Here’s a little spring football news to tide you over until the Heels play basketball on Saturday. What, is some other basketball thingy going on this weekend or something?
ESPN NFL draft guru Mel Kiper has released his top 5 players at each position and five Tar Heels have made the list, each in the top 3 at their respective spot.
The Carolina players on Kiper’s Big Board include:
No. 1 DT Marvin Austin
No. 1 ILB Quan Sturdivant
No. 1 OLB Bruce Carter
No. 2 S Deaunta Williams
No. 3 TE Zack Pianalto
Wow.
Via Heather Dinich at ESPN’s ACC blog:
It’s also a black-and-white reminder of just how high the expectations are for North Carolina’s defense. Kiper has three Tar Heels ranked No. 1 at their respective positions and five ranked overall. (Not sure people realized just how much TE Zack Pianalto’s injury last year hurt the Heels.) There’s no shortage of NFL talent for Butch Davis to work with. It’s a different story for Paul Johnson, though, this year.
Putting aside Dinich’s well-evident love for all things Paul Johnson and Georgia Tech, she does make a salient point about the impact of Pianalto’s injury. It will be interesting to see how next season all comes together with 21 returning starters.
#7 BYU vs #10 Florida, 12:20 PM
#6 Notre Dame vs #11 Old Dominion, 12:25 PM
#2 Villanova vs #15 Robert Morris, 12:30 PM
#4 Vanderbilt vs #13 Murray St., 2:30 PM
#2 Kansas St. vs #15 North Texas, 2:40 PM
#3 Baylor vs #14 Sam Houston St., 2:45 PM
#7 Richmond vs #10 St. Mary’s, 2:50 PM
#5 Butler vs #12 UTEP, 4:45 PM
Breathe….
#8 UNLV vs #9 Northern Iowa, 7:10 PM
#1 Kentucky vs #16 East Tennessee St., 7:15 PM
#6 Marquette vs #11 Washington, 7:20 PM
#3 Georgetown vs #14 Ohio, 7:25 PM
#1 Kansas vs #16 Lehigh, 9:30 PM
#8 Texas vs #9 Wake Forest, 9:35 PM
#3 New Mexico vs #14 Montana, 9:40 PM
#6 Tennessee vs #11 San Diego St., 9:45 PM
Like so many people I picked Baylor in the Final Four because it was the chic dark horse pick everyone was jumping on. Sam Houston St. could end up screwing a lot of people today.
Anyone interested to see Chas McFarland vs Dexter Pittman? McFarland is easily the dirtiest player in the ACC(yes, even ahead of Ryan Reid now) the question is how dumb is he? Jumping ugly with Dexter Pittman might not be a good career move for him.
The NCAA Tournament opens up business today, without our beloved Tar Heels which means in a little over three weeks, UNC’s reign as national champion will end with a whimper instead of a bang. Among the frustrations of frustrations this season, this might be chief among them. Instead of UNC being in the tournament and fighting gallantly to defend their title they have been relegated to play out their season in the NIT which has been fun but not the same. It is a little like the king who instead of rallying with his loyalists to fight off a coup is instead lying in bed slowly dying while some whiny, arrogant usurper(read: Duke) runs around trying to assume the throne and is given aid by a bunch of pansy members of the royal court(read: NCAA Selection Committee.) Hopefully someone, anyone will make sure that does not happen. The problem is the choices among the #1 seeds outside of Duke are not great. Having Kansas, Syracuse or Kentucky assume the throne is only better than Duke because those aren’t rivals nor close by. Still, none of those options really make the good Tar Heel fan happy.
The silver lining? It is the NCAA Tournament and despite the copious amounts of chalk being tossed about out there, the parity(and weakness) of this bracket has never been more stark. There has been far too much in the way of inexplicable results this season to think we are going to see a repeat of 2008 when four very good #1 seeds showed up in San Antonio. I would be shocked if we did not see massive upsets across the board making everyone’s office pool look like Gettysburg circa July 4th, 1863. In other words it could get messy out there. Speaking of which, if you have not filled out a bracket yet, you still have time to hit the THF Tournament Pick ‘Em.
So as a final goodbye to the reign of the 2009 Tar Heels I offer this parade of You Tube videos after the jump.
The crowd was sensational. I’ve said several times since I’ve gotten back here that we should play one or two games a year in this building. Maybe, when the economy turns around and gets real good, let’s take half the seats out of the Smith Center, put in luxury boxes and get a crowd like this every daggum night. The crowd was helpful tonight, there’s no question about that – I loved the people that were here.
It makes perfect sense to play a team like NCCU or Presbyterian over in Carmichael. Those games are poorly attended as it is and Carmichael would easily be full for opponents like that.
As for the Dean Dome renovation comment I take it to mean this:
Let’s build suites for the fat cats in the lower level so we can get them out of there and get “a crowd like this every dadgum night.”
Remember earlier this season, Roy was pissed off to no end about poor attendance during the early season games. I have always thought those complaints were directed at the lower level Ram’s Club members. Of course, Roy could be talking about simply making the Dean Dome “smaller” and therefore louder. However, I don’t think that is where he is going, especially with the “I loved the people that were here” line. I think Roy is hoping for more vocal fans(i.e. students, public sale tickets) inside the Dean Dome to replicate the atmosphere seen in Carmichael, Tuesday night.
Is there any chance it happens? Who knows. The Dean Dome is almost 25 years old. It would not surprise me to see them move toward some kind of major renovation. They are already doing some renovations there which is why the NIT game ended up at Carmichael. Obviously the overall financial picture would need to improve plus there is already a campaign to renovate Kenan Stadum. My guess would be that we will probably see a game or two back in Carmichael but some sort of massive renovation of the Dean Dome is likely years away.
Marcus Ginyard and Deon Thompson are not done yet.
I will give these two credit for this much. They gave it their all to keep the season going.
With UNC playing in Carmichael for the first time since 1986, the Heels very much lived up to the history of the building, especially in the first half when they staked a ten point lead. Unfortunately, like the Georgia Tech game last week, the Heels let off the gas and allowed the Tribe back into the contest giving up a deluge of three point shots, 43 in all of which W&M hit 16. Despite the Tribe rallying to take the lead, UNC found a way. Thompson stepped up his game to score 20 and pull down eight rebounds while Ginyard had 12 points, four assists and five steals.
The difference maker down the stretch was better perimeter defense, a couple of timely steals from Tyler Zeller and Dexter Strickland hitting four straight FTs to erase a three point deficit to give the Heels the lead for good. UNC closed on an 11-0 run and scored 80 points for the first time in 2010. Yes, you read that correctly.
By no means was it a perfect effort and there were still maddening moments. Doc and I actually watched the game together at an undisclosed secure location. There was still plenty to be frustrated with to the point we were both a little shocked when some things went well. There were also signs of life, especially from Dexter Strickland who I thought was more confident and aggressive than he has been in quite some time. Likewise, Larry Drew looked very much in control dropping six assists versus only two turnovers. For the most part the offense simply looked better though far from the level we all have become accustomed. The defense was not great and that was expected since (1) this version of the Heels has major defensive issues and (2) W&M is an extremely difficult team to prep for and defend given the funkiness of their offense. Given those factors, the defense was not all bad and they made steals when it counted.
The win ensures UNC cannot finish below .500 for the season. The Heels now travel to Mississippi St for a Saturday noon game where I am fearful Jarvis Varnado might eat John Henson.
Well, this could very well be it. The last game of the season.
Despite the seeding and the fact UNC is hosting, most folks are picking the Tribe to win since it is widely acknowledged the NIT put UNC that high for the purposes of hosting a game and putting it on ESPN. Even when UNC is down, they are not really down if you know what I mean.
Still, there is hope and the magic of Carmichael which has done it’s part to pull improbable wins out of the jaws of certain defeat. Per chance this is another such game?
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