Carolina and Duke

As dawn breaks on the 2017 NCAA basketball tournament I am feeling very good about the Tar Heels' chances.  Look for Joel Berry in particular to be a beast, and try to make up for the foul trouble that plagued him and Carolina in the ACC tournament semi-final loss.

It took me a while to recover from the ACC tournament.  When I was growing up in North Carolina it was a life or death event; only the ACC tournament champion would go to the big dance back then. So winning the ACC tournament is not necessary for your team to have a successful season, but not winning it still stinks.  

Much like the loss of an election to Donald Trump can make you question everything about America, one loss to Duke can do the same about the state of Carolina basketball.  Almost 2 days later I still can not get over that loss.

The U.S. blowing a 5-0 lead to the DR in the World Baseball Classic that night did not help, nor did Duke's win over Notre Dame. To demonstrate how chaotic this sports weekend was (I drafted most of this blog on Sunday, March 12th), the only safe harbor in the weekend sports storm was the Wizards!  The normally forgotten and formerly hapless 'Zards!

[Coincidentally, as I type this I'm listening to 'You've Got To Lose' by Cesar Rosas, off his solo record Soul Disguise.]

Anyway, the loss to the Devils prompted me to see if the 'data' supported my sour mood about my beloved Tar Heels. I looked at the last 10 years, specifically at: our over all record; ACC regular season and tournament performance; head to head vs. Duke; All-ACC selections; finally NBA All Star-game selections, to see how we stack up against the Dookies. This exercise also reminded me of ol' Roys quote about last year's squad:  "I've never seen such a good team talked about like it was a bad team" like the 2016 Final Four team, or something like that.  No matter what the data shows, the Heels have been very good lately.

Here are what the numbers say, and though they are impressive Stephen Miller's alma mater has a slight edge, especially since the end of the Tyler Hansbrough era. FYI, Hansbrough is currently playing for the Ft. Wayne Mad Ants in the D League, where he had 12 and 17 in their last game. Gulp.

I will start with the good news: overall, UNC is 134 and 109 versus the devils. The bad news is we have a six-game losing streak versus the school that taught Richard Nixon the law in the ACC tournament. Our loss on Friday also means we are now 49-50 versus the devils in our last 99 games (I am too old to make a Jay Z reference here). Finally, the worst number: in the last ten years we are 8-14 against our nemesis from the Bull City. 

Overall, we are 285-84, for a .772 winning percentage, over the last 10 years. Impressive stuff, but the devils are 295-68 for an astounding .812 winning percentage.  

The other pieces of good news for Heels fans are:

• We lead in first place finishes in the regular season, 6 to 1. Our overall ACC record is 124-46 in that span while Duke, owing to our 5-11 season in 2010, bests us with a 127-43 mark.
• UNC has had 4 ACC Players of the Year - Justin Jackson, Tyler Zeller, Ty Lawson and Tyler Hansbrough - against just 2 for Duke in Jahlil Okafor and Nolan Smith.  We also lead them in guys named Ty or Tyler.  
• Carolina has more NCAA wins, 25 to 22, and Final Four appearances, 3 versus 2, compared to the devils. We each have 7 losses in that ten-year span, with Dook losing twice in the first round. But at least they made the tournament those two years; the 2010 team is our blemish since we have only played in 9 of the last 10 NCAA tournaments while Duke is 10 for 10.

The flip side of those stats are:  

• They have 2 national championships to our one. UConn is the only other school with 2 championships in that span.
• Dook has 4 ACC tournament championships to our 2, and their record in the event is 19-6 while we are 17-8.
• Though we have had more ACC players of the year (4 to 2), they have had 12 first-team all ACC players to our nine.
• Thanks mainly to Kyrie "I believe the Earth is flat!" Irving, Ben Quayle's alma mater has had 6 NBA all stars in the last 10 years compared to only two for Michael Jordan's; Irving 3 times, Luol Deng twice and Carlos Boozer once. The last two UNC NBA all stars were Rasheed Wallace and Antawan Jamison, in 2008!  FYI, thanks for Chris Paul (9) and Tim Duncan (6) Wake Forest of all schools has had 16 NBA all stars in the last 10 years, with Jeff Teague picking up one selection.

Carolina goes into overtime and beats Villanova last year and these numbers are practically even. But that is sports for you; we honor the effort but the winners get the spoils.  

Finally, for a more cynical take, how about the the 'curse of Harrison Barnes'?  Barnes came to Carolina as perhaps the most celebrated recruit of all time (in college basketball, not just at Carolina).  While he had a great two-year run in Chapel Hill, Barnes did not live up to the incredible hype (except for perhaps the last two-thirds of his freshman year), and injuries to Kendall Marshall and John Henson in 2011 and 2012 derailed any hopes of a national championship or even a final four.  He was supposed to be Jordan and Worthy, with a little Wayne Ellington (a great outside shooter), rolled into one player. Instead he was more of an rich man's Reggie Bullock (who I love, BTW; love Barnes, too).  

Conversely, Kyrie Irving enrolled at Duke at the same time. Injuries limited him to only 7 games in Durham, but since then he has stolen Barnes' mojo. He was the number one pick in the NBA draft, has become a perennial All Star, started on the U.S. Olympic team while Barnes barely played, and even hit the game winning shot in the NBA finals last year. Irving has basically had the career that Barnes was supposed to have.  He's become the transcendental talent of his generation, a title scouts bestowed on Barnes in high school.

In time Barnes may become that kind of basketball savant. He is a very good player, but for now in the shadow of Kyrie Irving. 

Cliched Tournament Preview

It may come as a surprise, but in the 4 brackets I've filled out (ESPN, Dean Loves You and Sierra Club at CBSSports and Baseball America) I have Carolina - that's North Carolina - winning the national championship each time!

What a difference a year makes. On the eve of the 2015 tournament I typed a rather negative blog about the state of college athletics and the hypocrisy of the NCAA tournament in particular.  Speaking of hypocrisy, the official bracket of the official website of the official broadcast partner of the NCAA (CBSSports.com) actually says "Don't Bet On It!"  In keeping with that admonition, I regret to inform my employer and my brother's employer that I therefore can not pay the $5 or $10 entrance fee for the Sierra Club or BA pools. 

Of course, my negativity was in part based on the residue of a lackluster regular season for the Heels, even though they made the sweet 16 and played in the ACC tournament final, but more to the point the lingering academic scandal at the University of the People. Also a year ago Kentucky entered the tournament with another team, an undefeated one at that, loaded with rent-a-players biding their time between their senior year of high school and the NBA Rising Stars game.  It seemed that college basketball had sullied both the bad programs and even the good ones like my alma mater.

Instead of being negative on the eve of this tourney I'm more of a hypocrit.  Forget the scandal for now and the big money polluting college hoops; this year I love our team and the Heels' chances! Some of that is due to my deepening love for Marcus Paige and his epitomization of Dean's Carolina Way. But most of it is due to the recent play of Carolina. The Heels have won 7 of their last 8, and the one game they lost they avenged in the ACC tournament final. Their last 4 wins have been at Duke, two blow outs over Pitt and Notre Dame, and the tough win over the Cavaliers for the ACC championship.  That's a big-time winning streak.

The extra ingredient that has wratcheted up my enthusiasm (and thus the hypocrisy) has been the return of the trademark Carolina poise. Poise and grace under pressure, playing smart, have been central parts of the Carolina Way.  The Heels had that as recently as 2012, when Kendall Marshall looked poised to lead the Heels to another national championship until he broke his wrist in the closing seconds of our second round win over Creighton.  But this team, even with Paige, lacked that Dean-inspired, George Lynch-like poise.

Ironicly, the home loss to the devils may have triggered some growth and development from this year's team. After the Duke loss Carolina had to turn around and host number 11 Miami.  The Heels could have felt sorry for themselves and mailed it in, but instead ol' Roy helped Carolina get their heads straight and UNC blew the Canes out by 25 points.

They were poised in Durham in getting their revenge, with Brice Johnson and Joel Berry having big games - with Paige making the play of the game AND the clinching free throws.  

In the ACC tournament final Paige, Johnson and Berry again led the charge, but don't forget about Isaiah Hicks calmly making a 12 foot jumper in the lane with the shot clock winding down and the Heels clinging to a 3-point lead with less than 30 second left in the championship game.  Hicks was not intimidated by the situation. He was poised. He is a Tar Heel and plays the Carolina Way.

Anyway, add that up and I love our chances.  Go Heels!

Here is my quick look at the other 67 teams and the rest of the tournament:

• My brackets are almost all chalk. My elite 8 is Kansas (1) v. Miami (3); Oregon vs. Oklahoma (1 & 2); Virginia vs. Michigan State (1 & 2); and of course UNC v. Xavier (2).
• My Final Four is all ACC and Big 12. I have us beating the Wahoos in another nail-biter, Kansas beating Oklahoma, then the Heels smithing what ever demons ol' Roy has left by beating the Jayhawks.
• Overall I think Oregon has the easiest draw while Kansas has the hardest.  Virginia may finally slay their nemesis in the Spartans. 
• Carolina's toughest game will likely be against Kentucky, but I don't see the Wildcats having enough  to stop both our frontcourt AND our backcourt.
• I do not predict many upsets, and most of those are mild ones: Iowa over 'Nova; Notre Dame over WV; Cal over Maryland; Cuse over Dayton, but that's about it.
• My one exception of course is UNC-Wilmington beating the devils, and I would not be surprised if St. Joe's beats Oregon and goes to the sweet 16.
• But remember - don't bet on it!

Feeling it, but not feeling it (yet)

The start of the college basketball season, more to the point the Carolina basketball season, was a silver lining to a weekend dominated by barbarism.  But even then, the lingering effects of the academic scandal has tempered that Carolina blue escape. 

I Tivoed Friday's opening game versus Temple, and watched it after our eleventh grade pot luck with a mix of interest and disinterest. Typing that sentence was unimaginable just a few years ago. But I have to admit I wasn't that excited even though this team could win Carolina's sixth national championship and Roy's third.   

Carolina's descent to the level of just any other school with a big time sports program, as opposed to the school that did things the right way, is part of the issue. I also find it harder and harder to ignore the general tawdriness and outright hypocrisy of college sports.  There is little to no justification for big time colleges and universities supporting minor league football and basketball leagues.

But if you read Ross Douthat's Sunday column in The New York Times you start to realize that perhaps the entire college system, not just athletics, is corrupt. Colleges seem to have lost their sense of higher purpose. In that regard the shift from teaching to research mirrors the shift from amateurism to big money sports programming (played by athletes who do not get paid, let alone collect workers compensation or other benefits).  

And that makes it hard, at least harder, to be a fan.

Nonetheless, I'll offer up a few more hoops notes:

• One other reason I may have felt a little disinterested is that Carolina's best student-athlete, Marcus Paige, was hurt.  I still enjoyed watching, but maybe I would have felt more invested if the player I know goes to class, loves learning and is a Dean-worthy kid wasn't in street clothes.
• That said, this is a tantalizing team that I imagine I WILL get invested in.  One reason is they are talented and deep. Even without Paige the Heels' back court has played especially well in our first two games.  Joel Berry II looks self assured and savvy running the offense, and more aggressive with his shot; Nate Britt seems to be a legit 3-point shooter and has always been a heady point guard; and Theo Pinson has been Alvin Robertson*-like in displaying a complete floor game - so far.  
• And our front court will be almost unmatched. Kennedy Meeks has lost more weight and could be this season's Sean May.  Against Temple he had 3 blocks!  Brice Johnson will continue to be a double-double machine and could get even better if he continues to mature.  Isaiah Hicks may be the best back up power forward in the ACC; do not be surprised when he carries this team a few games or halves this season, and Joel James is a great back up five (and also a good student).  
• Justin Jackson, who was impressive down the stretch last season to salvage an up and down freshman year, has been the only player to underwhelm - but it's only been two games.  

Finally, the silver lining to this scandal HAS to be that all the players are taking and attending real classes.  How embarrassing to have to say that as a Tar Heel.  But the fact that they are once again real students will make rooting for them doable.  I assume I will come around.  GO HEELS!

* Alvin Robertson is one of only 4 players in the history of the NBA, and the only non-center, to log a quadruple double.  Can you name the three centers who have done so?   

March Whatever

I titled this post March Whatever due to the sense of inevitability and lack of excited that frames this year's NCAA tournament.

The big story is Kentucky's quest for an undefeated season and John Calipari's second national championship, which coincidentally will match the number of final four appearances his teams have had to forfeit (UMass, Memphis). Is there any excitement watching this mix of one-and-done and McDonald's All American players, led by one of America's smarmiest coaches? No, there isn't. It's no fun.

The other stories aren't much better. Every year it seems the tournament gets more and more hyped, more and more corporate, and less and less entertaining. The charm of the tournament is the underdogs, but this year the NCAA selection committee picked underachieving name brands like UCLA and Indiana instead of more interesting teams such as Dayton, Richmond or even Miami. It's a corporate, brand-name tournament played by student-athletes who put far more into the NCAA than they get out.

Finally, there's Carolina. Last year, I had our team winning the national championship as I usually do. That team defeated Kentucky, Duke, Louisville, and Michigan State, the top four teams in the preseason polls, so were a legit threat.  Carolina, Dean-style basketball resurfaced in Greensboro last week for 3.75 games to produce some hope for the NCAA tournament, but one reason for a whatever is this team is probably a year away from a legit pick to go 6-0 and winning another national championship.

So for all those reasons, it's March Whatever for me. Despite that - GO HEELS! 

Here are a few more hoop notes for now, with my picks for the tournament coming tomorrow (Tuesday) night.

Three must-read articles have come out in the last week: my classmate Scott Price's piece in Sports Illustrated about UNC, John Feinstein's column on Syracuse and the ACC, and Barry Jacobs' column on the ACC tournament. 

Scott's piece is worth reading even though it's a little too cynical and broad. I still have faith that UNC will restore the Carolina way and that the University of the People will get it right. Scott quotes my former professor John Shelton Reed quite a bit, too. The SI piece posits that Carolina started losing it's way when Jordan and the Dean Dome turned a plucky and liberal program into a national brand, a process augmented by the world wide leader in sports hyping the UNC-Duke rivalry. 

The common thread through all three articles is the ACC now represents all that is wrong in college athletics. There are no more student athletes, just unpaid workers building a successful brand of entertainment and sports programing (the ESP of ESPN). It used to have a down-home tournament for fans of a geographically-compact conference; now its tournament is an east-coast roadshow in fairness to teams - not schools - that range from south Florida to New England to Indiana.

Worst of all, Feinstein points out that not only has its football-fueled expansion and money-loving ruined the quaintness of the basketball tournament, it has tainted the ACC's highest and mightiest. Who would have thought that Dean Smith's school could host an academic scandal, Duke would ignore two instances of sexual assault, and Syracuse would have to forfeit more than 100 wins due to academic schemes to keep players eligible?

Worst of all, to me at least, these problems are not that hard to fix: make freshmen ineligible, or follow baseball's example of holding a high school draft and if you don't sign with a team you can not be drafted again until you complete your junior year; play fewer regular-season games - 8 in football, 20 in basketball; 25 in baseball.  Those reforms would restore the quaintness of college athletics, keep the athletes in class more, and make sure that academia not corporate, name-brand, money-loving broadcasters set the agenda.

This year's NCAA tournament may make me shrug 'whatever' but these scandals make me embarrassed and ashamed for caring so much about college basketball. 

Dean Hangover

Watching Carolina's game versus Pitt yesterday my fandom matched the level of play from the Heels. Given the news of the week, losing a basketball game on the road did not seem that big of a deal. I shrugged off the loss, unaffected, much the same way the players seemed to.

That said, there were some interesting basketball-game related insights.

1. Despite sleepwalking through much of the game the Heels DID tie it up late in the first half. But at the under-four time out the wheels fell off - and stayed off.
2. That run to tie the game was led by Kennedy Meeks, who came off the bench for the second game in a row. I imagine, or more to the point hope, that Meeks will be back in the starting line up versus Duke. As much as Isaiah Hicks has improved the Heels are strongest when Brice Johnson and Meeks are feeding off each other.
3. The other player who helped lead that run was Joel Berry. It was great to see the Florida freshman step up and play with confidence; he was so confident Roy had him start the second half at the point.
4. As good as it was to see Berry contribute it was also an admission that Nate Britt, after a great couple of games highlighted by his performance against Syracuse, and J.P. Tokoto have regressed in the last 4 games. We need both to get back to their A game if this team is to compete for an ACC championship and make a deep run in the NCAA tournament. 
5. This week's game at Duke may be just what this team needs. This is a good team, one that should regain it's focus and mojo in Cameron Indoor Stadium.  Never underestimate how some adversity can help get a team back on track. 

Finally, a huge 'point to the passer' to the University of Pittsburgh student section. 

Not only did the students unveil this banner but they also presented Roy with a signed card offering their condolences for Coach Smith's death. Those gracious actions from the self proclaimed Oakland Zoo prompted Roy to say "College athletics is not all bad. There are some darn good things that happen."

Kudos to the Oakland Zoo for the ultimate Dean move. Point to the passer!

Dean

I never met Dean Smith - I think the closest I came to ever talking to him was when Jim Love and the coach shared an ash tray as Jim and I were leaving Carmichael after picking up some student basketball tickets; I think I was in the bathroom - but like Tar Heels everywhere his death hit me hard.  I wept more than once today thinking about Coach Smith.

Despite never having played for him many UNC alums usually refer to him as Coach Smith, like his players did.  Or you could go with Dean, though that frankly seems too familiar.  

There have been many great tributes to Coach Smith today, as there were when he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and when he retired in 1997. Two of my favorite's are by Sports Illustrated's Alexander Wolff and Beth McNichol at the UNC General Alumni Association.  Both articles remind readers that Dean was more than an innovative and creative and successful basketball coach, that Coach Smith was a scholar, author and social activist.  Above all they remind us that Coach Smith was a gentleman who was generous and loyal to his players and staff, someone who treated his star players and student managers with respect and equality.

North Carolina, America and the world could use a lot more Dean Smiths.

One thing those tributes have not mentioned is that the reason Coach Smith means so much to non-basketball players or coaches is that for UNC alums, Dean IS Carolina.

Charles Kuralt said it best when at the University's 200th anniversary he asked 'Why is it that we love this place so? ... Because it still is, what it always has been, the university of the people.' 

That's Dean. When we look at Coach Smith we see the values many if not all of us associate with Carolina. To alums our alma mater is more than a school.  Carolina is a set of values - open-mindedness, liberal, egalitarian, public - designed to help Chapel Hill fulfill its mission of helping the people of North Carolina and the South overcome a still-toxic legacy of bigotry, ignorance and poverty.  

The University of the people. The University of Dean Smith.

Everlasting be his memory! Go Heels! 

For more on Dean from a different perspective check out the inaugural 'Manuel Transmissions' podcast, a podcast that will eventually feature opinions from three 'generations' of the Manuel family: parents John, Cleo, Christine, Athan; high school and college students Evan, Kate, Ariadne, Paul; kids Sophia, Alex, Michael, Anna.  Our initial podcast features Paul, Ariadne, Evan, me and an actual journalist John Manuel, talking about Dean.


Two more Dean notes:

• I want to thank my friend Bill Wood for having Dean autograph a basketball for me. Bill, a UNC med school grad, was the household hazardous waste coordinator for Orange County, doing good work AND becoming a North Carolina resident before applying to med school. When Dean agreed to record a PSA for the program Bill thoughfully got Coach Smith to autograph a ball for me, one of the nicest gifts I've ever received and a Dean move all the way! I'm pointing at Bill right now! 
• i would love to see #pointtothepasser start trending on Twitter. Nothing is more Dean than pointing out when someone helps you succeed. Heels need to make that happen. 
  
  

Reset - for Paige and for Tar Heels everywhere

I think it's safe to say the Tar Heels hit the reset button on the 2014-2015 season after their come from behind win versus Louisville in Chapel Hill on Saturday.  More than two months into this season, and the team still felt off, stuck in neutral.  For every good win, over Ohio State in Columbus or the back-to-back wins over UCLA and Florida, there were equally odd losses to Iowa at home coupled with the 'meh' games at Kentucky and against Butler.

Ditto the players. Brice Johnson and Kennedy Meeks entered the season with altered bodies and great expectations. Both have played well at times, but there remain nagging questions about their offensive inconsistency.

But of course the biggest example of a player stuck in neutral, searching for a rhythm and flow, was Marcus Paige.  

Not only is he our best player, the pre-season ACC player of the year and first team All-American, Paige carries the burden of being an actual student-athlete. He's asked to make shots, lead the Heels to championships, AND lead Carolina out of our post-Wainstein funk.   

We, or at least folks like me, need him to save the team and help restore our alma mater's reputation.

That's a lot on the slender shoulders of the Iowa junior. But with 8.5 seconds left and the Heels down one, Paige found to way to balance all those responsibilities - or at least figured out a way to bank them high off the glass and into the basket - and lead the Heels to their most important win of the season.

A play that big, to cap off a comeback that important, can save a season for a team and a player.  

And when that player is Marcus Paige it makes us, Tar Heels everywhere, feel better about Carolina - Dean's Carolina, the institution we believe in and cherish, THE university of the people - too.*

GO HEELS! 

* I may be overdoing it a bit, but as you can tell I love Marcus Paige. He's as Dean as they come. Anyway, we'll find out if he has turned around our season on Wednesday versus State. It will be quite a game, if for no other reason it will be State's 'we just beat the crap out of Duke' mojo versus our 'The Marcus Paige who single-handedly took down the Wolfpack in Raleigh last year is BACK.'

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP NOTE

If you only read one article about tonight's college football championship game read this one from the Post: Students Try to Find Their Place For College Football National Championship Game. The networks and big six conferences lined up the money, sponsors, boosters, capitalist pigs, and the athletes but forgot about the students. Big time college sports don't need to be reformed; they are fundamentally corrupt.   

Not THAT sad of a day

What is the best way to start a blog about one of the saddest days of the year, the day when the Tar Heels stop playing basketball?

It should not be just about one game, the final game of the season, but I suppose one has to start there. Oddly enough, it does not feel that bad, reviewing the loss to Iowa State.  The Heels played well, rebounded much better in the second half, and made shots.

Though it was a tough loss, that game contained many of the things that made this year's squad interesting and fun to watch, and also likeable.  What's not to like about a team that beats Michigan State IN East Lansing, beats the defending national champs, and smites all of our main rivals - Duke, NC State and Kentucky - in one season?

Sunday's game was a microcosm of the entire season.  It had J.P. Tokoto spinning and dunking, with a few steals, mid-range jumpers, even a bad turnover; Kennedy Meeks at his Little Sean May/taking down Louisville AND Michigan State best; Leslie McDonald finally getting to play and contributing - even Jackson Simmons taking a charge.*

It featured James Michael McAdoo keeping his head up, his persistence finally being rewarded as his drives to the basket resulted in points late.  It was JMM displaying the calm and leadership we sometimes take for granted, and then having the toughness to hit 2 big free throws.

And it featured Marcus Paige. There are plenty of adjectives to choose from in describing his play on Sunday and this year.  The best one is Tar Heel.

There are but a handful of Tar Heels who are extra special for their innate toughness, tenacity, brains, leadership - an understanding of the values stamped on Carolina basketball by Dean Smith. It is a short list: Bobby Jones, Phil Ford, Jimmy Black, George Lynch and David Noel.  Many others, like Kendall Marshall and Ademola Okulaja to name a few, come close. But it's a short list.

Marcus Paige is already one of those all time Tar Heels.

One reason so many of us care so much about Carolina basketball is that it ties us to the University we love.  The reason basketball is so central to our connection, again, is Dean.  His humility, wisdom and excellence are what we think of when we think of Carolina.

Not Carolina basketball - Carolina.

For me, Marcus Paige evokes the same thing. He is the personification of all of Dean's Carolina values. At a time when the athletic program is doing all it can to embarrass the University, Paige - an Academic and athletic All-American - restored the values that make Carolina CAROLINA.

He led the comeback, once again, against Iowa State, but his turnover late may have cost Carolina the game (though ISU's incredible shooting, and our spotty transition defense that left too many shooters too open, had more to do with it).

But can we - do we - really blame Paige for not being perfect, after the season he had, after the plays he made, and more importantly the way he carried himself, the way he epitomized why we love Carolina basketball and Carolina?  No.

Marcus Paige, Tar Heel.

GO HEELS!

* The game also did NOT feature Brice Johnson.  More on that next blog.  I will also look at ahead at next year, which looks very bright since Marcus Paige just tweeted that he is returning next year.

What a week

Quite the week for the Tar Heels: a big win against Kentucky; a frustrating yet explainable loss to Texas; then the big loss, when Carolina announced that P.J. Hairston would not be reinstated, ending his Carolina career before his junior year could even start.

But first, back to the Texas game. Not much to be said about that one, other than this is the kind of season this team is going to have. They're young, so will confound Tar Heel nation by coming out flat some games or missing tons of free throws.  The Heels played pretty well, and despite the sluggish start had tied the game midway through the first half.  

Then Carolina starting missing free throws, which kills a team twice - especially when you miss that many. One is you are obviously leaving points, free ones at that, on the rim.  Secondly, missed free throws and empty trips keep a team from picking up any momentum. That can wear you out physically and mentally, and it was evident versus Texas.

Also evident, for the first time this season, was Leslie 'Acutally I do indeed play for the Tar Heels' McDonald. Long an afterthought during his time in Chapel Hill, Leslie looked good in making 4 of 9 three-point shots.  For better or worse, he is now a key player, one the Heels will depend on to balance the offense and open things up for McAdoo but especially Meeks and Johnson and Hicks, who is likely to play more with Joel James hurt. 

Of course, most of us were counting on P.J. Hairston to play that role. Carolina's leading scorer from last season became tantamountly tantalizing as fans envisioned adding a player with his offensive game, particularly his outside and free throw shooting, and toughness to a team that has already beaten Kentucky, Michigan State and Louisville. 

I am of two minds on Hairston.  He clearly made some mistakes, with the biggest one being that he kept making the same one - speeding in a car rented by an individual of questionable character to put it mildly - over and over.  Even after being pulled over once he committed the same offense two more times.  Not good.

That said, he went to class while he was held out of nine games, and by all accounts was mature about the suspension, competed hard in practice, and was a good team mate.  Oh yeah, he was also embarrassed.  You would think that would mean something with the NCAA, but I guess not.

Hairston will likely go into the 2014 draft, an opportunity he turned down in favor of coming back to school last year.  Not exactly the way things are supposed to go for a student-athlete, especially one at Carolina. 

This team has shown that even without Hairston they can and will have a great season.  I wish the same could be said for P.J. Hairston.

GO HEELS! 

This Year's Model

Hard to believe this is my first blog, let alone blog about Carolina basketball, in months.  I'll admit that the combination of some lingering ennui about Carolina athletics in the wake of the on-going embarrassment involving the football team and the African-American studies department (perhaps combined with getting older) has kept me off line.

But as is often the case, a win over a rival like NC State has rekindled my enthusiasm.  The switch to a smaller lineup has seemingly resuscitated this year's basketball team AND the Carolina Hellenic Blue blog.

I shouldn't attribute too much to Saturday's nice win over the Pack since the Heels have actually been playing better of late. After getting spanked in Coral Gables by Miami Carolina has outplayed Duke yet lost due to some terrible foul shooting and one Blue Devil run in the second half, scored 93 points versus a tough Virginia team, won on the road at Georgia Tech (which is actually news in the Roy Williams era), before taking down NC State on Saturday.

The wins are justifiably credited to Carolina's new small line up and more specifically to the insertion of PJ Hairston into the starting line up at small forward. More on that move in a minute.

What makes each of those games significant is not only did Carolina play well and win 3 of those 4 contests, but that Carolina finally started doing what every good Carolina team usually does - which is do what they want to do, and impose their will on the game and their opponent.

Against Duke we got shots we wanted and were aggressive, but the win over the Wahoos is the best example.  Virginia likes to control tempo, but the Heels would not allow that to happen. They rebounded, ran the floor and made shots against Virginia's tough, pack-line defense.

That takes talent, but almost more importantly it takes confidence and a faith in your teammates and coach. It took a while for a young team, especially for our freshman point guard, to develop that confidence.

But now it's here, and it's fun to watch.

The interesting this about this year's model is the style of play the Heels are imposing on their opponents.  In a word, that style is very 'un-Carolina.'

For practically 60 years, to the days of Frank Maguire but canonized during the Dean Smith era, Carolina basketball has featured a "big man down low, feed the post first, inside out" offense.  Those big men could often run the floor, and other attributes such as getting shots in transition before the defense gets set have characterized Carolina basketball.


The recent run of powerhouse teams assembled by Roy Williams took that model to a different level with a dominant big man balanced by one or two lights out shooters on the wing and a terrific point guard.

First and foremost, Carolina's offense has always prioritized getting a good - or better yet easy - shot. Logically, the closer a player is to the basket - from either a pass down low or on a fast break or the secondary break - the easier the shot so the Heels have always looked inside first.

This year's team does NOT do that, in fact CAN NOT do that, and therefore makes this year's squad the most un-Carolina-like team since ....when?  Ever?

Even before the recent switch to a four guard lineup, the 2013 Heels were unbalanced and did not fit into the historical arc of Carolina basketball.

This year's team, with four guards and a power forward, is more like a modern NBA line up (or even dare I say recent Duke teams). Folks may have noticed that this year's NBA all star team ballot did not include a category for center; you voted for 2 back court players and 3 in the front court.  The three-point line and in my opinion Magic Johnson and the age of big guys who can handle have completely changed the game of basketball. Instead of going down low first, to a Hansbrough or Sean May or Eric Montross - or to a Kareem or Bill Russell or Wilt Chamberlain - today's basketball revolves around players who can slash to the rack and drive and dish, or positionless, offensive-polyskilled freaks like LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwayne Wade and Kevin Durant (or Michael Jordan for that matter).

You have to give ol' Roy credit for making that work this year (or criticize him, I suppose, for failing to recruit a successor to the May-Hansbrough-Zeller line).

But he does deserve credit. This small line up is starting to believe in itself, and obviously the coach is a big part of that. He's getting defense from a three-point specialist, great rebounding from his small forward, and leadership and savvy from his 150-pound freshman point guard.

And this weekend, this most un-Carolina line up did a great job of playing smart, winning Tar Heels basketball - and winning a rivalry game to boot.*

Go Heels!

 * and got me blogging again!

A Few More Thoughts 

• NC State LOOKS really good, and I wonder why they have struggled at times this year.  They have plus-talent at the one, two, four and five.  Richard Howell is particularly impressive. I guess the easiest explanation is one that came into play on Saturday; C.J. Leslie disappeared at times.  Credit Hairston for some great defense, too.
• It looks  like the ACC will have 5 teams - Carolina, Duke, NC State, Virginia and Miami - in the NCAA tournament, but that's it unless Maryland or FSU run the table in Greensboro.
• Two years ago I was convinced that Tony Bennett was in over his head at Virginia, but I was wrong.  A program seems to be building in Charlottesville.
• Though the Heels are doing well I don't see an first-team all ACC players on the roster.  My first team all-ACC team is Larkin, Plumlee, Howell, Joe Harris, and either Kenny Kadji or Erik Green.  Reggie Bullock and maybe Hairston could be second or third-team members.