Blind Side

It's hard to tie the game when your arm(s) are being held back by the defensive player (courtesy of the LA Times with some help from our DIY at despair.com).


In what has to be the biggest story to follow with the UCLA men's basketball season, if not all of college basketball, the officiating in a UCLA game again favored the Bruins. It is one thing when bad calls fall both ways, but at least three horrendous calls (not including the blown call of the game winning shot that went over the backboard) have gone UCLA's way in game deciding plays. How on earth can so many game deciding plays favor one team? I am not suggesting a conspiracy, but maybe the officials ought to eliminate some of the bias towards said team. It is not uncommon for players to get calls all the time (think D-Wade in the NBA finals a few years back), but a whole team? This is ridiculous!

Day 2 NCAAs

Some thoughts of day 2 of action at the Men's NCAA basketball tourney:

For starters, even though I did not catch the entire Heels game, that is the kind of win you want to start the tourney. I mean, it isn't every day when you hit the 101 mark with 4 mins to go and your scrubs end up playing 3+ minutes and Surry Wood gets an alley oop. Just crazy.

Although I think Arkansas may be playing better ball now, I sure am glad not to get Indiana in the 2nd round. Indiana may be struggling after the Sampson fiasco, but they have some crazy good players that I would not want to face in the 2nd round of the tourney.

I feel bad for Clemson choking away another big lead or maybe they just got caught by the 'Turmoil in Tampa'. I guess they just never figured out a way to close out games and this showed again. Once they tighten up it is all downhill. That and the abnormal number of treys from way the hell out they took.

The W. KY ending was crazy. I was following the game at work and got to catch the ending. I still cannot believe the shot that kid hit over 2 guys...or wait, was it 3 defenders?

The San Diego ending was just as crazy, with the added craziness that UConn looked horrid for a huge chunk of the game (even with AJ Price getting hurt). I guess I got used to watching us play because I am not used to missing lots of shots from 5 feet away where you don't even hit the basket. I thought the most telling point of the game, besides the game winning shot, was Calhoun calling a TO as one of his players was about to shoot a wide open three. Just not a pretty scene.

Vandy got destroyed by Siena. There have been some grumblings (not an expert but it goes to the point) before the tournament about Vandy being mostly good at home and mostly mediocre away from home. The home court advantage may have something to do wit the weird configuration of the court, where the team benches are at the end of the floor as opposed to the side.

Out of the first weekend, three out of the four #1 seeds just overpowered their opponent in the first game. The only one that didn't clobber the #16 seed was really Memphis. While a 87-63 win is clearly a butt kicking, Memphis just didn't run away with their game as badly as the other #1 seeds (Kansas, UCLA, UNC).

One last note. I hope Bobby Knight goes back to coaching, not only because he is a good basketball coach but also because he is completely life-less as a TV commentator. He rambles on and on and lacks the spice that always made him entertaining in press conferences.

Enjoy round 2 today and tomorrow.

A picture

In the end the score read 76-68.

Let the Games Begin

With all that has happened to the UNC community on the days after the Eve Carson murder, it is hard to think about the UNC-dook game. Yet, the insatiable beast of time does not but slow down a bit, just a wee bit, just enough for us to gather our thoughts before it demands that we keep moving along. As such, there will be a brief moment of silence prior to tonight's game to honor Eve and to show the support of us as a community to her family and friends. I hope we can all use that small moment to honor Eve and to honor those around us that in present and past help us become better human beings. I also hope that we all use this brief moment of silence to reflect upon ourselves and find a way to continue the work of Eve Carson. I hope in her death our community grows stronger and learn to give back to those around us with as much abandon as she did.

And once that moment of silence is done, I do hope we beat dook. I hope.

Day of Silence

Day of silence on the blog in honor of Eve Carson and her family.

The Good Guys

Now it is time to talk about the good guys a little. I want to start off with this little excerpt about Marcus Ginyard. I know having a summer job doesn't mean he is a good guy, but how many DI players do you know get out of their way to hold a summer job? That's what I thought The story was off the N&O but I cannot find the original article.

CHAPEL HILL - North Carolina's basketball season ended more than a month ago. But three nights a week on this town's crowded streets, sophomore Marcus Ginyard is still doing what he does best: working.

"Gotta go, gotta get there fast," Ginyard said Thursday evening, grabbing two tortilla wrap orders, racing to his 1995 pea-green-and-black Caprice Classic, and navigating toward South Campus. "People want their food fresh."

These days, it isn't the game that's on the line, but the tips. Ginyard, a player known for his defense and hustle, averaged 4.1 points per game last season. He's currently averaging about $2 a delivery.

Ginyard is one of only roughly 50 Tar Heel scholarship athletes -- out of about 700 getting a full or partial ride -- who work part-time while carrying a full course load and maintaining a rigorous workout schedule.

He started as a delivery guy for Franklin Street-based [B]Ski's Tortilla Wrap Grill after hoops season to save some extra rent money because he and several teammates are moving into a 3,100-square-foot house off campus. While earning minimum wage ($6.15 an hour) plus tips, he says he's learning something else: responsibility.

"It's kind of like practice: You have to be there on time, you have to be ready to work, and you have to be a member of the team,'' Ginyard said, cranking up the country music after being no-tipped on one delivery and pocketing $3 on the second. "And for me, I enjoy it, because I like talking to people, meeting people, surprising people."

PS-my condolences go to the family and friends of Eve Carson, UNC student body prez who was killed yesterday.

UNC Basketball Mailbag

We take a brief break on the [cheater] dookie bashing to bring you this Q&A from the UNC Basketball Mailbag from Tarheelblue. And yes, I am extra stoked that this came out and that Q and Surry Wood had a nice game against Florida St.

I have a quick stats question about Tyler's FT shooting. I know he has been to the FT line more than any other Tar Heel and that he shoots around 77% from the line, which is pretty darn good. The only time he seems to show that he gets tired is when he is shooting FTs while winded, as expected. My question is, does the FT shooting % for Tyler vary from 1st to 2nd halves or when he has played more minutes? I know this is not a direct way to measure that statistic but I figured this may shed some light.
Bernardo
UNC Alum Class 2007
Nashville, TN

Lauren writes: On the season, Hansbrough has made 113-of-133 free throws (85%) in the first half of games and 127-of-163 (77.9%) in the second half. He has also made 11-of-14 free throws (78.6%) in the four overtime periods Carolina has played in. He missed both attempts in the first overtime game at Clemson and has since made 11-of-12. In ACC play alone, Hansbrough has made 54-of-62 free throws in the first half (87.1%) and 64-of-84 in the second half (76.2%).

All of those percentages are good, but it does seem to be true that Hansbrough starts to lose his legs a bit at the line. In Carolina's six blowout ACC wins, Hansbrough has shot 33-of-40 from the foul line in the second half (82.5%) but in Carolina's eight close or overtime games, he has shot 42-of-58 (72.4%) in the second half and overtimes. In the second half alone of those close contests, he has shot 31-of-44 (70.5%).

Rebounding would be another sign of weak legs, though, and that has not been a weak point for Hansbrough in either half. The fewest rebounds he has had in the second half of an ACC game this season is two; in seven of 14 second halves in ACC play, he has five or more rebounds (including 11 in the second half against duke). He also has a ridiculous 14 rebounds in four overtime periods (20 minutes), or 0.7 rebounds per minute. Turnovers might also be a sign of fatigue - in ACC play, Hansbrough has 17 first-half turnovers compared to 13 second-half turnovers. He has just one overtime turnover. On the season, he has 34 first-half turnovers to 28 second-half turnovers. His steals also go up from the first to second half in ACC play, from six total first-half steals to 15 second-half steals and one overtime steal.

Hansbrough has failed to shoot 50% or higher from the field in just 11 first halves in 29 games this season. Of those 11, he turned it around and shot 50% or better in the second half eight times. The Boston College game Saturday snapped a six-game streak of shooting at least 50% in the first half and an 11-game streak of shooting at least 50% in one half.

He has failed to shoot at least 50% from the field in the second half in just nine of 29 games this season. He has shot 59.2% from the field on the season in the second half compared to 52% in the first half. Since ACC play began, Hansbrough has improved his point totals from the first to the second half in seven of 15 games. The biggest improvement came at Miami - he scored just eight points in the first half and went off for 27 in the second half. He has also had at least one double-digit half in each of the last seven games.

That kind of improvement just shows what kind of will Hansbrough has, as if Carolina fans needed additional evidence. But what shows the kind of steadiness that causes the fans and the media alike to sometimes take him for granted is this:

(In ACC play)
1st half: 11.6 points per game, 5.4 rebounds per game
2nd half: 11.4 points per game, 5.0 rebounds per game

He [the king of the cheaters] is a classy guy

When I think of a class act I always think of this guy before anyone else. Then again, would a class act say this about his player smashing his elbow on an opposing player's face? And defend a player that stomped on a defender's chest? Again, when thinking classy guys and classy institution shouldn't we always refer to dook first?

But seriously, if you wanted to have one guy teach your kid about how to behave in and out of the court, I think THIS GUY is really your guy. No, really, he is your guy. The guy won't even curse in front of your kids.

Addendum:

I saw this in the quotes from Roy's weekly radio show and it cracked me up:

On the team's superstitions -
"I've gotten a lot better - I'm better than I used to be. I used to be really superstitious and I guess I still am compared to most people. I walked today, found a penny that was head up and I put it in my pocket. At North Carolina State I found a penny during the day and a quarter in State's locker room. ... There are a lot of silly things that we do. Steve Robinson goes into the locker room during pregame warmups at the 13:00 mark ... If I wear a new suit or new tie and we get beat, you ain't ever going to see me wear that at another basketball game ... We've got all kinds of little crazy stuff. Never get a haircut on game day. With the Olympic Team, Larry Brown and Greg Popavich got a haircut on game day and we lost to Germany in an exhibition game and I told them it was their fault."

This is why, this is why, this is why you suck

Not PG 13 and there is a lot of cursing but always enjoyable and says a lot about the [cheaters] dookies.

The Flop

In part two of the weekly series on [cheating] dookies we have the highly entertaining Greg "Tea Bag" Paulus. Greg's biggest accomplishment was helping UNC lure his little brother to play QB at the Chapel on the Hill. For that, Greg, we thank you.

Once a [cheater] dookie, always a [cheater] dookie

With one week to go before the rematch between UNC and the dookies this Saturday night in the itty-bitty-tiny shed called cameron indoor, I thought it would be a good time to point out this story in the NY Times (an impartial source to the UNC-dook rivalry I may add). I just love it when dookies go [cheat] through life and act like they are just doing it because everyone else is too. As a matter of fact I wouldn't be at all surprised if a dookie-run team starts a cycling team or a team that employs the likes of Barry "Big Head" Bonds and Roger "shot o'roids" Clemens. Let the fireworks begin!

Note: the one dookie that gets a reprieve because I think he is a good guy and I am sure this happened after he drank water from certain well on the Hill is Jay Bilas.