North Carolina (12-0, 0-0 ACC) continued what could be a fairy-tale season by drubbing Big East foe Rutgers (9-4, 0-0 Big East) 97-75 Sunday evening. Rutgers closed within 12 points in the second half, but could not sustain enough momentum to get the lead to single digits.

Senior All-American and Player of the Year candidate Tyler Hansbrough led the way with 26 points on 10 of 15 shooting (.667) and 10 rebounds, his second double-double of the season.  He was also perfect from the charity stripe, hitting all six of his free throw attempts. 
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Well, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to Elliott Sadler.

Reports at NASCAR.com, jayski.com and elsewhere indicate that Sadler was given an unwelcome present just days before the new year and weeks before his pending wedding. George Gillet, now clearly calling the shots at Gillet Evernham Motorsports (GEM), has apparently fired the veteran driver and replaced him with young and unproven A.J. Allmendinger.

Why should this matter to Tar Heels? Elliott’s brother, Hermie Sadler, is a UNC graduate and the Sadler brothers have been long-time and outspoken supporters. Elliott has season tickets to UNC basketball and can often be found in the crowd (and occasionally on radio shows) during pre-Daytona games.  He even squeezes in some basketball during the lengthy NASCAR season.
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Hakeem Nicks did all he could for North Carolina (8-5, 4-4 ACC). 

He took three of T.J. Yates’ passes for touchdowns and totaled 217 yards in a performance that will likely increase the likelihood that Nicks departs for the greener pastures of the NFL.  He may, in fact, corral quite a bit of green as a potential 2nd-round WR pick.

A fourth-quarter fumble by Shaun Draughn on the Mountaineers’ 29-yard line and an interception carelessly tossed by Yates in the final possession were the final nails in the coffin, but the Tar Heels also failed to stop West Virginia’s passing game and 3rd-down offense.

West Virginia quarterback Pat White was an incredibly efficient 27 of 33 for 334 yards.  He also ran for 56 yards on 21 attempts, though UNC was much more effective at stopping his legs than they were his arm.  The Mountaineers continuously converted short third downs (12 of 19 overall), and yet the Heels still had more than enough opportunities to win the game.

Draughn’s fumble can mostly be excused.  He was wrapped up and almost down, with his legs bent awkwardly under him.  He held tight to the ball, but it was ripped away before any elbow, buttock, knee, arm, etc. could find the turf first.

Yates’ interception, on the other hand, was totally inexcusable.  He stared down his receiver, threw into heavy coverage, and was easily picked off.

This is the way the regular season went.  When North Carolina secured the football, they won, compiling a +8 turnover margin in their eight wins.  In the four games they lost, the Tar Heels had a far less impressive -4 turnover margin.

This team, and their leader Yates, will be presumably more mature and obviously more experienced when they take the field next fall.  Hopefully, there will be a lower incidence of unacceptable mistakes like Yates’ 4th-quarter interception. 

Though they will lose senior playmaker Brandon Tate and possibly Nicks (to the NFL), there are plenty of reasons for UNC to be hopeful for 2009, including another strong recruiting class on the way.

Butch Davis might want to duct tape a football to every single offensive player’s hands in the offseason.  The lesson is simple.  Give the ball to the other team and you are going to lose.

It’s been a while.

North Carolina (8-4, 4-4 ACC) has not won a bowl game since a 2001 victory over the Auburn Tigers in the Peach Bowl, and the last trip to the Meineke Car Care Bowl didn’t go so well.  In 2004, the Tar Heels were handled rather easily by Boston College, 37-24.

In 2008, fans in Chapel Hill have been cheering for the football team with an enthusiasm usually reserved for Roy Williams’ boys over in the Dean Dome. 

The end of the season was an obvious disappointment (key losses to Maryland on the road and N.C. State at home), but a bowl win will help put a lot of the late-season memories away for good.  It will also help reestablish UNC as a legitimate ACC contender in the years to come.

Although perennial powers Virginia Tech, Miami (FL), and Florida State are all expected to significantly improve in 2009, it appears that the Tar Heels are on pace to keep up with them.  They are young and, by all accounts, have a solid recruiting class coming in for next year.

Right now, however, the focus is on Charlotte and the West Virginia Mountaineers (8-4, 5-2 Big East).  Heels fans will be ready to talk about 2009 on Sunday, preferably with a bowl win in the rearview mirror.

West Virginia is also 0-1 in the Meineke Bowl, losing the inaugural matchup in 2002 to Virginia, 48-22.  The Mountaineers’ season is something of a mirror image of UNC’s, as they spent much of the year at or near the top of the Big East before collapsing at the end and handing the title to the Cincinnati Bearcats. 

Fans of both schools were hoping for an Orange Bowl matchup in Miami, but the late-season swoons have left this as a must-win for 2nd-year North Carolina coach Butch Davis and 1st-year West Virginia coach, Bill Stewart.

If North Carolina is able to pick up a win on Saturday, it will continue the momentum that Davis has built, greatly help recruiting (especially in-state and in nearby South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia), and make it at least a little more likely that the school can potentially evolve into a consistent threat to win the ACC.

Davis resisted the advances of several universities (most notably Tennessee) who came calling after disappointing seasons of their own.  He has Tar Heel fans hoping that he is truly devoted to staying in Chapel Hill long enough to build and sustain a successful football program, so that UNC can one day shed the mantle of being solely a “basketball school.”

There is a unique opportunity with Tommy Bowden “resigning” from Clemson, Phillip Fulmer being fired from Tennessee, and several other major programs having down years in the south and southeast.  One Clemson recruit has already signed on with Davis since the Bowden resignation.

UNC needs to seize this opportunity and take the next small step on the long road back from the bottom tier of the ACC.

Prediction:  North Carolina 31, West Virginia 27

Bonus Prediction:  Butch Davis stays in North Carolina at least through the 2012 season, if not for the rest of his career.

This is an abbreviated version for those who don’t want to read all the details of the longer post.  The long version can be found here.

For those of who you would prefer “a number and a nugget,” I’ve produced this shorter version.  As always, I strongly encourage you (for better or for worse) to comment on the rankings.

I’d like very much to see your rankings as well, and if there is enough interest, I may even compile them much like Jameson does with the teams’ rankings each week.

Here they are, short and sweet:

1.  Atlantic Coast

UNC, Duke and Wake Forest may very well be the top three teams in the nation.  The “middle of the pack” all have similar resumes:  difficult schedule, quality wins against ranked and unranked opponents, and a lack of bad losses.  Virginia is beyond awful, but even Virginia Tech is improving.  VMI has the best win in the state of Virginia right now (over Kentucky).

1a.  Big Ten

They are close enough to the ACC that I had to designate them “1a.” instead of “2.”  This weekend alone, Minnesota, Michigan State, and Purdue all notched impressive victories over Louisville, Texas, and Davidson, respectively. 

The conference also suffered some disappointing losses, with Iowa dropping a game to Drake and Northwestern losing to Stanford.  Penn State, Wisconsin, and Northwestern have all cooled off after hot starts.

Ultimately, the bottom of the Big Ten is slightly better than the ACC, the top is slightly worse, and the ACC gets the edge by winning the middle—by a very small margin, just like the result of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

3.  Big East

The losses at the top are mounting: Louisville to Western Kentucky and Minnesota, Syracuse to Cleveland State, Marquette to a Tennessee team that lost to Temple and could only beat Belmont by two, Georgetown also to Tennessee, and Notre Dame to UNC and Ohio State, though the Buckeyes are better than advertised. 

Connecticut and Pittsburgh remain undefeated, but the Huskies barely beat Buffalo and would have lost to Gonzaga had the Bulldogs not mishandled nearly every possession in the final minute of regulation.  The Panthers faced their first competition of any significance last night and were losing deep into the second half against Florida State.

With a poorly finished basement (Providence, DePaul, Rutgers, South Florida) and too many close calls or stunning losses at the top, the Big East has lost the right to be ranked above the ACC or Big Ten…for now.
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You can also read this article at Bleacher Report.

It is rarely difficult to write about sports at the University of North Carolina.

The men’s basketball team has been the unanimous #1 selection of the pollsters since the preseason, and Tyler Hansbrough just passed Phil Ford to become UNC’s all-time leading scorer.

The women’s basketball team currently sits at #2 in the polls.

Just last week, the women’s soccer team wrapped up its 19th NCAA title  in the 27-year history of the tournament, an astonishing achievement.

But for the inaugural post of this blog, I’d like to focus on a peripheral story, a story that is at times devastating, uplifting, tear-jerking, motivating, frustrating and inspiring.  It is the story of Jason Ray, the young man who put on a “sweaty Ram’s head” and became Rameses (UNC’s mascot) to thousands of adoring fans.

In some of his free time during 2008’s “March Madness,” the annual NCAA men’s basketball tournament, Jason had been walking on the side of the road, well off the highway, heading back to his hotel.  In a moment that would directly affect the lives of hundreds and indirectly affect the lives of many thousands more, he was struck by a vehicle and killed.  It later would turn out that the driver of the car allegedly did not have a valid license and that his father had switched seats with him before the police arrived.  Charges have been filed and the case is still pending.

On that day, it seemed that everyone in college basketball was a Tar Heel, as they mourned the loss of Jason.  I didn’t know Jason myself, though I was in his graduating class of 2007 at UNC.  I knew others who knew him and they never stopped talking about his intelligence and sense of humor, how much he enjoyed life, and how many smiles he brought to kids’ faces.

Jason didn’t stop caring about others, even in death.  He was an organ donor and, in this tragic moment, a small heart on his driver’s license and the courageous decisions of his family  gave the gift of life to many others.  Some lives were saved thanks to his organs and tissues; others were vastly improved.  The Ray family has remained active in promoting donor awareness, and a special has even aired on ESPN (E: 360).  For the full story, see this ESPN link.

I work in a major transplant center, and I see the impact that donors like Jason Ray have on the sick and dying.  I also see the positive impact of advocates like the Ray family.

This blog will be about UNC and ACC sports, primarily.  But for just a moment, I want it to be about the graciousness and the gifts given by a very special mascot and a very special person.  Thanks, Jason … we miss you.  Go Heels!

For those of you who are interested and live in North Carolina, you can now sign up online here to be an organ and / or tissue donor.