Tonight will be a true test. The Tarheels will travel to Little John to face the Clemson Tigers. History shows that the Heels do very well against the Tigers. You just might as well through that out the window. Everytime UNC plays Clemson, my heart beats rapidly. I can never relaz when the Heels play these guys. Everytime it seems like the Tigers get closer and closer to beating Carolina. Last year UNC beat them 94 to 70. Of course they did, last  year’s team was the national champions! To really discover my phobia of Tarheel games vs. Clemson you have to go back a year or two.

                              January 6 2008: North Carolina 90 Clemson 88 F/OT- I probably paced back and forth at least a mile while watching this game. The score was 87 to 88 with Clemson on top.  05.4 seconds to go Hansbrough inbounds to Lawson he dribbles passes it to Ellington for the three and SWISH; with .004 left. One of the happiest moments of my tarheel fan life……..probably top ten. What made it so much better was looking at the stunned faces of the Clemson fans. I loved it.

                            February 10 2008: North Carolina 103 Clemson 93 F/2OT- Carolina was down for the most part of regulation. Halfway throught the second half they decide to play some basketball. Later in the 2nd half both teams exchange some threes and Clinton Thomas, of all people, drives into the lane with the game tying layup to send the game into overtime. In overtime Clinton Thomas sinks to clutch free throws to send the game into the second overtime. (One of Clinton Thomas’s best performances)  So in the second overtime North Carolina starts to pull away, thus the score being 103 to 93. A very huge scare, but like before, the Heels survived

                            March 16 2008: North Carolina 86 Clemson 81 (ACC Championship)- Fresh off a game winning shot by Hansbrough against Virgina Tech, the Tarheels faced of versus the Tigers for a third time. It was either the Tigers or play Duke for a third time. So it didn’t really matter who the Heels faced I would have been equally as nervous. The game was close all the way through. Clemson  had a three point halftime lead, but gave it up in the second half to Carolina. The Heels win the ACC, but go on to get demolished by Kansas in the Final Four. Anyways……..

This Carolina team is full of youngsters. They are nowhere near the best of their ability. The team turns the ball over way to much, terrible free throw shooting, and not enough three point field goals to take away the zone defense that Carolina can never seem to figure out, but I have seen shots of brilliance in this team. They beat a very good Ohio State team, a well coached Michigan State team looking for revenge, and almost beat a spectacular Kentucky team. What do I expect? A very close game. Will the Heels pull it out. I have no idea. I just know that my palms are sweaty with anticipation just thinking of tonight’s game.

Can I get a smile, Leonard Hamilton?

Florida State’s coach entered the year somewhat embattled and at least on the “warm seat” after last year’s season once again failed to live up to many fans’ expectations.

He finds himself a bit more comfortable after a solid start to the year, but life could still be a bit better for the Seminoles. Hamilton’s young men seem to be a bubble team year after year, and 2008-09 is looking no different. Read the rest of this entry »

(Note:  You can also read this article and other NCAA basketball articles at Bleacher Report.)

It is time to look at the next batch of conferences in this series that honors the true forces in NCAA basketball, the fruitcakes who like to play Jekyll and Hyde, and the frauds that have been exposed (or are in the process of being exposed) as overrated. 

This edition examines the Big Ten, Big XII, CAA, and Conference USA. The analysis continues to move in alphabetical order to avoid any charges of bias.

For complete definitions and a thorough look at the ACC, Atlantic 10, Big East, and Big South, click here. To quickly wrap up what has already been discussed, I’ve provided the following table, with a couple of sentences for the conferences not already examined in-depth. Read the rest of this entry »

This is a somewhat painful article to write as a devoted UNC graduate living and working in Chapel Hill, but I feel it is the truth. Read the rest of this entry »

After a little over two months of the college basketball season, there is now enough information, including a few conference matchups, to make some early judgments on where the teams stand vis-a-vis their preseason expectations.

After looking at the major and many of the mid-major conferences, I have concluded that nearly every one of them has at least one “force,” one “fraud,” and one “fruitcake” (a team that would make Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde proud).

The definitions are as follows:

The Force: This is a team that much is or was expected of, and they are delivering on those expectations.  They are not just winning now; they will continue to win.  They must be a legitimate threat to win the regular-season conference title.  They need not have been a preseason favorite, but they need to have proven that they are “the real thing.”

The Fruitcake (pictured above): This is a team that you don’t want to place any wagers on.  One day, they might take down a top-5 team; the next, they may lose to a mediocre team from the Atlantic 10.  They are the Jekylls and Hydes…one can never be sure which team will show up on any given day.

The Fraud: This is a team that either has a gaudy record because they have been beating up on inferior opponents or has been thoroughly underwhelming not because they lack the talent, but because they were overrated to begin with.  They may or may not have been exposed yet, but are candidates for a one-and-done in March, if they are playing in the NCAA tournament at all. Read the rest of this entry »

For North Carolina, the way to spell relief after an 0-2 start in ACC play was V-I-R-G-I-N-I-A. 

Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, and Danny Green were the key elements in an 83-61 victory in which UNC returned to playing “Carolina basketball,” and a collective sigh of relief was released by the fans in Chapel Hill and Tar Heel coach Roy Williams, to be sure.

The formula is not difficult:

1.  Ty Lawson, take care of the ball and get back to the form that allowed you to lead the nation in turnover to assist ratio.  Get the ball to Hansbrough (see No. 2).  Please, please move your feet on defense.

2.  Tyler Hansbrough, flail that gigantic booty around as well as your sixteen arms and elbows.  Get in the lane, grab rebounds, act like the opponent stole your favorite childhood toy out of your garage (the basketball), and get it back.  Keep going up and grabbing the ball until they can do nothing more than hack you and then punish them by hitting more than 80% of your free throws. Read the rest of this entry »

At least the ridiculous talk of an undefeated season can end.

UNC joined the likes of Oklahoma, Connecticut, and Duke in losing a stunner to fall from the ranks of the unbeaten.

North Carolina reverted to the poor form it displayed in losses last year at home to Maryland and Duke, as well as the devastating loss to Kansas in the Final Four.

They also showed that no one will breeze through the ACC, including a team that returned all five starters from a national championship contender in 2007-08.

Don’t take anything away from Boston College; they played better than the unanimous No. 1 team on this night, and they fully earned and deserve this victory.

Let’s look at what I listed as the keys to a North Carolina victory, see how well the Heels did in achieving them. Afterward, I’ll hand out some offensive and defensive grades. Read the rest of this entry »

Conventional wisdom has it that three conferences (the ACC, Big East and Big Ten) have separated themselves from the rest of the pack.

Bleacher Creatures appear to see it differently, clearly tiering the conferences into just two at the top and three more a significant step behind. Read ahead to find which conferences fall where in the first installment of the Conference Rankings, compiled from lists submitted by fans from coast to coast.

If you would like to read the original version of Conference Rankings (which were my own rankings only), you can read the long version here or the short version here. If you like a good background story, it will get you up to speed on most of what happened in November and December. Read the rest of this entry »

Aw, shucks, Roy Williams.  It’s time for some dadgum Atlantic Coast Conference play.

Unanimous No. 1 North Carolina (13-0) opens play at home against Boston College (12-2) on Jan. 4, and the Tar Heels would be wise not to underestimate this potentially dangerous team.

The Eagles have slipped up just twice this season, with consecutive losses late in November.  The loss to St. Louis was embarrassing for BC, but they have poured it on since then, losing a hard-fought 71-64 contest to then-No. 10 Purdue before reeling off nine in a row, including close wins over Iowa, Massachusetts, UAB, and Providence. Read the rest of this entry »

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.
Read the rest of this entry »