Dook Game

I continue to feel detached about Carolina basketball in the wake of Dean's death.  That said, I imagine that feeling will dissipate once I tune in and catch my first glimpse of a self-satisfied, entitled, smug, Republican Duke student.

I envision the same thing will happen to Marcus Paige, Brice Johnson and Roy Williams, but I especially hope it happens to Kennedy Meeks and J.P. Tokoto.  We need those two back in 'Heels Peaking' rhythm, tonight and every night. Meeks is especially important; despite the presence of Okafor we should be the better team down low.

Look for those two to get on track, Paige to be Paige, and the Heels to beat down the Devils one more time.

GO HEELS!

Carolina Hellenic Tragedy

What a terrible loss.  Have any Carolina teams endured two terrible defeats in one season?  First FSU, now Duke?  

Of course, there is one huge difference in those two games; against FSU, the Tar Heels were horrible. But last night was truly tragic in that from the 8 minute mark in the first half (after a relatively slow start) to the 4 minute mark in the second - a span of 24 minutes - Carolina was dominant. Dominant. 

The Heels were better than Duke but lost. If that's not the definition of a Greek-style, Carolina tragedy, I don't know what is.

And it was Greek style. Similar to the Greek myths our heroes soared only to be dragged back down to earth in the end by the (blue) devil(s).

How else do you explain Kendall Marshall driving, dishing and dominating, then making a sloppy pass and turning it over with less than 2 minutes left?

Explain Harrison Barnes dominating and scoring at will for most of the second half, but missing two of four free throws late and turning it over on an albeit highly questionable charging call?  He was tripped but still should have made a better decision before barreling down the lane (perhaps it was hubris, the greatest sin in the eyes of the ancient Greeks.)

Or John Henson owning the glass but failing to box out Ryan Kelly after a missed three, allowing him to follow his shot and score?

And finally, the most tragic figure of the night, Tyler Zeller. He was unstoppable, especially the first half. But the devil dragged him down the most cruelly, as he missed two big free throws late, tipped in Kelly's missed three for 2 big points for Duke with under a minute left, then had to cover Austin Rivers(tyx) on the game winning shot.

No gods were ever more cruel, and few losses were so tragic.  

The loss put most Heels fans in the world of another Greek word: agony.  The root of the English word is the Greek word for 'game,' more accurately 'contest.'  To the Greeks, athletic contests were literally agonizing.  Sounds familiar 24-hours later, doesn't it?

A few more Heels notes: 

• We've all known free throw shooting was an accident waiting to happen.  Well, that accident was last night.
• I just rewatched most of the second half, and it did seem that Duke got away with an inordinate number of flops and travels. Much of that game was game was badly officiated; McAdoo was whistled for two borderline calls in particular late.
• That said, JM McAdoo had some spectacular moments in the second half.
• What's worse, losing due to costly and atypical mistakes, or losing to a one-man band?  Austin Rivers was phenomenal last night. Watching it live it looked like Carolina defenders were too often going underneath screens. But upon further review he made quite a few shots with a hand in his face. Rivers was a stone-cold assassin.
• But you have to give the entire Duke team credit. They would not go away, would not let Carolina close this game out. They believed if they hung in there long enough, something good might happen.
• Tough to lose when Carolina played so well for so long. One more free throw, one less own-goal tip in, and we win this game.  Tragedy.

Bad Week For the ACC Gets Worse

First, the two best teams in the conference - Georgia Tech and Clemson - both lost to mediocre, in-state SEC rivals in football.

Then, for the first time in the 11 year history of the event, the conference lost the ACC-Big 10 challenge in basketball. 

Carolina did its part, handily dispatching Michigan State. And kudos to Maryland and especially Boston College for winning road games. The Eagles beat a ranked Michigan team, as did Miami in defeating Minnesota in Coral Gables. Virginia Tech also won a road game, but against a pretty bad Iowa squad.

But all six of the games the ACC lost were bad losses. Duke lost on the road to a good Wisconsin team. But the Badgers, not exactly a running team, looked quicker than the Blue Devils. What's up with that?

Sure, Virginia is rebuilding but how can you lose at home to Penn State. Terrible.

Northwestern is supposed to be decent this year but it's still a team NC State should  have  handled since the game was in Raleigh.

The only semi-legit losses - SEMI - were by FSU and Wake Forest.

Florida State lost to a good Ohio State team on the road. That's to be expected from FSU; no matter how talented the Seminoles NEVER ever seem to rise to the challenge (see last year's ACC tournament final, their loss in the first round of the NCAA tournament, etc.).

Considering that Wake Forest was coming off a home loss to William and Mary (a team of two players!), losing to a top-10 team like Purdue is almost a moral victory. Wake fans must be getting nervous. This team has stunk since February. The Dino Gaudio honeymoon is clearly over.

But the worst loss by far was by Clemson. The Tigers blew a 23-point second half lead at home in losing to half-way decent Illinois. Down the stretch Clemson did not do a good job of getting the ball to Trevor Booker, and generally panicked on their home court in the face of the Illini's press and urgent play. Horrible.

Losing the ACC-Big 10 challenge for the first time is not the end of the world but is disappointing nonetheless. With the Big East expected to have a down year the Big 10 now has the upper hand in the mythical battle for the title of the strongest conference in America.

But this year's challenge could have real consequences for ACC bubble teams.  Clemson in particular should make sure and win 9 or 10 ACC games; ditto for Florida State, who has lost both of its important non-conference games (Ohio State and Florida). 

On the other hand, Boston College and Miami really helped themselves so in the end it may even out. The ACC could still receive 6 and maybe 7 bids: Carolina, Duke, Maryland, Georgia Tech (who defeated Sienna last night), Clemson, and one or two from the group of FSU/UM/BC/Wake Forest).

World Cup Draw is Tomorrow (Dec. 4th)

The draw for the 2010 World Cup is tomorrow and will be shown live on ESPN.  Four pots will be used to determine the eight, four-team, groups.

Pot 1 consists of the seven highest-seeded teams (Brazil, Spain, Argentina, England, Germany, Netherlands, Italy) plus host South Africa. The US is in pot 2, a mix of Asian and North American teams, and Greece is in Pot 4, European teams. Pot 3 is Africa and South America.

To me, the best case scenario for the U.S. is: South Africa, the weakest team in Pot 1, by far; Uruguay or Algeria, the only two bad teams in Pot 2; and Slovakia from Pot 3. But according to the Washington Post and ESPN, Switzerland would be the best match up for us for the European pot.

I really hope that Greece and the US are in separate groups. I would love to see the U.S. play - and defeat - Greece in the final.  What are the odds of that?

Best case for Greece is to draw: South Africa; North Korea, arguably the worst team in the World Cup; and Algeria.

Worst case for both teams is to draw Brazil and a team like Ivory Coast from Pot 3.

Anyway, tune in tomorrow.

Thorough Dismantling

What a thoroughly satisfying - and just plain thorough - dismantling of the right-wing boobs from Durham tonight. Led by Ty Lawson, Carolina did what they wanted to in the second half on their way to a 101-87 thrashing of the Blue Devils.

The win means Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green and Bobby Frasor end their careers undefeated at Cameron. Duke's class of 2009 spent $160,000 for a second-rate education and never got to see Duke beat Carolina. That's what you get when your alumni number Richard Nixon, Ken Starr, Elizabeth Dole, Henry Hyde and some other right-wing boobs I probably missed.

It also means that Krzyzewski is now 32-37 lifetime against Carolina (with a lifetime losing record IN CAMERON against Dean, I might add).

Carolina got contributions from everyone. Thompson was aggressive early in scoring 10 points in Singler's grill and Frasor, who had missed his previous 12 three pointers, buried three 3s to give Carolina an early lead. I had a feeling Frasor would have a good game, a la 2006, and he did.

Late in the first half Duke got rolling and Carolina got sloppy and lost it's aggressiveness. The combo led to a Duke surge and an 8 point half-time lead. It could have been much much worse, but Danny Green hit a huge, nerve-calming three to keep Carolina's head above water.

I imagine folks noticed that instead of panicking during Duke's run Roy 1) did NOT call a time out, and 2) actually went to his bench to protect Hansbrough, who had two fouls, and give Lawson a blow. I liked the calm way the team reacted to that run. Pure Carolina; we'll take your best shot, but we are going to beat you in the second half.

And man, did they EVER beat down Duke in the final 20 minutes. I bet Roy reminded Lawson in the locker room that he was unstoppable against Duke's very weak back court. And he was, scoring 21 second-half points, mostly on lay ups as he repeatedly blew by any Duke defender assigned to 'guard' him. Lawson was completely dominant.

But it was a team effort. The second half swamping was methodical, pure, simple and total. There were a few big plays - Hansbrough's three to boost the lead back to 12 with the shot clock winding down, the steals by Green and Ellington early in the second half - but it was mainly Carolina playing smart Carolina basketball. They moved the ball, got the ball down low, got great looks, and shot more than 60 percent in the second half. Almost all of that was due to Lawson's total game.

Carolina scored at will in dropping 101 points IN CAMERON. Duke's vaunted defense had held teams to an average of 61 points a game. The Heels scored 57 in the second half!

The good-hearted liberals from Chapel Hill played great defense in the second half. They played the passing lanes, denied the ball, and kept guys like Henderson in check.

Frasor was the final piece of the puzzle. His early threes were big, but he played 27 minutes and completely dominated Henderson on defense.

Simply a great great win. As I blogged after the win at N.C. State, it is great to beat Duke, even better at Cameron in front of their spoiled capitalist-pig fans, better still to dominate them so totally. But even better than all that, it's just great to watch Carolina play Carolina basketball - running, moving the ball efficiently and moving without the ball, playing smart, staying calm, storming back, winning a big game.

The Heels were much better than Duke, and lead the lifetime series 130-97. And that gap will get wider as long as Roy is on the bench. This is Carolina's sixth win in the eight games against the Devils.

Tonight was just a great Carolina win, made sweater by the opponent and the venue.

A Few More Thoughts

• Duke showed their true, bitch-ass colors more than a few times tonight. And one instance, Singler's stupid and petulant elbow to Hansbrough's jaw, gave Carolina two free throws and some momentum early in the second half. A stupid and typical Duke play.
• But Duke's biggest scalawag is Gerald Henderson. Frasor ate him up in the second half, taking him completely out of his game. How did Henderson react? By elevating his game? No, but with two cheap shots to Hansbrough late in the game. At least he didn't elbow him in the face, so I guess that's progress.
  
• Hansbrough was not as dominant as Lawson, but he had a magnificent second half. He drew a charge on the perimeter, played great defense when Carolina was switching on screens, hit that big three, got some big boards - Hansbrough played smart Carolina basketball. Hansbrough hit a similar big three against Duke in 2006 (but I imagine you knew that already).
• Duke's point guards are terrible. I wouldn't be surprised if Duke limps along the rest of the season and finishes with a whimper. Book them to lose in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Go Heels!

Good Week

It was a very good week for the Manuels, the Heels and the Greens.

Eighteen Manuels - the whole brood - got together in Fayetteville this weekend for Thanksgiving. Our parents, the four siblings, our spouses and the eight grandkids got together to give thanks. We even emulated the Kennedy's and played our own Thanksgiving Day football game. David and Kate Kushner and Ariadne and me, squared off against Johnny Manuel/Nicholas Stamatos, Paul Kushner, Evan Manuel and Michael Stamatos. Despite our advanced age and advancing waistline David and I held our own against that younger team.

I'll post some photos of the weekend soon, though I did not take as many as Cleo did.

Carolina Football

The football theme continued on Saturday afternoon when David's brother, Keith Kushner, a former place kicker at Duke, gave us four tickets to the Duke-Carolina game at Wallace Wade Stadium. The Heels looked pretty good, and were especially great on third down, in winning 28-20 and defeating Duke for the 17th time in their last 18 meetings (the one Duke win was Evan's first college football game, BTW).

T.J. Yates looked good for most of the game (though he had a hard time consistently finding Hakeem Nicks most of the game) as did Shaun Draughn (until he got tired late in the game). Despite two more turnovers the Heels moved the ball most of the afternoon on their way to 28 points.

Duke also did not have trouble moving the ball, at least until they got inside the 20. Carolina's defensive philosophy, as I understand it, is to give up the short stuff but to then close quickly on the receiver. Duke took advantage of that most of the game but once the field got shorter, inside the 20, and Carolina had less ground to patrol Duke had trouble making plays and getting into the end zone. And Duke's quarterback, in contrast to Yates, was generally terrible on third down and near the end zone.

Carolina finishes 8 and 4, and will play in a bowl game for the first time in years. Coach Butch Davis seems to be a great recruiter and motivator, but I'm not crazy about his defensive philosophy and his late game management. But despite those complaints, he clearly has Carolina pointed in the general direction of the good-ol'-days of the Mack Brown era of the early 1990s.

A few more quick observations from the Duke game:

• Wallace Wade is a quaint old-timey stadium, in a horse shoe, but the Duke football operation seems rinky-dink to me. Terrible concessions, the bathrooms were portable trailers, and the area around the stadium is cluttered with suburban architecture, not the signature Duke gothic style (I've always kind of liked Duke's gothic look, even if it is a knock-off of Princeton).
• The crowd of 35,000 was probably 55 percent Carolina fans. There were enough Tar Heels in the stands for the call and response "Tar" "Heels" chant.
• We sat in front of one of the most obnoxious Dukies I've ever had the pleasure to be a around. Lots of put downs of state schools with the stereotypical triumphant elitism thrown in. We also sat behind a guy wearing a 'Wade Wacko' hat - as opposed to 'Cameron Crazies.' Though some were obnoxious, you have to hand it to loyal Duke football fans. Their team has stunk for years, but there is a fan base there.
• Finally, I don't know why Duke fans feel so smug and elitist - Hansbrough has eaten Duke's lunch in Cameron for three straight years, their women's soccer team comes close but we still dominate them in that sport, and the football team has lost to the Blue Devils once in a generation. Third-rate athletics, second-rate education, first-rate tuition. Oh, and Richard Nixon went there too. Give it up Dukies (but thanks to Duke grad Keith Kushner for the great seats).

Heels In Hawaii

The Heels looked fantastic in winning the Maui Invitational last week. They rolled over Chaminade without Hansbrough but with a very active Danny Green, easily dispatched a semi-legit team in Oregon behind Hansbrough, and dismantled a very good 8th ranked Notre Dame in the final by 15 points.

Hansbrough and Lawson in particular excelled against the Irish. Hansbrough displayed a few new moves: he hit a little twisting fade-away baseline jumper, blocked two shots, and took two threes as part of the offense, hitting one. That was in addition to his regular relentless on the boards and his trips to the free throw line.

And Lawson was simply faster and more aggressive than anyone on the Notre Dame squad. He was dominant and confident.

That's what impressed me the most about the team's play - the whole team looked dominant and confident. Everyone who played looked great. Deon Thompson was aggressive on the glass and confident with his stroke; Danny Green made shots from all over the floor and above and under the rim; Bobby Frasor was off against Oregon but was in the flow and confident against Notre Dame; Will Graves is getting more minutes as a result of Ginyard's injury and looks to have improved his game so he's not just a jump shooter; freshman Ed Davis already looks comfortable running Roy's system and is long and strong on the boards; ditto Larry Drew II, who looks way too poised to be a freshman. Both Davis and Drew II are sons of NBA players and have already displayed a high basketball IQ this young season.

The only Heel not feeling it, in my opinion, is Wayne Ellington. He hasn't found his groove yet but I'm quibbling. The Heels looked fantastic last week in Hawaii. Bring on the ACC!

Panathinaikos On A Roll

Finally, it was a great week for the Greens.

In the UEFA Champions League, Panathinaikos won a huge road game at InterMilan. Inter dominated Pana in their first game in Athens a month ago, but the Greens got great play from their goalie in winning 1-0 on Tuesday. It was Pana's second impressive road win in a row, coming on the heels of a 3-0 thrashing of Werder Bremen earlier in the month.

Panathinaikos got off to a terrible start in the Champions league, but the two road wins have them in second place in their group, behind InterMilan. They can clinch a place in the next round of the Champions league if they win their next game at home versus Cypriot squad Anorthosis (who tied InterMilan at home last month).

And last weekend the basketball team defeated arch-rival Olympiacos, led by former Hawk Josh Childress, 86-69. The Greens were led by my man Dimitris Diamantidis and former Maryland Terrapin Drew Nicholas. Panathinaikos is loaded this year, with Diamantidis, Nicholas (who was a star in Turkey before moving up to the Greek League), former Houston Rockets guard Vasilis Spanoulis, former Grizzlies bench warmers Antonis Fotsis and American Mike Batiste, and another former Terp, Euroleague and NBA vet Sarunas Jasikevicus.

Wizards Wisps

So the Manuels, Tar Heels and Panathinaikos had a great week. The hometown Wizards did not.

As you know by now, the Wizards fired head coach Eddie Jordan after a 1 and 10 start. Under new coach Ed Tapscott they've already doubled their win total, and stand at 2 and 12.

Tapscott seems like a good guy; I've liked his studio work in analyzing the Wizards. But he hasn't coached a team since leading American University in the 1990s. So we'll see, but this team will not be very good until Arenas returns or they somehow find a real point guard (not Stephon Marbury, BTW). As Eddie Jordan pointed out before getting canned, Washington is starting it's fourth string point guard in Dee Brown.

As readers of CHB Blog know, I've had issues with Eddie Jordan. It took him years to give Haywood the minutes he deserved. Last year B-Hay finally played 30 minutes a game, had a career year, and the Wizards' defense improved enough to make the playoffs despite Arenas missing most of the season.

One issue he never fixed was perimeter defense, something the Wizards have had problems with for years. But as one unnamed NBA scout once said, if your best player doesn't play defense no one else will.

But despite those problems and issues, firing Eddie Jordan was a bad move and unfair. Jordan led the 'Zards to the playoffs four years in a row, even last year without Arenas. Despite his only passing interest in emphasizing defense, anyone who got the Wizards into the playoffs last year must know something about coaching.

Without Haywood and Arenas, or a serviceable point guard, this team is simply not that competitive. Maybe they should have been 4-7 instead of 1-11, but that is not Eddie Jordan's fault.

Big Games Loom As ACC Season Goes to the Wire

There are quite a few huge games left in the last 4 weeks of the ACC regular season.  This looked like a down year for the ACC.  Despite possessing the best RPI in the country, and dominating the ACC-Big 10 challenge for the seventh year in a row, for weeks it looked like the ACC would be a four and at best a five bid league in terms of the NCAA tournament.

But three games last week changed that.  Duke's two loses to Wake and Miami have placed those teams firmly on the bubble.  And Virginia Tech's impressive bounce back win - on the road - over Maryland coupled with their very favorable schedule places the Hokies back in contention.  

All of a sudden, one can envision a scenario where the ACC gets seven teams into the field of 65.

Here is my team-by-team breakdown - in no particular order - of the remainder of the ACC regular season (courtesy of my visit to the eye doctor on Friday; I was there for two hours and between tests was able to forecast the remainder of the season):

FSU: despite a nice win over Clemson last week I think the Noles will finish by going 1-3 and 5-11 overall; they only have one more winnable game on the schedule, at home vs. BC, with a huge game vs. Miami in Tallahassee to the last regular season game for FSU; that game will mean more to UM so I have the Canes winning that tilt.

BC: only one winnable game left on their schedule, against Georgia Tech at home; after a nice start to the ACC season I think they'll finish at 5-11.

Maryland: the Terps have the most challenging remaining schedule of any ACC team; you can see them losing their last four games - 3 roads games vs. Wake, Virginia, and Miami, and a home game vs. Clemson;  I think they'll beat Clemson and limp to an 8-8 finish in the conference; the selection committee heavily weighs how a team played in their last 10 games, so they may be in trouble at 8-8; that loss to the Hokies was huge; will their win against Carolina get them in, or will early season losses at home to American and Ohio relegate the Terps to the NIT? with 8 regular season wins it will probably take a win in the ACC tournament to get Maryland into the NCAA.

Miami - I blogged about this last week, but Miami controls their own destiny; win against Duke was huge; they have 3 more winnable games left against Maryland, BC, and Virginia, a winnable road game against FSU, and a big big game at Clemson; simply winning at home gets the Canes to 8-8, and taking the Noles in the finale gets them to 9 wins and into the NCAA tournament; it also means NC-native Frank Haith is the ACC coach of the year. 

Georgia Tech - should win their last 3 homes games and finish 7-9.

Virginia Tech - Seth Greenberg would be coach of the year if not for Haith, assuming of course that VPI wins their last 3 home games against Georgia Tech, Boston College and Wake; their one road game is winnable too, against Clemson; they should finish 3-1 and with 9 wins in the conference; 9 isn't always the magic number, but it should get them in.

Virginia - I thought they'd go 11-5 this year, but instead will likely finish at 5-11 after going 3-2 the rest of the way; I do have them upsetting Duke in Charlottesville, though.

NCSU - only one winnable game on their schedule against FSU in Raleigh; Pack will finish the season in last place as one of four 5-11 ACC squads while Herb Sendek returns to the NCAA tournament as coach of Arizona State.

Wake Forest - another great story a la Miami and the Hokies; Gaudio could win coach of the year as sentimental choice and with 8 conference wins; the Deacons are great at home but bad on the road; if that pattern persists they will finish at 8-8 and on the same bubble as Maryland; will Duke win get them in? huge game looming @ Virginia Tech; like Maryland, they probably need a win in the ACC tournament to secure an invitation to the big dance.

Clemson - if they win their remaining two home games - against Miami and Virginia Tech - they get to 9 wins and in; road games versus Maryland and Georgia Tech are also winnable.

Duke - should finish with 12 wins even with an upset loss to Virginia; I have Carolina beating them for the third year in a row in Cameron to end the season.

Carolina - I see the Heels running the table behind Hansbrough and Q, with Lawson returning to burn the Devils in Durham.

So my final standings are:

UNC 14-2

Duke 12-4

Clemson 9-7

Va Tech 9-7

Miami 9-7

Maryland 8-8

Wake 8-8

Ga Tech 7-9

BC, FSU, 

NCSU, Virginia 5-11

Huge games left:

Maryland at Miami - TODAY

Miami at Clemson - Feb. 27

Wake at Georgia Tech - Mar 1

Clemson at Maryland - Mar 2

Wake at Virginia Tech - Mar 4

Miami at FSU - Mar 8

Carolina at Duke - Mar 8

Maryland at Virginia - Mar 9