Year. My heart was with Tyler Hansbrough, but Lawson is a deserving winner.  He was the most important player on the best team in the conference, and usually the most dominant player on the court. 

Hellenic News 

• If you're in DC, mark your calendars for the annual 'Congressional Salute to Greek Independence Day' on April 1, from 6 pm to 8 pm, in room 334 of Cannon House Office Building, sponsored by the Congressional Hellenic Caucus and the American Hellenic Institute. As a Greek-American lobbyist I will most certainly attend this event so let me know if you want to join me. You need to RSVP; for more information visit: http://ahiworld.org/announcements/gid/index2.html.

• In addition to the reception, there are two resolutions pending in Congress recognizing Greek Independence Day and the Cretan resistance to the Nazi invasion and occupation during World War II. More information on each bill is below. H.Res. 227: Rep. Carolyn Maloney [D-NY]: Recognizing and appreciating the historical significance and the heroic human endeavor and sacrifice of the people of Crete during World War II and commending the PanCretan Association of America. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=hr111-227,  H.J.Res. 39: Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen [R-FL]: Recognizing the 188th anniversary of the independence of Greece and celebrating Greek and American democracy. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=hj111-39.  FYI, Maloney represents Astoria, Queens; for Ros-Lehtinen, there are lots of Greeks in south Florida.

• One piece of bad Hellenic news: Panathinaikos lost - in Athens - on Tuesday and were eliminated from the UEFA Champions League.  After tying Villareal on the road with an all-important away goal, the Greens came back to Athens needing only a scoreless tie to make the round of 8.  But instead Panathinaikos' defense completely fell apart, and they lost to Villareal 1-2. Tough loss in Athens in a game the Greens should have won.

Heels Sweep Devils; Win Regular Season

In a game that eerily mimicked the win in Cameron in February, Carolina used a great second half to sweep the season series against Duke, winning 79 to 71 on Senior Day in Chapel Hill.

Carolina played an almost nonchalant first half and trailed by one after 20 minutes. As it was in Cameron, Carolina got the ball down low for an early lead, but then allowed Duke to get decent looks. The Devils shot 60 percent in the first half, led by Singler, and as they did in Cameron led at half (this time by only a point).

The Heels may have been a little tight on Senior Day.  Danny Green wasn't aggressive, Ellington missed three free throws, and after his good start Hansbrough went to the bench sucking wind six minutes into the game when he ran out of adrenaline.

In the second half Carolina played much better defense, made some adjustments to keep Henderson and Singler in check, and used two spurts of 7-1 and 7-0 to build a working margin.  Even in the first half, you had a feeling Carolina was going to win this game.  The two spurts ended all doubt.  

Duke cut the lead to 4, 3 and even 2 points at times, but Carolina was in control the entire second half, played nice defense down the stretch to close out the win, and it showed in a tidy win. This season Carolina is a lot better, more talented than Duke.  Simple as that.  

As evidence I offer Deon Thompson.  After Henderson converted a fast break basket - off a missed Danny Green dunk of all things - to cut the lead to 2 with 5 minutes left, Carolina came down and got an old fashioned three-point play from Thompson. Carolina's FIFTH most talented player iced the game for the Heels, as Henderson's basket was the high-water mark for the Republicans from Durham.  After the Thompson basket Carolina converted a Singler miss to an Ellington fast break basket, and the game was over.

Duke's fifth best scoring option is . . .? Lance Thomas? Elliot Williams? David McClure?  Those guys stink. Our fifth guy wins games. Case closed.

And all of Carolina's talent was on display today.  Carolina's top seven players had great games and great moments.

• Tyler Hansbrough was strong and effective as he scored 17 points from all over the floor, including two three-pointers (though the third one he took was a bad shot);
• Ty Lawson was one again unstoppable against Duke.  He nearly had a triple-double with 13, 8 and 9 assists.  More importantly, he dominated the pace and tempo of the game in the second half, and made great decisions on whether to shoot or pass.  His three-point play with a minute and half left iced it for the Heels.
• Ellington had 16 points as he wisely slashed to the basket each time Duke played him to shoot a three. He finished 7 of 10 from the field.
• Thompson complimented his big three-point play with 14 points on 6 of 10 shooting, and almost fouled Singler out in the process.
• Danny Green was Danny Green.  After a tentative first half Green ended up with 12 points - on 5 of 10 shooting - and 4 boards, 3 steals and one big block late.  It seemed as if all of his baskets in the second half were huge.
• Bobby Frasor had a great Senior Day, hitting a three, grabbing some rebounds and tying up Henderson in the last two minutes for a turnover.  Henderson 'only' scored 14 points today and never really took over, and much of that is due to Frasor's defense.  A great way for Frasor to go out.
• Ed Davis got limited minutes but was a beast when he was in, hitting a nifty little hook and a nasty dunk.  And in only 10 minutes he picked up 4 boards.

Finally, Carolina out rebounded Duke 31-22.  Duke is very weak in the middle, and does not match up well with Carolina on the boards or against Hansbrough and Lawson. That's that. A great team effort by a talented bunch added up to a satisfying win over the Dookies.  Carolina has now won 6 of the last 7, and 8 of the last 10 versus Duke. And Krzyzewski's record against Carolina is 32-36. 

GO HEELS!

Character Win Over The U

An important, gut-check, character-building, fill-in-any-other-cliche-here win for the Heels last night in Coral Gables.   Carolina endured a sub-par offensive night - and a great shooting display by Jack McClinton - to net an impressive 69-65 post-Duke road win over Miami.

Carolina won despite not reacting very well to Miami's zone.  Instead of being patient and feeding the post the Heels shot way too many jumpers.  The good news of course is that Carolina's starting back court had a great shooting game, with Ty Lawson once again leading the way.

As he did in Cameron, Lawson was dominant in the second half, especially down the stretch in hitting 3 big three-pointers. Wayne Ellington also had an excellent night with his first career double-double.   His 15 points/10 rebounds was paired with 5 assists and only one turnover.   

On a night when little went right offensively, and the Heels were held to a season-low 69 points, the Carolina made enough plays and Lawson made enough shots to win a tough road game.

That's the good news for the Tar Heel back court.  The bad news is they failed to get Hansbrough enough touches.  Some of that was mitigated by effective rebounding, led by Ed Davis' eleven off the bench.  For the five minutes before halftime Davis helped carry the Heels, and after half time Deon Thompson had a nice run as the Heels built up a 14-point lead.

Even after Miami made their late run to cut the lead to one you just had a feeling Carolina was going to win this game; they had simply been too tough and resilient to lose.  Specifically, those traits were on display on four key plays:

• Danny Green's huge block on McClinton on what would have been a lay-up to give Miami the lead; Green had what could be generously called a so-so game, but on that play he showed why some people say "Danny Green is God!"
• Bobby Frasor's late game defense on McClinton; with about a minute left Frasor forced McClinton to take a desperation three that barely drew iron. Frasor also had a nice drive for a basket late.   Frasor's had back to back good games, and along with Davis and Larry Drew give Carolina a very reliable 8-player rotation.
• Hansbrough drawing a charge with 44 seconds left.  As he did against Duke Hansbrough influenced a game with his defense and quick feet.

But the night belonged to Lawson, who made the fourth and biggest play of the night against he Hurricanes.  His three with 11 seconds left sealed the win.  He was remarkably open down the stretch, which I guess reflects the concern and attention Miami had to pay to Hansbrough.

It also means the Heels will be tough to beat the rest of the season.  The need to clog the lane against Carolina is going to mean lots of open looks for Green, Ellington, and Lawson.  Green and Lawson are shooting better than 45 percent from behind the three-point line, and Ellington has shot just as well in his last 8 games (27 for 59).  And in their last two games in particular, the Heels have shown the ability to play lock-down defense, at least at key times of the game.

Winning tough games means a lot, especially when you win them with the kind of big plays the Heels made last night.

Few Random Notes:

• How good is Jack McClinton?  He made a number of tough shots on his way to 35 points last night. Remarkably, McClinton has scored more than 30 points against Carolina, Duke and Wake; a pretty good resume. His effectiveness makes you really appreciate the couple of times Carolina was able to stop him.
  
• After the Duke game, Caulton Tudor at the N&O wrote that Lawson is the odds on favorite to win Player of the Year honors in the ACC; hard to argue against that after his play AT Duke and AT Miami.
• The annual Duke swoon seems to be on.  BC is a good team and was at home, but Duke controlled that game for 36 minutes. Once again their back court combo of Paulus and Smith looked terrible, and Scheyer left Tyrese Rice of all people wide open late. You don't go far in the tournament without good guard play, and Duke is simply not getting that this season.
• Clemson has Wake Forest disease, losing two in a row after dismantling Duke at Littlejohn; first to Florida State at home and then inexplicably at Virginia yesterday. 

Clemson's two-game swoon makes Carolina's win at Miami look even better.  As is often the case in college basketball, teams of 19-year-olds suffer emotional let downs after big wins (see BC losing at home to Harvard after beating previously undefeated Carolina; Wake losing at Georgia Tech after taking down number one Duke; etc.).  Carolina could have been ripe for the picking after mauling Duke at Cameron.  Instead, they endured and tenaciously made big plays on defense and offense to win a road game.   

GO HEELS!

 

Punk Rock Americana

A brief respite from Carolina basketball to blog a bit about two great American - and punk rock - institutions: Habitat for Humanity and Alcoholics Anonymous.

As many probably heard, Millard Fuller, the founder of Habitat for Humanity, died this week. Since it was founded in 1976, an auspicious year for America and punk rock, H4H has housed more than 1 and half million people in 3,000 locations (including Tallahassee, Florida where I worked on two houses in the late 80s) around the world.  Families living in Habitat homes do not pay interest on their mortgages and the homes are built by volunteers with donated materials.

Fuller, like his most high-profile supporter Jimmy Carter, was an evangelical Christian.  Unlike most of that ilk, he was not a hypocrite and put his beliefs into action . . .  rather than spend his time say, bashing gay people.  

But what he really was was a punk.   What could be more punk rock, more do it yourself, than building someone a house who doesn't have one?  He didn't wait for corporations or government to solve the problem of low income housing (though to be fair the U.S. government has probably built more low-income housing than any entity on earth), he did it himself.  He didn't sit around lamenting the problem; he identified it and tried to solve it.

DItto Alcoholics Anonymous.   A complete DIY operation - identify problem, identify solution - run by volunteers reaching out and helping their peers.  And it works!

In addition to being punk rock operations, H4H and AA are excellent examples of American participatory democracy. Citizens organizing themselves to make their society and country better on their own.  One of the things that makes American better than Europe (take your pick actually: baseball, Bill of Rights, better pizza, rock and jazz vs. opera and classical, etc.) is that we don't expect the state to fix everything. Here, democracy means more than voting. It means civic institutions and being involved in your community, and that's what these two organizations do (punk rock style).

Random Thoughts

• Good article on Bobby Frasor in today's N&O. With Graves out for the rest of the season I hope we'll soon see the 2006 Frasor reemerge for the Heels.  Also worth checking out the N&O's midseason report on ACC basketball.
• You heard it here first: watch Maine moderate Senator Susan Collins.  She knows the Dems don't get to 60 filibuster-proof votes without her and fellow Maine Republican - and Greek-American - Olympia Snowe.  Collins just got reelected and is already asserting herself as a key power broker. Witness her deal making on the economic stimulus bill last night.  Expect more of that to come.
• I was in Whole Foods last night; I'm always struck by how bad the music is in there.  It's usually a mix of boomer-dreck: Fleetwood Mac, Bob Seger, "Do You Like Pina Coladas . . ." . etc.  Shouldn't we hear more Pete Seeger than Bob Seeger at a store like that?  Anyway, last night they played "Lie to Me" by Chris Isaak.  I came home and have been listening to his second (self titled - 1987!) and third (Heart Shaped World) records ever since.  Both still sound great and unique twenty years later.  
• Some Hellenic hoops news.  Greece replaced coach Panagiotis Yannakis with Lithuanian and former Olympiacos coach Jonas Kazlauskas.   Coincidentally, Yannakis is the current coach of Olympiacos. Kazlauskas recently coach his national squad at the Olympics.  Yannakis is the Dean Smith of Greek hoops. He won a European championship as a player with Greece in 1987, defeating the USSR in the title game, and coached Greece to the 2005 European championship and a silver medal in the 2006 World championships (defeating the U.S. in the semi-finals). Kazlauskas takes over as Greece prepares for the 2009 European championships in Poland.
• One final final Hellenic hoops news.  If you have NBA TV you can watch Olympiacos play today - Feb. 7th, live - in the Eurobasket tournament.  American Josh Childress is hurt but you can still watch Theo Papaloukas hoop it up Hellenic style.
• In case anyone is wondering, 1976 was the U.S. Bicentennial and the year The Ramones released their first album.