UNC 97, Rutgers 75

Rutgers played a great game. Unfortunately for the Scarlet Knights, they played a great UNC team and lost.

I'm glad that Marcus Ginyard is back and playing! Not only a great defender, Marcus maintains a lot of other strengths, such as leadership.

West Virginia 31, UNC 30

A great game, albeit strange, that showed two questionable defenses against two exciting offenses. Going into the game I thought it would be a low scoring game--WVU only allowed on average 16 points a game, and UNC averaged around 22. After the first quarter (WVU led 21-14 at this time), it was a low scoring game.

I think Hakeem Nicks will be playing in the NFL next year. He probably just played the best game of his career.

UNC--are we a bit flat?

UNC beat Valpo by 22 today, but for the 3rd straight game I've been underwelmed by the Heels. What's wrong?

First, UNC had a long break during exams, and they definitely are a bit flat. The legs are there, but the timing of plays have been noticably off kilter.

Second, UNC has played three weaker, no-name teams, and they haven't gotten up for these games.

I can't wait until we start the ACC regular season. We need some tougher competition that will make us "wake up" from this funk.

Tyler--all time UNC leading scorer

Great job Tyler! This picture was taken by my former roomie at UNC (I protect his identity--he was just an innocent party).

UNC Hoops legends

So Psycho T is approaching Phil Ford's all-time record for most points scored in UNC history. I don't believe UNC has ever had a player more focused than Tyler Hansbrough. So I ask everyone, where does Tyler rank among all-time UNC basketball players?

Going back into time, Carolina has many great players. Among them, I include John "Hook" Dillon, Bones McKinney, Lennie Rosenbluth, BillyCunningham, Larry Miller, Charlie Scott, Bob McAdoo, Bobby Jones, Mitch Kupchek, Walter Davis, Phil Ford, James Worthy, Michael Jordan, Sam Perkins, Brad Daughtery, Kenny Smith, George Lynch, Eric Montross, Derek Phelps, Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace, Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, Ed Cota, Sean May, Rashawn McCants, Raymond Felton, Tyler Hansbrough, Marvin Williams, Wayne Ellington, and Tywon Lawson. There are also many near greats, such as Al Wood, Mike O'Koren, Joseph Forte, Rick Fox, King Rice, Jeff McInnis, JR Reid, and Brendan Haywood.

So I've been trying my best to rank the top 10 players of all time. Here is my list.

1. Phil Ford--he dominated the game during his time. He could run, he could shoot, and he could pass the ball. His determination was as strong as any player in any period of time.
2. James Worthy--although he only played 3 years, and his freshman year he missed half the season, he was the main reason why UNC won the National Championship in 1982. Great player, as fast of a power forward in the college scene.
3. Michael Jordan. He was a better pro player, but he was an awesome college player, too. He was the 1984 Naismith player of the year.
4. Tyler Hansbrough. I've never seen a freshman lead a team like Psycho T led the 2005-06 basketball team. UNC lost a ton of talent after the 2004-05 National Championship team (May, Felton, M. Williams, McCants, J. Williams, Manuel, and Scott). In 2007, with some additional reinforcements, he led the Tar Heels to the 2007 ACC Championship. In 2008, he again led the Heels to the ACC Championship and to the Final Four.
5. Charlie Scott. Simply an awesome player. He was the first Black recruit of the program, and his leadership helped UNC reach the Final Four in 1968 and 1969. A great player whose game was inspirational. He helped break the ACC through the color barrier.
6. Antawn Jamison--No one could put the basketball into the basket faster than Jamison. Great personality, great defender, and a great leader.
7. Sam Perkins--the forgotten man on the 1982 UNC Championship team. Sam may have been the most coachable player Dean Smith ever had. He played great D, had a great shot, great range, and was the silent leader of the UNC basketball teams in the early 80's.
8. Larry Miller. Many people do not realize that Larry may have been the key to Dean Smith's ultimate success. Recruited in 1964, by the time he played his 3 years on the varsity, UNC reached the final four 2 times. Before Larry played at UNC, Dean Smith had four mediocre teams. He helped transform UNC into a powerhouse.
9. Raymond Felton. He was my favorite from the 2004-05 National Championship team. I don't believe there was a better leader on the court that year than Raymond. Without him, UNC would have been lucky to reach the Sweet Sixteen that year. Point of reason--remember the first game that year against Santa Clara? He didn't play, and we lost the game.
10. George Lynch. Great talent, incredible leader, and an incredible defender. His play and leadership guided UNC to the championship in 1993.

Feel free to comment.

UNC 100, Oral Roberts 84

How did Oral Roberts score 50 points in the 2nd half? This is a rhetorical question, so I don't expect anyone to answer.

UNC did enough to win the game, but obviously playing tough D was not part of the game plan. If we play a game like this in the ACC, we will probably lose.

Right now, our bench looks surprisingly thin. The only bench player that I feel comfortable watching is Ed Davis. Bobby Frasor is looking like an 8-10 minute player, which is about what I picture coming from Will Graves. Larry Drew looks like a freshman (which I expect from a FRESHMEN). He will be more dependable as the season progresses.

Bottom line: we miss Marcus Ginyard. Having Marcus back in the mix will strengthen our bench (either Marcus can play off the bench or Danny Green can go back and be the NCAA's best sixth man).

Economic Downturn--will this affect college sports?

College athletics rely on funding from Universities, boosters that guarantee salaries within the athletic departments, ticket sales, and advertising. Times are hard, and the ethical question I raise is the following: Why shouldn't athletic departments and athletic conferences not scale back?

Athletes are not the problem...I couldn't imagine being a student athlete. The time demands, studying, trying to fit into a team and understand a system. It's very hard, and I don't want any cuts to come at the expense of the players.

This is the main reason why I was against in expanding the ACC as far South as Miami all the way North to Boston College. Besides the fact that geographically neither school fits with the other 10 schools, the cost to travel to these locations are expensive. Can schools afford to travel to Maui, the West Coast, or Alaska anymore? I don't know, but I'd like to see programs control the traveling that are teams make.

Matt Doherty--peace to you

During the early 80's, Matt Doherty was one of my favorite players. He always played in a supporting role for our program, usually the 3rd or 4th offensive weapon of Coach Smith's arsenal. He always seemed to be on the court at crucial junctures of the game, and I cannot remember Matt ever causing the Heels to lose a game...as a player.

That being said, I never believed that Doherty should have been hired in the summer of 2000 as the replacement of Coach Gut. His resume was too thin for my liking, having only served 1 year as a head coach of a Division I team. Although that's one more year than Dean Smith had when he took over the program in 1961, the game had changed immensely in those 39 years. For instance, Dean only had 1 assistant coach his first year.

Matt's first problem was relieving Hanners, Sullivan, and Ford from their duties as coaches of the program. I fully support Matt's decision in taking his assistants from ND with him--he was entitled to do so. The one I blame is Baddour. Baddour should have never hired a head coach that would not have, at a minimum, retained Phil Ford as an assistant. Phil had been an assistant for 12 years, and to have sent him packing was wrong (even if they just shuffled him within the university).

Matt didn't have a lot of talent at the program in 2001, but he did the best he could with what he had. Remember, Phil had Lang, Capel, Owens, Haywood, Curry, Peppers, and Forte as his main contributers to the team (Curry and Peppers were better football players than basketball players). However, after losing a few games at the beginning of the season, he had UNC ranked #1 shortly after upseting Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium. I vividly remember the Heels having a section of students saying they were "Doh's Disciples".

The 2001-02 season was a train wreck. Haywood graduated, Curry and Peppers decided to only play football, and the new freshmen that year (Jawad Williams, Scott, and Manuel) were thrust into roles they were not ready to handle. Doh's patience wore thin, and the next thing you know some of his fringe players (Boone, Morrison) left the program.

Doh promised the 2002-03 season would be better, and it definitely was better. We beat UConn and Duke that year, and we even pulled an upset against Kansas. Unfortunately, practices were more painful with the program, and there were more freshmen (Saunders, Grant, May, McCants, and Felton) that had to go into action without being fully seasoned.

There are many issues that Matt created by himself. Obviously the players were in rebellion, and Matt's personality clashed with his players. But if it wasn't for Matt, would the 2004-05 UNC team won the National Championship?

So Matt Doherty, I know you will never read this post, but I do appreciate your role in UNC basketball. You were a splendid player, and you were an excellent recruiter. You were a good coach during the games, much better than I thought you would be when you were first hired. You had your faults, which only makes yourself human. I wished you would have knocked Chrissy Collins down when he confronted you at a UNC-Duke game, but that's okay too. I know you feel animosity towards our program, but I only hope you will forgive those who you believed on you.

Thank you Dean Smith

I don't hear many people discuss Dean Smith anymore. Coach Smith retired 11 years ago, and I still remember the reactions regarding his retirement. A wife of a friend of mine called me and said "My hubby is crying uncontrollably about Dean's decision. My hubby is also drunk!". The next day, when my friend was sober, I talked to him about the path of our program. We both agreed that in the short term UNC would be fine, but over the next 5 years there would be problems. The problems really lasted 7 years.

Coach Gut did an incredible job on keeping the program together, so well that he was in a position to win the National Championship in two of his three years. Unfortunately, recruiting was down, with only one good player, Joe Forte, that was succesfully recruited.

Enter Matt Doherty. If there was ever a man to be hired for the wrong position, Matt was the man. Not to insult Doherty, but he was not in a good position to start out with. He had good talent his first year, and he really had the Heels overachieving for about 2/3's of the season. On the same day that Dale Earnhardt died (I was a big Earnhardt fan), Carolina lost to lowly Clemson. That game was the official beginning of the end for Doherty. Doherty's style rubbed the players wrong, and his motivational talents had not yet developed. No doubt Doherty is a solid coach, but he was simply the wrong coach at the wrong time.

After the Doherty regime, here comes coach Roy. If there was ever a coach that resembled Coach Smith, it is Roy Williams. The differences are small (Coach Smith would drink Scotch and smoke, while Williams did neither. Coach Roy will use profanity, which is not in Coach Smith's vocabulary). Coach Williams inherited a team with emotional issues, and they did struggle in 2004. But who can forget 2005? Coach Williams won with the players that Doherty recruited.

Coach Smith, I want to thank you for everything you did for Carolina in your 36 years as head coach. Even while you were an assistant coach under Frank McGuire, you always believed that the program should be managed the right way. I really appreciated the fact that you never said one bad comment about Doherty, who you coached 4 years and who I'm sure still love. You have been loyal to our program for many moons, and for that, I say simply "Thank You".



After Doherty left the program.

UNC vs. West Virginia

Carolina will play the Mountaineers of West Virginia in the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte. I remember that WVA was in the top 10 in the early part of the season, only to be embarrassed by the Pirates of ECU. So what do we know about the matchup?

To begin with, UNC and WVA both played Rutgers and Connecticut. WVA beat Rutgers and UCONN 24-17 and 35-13, respectively. UNC beat Rutgers and UCONN 44-12 and 38-12, respectively. While usually comparing the common opponents is a great way to go, UNC's team is vastly different than the team that played Rutgers and UConn. Somewhere during November, UNC lost it's competitive edge. WVA, on the other hand, played poorly in the beginning of the season, turned around in the middle of the season, and then lost 2 of their last 4 games. WVA definitely disappointed the Mountaineer nation this year, but from what I've seen they have a lot of talent, especially on Defense.

I expect a low scoring game, and from my handicapping skills (are lack of), I believe WVA should be a touchdown favorite. I predict WVA 20, UNC 13.

Tim Tebow discussion

I'm probably will alienate some people by my comments, but I feel pressed to state my viewpoint on wearing a bible verse on one's eyeblack. I'm not awed by the simple fact that he was wearing Phillipians 4:13 on his face. I believe that one's Christian behavior is better addressed by actions, and only if needed, expressed with words. I believe that Phillipians 4:13 is powerful--"I can do everything through him who gives me strength". Tim Tebow demonstrated that the verse is 100% accurate thru his natural God-given talent. Tim Tebow demonstrated his moral fiber at the conclusion of the game by separating his teammate from an Alabama defender. Tim Tebow also demonstrated that simply wearing a verse on your cheek doesn't make you a Christian on its own merit.

Actions speak louder than words. That being said, Tim did nothing wrong by wearing the verse on his eyeblack, and he did nothing to shame one from wearing the verse on their eyeblack.

Carolina on a roll

UNC 98, Michigan State 63.

Carolina was nothing short of awesome last night. This victory impressed me more than the UNC-Asheville game. Michigan State played a team that would have destroyed any Division I team last night. It was scary how efficient UNC was this game.

BTW--I hate seeing our team play on an elevated court. One time in the first half I saw a Michigan State guard run for a ball and having to jump awkwardly off the court. Luckily he didn't get hurt. The NCAA's should prevent teams playing on these courts. Could you imagine if Danny Green or Ty Lawson jumped off the court and break an ankle or suffer a concussion? I wouldn't have been too happy.

Danny Green is on fire...he has shot 19-34 from 3 point range this year. That's outstanding. Deon Thompson is still the most improved player in the nation. And Hansbrough is still the best collegiate player.

Let me dwell a little on our bench. Bobby Frasor is a good guard who still lacks confidence. I want him to succeed because he's a tremendous leader on the bench, but he's not shown me much this year. Graves has picked it up on both ends of the court, and he may take some of Frasor's minutes this year. Drew is your typical freshman point guard--he will make some bonehead plays and then play like a seasoned veteran. Davis is nothing but solid and versatile. We also have Ginyard who will come back to our team eventually, and his presence will allow Green to come off the bench and be the best 6 man in college basketball (although Green deserves to play as a starter, I like having him come off the bench and ignite our play). Usually a team should get 40 minutes of quality play off its bench if they want to run and gun like we do. Right now, I expect that our bench will average about 55 minutes a game (in the aggregate).

Go Heels!

ACC Bowl selection time

On Saturday, December 6th, VT and BC will play for the right to attend a BCS Bowl. I will predict that BC will defeat VT by a score of 20-14. VT is struggling (last 2 victories are against Duke and Virginia, beating both by scores of 14-3 and 17-14, respectively), and BC looks like a team on the rise. For argument sake, let's say that BC goes to the Orange Bowl.

This leaves the following 9 teams to compete for 8 Bowls.

1. VT
2. GT
3. UNC
4. Miami
5. Florida State
6. Maryland
7. NC State
8. Clemson
9. Wake Forest

The following is my predictions for the bowls (in order of selection):

1. Florida State--Chick Fila Bowl, Atlanta. Florida State travels well, and I don't believe the folks in Atlanta will pass on the Seminoles.
2. Virginia Tech--Konica Minolta Bowl, Jacksonville. VT also travels well, and although they have struggled recently, I expect them to play at the old Gator Bowl.
3. Georgia Tech--Champs Sports Bowl.
4. Miami--Music City Bowl.
5. UNC--Meineke Car Bowl.
6. Clemson--Emerald Bowl.
7. Maryland--Humanitarian Bowl.
8. NC State--Eagle Bank Bowl.

The team left out in my scenario is Wake Forest. The Deacs have disappointed their fans this year with a mediocre season. I have left them out of the Bowls because I have my doubts that their fans will travel as well as the other teams listed. The Eagle Bank Bowl will not select the Deacs since they have already lost to the Midshipmen this year. I also believe that Maryland will travel better to Idaho than WF (same with Clemson and the Emerald Bowl). The folks in Charlotte would prefer the Heels over the Deacs because of the area's love for the Heels.

This is only my predictions, and more chance than not I'm not even close. Please share with me your thoughts.