On March 7th, 1998 I went out and bought my first car. It was a Ford Escort and as I was at the dealer I watched UNC top Maryland in OT to advance to the ACC Championship. The next day UNC played Duke for the ACC title and dominated the Blue Devils to win by 15. The reason I bring this up is I bought a new(used) car yesterday and it also a nice shade of Carolina blue. I am just hoping the Heels can repeat the same feat against Duke they pulled off ten years ago today.
Open game thread for your commenting pleasure. I will be watching the game with some folks and will drop thoughts when I get a chance.
GO HEELS! BEAT DUKE!
9:12 PM: I love the start. UNC is controlling the boards, getting about anything they want on offense and the defense has been very good. I hope they can play like this the whole game because Duke looks a little off right now.
9:21 PM: Heels were a little flat through that four minute stretch but they are still controlling the boards and with Zoubek and Thomas tagged with two fouls early, that come be trouble for Duke.
9:32 PM: Well a garbage offensive foul calls taints what has been a terrific stretch for UNC. The defense has been ASTOUNDING and the offense working largely without using Hansbrough all that much. Lawson got that drive to the hoop looking like his old self and if that continues the Heels could start clicking here. Heels up 11 at the 3rd TV timeout.
9:46 PM: DANNY GREEN WITH THE POSTER!!!!!
9:48 PM: Duke makes a run, gets some three and UNC answers. Danny Green with the big plays and they are up double digits without Hansbrough making big contributions.
9:54 PM: UNC 42 Duke 31 at halftime. The defense has been incredible and the move to put a taller player in Demarcus Nelson is pure genius on the part of Roy. I have not seen this team play defense like this all season and if they can play the 2nd half like they normally do this game is over. Duke has basically got four threes from Greg Paulus and that is about it. Ty Lawson looks much better, has been able to do some of the things he normally does but still tentative. And the Heels have done this with Hansbrough having a quiet eight points and Danny Green stepping up huge.
10:18 PM: Heels not controlling the boards and Duke is playing better than UNC is right now. The lead is down to five and it is not like we did not know it was not going to happen. What is UNC to do? Hit some clutch shots and Duke should hit a dry spell.
10:28 PM: Lead down to three and it feels like the Heels are just hanging on. They need a run to extend this back out and knock Duke back a little mentally. Right now Duke feels like they can get anything they want. UNC now being outrebounded after doing a great job on the boards in the first half.
10:41 PM: This is killing me. Heels had so many chances to push the lead back out at 57-54 and missed them now it is tied and Duke has the ball. UNC is a tough team and Hansbrough will be back in for the stretch run now.
10:47 PM: Honestly. We cannot buy a shot right now and it feels like we are one Duke three away from being down five and in deep trouble.
11:01 PM: REGULAR SEASON CHAMPS BABY!!!!!
March 8, 2008 at 8:40 pm |
Writing from Argentina, and desperately downloading software to try to watch the game online. GO HEELS!
March 8, 2008 at 8:51 pm |
Alma mater o muerte, Wilson, venceremos! Que ganen los tar heels!
March 8, 2008 at 8:55 pm |
Espn360 is carrying this so I can watch online, too. Just be ready for them to cut off the online feed for the game in the last minute if it goes long… Hopefully by then the heels will have it well in hand.
March 8, 2008 at 9:14 pm |
Where Krewzaroosky’s ribbon???
March 8, 2008 at 9:15 pm |
So was everyone in Cameron wearing an Eve Carson ribbon except K? If so, I guess Wojo had on two, right?
March 8, 2008 at 9:16 pm |
RJ beat me to it.
March 8, 2008 at 9:23 pm |
No worries…great minds think alike.
March 8, 2008 at 9:36 pm |
A few less visuals of Dickie V, please!
March 8, 2008 at 9:47 pm |
And I believe it’s spelled Shewshevski, RJ.
March 8, 2008 at 9:48 pm |
Best part of the Green dunk was watching Paulus start to flop before Green even jumped!
March 8, 2008 at 9:51 pm |
My 7 year old is having trouble with “Krzyzewski”, but he’s got a good handle on “Ratface”
March 8, 2008 at 9:54 pm |
Love the first half.
March 8, 2008 at 9:56 pm |
that was a reference to an early 90’s Bud Light commercial…anyone but me remember?
March 8, 2008 at 10:03 pm |
Hopefully, Paulus will not be too “testy” after that dunk!
March 8, 2008 at 10:04 pm |
i recall a Seinfeld reference about wearing the ribbon… Kosmo Kramer refused to wear a ribbon and got jumped for not wearing it
March 8, 2008 at 10:04 pm |
I hate K but I loved two of his ads: The one were he jumps up and down in the backyard and says “great shot, Laettner! Way to go.,” and the one for Budlight where the guys says “I am Coach Kruisulwooski.”
March 8, 2008 at 10:06 pm |
Thank the Lord that Condi Rice did not come to our game….
March 8, 2008 at 10:23 pm |
Yeah, Wayne!
March 8, 2008 at 10:34 pm |
How is it possible that Dook can go ten minutes with no foul?
March 8, 2008 at 10:52 pm |
If the Heels win Psycho T can look back and say he went over 2000 on a very big basket.
March 8, 2008 at 10:57 pm |
Whooooooooooooo!
March 8, 2008 at 10:59 pm |
This team has a HUGE heart!
March 8, 2008 at 11:01 pm |
Happy Senior Day, Demarcus, You were our best player, along with Gerald!
March 8, 2008 at 11:02 pm |
Duke played the perfect game, at home, with the officials letting everything go and it still wasn’t enough for Carolina’s man-to-man defense.
March 8, 2008 at 11:04 pm |
Where’s Chris now with his “Roy is an idiot if he doesn’t play zone” act now???
March 8, 2008 at 11:04 pm |
Danny…freakin…Green!
March 8, 2008 at 11:05 pm |
Go Heels! Yeah, beat down Duke at home
March 8, 2008 at 11:06 pm |
Yeah, Chris, you only missed it by 17 points!
March 8, 2008 at 11:07 pm |
WWWWOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!!!!!!! go Heels
March 8, 2008 at 11:09 pm |
If anyone had said that we would win without Tyler making a single free throw, I would have doubted that. Duke did everything right, especially in the second half and we still won a close game at their place for the 3rd year in a row. Road Warriors!
March 8, 2008 at 11:09 pm |
Hey, I know he was wrong, but if you don’t mind let’s stay focused on the big win and not calling out fellow Heels fan for being wrong about something.
Thanks.
March 8, 2008 at 11:10 pm |
kudos to the Refs for letting both teams play.
March 8, 2008 at 11:11 pm |
Roy is a great coach and he has a great system. I always believed in your Roy! Chris is welcome back and let’s get ready for the post-season.
March 8, 2008 at 11:13 pm |
15 boards for Tyler. Z had a much bigger effect than McFarland did.
March 8, 2008 at 11:14 pm |
I thought Roy’s substitutions were key at about the 6 minute mark.
March 8, 2008 at 11:14 pm |
I wonder if Marcus is still hurt, James?
March 8, 2008 at 11:14 pm |
Yeah, he is and to be honest I thought some zone might be in order but the incredible genius of putting a taller player on Nelson and taking away the finishing play and a lot of the kickouts.
March 8, 2008 at 11:15 pm |
horrible game by Marcus, but he’ll have another chance(s)!
March 8, 2008 at 11:15 pm |
Q’s three was huge. We really needed that.
March 8, 2008 at 11:16 pm |
They were really letting the teams play underneath. I have never seen so many contested inside shots, drives and rebounds.
March 8, 2008 at 11:17 pm |
not calling anyone out, but does anyone still doubt Scheyer’s role with that team? ie-not the “5th option”?
March 8, 2008 at 11:17 pm |
Sorry, THF.
March 8, 2008 at 11:18 pm |
Marcus is from up here in DC, so I have followed him closely. I was disappointed when Echefu turned us down because we would have had a fab 5 in 2006 with 2 guys from DC.
March 8, 2008 at 11:20 pm |
You didn’t do anything wrong, C. Michael. He posted the same message over and over today and then insulted THF about his IP address, but the point of this site is THF’s love of UNC ball and staying positive, even after crushing losses like the Georgetown game, lol.
March 8, 2008 at 11:22 pm |
good point THF, and I thought the same thing–the fact that the Refs let em play really helped us in that regard, although Tyler was really getting mugged underneath–but at least it was consistent.
March 8, 2008 at 11:24 pm |
I have gotten a DVD recorder but they will only record one half of a game in HD(really not HD but close with upsampling). I will see how well it turned out, as we have been having terrible weather here because wind but if any of you guys are interested in the second half only and can pony up for the postage and disk, let me know. I also have a few games from ESPN Classic and some other homemade ones.
March 8, 2008 at 11:25 pm |
depending on the brackets, I think there’s a very good chance we’ll meet Duke deep in the Big Dance.
March 8, 2008 at 11:26 pm |
Duke played the perfect game at home and still lost. I don’t fear them anymore.
March 8, 2008 at 11:27 pm |
Duke is only 8-21 against AP number 1 teams.
March 8, 2008 at 11:27 pm |
According to ESPN, Duke beat Michigan in 92-93 when Michigan was number one. Does anyone remember that game?
March 8, 2008 at 11:29 pm |
from your resident Virginia fan, THAT was fun …
March 8, 2008 at 11:29 pm |
I think the difference is as simple as we have more depth. I don’t fear them either but these are two very good teams.
March 8, 2008 at 11:30 pm |
K had a better game plan against us than any other team this year. We should have perhaps shot more 3’s in the second half.
March 8, 2008 at 11:31 pm |
Did you notice how pretty much the only inside guy fouled while shooting was Thompson? K told them not to foul underneath, except for Thompson and Stepheson because we hit 80% anyway.
March 8, 2008 at 11:33 pm |
I will tell you who I do not want to play, James, and that is Georgetown. They keep every game in the 50’s and like us, they seem to always find a way to win close ones.
March 8, 2008 at 11:33 pm |
I will tell you who I do not want to play, James, and that is Georgetown. They keep every game in the 50’s and like us, they seem to always find a way to win close ones.
March 8, 2008 at 11:34 pm |
well the refs let a LOT of stuff go–Thomas in particular for them was bodying up all night.
March 8, 2008 at 11:35 pm |
they’ll be in our bracket if at all possible–take that one to the bank.
March 8, 2008 at 11:38 pm |
I figure they want to put Miss. State in our bracket, too.
March 8, 2008 at 11:40 pm |
yep–good point–half the State of Missou would be there.
March 8, 2008 at 11:41 pm |
Who was that announcer who said Carolina can’t win at Cameron? Oh, when will we ever win there?
March 8, 2008 at 11:42 pm |
Tyler’s brother is exactly the same player as he is, just 6 inches shorter.
March 8, 2008 at 11:49 pm |
Jay Bilas says UNC is better than Duke. Is he trying to jinx us?
March 8, 2008 at 11:51 pm |
Duke has nothing to apologize for–they have an outstanding team, (and fun to watch) but they just might be measuring against the best team in the nation.
March 8, 2008 at 11:54 pm |
Speedo man was back, along with teabags in the lane. Not too bad for ESPN.
March 8, 2008 at 11:55 pm |
I was busy all day and missed reading most of Chris’s comments until now. First time I have been accused of using a sock puppet.
March 8, 2008 at 11:57 pm |
After all the ESPN hype about speedo guy…Thompson made one of his free throws which jinxed Speedo juy… AND UNC never looked backed!!! GO TAR HEELS!
March 8, 2008 at 11:58 pm |
It’s funny how Ellington and Green were 4-24 in the first game and now Henderson and Nelson were 6-24 in the second game.
March 9, 2008 at 12:00 am |
I didn’t even know what he was talking about. Can he get access to our IP addresses when we post on here? Maybe we all need to start using proxy servers, lol.
March 9, 2008 at 12:00 am |
I hope you aren’t Josh. I have always enjoyed his posts.
March 9, 2008 at 12:03 am |
Amazing William how it always comes down to the role players doesn’t it?
Most frustrating thing was the defense seeming to go away when Dook made the run to tie…but we always seemed to get a stop when we had to, even when they fell behind by 2…just dreading the BIG bucket was coming.
Then all of a sudden…ELEVEN, count em…11 stops to close out the game. That’s another one of those “Something we couldn’t do last year…” moments again.
Oh, by the way…that UCLA shot STILL hasn’t counted…somebody read the rule book to Mustardbreath and Leavin’, and the entire PAC-10!!!
March 9, 2008 at 12:03 am |
How can any other teams in the country really compete with Carolina and Duke? Two beautiful campuses with great weather and academics, close to the South and New York and DC and two nationally televised games a year essentially with no competition. UCLA doesn’t have that, nor does Kansas or Florida or Kentucky or Georgetown.
March 9, 2008 at 12:06 am |
I am not sure he can access that. I see all of your IPs and email addresses on my blog dashboard where I moderate the comments. And for the record, Josh has a totally different IP address from mine though I think we are both on Earthlink broadband.
As for his comments, I was simply trying to lighten the mood on the Lawson thread since I felt like things were tense and his assertion UNC should play some zone was not wrong given the two losses and the fact NCSU almost beat them with it. However, Roy hates zone with every fiber of his being and it appears he found a way to beat Duke in man-to-man using switches on screens and using taller defenders on guys like Nelson.
At any rate, Chris can come back if he would like. I hold no grudges and understand that in a public forum with so many different people chiming in you get differences of opinion and personality conflicts. My goal is to keep it civil and keep it focused on the Heels since I do not care for the comments section to devolve into message board type flaming and sniping.
March 9, 2008 at 12:07 am |
Yeah, Camels, that is true. For a while there, neither team could score. I have never seen us miss so many relatively easy shots but then it would be the same thing for Duke on the other end. I thought Duke made a huge mistake by going to their “four corners” thing that they seem to think is so precious. It took them out of their offense and meant we only had to defend their smaller, outside players for ten to 15 seconds instead of 35 seconds and we all saw the result.
March 9, 2008 at 12:07 am |
these games are almost always a blast furnace. It’s easy to make the mistake of assuming a team can maintain their MO (in this case Duke’s outside shots) if the face of such defensive intensity. Their legs were gone after that last round of substitutions by Roy.
March 9, 2008 at 12:10 am |
Absolutely, THF. I think you understood my points. Dean and Roy run a system. There may be recruits watching at any time who might say, “well, I thought Carolina went after people and played up-tempo. Why are the chickening out against Duke and playing zone?”
The other thing is that there is one main area where Roy disagrees with Dean. Smith taught sliding off screens and Roy insists on fighting through them. I think this carries through to defense. Williams thinks zone defense is a bit of a sell-out and there are plenty of great coaches who agree with him.
March 9, 2008 at 12:13 am |
I hope that this win is for Eve Carson. God Bless her family and all the UNC family tomorrow. My thoughts and prayers are with you…
March 9, 2008 at 12:14 am |
Duke missed its last 11 shots after going to the Four Corners.
March 9, 2008 at 12:16 am |
15 blocked shots for UNC! Where did that come from?
March 9, 2008 at 12:18 am |
most of em from the weak-side.
March 9, 2008 at 12:18 am |
I think K realized his kids had run out of gas, and Carolina had too-fresh legs on the defensive end of the court to continue to penetrate and kick-out or backdoor because of the switching off we were doing so effectively. That forced him to slow it down in the final 5, and then we would not let them run the half-court set they wanted…and it helped that we got some calls (got to admit it, that crew swallowed the whistle a little too much on BOTH ends, esp. Valentine).
March 9, 2008 at 12:19 am |
Bingo Camels!
March 9, 2008 at 12:20 am |
Yeah, but Duke has been doing the four corners thing all year, Camels. I think K thinks he invented it. I definitely bind it annoying if that is his goal. It is sooooo 1982.
March 9, 2008 at 12:21 am |
I thought it was a little rough, especially on those jump ball type squirmishes where everyone was all over each other….
March 9, 2008 at 12:22 am |
UCLA and Georgetown have been bailed out over and over again by the officials this year.
March 9, 2008 at 12:24 am |
William…but JUSTICE has a name…it’s called “Neutral Site in March”
March 9, 2008 at 12:27 am |
Key point in the game was sitting Hansbrough and Lawson down with a little over eight left. The game play did not permit the TV TO until about six minutes left. Those two came back in and Duke went to stall ball killing clock bring the next TV TO quicker and after UNC tied the game Roy called another TO. All of that rested those two to play well down the stretch when Duke failed to score again.
March 9, 2008 at 12:30 am |
I agree. Sometimes it is beneficial to stall when you are the weaker team, but I honestly have not seen Duke do a lot out of that stall set and this game was obviously too close to just run out the clock. We were fearful of a 3 to take the lead to five points. I think this was K’s only bad gambit of the night.
March 9, 2008 at 12:31 am |
They normally go stall up 5-10 points with around six mins left and it was odd they did it with the game so close.
March 9, 2008 at 8:00 am |
I agree, THF, we need to keep it courteous and unify in the face of the tournament.
William, I will be happy to pony up for the disk, postage, and cover any other costs you incur. I will e-mail THF my address. Perhaps you can provide yours to him, which he, with your permission, can send to me, so I can forward you a check. Thanks for the offer.
Donde aprendio Espanol? (I have no idea how to insert accents and tildes, so please forgive the obvious grammatical flaws.)
March 9, 2008 at 1:01 pm |
No me tuteas? Aprendi en la universidad de carolina del norte y he vivido y viajado en america latina. Dejame chequear para averiguar que todo salio bien con el disk y si, THF ya tiene mi email.
March 9, 2008 at 4:07 pm |
Voy a tutearte de aqui en adelante. I majored in Spanish at Carolina and then got a Master’s, also from UNC, before getting a job and working many years with Latin America in one capacity or another. I, too, went to school in Latin America (University of Americas in Mexico) and traveled all over the region, visiting every Spanish-speaking country except Cuba (for obvious reasons), Bolivia, and Paraguay (unless you count stepping on the Paraguayan side of the Itaipu dam). I also studied Portuguese and German in Chapel Hill, and used both of these professionally before retiring. You’ve probably figured out by now that language ability got me through college and life.
You’ve also probably figured out by now that I am one dimensional, both in ability and basketball preferences. I can only imagine what a blessing it is to be like Eve Carson, and master every world you encounter. Such a senseless, tragic waste. She would have been such a wonderful ambassador fo the university, and made the world a better place in the process. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I feel no mercy in my heart for her killer.
I seem to have gone astray with my thoughts, but at age 64, I suppose, one can do as he wishes, within reason.
Go Heels, and rest in peace, Eve.
March 10, 2008 at 9:37 am |
THF, I have just come back to my computer to post. As I was reading, I saw where there may have been some ip address issues, and I have no clue how I became part of that conversation. Just so you know, I know the “nuts & bolts” of using a computer such as Excel, Access, and searching online, but THAT is the extent of my knowledge. I always post as myself, say what I want to say (hope to always keep it clean), and wait for a response. If anything requires more sophistication than that, I don’t know it. Thanks for the site, and would you put what you & William were discussing in lamen’s terms for me? I never did catch on to what you were talking about or what happened. I just saw you & William discussing a matter and my name came up. Thanks guys!
March 10, 2008 at 9:43 am |
Read the “Lawson being called a girl” post. There was a little tiff between some folks and one of them said you were a fictional commenter I used to drop comments on the blog(other wise known as a sock puppet i.e. when a blogger uses a false name add comments to his own blog) based on the assertion that you and I share the same IP address. We actually don’t and I have deemed the matter closed.