In Z I trust

I'm feeling good about tonight's tilt versus the devils.

Why?

Mainly Tyler Zeller.  Not only has he been playing great lately, but I think there has GOT to be some karmic pay back for the game in Chapel Hill.

Of course, the Heels need to go over screens tonight to guard the devils' three pointers,  Marshall needs to be Marshall - but how can he not be? - and we need to rebound.

I also feel that Barnes, who simply seems to be less engaged against lesser teams, will be super focused tonight.

So put it down - Heels 86, Duke 73.  Or something like that.  GO HEELS!

I still love the ACC tournament

Though it's not - thankfully - the old do-or-die event of my youth, I still love the ACC tournament.  Growing up in North Carolina it was THE sporting event of the year. 

Many ACC vets complain that the event is too NC-centric, and for years it was.  Back in the day it was always in Greensboro, and since each conference could only send one team to the NCAA tournament (until 1979 or so) it was HUGE. How huge? In school, teachers brought it TVs for the students to watch for two occasions: moon walks and the first day of the ACC tournament.

Of course, expansion of the ACC and the NCAA field has diluted the impact and significance of the ACC tournament. But I still love it, and it bothers me that even though Carolina has two national championships and has won the ACC regular season five of the seven years ol' Roy's been in Chapel Hill, Duke now has one more ACC tournament championship than we do. 

That will change this year, I hope. 

With a 1 pm conference call looming, here are my predictions:

• Virginia will defeat Miami, give Carolina a game in the first 10 minutes then succumb to the Heels on Friday;
• In a match up of the two worst coaches in the ACC, Virginia Tech will somehow defeat Georgia Tech. But don't be surprised if the Hokies choke big time, either;
• NC State will defeat Maryland, who seems to be phoning it in, then get waxed by Duke;
• BC will in turn wax Wake, then play a great game versus Clemson.  Both teams will be desperate, but I have BC winning and advancing to play Carolina.
• FSU will ride Chris Singleton's return to defeat a distracted and oddly complacent Virginia Tech team.

So Carolina will then have to play and defeat BC for a third time in the semi-finals, a prospect Dean always loathed.  But behind my pick for ACC tournament MVP John  Henson the Heels will make it to the final to play, FSU.

I was impressed by the Seminoles in their win over Duke - and their game versus Carolina.  With Singleton back and Singler and the Plumlees struggling look for an FSU upset, aided by Derwin Kitchen.

Then as it was versus BC, Carolina will need to defeat a team for a third time in a season, but the Heels will to win their 18th ACC Tournament Championship.

GO HEELS!

Good Guys Win, Bad Guys Lose

In assessing anything Carolina-Duke it's easy to pivot to the obvious differences -  liberal versus conservative, public versus private, Paul Wellstone versus Rand Paul, humility and authenticity versus arrogance and entitlement - that animate the rivalry.

Tonight none of that mattered.  What did was that Carolina was simply better than Duke on the basketball court.

As it has been of late, the Heels played a complete game.  Everyone contributed, from the walk-ons who played hard and were NOT scared for the first two-minutes, to Leslie McDonald and Justin Knox making plays off the bench, to Henson continuing to be a force down low even with 2 early fouls, to Zeller bringing it down the stretch, to Dexter Strickland throwing down the best dunk since Danny Green stole Greg Paulus' manhood a few years ago.

But the first among equals were Harrison Barnes and Kendall Marshall.  

Barnes was steady all night, but was HUGE in stopping Duke's deja vu run to start the second half.  As it was at the University of Long Island at Durham a month ago, the Devils cut into a double-digit halftime lead with a 7-0 run to start the second half.  Barnes would have none of it.  The alleged 'freshman' from Iowa went on his own seven-zero run and the game was, but for the shouting, over.   When the Heels needed to answer the Devils, Barnes did.

The H Barn was not the only freshman to step up.  It's easy to forget how young this team is when you see guys like Barnes and player of the game Kendall Marshall play the way they did tonight.

Marshall was steady, not spectacular, in leading the Heels to a spectacular and methodical win over the right-wing boobs from Durham.  KButter finished with 15 and 11 assists.  This is his team.

Finally, one more word on the walk-ons.  As impressive as Barnes and Marshall were, I was equally impressed by the 2 minutes of play from DJ Johnson, Van Hatchell, and Daniel Bolick - and by Roy's decision to start 3 walk-ons in the most important game of the year.  

How cool is that?

Private versus public, conservative versus liberal, etc. but the reason Carolina is better than Duke - in every way, not just on the basketball court - was that decision to start the walk-ons.  Roy rewarded unheralded, unsung Tar Heels who play hard in practice and make this team better.  For that, we are cooler than Duke, with better karma.

And this year a better basketball team.

GO HEELS!

Man . . .

We had that game, but Nolan Smith and Seth Curry would not let the Heels keep it.  That stinks.

Carolina got a little tentative in the second half, a not uncommon occurrence for a young team, and lost some of our offensive confidence.  

Tyler Zeller was the loan exception; he was tough throughout the game.

But Bullock, McDonald and even Henson (10 scintillating points in the first; only 4 in the second) looked tentative in the final 20 minutes of the game, and Strickland's foul trouble hurt us offensively by taking away his aggressiveness, and defensively where he could not aggressively cover Smith. 

Marshall's first half was phenomenal, but he seemed to run out gas with 10 minutes left.

Barnes and Singler seemingly expended all their energy on covering each other defensively, as neither had much of a game. Barnes had trouble getting off a shot in the second half. 

The tentativeness was evident on the boards and on defense, too, and that let Duke score 50 points in the second half.

Obviously frustrating; the Heels played hard but we just missed shots.  The offense was generating good looks; we just could not hit them late - and Smith and Curry did.

We're past moral victories with this team.  They are rolling, despite the final score and the last 20 minutes, and have restored the luster to Carolina basketball.   Time to regroup, and hit shots in Littlejohn this weekend in our rematch with Clemson.

One final thought on tonight's loss - it kind of reminds me of the 2005 game in Cameron, the one that ended with Felton dribbling too long then having Noel lose his dribble as time expired. Different plays but the same feel; that we let Duke off the hook once but will not let it happen again, or let one loss stop the team from having a great season.

As always - GO HEELS!