The University of North Carolina Tarheels had an up and down weekend.  Unfortunately, the up wasn’t as down as the down turned out to be (if that makes any sense).  First, the football team.  Playing against their rival, North Carolina State University, the Tar Heels were looking to finish their regular season off on a high note.  Instead they got manhandled by NCSU QB Russell Wilson, who threw 4 TD’s.  It wasn’t his performance though that hurt the Heels.  With about five minutes to play, the Wolfpack blocked a Tarheel field goal and held on to win 28-27.

So what’s next for Tar Heel Football?  Well, UNC was ranked 24 going into the game, but sinc they lost, they will most likely drop out of the top 25.  They are still bowl eligble, so stay tuned to see where they get the invite.

The defending champion men’s basketball team, got a win sunday night against a Nevada team that will surely be dancing come March.  I was concerned about this game, because it is sandwiched in their with Carolina’s tough games coming up against Michigan State, Kentucky, and Texas…all Top 10 teams.  It’s a good thing they won, but it took a little bit of work.  Nevada had two pre-season WAC Player of the Years on their team in Armon Johnson and Luke Babbitt, and they did all they could to challenge the Heels.  The first half, in my opinion, went as planned, with UNC playing well enough to have a decent lead.  The second-half though was where I think UNC will lose a few games they shouldn’t this season.  The youth and inexperience of this team was evident, when they allowed Nevada to get right back into the game and at one point regain the lead.  But just like in the football game on Saturday, somewhere around the five minute mark, the game changed…this time in the Heels favor.  A stout defensive performance during this time, and good shooting by point guard Larry Drew II allowed the Heels to go on a big run and seal up the victory with a score of 80-73.

So, what now?  Well, it gets a lot tougher for UNC Basketball.  Tommorow, they play #2 Michigan State in a Championship rematch.  On December 5th, the Heels play #5 Kentucky, then later in the month play #3 Texas.  Get through this stretch with a one or two wins, and fans might be able to get excited about the opportunity this team has in ACC play.  One thing is for sure though, keep the turnovers down and this team could be something to work with come tourny time.

Wow, just saw that the UNC Tarheels Men’s Basketball Team dropped from #4 to #12 in the rankings after, well, let’s face it, after getting waxed by Syracuse (who, for the record I think is a very good, very dangerous basketball team.  They actually rose in the rankings to #9.).  Let’s not panic here Heel fans.  We all knew coming into this season we were going to be have to start over after losing all those studs from the Championship team.  When I first saw that we were ranked number #4 in the pre-season, my first thought was “Really?!?!? 4???  Are we that good?” followed by “We trying to repeat?”  Well, after watching the Syracuse game I came to this conclusion: This season will be rough.  I’m sure we’ll get into the tournament, win a game or two, maybe even make a surprise run to the elite 8 (dare I say, could we get to the Final Four).  But we are not repeating this year.  The team is too young and experienced.  They have way too many turnovers.  The team also has no outside perimeter shooters that can be relied on like Dennis Green and Wayne Ellington were.  I’m not trying to knock this team.  I actually like this team alot.  We could have more talent throughout the entire squad then we had for the 2005 and 2009 Championship teams.  These guys we have now are going to be really good.  Tyler Zeller already looks like he’s going to be very very good.  Ed Davis (I call him Old School) could be the guy that brings the toughness we need.  The Wear Twins (Can we come up with a good nickname for them?  Something catchy.  They wear numbers 34 and 43.  See if we can work with that.  I want something cool to call these guys) I think will be very good.  And as soon as Larry Drew II comes around I think he is going to be very good at point for us.  This team just needs to grow together, get familiar, get experience, and keep the turnovers low.  I see more championships in this teams future.  Maybe next year, maybe the year after.  But they have the talent, just not the experience to get it done this year.  I think it’s Kansas’ year, like it was our year last year.  By they way, did I mention that next year the Tarheels will be bringing in the nastiest number 1 high school player in the country?  Harrison Barnes is going to become a fan favorite.  And they best part about him?  He spurned Duke to come play for the Heels.  Stay patient Heels fans, and just try to enjoy this team in its youth.  It only gets better from here.

Hell, fellow Tarheel fans! I have just been approved to write on this blog.  This is officially my first post for Carolina Tar Heel Blue.  I am a big UNC fan and I try to watch every single game possible.  My objective for this blog is to provide opinions, open up conversations and/or debates, and provide factual information concerning the Tarheels and everything related to the Tarheels.  This should be fun, I am really looking forward to it.  I look forward to hearing back from you.  So if you have any questions, comments, concerns, nice/mean things to say about me have at it.  Let’s go Heels!!