Update from C.Michael: Best game of the tourney. The atmosphere was really good. UNC showed a level if guts and desire a lot of people doubted they had.
Final: UNC 79 VT 76.
Heels are locked for a #1 seed now.
Previous updates after the jump
C.Michael:
12:57 PM: UNC has learned how to run without Lawson.
Halftime: UNC 43 VT 42.
UNC played badly at times, shuffled the likes of Justin Watts into the game for meaningful minutes and still leads at the half. Also, the pace is to UNC’s liking.
–
Via C.Michael:
11:55 PM: Frasor will start.
12:03 PM: UNC in home white.
12:26 PM: UNC looks out of sorts, which was expected. They need to do a better job of looking inside.
12:43 PM:UNC’s frontline D has been good. Too many offensive boards given up.
12:45 PM: Justin Watts, the spark off the bench!
THF: UNC’s version of Elliot Williams?
–
Tar Heel legend Charlie Scott.
C.Michael also says he saw uncgirl50’s future father-in-law Gene Hansbrough milling around.
According to C.Michael, Ty Lawson still has a limp and is not warming up. Consider him out for this one. That leaves the PG duties to Larry Drew and Bobby Frasor. This would be an excellent time for the other four upperclassmen to step up in a huge way and carry this team. Hopefully there will be some experience benefit from this for Drew as they moved forward.
Comment away from whereever you are.
GO HEELS!
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Woody says Ty is definitely out for today. Let’s see what Bobby and Drew have for us. Good luck Heels, you can do it!
I’m not that high on Drew, and I have seldom been more eager to be proved wrong.
Now that we have the roster set for today, we can be sure Roy is going to play to win the game, just as Rat suggests.
I think Bobby will do a fine job. It will look like a different offense though.
keithunc — Correct on both counts. What we don’t know yet is how much time Frasor will spend at the point. On the other hand, we won’t have to wait long to find out.
I expect a rough first half. However, the coaching staff can earn their pay and put together a great plan for the second half adjustments.
This would be a good time for Tyler 1.0 to crush.
Yeah, we need BIG games from everyone today especially Frasor & Drew II. I think Drew II will be ok, he is our future PG, might as well through him in the mix now. Hansbrough needs a 28-15 game today. I live in “Chockie” territory, so we need to get this one.
Go, Danny Green!
well we look like we want a full week off. Its probably hard to be motivated to play when your PG is out and your coach has in so many words said that the ACC tournament doesn’t matter.
watts!
where is zeller?
wb3, I asked the same thing to my wife. Up one at half is better than I expected
Tyler needs 43 more points
pretty good job adjusting to not having ty by everyone
Halftime lead seems pretty good after that adventurous 20 min. 3 nice assists by LD2, great screen and a pretty nice move to the basket by Justin, and very nice half by Ed, which I’m sure made William happy, wherever he is. They get Vasallo back and we get Danny back in 2nd half. I would give a crisp, new $5 bill if LD2 could knock down one or two 3’s in the second segment.
..Crisp passes
..Defensive rebounding
HERE WE GO!!
love seeing the old tyler
Can someone get hold of C.Micheal and have him yell to Frasor to STOP SHOOTING
With AD out you boys should be able to make a run. With 7 to play that may put this away.
Danny Boy is having a rough day from the arc.
Tough second half of shooting
You know…if there is ONE thing I’ll give Ole’ Beaker its this: I’ve never seen anyone consistently make the contortionist circus shots at the rim like him.
Oh Happy DAY!!!
Seth hates his jacket!
Thanks Heels, we needed Tech to lose here.
Can’t help but feel bad for Tech though, they’re not a bubble team, they’re a solid NCAA team with BAD luck. Hopefully it comes back to them next year.
Big time, gutsy win there. Virginia Tech was going to bring it, playing and praying for an at-large berth (they deserve one, but probably won’t get it). Carolina toughed it down. Hansbrough was the man. I think this puts him at about 23 points to pass Redick. Tomorrow could be the day.
Terp,
You are a charter member of the ACC. Georgia Tech joined the ACC in ‘78 or ‘79. VPI joined the ACC in 2003 or 2002.
Just like State is in Raleigh and Carolina is in Chapel Hill, Tech is in Atlanta, not Blacksburg.
They really should not be in our conference, anyway.
In the immortal words of Alfred E. Neuman,
What, me worry?
Bobby missed some shots but made some huge rebounds. LD2 made a couple of mental errors but made some outstanding, intuitive, feel-for-the-game passes leading to buckets. And Tyler Hansbrough refused to lose.
It doesn’t get any better!
Way to go, Heels!
Also, THF, when did you replace the picture of Coach Smith? I always liked the one that bore an eerie resemblance to Duke Law grad Richard Nixon.
It got replaced because it bore an eerie resemblance to Richard Nixon. Really.
What’s the board consensus on the jump ball call? The ABCers on the ESPN board are going nuts. I haven’t seen it (stuck at work).
We are going to need to knock down shots if we play FSU. I dont think Tyler is going to run over those guys.
Great win Heels!
I thought the jump ball was absolutely the right call.
Well, Davis got a hand on it, then it was taken back, then Hansbrough did get a hand into his back and got the tie up with his other hand. It is important to remember that even if they call a foul there it would have been UNC’s 6th team foul so VT would have had the ball out with five seconds left. So it would not have afford FTs.
In most cases I would have said that jump ball was a foul on Tyler or at least an incredibly quickly-called tie up. Dan Bonner seemed to think it was OK. True, it would have just been the 6th team foul, but at least it wouldn’t have turned the ball over and would have given them a shot at it. A true game changer! Maybe it was just poetic justice for all those times Tyler has been hammered and not had it called. Seth Greenberg will now officially go in the the Basketball Victims Hall of Fame. I can’t wait for the comments.
Matt,
VPI is now 18-14, 7-10. Would you care to explain why you think they deserve an at-large NCAAT berth?
THF,
Nice new banner, but I couldn’t help thinking that Dean Smith looks kind of like Obi-Wan Kenobi after he became one with the Force.
(Of course, I’d be one of the first people to say that the Force is strong with Dean.)
This has been the hardest radio show I’ve had in ages. Constantly looking over my shoulder at the game and trying to keep the music spinning was tough!
My Carolina-hating but college basketball knowledgeable colleague was right next to me when Hansbrough got the jump ball call. He was about as livid as Seth.
Hate to say, but I’m not so sure about the call either.
Great game regardless. VPI was on a mission, and Carolina was ready.
Drew had a nice game–A NICE GAME!
Bobby, not so much, although like Larry notes–rebounds. Roy either–wth?? leaving only two offensive threats on the floor (Tyler & Green) for nearly 3 minutes allowed Tech to (very predictably) give sag help (not that they needed to in Green’s case). Nevertheless, win and advance!
just consider the jump ball an appropriate make-up call for the bogus BS foul on Wayne on the 50/50 ball previously.
I thought it was a good call, the jump ball. If it was a foul they just would’ve gotten the ball out again. If anything it makes up for what I felt was a bad foul call on Ellington going after that bad pass not long before that.
Drew played pretty well — a little better than Frasor, I thought.
Green needs to re-set and get back to where he was two weeks ago.
The story of the game was Hansbrough, who, as LarryS says, refused to lose. When we needed keys baskets at the end of the game, and when we needed some tough defense, and when we needed a rebound (as opposed to letting VT get the zillions of offensive rebounds they had for most of the game), who was there? Tyler Hansbrough. He wasn’t a one-man show, exactly, but he came real close.
We’ll have to do better than this for tomorrow’s game. For the moment, however, I’m just happy there wiil BE a tomorrow’s game.
Santiago,
I get that. I just think they are one of the best 34 teams that won’t get an automatic bid.
oh, and CM–thanks for the pics–nice shot of Charles Scott—dude will always have a special place in this Carolina heart!
According to ESPN “Lawson was in uniform but didn’t play, the Tar Heels deciding it would be more valuable to ensure the health of his big right toe for the NCAA tournament than risking him in the opening game of their quest for a third straight ACC tournament championship.”
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=290720153
Rat – do you agree with the decision that was made? I do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ6NXRh9cCA
My thanks too, C.Michael., for the great pix and comments from the tournament.
Are you having fun now?
Not all contact is a foul, so I thought the jump ball call was OK. Hansbrough had plenty of ball. He also had some of Vassello, but I don’t think the contact, such as there was of it, gave Hansbrough an advantage. The jump ball call was also at least as justifiable as the earlier, quite questionable “foul” on Ellington.
wb3 — I agree we got away with it, which is better than the alternative.
In my view, which isn’t going to change, there is no such thing as a throw-away game.
I wonder if we got the #1 overall seed today?
Not sure about that. Louisville might get it should they win the BET
Nova should give Louisville a good game tonight.
I think we did earn the #1 seed overall today. I really thought that we would have to wait things out with a 27-4 record. Now, if we enter with an ACCT win, it is hard for the selection committee to not award us the #1 overall. Louisville at the overall #1 bothers me in that I truly believe them to be the third best team in their conference. Plus, the selection com. will take a LONG look at that 30-plus point blowout loss to Notre Dame, who we beat handily back when they were in the top ten.
Any thoughts on Michigan State as a #1? Not THE overall #1, but one of the four #1 seeds?
maybe I missed something, but who exactly on here has suggested any of these are throwaway games?
I sure didn’t. My only thought is that the risk of injury to Tywon by playing in the ACC tournament outweighs any benefit that can be gained from him playing in the tournament. That thought applies equally to tomorrow and Sunday.
What a game! I was crying in my APEs, shaking in my pre-calc class and I think I aced my test.
agreed & that’s what I thought/think too wb3.
My pleasure guys. I’ll fire up the pix again tonight. With Duke and Wake, it should be pretty wild again.
52,
I’m going to the Legends Brunch tomorrow and will hopefully get to talk to Charlie. I’ll pass along your thoughts!
Also, right before I took the pic of Montross I went up to shake his hand and I didn’t think I’d get mine back. Guy has got a monster hand, even for a 7-footer!
Have fun CM! I’m so jealous!
52bgJ — No, I don’t think you’re missing much, because I didn’t accuse any commenter of taking the position that there are such things as throw-away games.
By contrast, I was accused of “sound[ing] like” I believe that Lawson should play even if he’s still hurt. That accusation was not only erroneous, it was set up by an out-of-context quotation from a comment of mine in which I had said the opposite. Perhaps that is what you missed.
For the record, and with any luck for the last time: The idea that Lawson should sit to save him for the NCAAT is not without appeal. It seems to enjoy majority support here. It also certainly seems to be what Roy is thinking. And it may well be the case that, medically, there’s no choice; he sure looked like he was hobbling pretty badly today. If it IS a medical necessity, that’s the end of the argument. Of course you don’t play him, and neither I nor anyone else to my knowledge has suggested otherwise.
But the question is, as others have observed, more complicated than that. On the limited information publicly available, it’s less than clear what the phrase “medically ready to play” means. It’s too obvious for argument that Lawson was medically ready to play in the Duke game, when the injury was a lot fresher than it is now. The problem arose when, afterward, he experienced considerable pain and swelling. Pain and swelling can be treated, and do not per se, and without more, pose a threat to a player’s long-term abilities. Whether such a threat exists in Lawson’s case is a question I am in no position to judge, but I am likewise in no position simply to assume the threat is there. The principal point of difference between me and the majority here is how much to weigh medical readiness to play (which as I say cannot be precisely determined), versus how much to weigh the ramifications for the NCAAT (which also cannot be precisely determined). I place relatively more emphasis on the former. I do not believe this is a sin.
As wb3 notes, it comes down to a question of balancing the interests of having him play (thus increasing the risk of exacerbating the problem, but also increasing the chances that we win the ACC title), versus resting him (which I presume increases our chances in the NCAAT but at the cost of not having the ACC-POY on the floor for us as we seek that title). For most people here this seems to be an easy choice: The NCAAT is The Big Prize; we want The Big Prize; therefore Lawson sits. The reason it is not so easy a choice for me is that I see downsides to losing the ACCT — and in a sense losing it by choice — that others don’t weigh as heavily.
“I’m going to the Legends Brunch tomorrow and will hopefully get to talk to Charlie. I’ll pass along your thoughts!
”
tell him one of your “net Buds” has Lefty’s autograph on the page showing Scott hitting a picture-perfect jumper to beat Davidson and Mike Malloy in the 1969 Eastern Regional.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blackhistory2008/columns/story?id=3268786
i dont know that i would call the game a throwaway.
but i wasnt at all nervous about losing it. every single one of us would trade this whole tournament if it increases our chances of winning the next one. no one will care or even remember this one if they win the next.
with the FSU Thugs up next, i just dont want injuries. win, fine. lose, fine. but get out healthy.