Tar Heel Fan

If anything is abundantly clear, it is that Tar Heel Fan is a big fan of Marcus Ginyard.  I love the type of player he is, one that has defensive prowess and generally puts forth a great effort every time out.  I have also made no bones about the fact I think he should be the starting shooting guard in place of Wayne Ellington.  And if any of that were not enough, based on what he had to say to the N&O he could very well be the vocal leader this team needs:

But I do believe that last year’s team would beat this year’s team at this point in the season,” sophomore Marcus Ginyard said Tuesday. “I think that the attitude, the drive, the competitiveness was on another level last year. And that’s the thing that disappoints me, personally, the most

…

“It should have been a wake-up call against Gonzaga, it should have been a wake-up call at Virginia Tech, then it should have been a wake-up call against Virginia Tech, again,” said Ginyard, whose 24-5 team plays at Georgia Tech on Thursday.

“… Me, personally, I feel like it’s a now or never thing. I feel like that if this team doesn’t realize that’s what needs to happen, that’s what needs to be done right now, we’re going to end up with a lot of long sad faces the next couple of weeks.”

One of the more exciting aspects of his attitude here is that he will be with this team two more years and could be a huge part of UNC winning a national championship more so for what he brings in the intangibles department.  He is also absolutely correct about how this team should have responded to the previous losses and how they should approach the remaining games.  And I absolutely agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment: Now or never.

Now starts tomorrow night in Atlanta.

(Hat tip to reader Dan for pointing out the article)

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Where: Comcast Center, College Park, MD
When: February 25th, 5:30 PM
TV: FSN
Records: UNC 24-4, 10-3 ACC; Maryland 21-7, 7-6 ACC

I have been knee deep in patching servers in preparation for the new Daylight Savings Time date.  So this will be short.

I think UNC can show some serious intentions about winning the national championship by winning the next three games in decisive fashion.  Maryland is a hot team right now and UNC has shown it can rise to the challenge on the road.  UNC follows this game with a trip to Atlanta before hosting Duke.  Much like the 2005 team which also faced a huge battle at College Park, UNC can definitely make a statement here with a win.  Maryland likes to press and has great guard play, something that has given UNC fits this season.

Also, today is my birthday and since I have been alive UNC is 5-2 on my birthday including a win over NC State the day I was born.  The only two losses came under Matt Doherty…let’s never speak of them again.

UNC 96 Maryland 88

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Revenge exacted.

This was about fresher legs in the second half.  NC State had foul trouble and could not keep pace with the Heels once the defense started cooking.  There is no way of knowing what impact Lowe’s absence had on the Wolfpack players in the second half.  I think the depth and defense get it done regardless of who is sitting on the other bench.  The rotation again was another interesting thing to watch.  Unlike most of the media who seem to think they know better than a coach who has won 80% of his games, Roy shows no signs of moving to an eight man rotation.  In fact the split in the minutes at point was really interesting but Quentin Thomas’ play had something to do with that since he made some huge contributions in the first half.

Wright, Ginyard, and Green all had solid games.  Wright was a beast pure and simple.  Hansbrough was his usual workhorse self and overall the defensive intensity was what it needed to be for most of the game.  The hope is this is a UNC team starting to roll and the road game at Maryland against a red hot Terp team will be a huge matchup.

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Where: Dean Smith Center, Chapel Hill, NC
When: February 21st, 9:00 PM
TV: Raycom/LF Regional
Records: UNC 23-4, 9-3 ACC; NC State 14-11, 4-8 ACC

This would be a bigger upset than February 3rd in Raleigh because (1) NC State would be winning at Chapel Hill to collect an improbably sweep and (2) UNC knew what was coming and did nothing to deal with it. On top of that there is an expectation that NC State has a reasonable chance to win this game because they handled UNC so well in Raleigh, UNC lost to VT in a revenge game which somehow proves that UNC is not necessarily capable of handling the return game and NC State showed on Sunday that they can shoot lights out versus a very good team.

And for all of these reasons I think UNC will win and it will not even be close.

The last I checked NC State was 14-11 overall which means that 11 times this year they lost to teams not as good as UNC is right now. I also happen to think that what happened in Raleigh three weeks ago and what happened last Tuesday versus Virginia Tech has a great deal of impact on how UNC comes out and plays this game. Aside from all of that, does anyone really expect NC State to come out and shoot the ball they way they did that Saturday given they did practically the same thing three days ago? I think this Tar Heel team has learned some valuable lessons during the past eight days about what it means to play with focus and intensity. Marcus Ginyard has suddenly become that vocal leader I think UNC needs and Reyshawn Terry despite the propensity for the bonehead foul also show an equal if not greater propensity for hitting the big shot against Boston College.

So while everyone is willing to pour the accolades on a team that is still fighting for NIT life let me say that while the Pack have been impressive on occassion this season, there is nothing that makes me think tonight will be one of the nights. The time has come for a statement win from these Heels and clear signal to the rest of the ACC that this team is ready to meet expectations.

UNC 98 NC State 68

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