On second thought

I didn't get a chance to blog between Carolina's blow-out win over South Carolina and the disappointing loss to UNLV last night.

But upon further review, the blog topic would have been the same - Kendall Marshall.  He was once again unbelievable against Lesser Carolina.  He finished with 14 assists - many of which were spectacular - his third double figure total for this young season. 

John Henson may be our best player so far with Harrison Barnes poised to assert that title during the season, but Marshall is Carolina's most important player.  I agree with Jay Bilas' assessment that we may be seeing the second coming of Jason Kidd.

The loss to UNLV also highlighted how important Marshall is. As my brother pointed out during the game, Carolina counts on our point guard to disrupt the other team's offense via ball pressure. The Tar Heels' recent championship teams have featured point guards who could dominate a game defensively: Derrick Phelps in '93, Raymond Felton in '05 and Ty Lawson 3 years ago. 

Roy recognizes that Marshall might not be fleet enough to do that, at least not yet, so Dexter Strickland - who by the way was the only starter to play well for 40 minutes versus the Rebels - has been covering the other teams point guard.

Saturday night plenty of things went wrong for the Heels; Carolina could not rebound, guard or shoot.  Even good teams will struggle with one of those facets of basketball during a game, but rarely do good teams stink at all three at the same time. Saturday night, Carolina certainly did.  Zeller had a terrible game, both Z and Henson were pushed around on the boards where Carolina got killed, no one made free throws, and Barnes and the starters had a collectively terrible shooting night and settled for a shocking number of bad shots.  

And on both ends of the floor Marshall struggled; he didn't disrupt their defense or run North Carolina's offense as well as he has throughout his tenure as our starting one. When he struggles, this team will struggle. The good news is Marshall - and by definition the 2012 Tar Heels - is too good to have THAT happen again.  

This week will be a big one for the Heels as they welcome Wisconsin to Chapel Hill as part of the ACC-Big 10 challenge before heading to Lexington to face Kentucky in a match up of college basketball's two winningest programs.  This loss to UNLV will bring out a more focused, determined Marshall and Carolina squad (and ol' Roy, too).  In particular, look for huge games this week from Zeller, Barnes and of course our most important player, Kendall Marshall.

As few extra points:

• James Michael McAdoo, though not as key as Marshall, will be a very important part of our season. The Heels will need him to produce off the bench in general, but in particular as our lone reliable big man off the bench he will be key in spelling both Zeller and Henson. He had some nice moments versus UNLV, especially running the floor, but he also missed some important free throws in the second half that could have impacted the final outcome.  
• Besides Strickland two other Heels had nice games versus UNLV: Reggie Bullock and P.J. Hairston.  Both have put together back to back to back nice games.  McAdoo, Bullock and Hairston give Carolina a phenomenal bench. 
• Great to see Carolina stick it to Duke for the 20th time in the last 21 games, including 8 straight wins.  At 7 and 5 Carolina is bowl eligible, no small feat considering the turmoil of the off season and the firing of Butch Davis.  Kudos to Everett Withers and seniors such as Dwight Jones for leading this year's squad.
• Next year is already tantalizing, with Bryn Renner and Gio Bernard poised to lead the Heels to the promised land - 9 wins, including one over N.C. State!
• Finally, while were talking leadership one of my favorites is T.J. Yates, who led Carolina to 8 wins last year despite numerous suspensions and disruptions.  Today, Yates played in his first NFL game and helped lead his Houston Texans to a 20-13 win. Yates took over for injured second-string quarterback Matt Leinert at the end of the first half, and completed 8 of 15 passes for 70 yards.  Leinert may be out for the season so Yates is likely the de facto starter for the AFC South leading Texans.
• GO HEELS!

Heels win!

That headline does not do tonight's improbable win over Tennessee justice.  In the last 2 minutes there were enough weird and wacky plays for a life time of games, let alone one, let alone the something called the Franklin Mortgage Music City Bowl.


With a minute and a half left the Heels were dead, trailing 20 to 17 (Carolina was only down 3 thanks to HUGE a blocked extra point by Dante Paige-Moss)  AND Tennessee had the ball after a dropped pass by Dwight Jones on 4th and 20.  


I even left them for dead; at that point I tweeted: 'Heels first game ended w/ a dropped pass by our best receiver (Pianalto) and loss to an SEC team (LSU); last game ends the same way (Jones and Tennessee)."


But we had two times out left, the defense held and forced Tennessee to punt, and yadda yadda yadda, Carolina got the ball back on our 20 with 39 seconds left.  T.J. Yates, who has been so inspirational all season, completed a 35-yard pass to 'Woody' Harrelson, a play that netted 15 more yards after Tennessee was whistled for spearing/leading with the helmet.


The spearing was a huge blunder as it almost immediately put Carolina in field goal range.  But it was not the biggest blunder of the last minute and a half.


Fast forward to 16 seconds left.  Carolina is out of time outs but has moved the ball to the LSU 28.  The key phrase is OUT OF TIME OUTS.  Instead of throwing a pass to the sideline, a play that would have given the field goal unit a chance to take the field, Butch Davis called a running play.  The good news - Sean Draughn ran for 9 yards to the 17 yard line.  The bad news - and it was bad - was that the running play left almost no time to spike the ball and therefore give the kicking team a chance to take the field.


At that moment the Carolina Tar Heels became the Carolina Keystone Cops.  While Yates was trying to get the offense set - which was taking a long time since the Heels had gained almost 10 yards -  the field goal unit started taking the field.


Panic ensued, but more importantly the clock was winding down.  


Luckily, Yates kept his head ("If you can keep your wits about you while those around you are losing theirs, then you are a man my son" - from If, by my main man Rudyard Kipling) and realized that time was more critical than yardage.  He ran under center, took the snap, and spiked the ball with one second left.  Of course, with the kicking team running around Carolina was whistled for having too many men on the field.  


The penalty moved the ball back to the 22, but most importantly the penalty stopped the clock. The kicking team took the field - correctly this time - and Casey Barth calmly nailed a 39-yard field goal to send the game into overtime.


In the second overtime a Quan Sturdivant interception set up another Barth field goal, this time from 22 yards, and somehow the Heels won a game that Butch Davis should have lost.


For me, this game reminded me of how resilient and determined the Heels team has been, and how much of an embarrassment Butch Davis has been as a coach. 


You don't have to be Vince Lombardi to know that when you are OUT OF TIME OUTS you don't run it with 16 seconds left.  You need quick plays, and at that point in the game quick=pass.  Then to see the kicking team run out onto the field, when we had yet to spike the ball or kill the clock?  The team was obviously unorganized and panicky.  


Disorganization and a lack of discipline have been a problem all season for the Heels.  During the season it usually manifested itself in too many stupid penalties.  That happened tonight, too, but the running play with 16 seconds left and the kicking team taking the field were the whipped cream and cherry a top an undisciplined team sundae (in case you're wondering, that last line was NOT from Kipling).


I honestly don't see the appeal of Butch Davis.  It's not like he's winning 10 games a season, or the Heels are playing for the ACC championship every year.  Instead, we get 8 wins, embarrassing headlines about agents on campus, players cheating in class and getting thrown off the team, and a football team that wins IN SPITE of their coach's clock management or organization.  


I imagine Carolina can find some one else who could win 8 games a year, take us to a middling bowl game, AND not embarrass a university known throughout the country for doing things the right way when it comes to student-athletes. 


I support firing Butch Davis before he embarrasses the university any more.


Who DO I support? The Tar Heel players.  Like I said earlier, the players have been inspiring in the face of the suspensions and injuries.  Tonight a number of Heels stepped up and made plays, the first among equals being Yates. 


Statistically he had a mediocre game, but leadership-wise he WAS Carolina football tonight.  His decision to spike the ball is the most vivid example.  But I also loved his 39-yard touchdown to Dwight Jones to end the first half, a smart, savvy, improvisational play.  


Of course, Barth was cool as the other side of the pillow in making a clutch field goal with one second left.


Tight end Robert Taylor, a senior like Yates, had 9 catches including two big ones in final drive in regulation.


Draughn carried the load all game and scored on a nifty 58-yard run in the first quarter.


Quentin Coples was huge on defense, and the unsung play of the game was Paige-Moss' blocked extra point.  


That blocked point after touchdown symbolizes this team. It's a minor detail, the extra point, and there was every reason for Carolina to pack it in at that point.  But that was true for the entire season.  When Greg Little and Marvin Austin were kicked off the team the entire Carolina squad could have given up the season.


But Paige-Moss did not give in on that extra point, and he and Yates and Barth and Taylor and Coples and Highsmith and Burney and Sturdivant and etcetera did not give in on the season, either. 


Pretty good stuff.  


GO HEELS!


PS: Fire Butch Davis

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.