Tar Heel Fan

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Continue reading Maryland 92, UNC 71

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Where: Comcast Center, College Park, MD
When: Sunday, February 7th, 2:00 PM
TV: Fox Sports Net
Livestats: SCACC Hoops
Records: UNC 13-9, 2-4 ACC; Maryland 15-6, 5-2 ACC

Your pre-Super Bowl basketball appetizer is set, as the Heels visit the Comcast Center to take on the surprising Maryland Terrapins.  The Metro D.C. area will attempt to dig out of over two feet of snow, while UNC will try to dig out of a two-game slide.

College Park is a tough place to bust a slump, as Carolina has lost three straight to the Terps on the road, and three of its last four to Maryland overall.  Maryland’s star guard, Greivis Vasquez, is finally in his senior year after seemingly being recruited by Bob Wade.  Vasquez is one of the ACC’s most enigmatic players, looking like a world-beater at times (often against UNC) and like a lemon at other times.

People have been shoveling dirt on Gary Williams and his Maryland program for a few years now, but the Great Perspirer has his team a half-game out of first place in the ACC at the half-way point of the season.  As the other guy in this league with a NCAA title (as he likes to remind folks), he has worked magic this season and you can bet he will have the Terrapins ready to play the Heels.

UNC, meanwhile, showed signs of life in a road loss at Virginia Tech in which the Heels actually out-shot and out-rebounded the Hokies, but missed key shots, committed back-breaking turnovers, and left too many points at the foul line.  Still, the engine did seem like it was turning over and maybe it can actually catch and run Sunday afternoon.  That may be harder to do with Will Graves at less than 100%, since his status for the game is questionable after an ankle sprain on Thursday night.

Thankfully the team did get the chance to practice on Saturday but with all the snow, I hope they have not been simply lying around the hotel tweeting for two days.  We can also hope the blizzard-like conditions will subdue the home crowd, although a couple of the guys tweeted that Maryland fans were crank-calling the hotel in the wee hours of Saturday night and Sunday morning.

We all saw what happened the last time after progress was made, followed by a Sunday snow-bound game.  I’m still not sold on Maryland as a title contender, but they seem to have UNC’s number of late and the Heels don’t have a lot of success at the Comcast Center.  Nevertheless, I will try the THF reverse psychology tack that worked so well for the NC State game and pick against the Heels.  Can’t hurt, right?

Maryland 81, UNC 72

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From the commiseration department here at Tar Heel Fan Plaza (a little “Car Talk” reference there)…

Lost in the national media hoopla about Carolina’s struggles this season is the fact that fully half of last year’s Final Eight are facing double-digit losses before Valentine’s Day and only three of last year’s Elite Eight (Villanova, Michigan State, and Pitt) are even ranked.

Here is the update on some of the other 2009 quarterfinalists (plus another big-time college powerhouse) who are also strugg-a-ling this year:

Connecticut is really the only other team besides UNC that has received national attention regarding its on-court performance.  Of course coach Jim Calhoun’s health issues have been front and center, but the Huskies were having problems before Calhoun’s medical leave of absence.  See if this sounds familiar from UConn’s last loss: the Huskies shot just 38 percent from the field and had 18 turnovers.  Connecticut is 13-9 and 3-6 in the Big East.

Louisville lost three starters but began the year ranked number 20.  Who knows whether or not Rick Pitino’s off-season indiscretions have had any impact on the season, but even with today’s win over Rutgers, the defending Big East champion Cardinals are only 15-9 and 6-4 in the Big East.

Oklahoma was certainly expected to come back to the pack after losing last year’s national player of the year in Blake Griffin, but despite today’s big win over Texas, the Sooners are only 13-9 and 4-4 in the Big 12.

And, for good measure, let’s check in on UCLA, who fell to Cal today to drop to 11-12, 6-5 in the Pac-10.  After three straight Final Four trips from 2006-2008 and a top-20 finish last season, the Bruin faithful were almost – almost - ready to declare Ben Howland worthy of sitting in John Wooden’s seat in Pauley Pavilion.  But injuries have decimated UCLA so far in 2010 and while always a tough out, they are a non-factor in the very weak Pac-10.

While UNC may take the brunt of criticism because they are the defending champs, their brethren in Storrs, Louisville, Norman, and Westwood can feel their pain.

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See update at the end of post…

Despite the “Snowmageddon” that has gripped northern Virginia, D.C., and Maryland, tomorrow’s UNC-Maryland game is expected to go on as scheduled, according to ACC Now.

Robbi Pickeral of the N&O reports that Karl Hicks, head of ACC men’s basketball operations, told her that as of 1:30 Saturday, he is confident the game will go on as scheduled.  Pickeral notes:

“I think it will be played …the snow is supposed to stop tonight,’’ he said. “ But if it goes unabated for the rest of the afternoon, all night long and into the day tomorrow, which they’re not calling for, then a situation could arise where you might have some personnel or officials that couldn’t get there. But as of right now, we’re set to go.”

Hicks said that as long as the teams, officials, and the people who administer the games – meaning the table crews and game operations folks – are in place, ACC policy is to play the game. Both teams are in town. As for officials, Hicks said one lives in nearby Silver Spring, Md., and the two others are working at today’s games at Virginia and Virginia Tech.

“They’ve got the rest of the afternoon to get there, and we’ve got back-up officials in the area if we need to call them,’’ he said.

UPDATE: Carolina has been in town since yesterday and got in a workout on Friday evening, and after a morning walkthrough in a hotel meeting room, was finally able to get to the Comcast Center for practice.

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