“Cavs Win!” – ESPN Video – ESPN.
In the current issue of Sports Illustrated there is an article about the misery of Cleveland sports. The history is really pretty unbelievable. That city has been the butt of every sports joke for the last 50 or 60 years. The news anchors for the Cleveland station in the video above are referencing that article. The clip in the above link was taking place while I was writing my most previous blog entry.
Well, it was only a matter of time before we heard this news. Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington will be leaving Chapel Hill this year for the NBA. It would be tough for anyone with their kind of talent to stay after winning a championship. They did their job and hung a banner, now they can move on. We’ve been really spoiled having the 2005 team and this crop of guys more or less back-to-back. It’s going to look really weird on the court next year without Nos. 50, 22, 5, 14 and 4 running the show.
I’m not going to speculate on the numbers they will wear, but who’s in next year’s starting five is an interesting question. Marcus Ginyard and Deon Thompson will probably start, but then who. Ed Davis and Tyler Zeller are great candidates, with me personally leaning toward Davis. Either Larry Drew II or Dexter Strickland (freshman) will play point guard. Who will play shooting guard? Dunno. And how will Roy use his abundantly stocked front court? The top recruit coming in, John Henson, is 6′10″ and the top-ranked power forward in the class of 2009. The Heels are also adding the 6′9″ Wear twins. That will give them six players at 6′8″ (Thompson) and taller. Henson, being a top recruit, could be playing for a starting position over Davis or Zeller….or Thompson.
That’s if Roy plays the same system he has been in his time at UNC, with two main big men in the game at a time, two guards and a swing man (like Green, Ginyard and from ‘05 Jackie Manuel). With all the bigs he might have to change to a system with three pure fowards in the game to get all those guys in.
He’s got time to think about it, but right now if I were him I’d still be basking. I’ve got to order my Sports Illustrated subscription now.
Go Heels!
AP story below
Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington of North Carolina entering NBA draft – ESPN.
Duke Blue Devils coach says Greg Paulus could try out at receiver – ESPN.
One phrase pretty much sums up this story to me:
Classic Coach K PR move
Here’s my 100 percent raw speculation on the subject. K has a coaching friend or two in football — I’m guessing in state of Michigan. K calls them up and says:
“Hey, man. My boy down here used to play football. Why don’t you come down and give him a look, no pressure. You don’t have to sign him, hell, you don’t even have to watch him closely in the workout as long as I can say you did. We’ll make a weekend of it. I know you like that North Carolina Bar-B-Que!“
K’s friend, who does in fact love N.C. BBQ, is tired of the current frigid Michigan spring and decides that might not be a bad idea. Friend looks at Paulus, friend eats Q and friend goes home.
Coach K is happy as a clam. The story is all over ESPN and drawing attention to Duke. This attention is somewhat positive and draws attention away from his Blue Devils bowing out in the Sweet 16 yet AGAIN.
Once again, Coach K makes it seem he is running a national contender, after all his kids can play football, too. Isn’t that what matters when you’re recruiting basketball players?
Puhleez.
Do something impressive like bolding words in a blog post for emphasis……or winning two national championships in five years, maybe?
In what could be the best birthday present of all time (today is my birthday and St. Paddy’s) I just came across a column on ESPN.com that said Ty Lawson is expected to play this weekend.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
It’s become no secret that the ACC player of the year is the key to the Heels winning the championship, but now that he’s probably back, what are other teams gonna do about it? Nothing!
I shouldn’t gloat this early in the tournament. I really shouldn’t
In other very important news, Hansbrough is just two points behind JJ Redick for the carrer ACC scoring record. So unless he manages to score less than three points against No. 16 seed Radford, he’s got it.
How sweet it is. When Gay J stayed for four seasons and set the record I had no idea how long it would be before another very talented player would decide to stay that long. It would be virtually impossible to break that record even in three years. Enter Psycho T. It’s great to be a Carolina fan. It really is.
GO HEELS!
79-76
WHEW!
UNC’s opening round ACC tournament game was not the type to try and sit quietly and watch on your computer at work. But thanks to Raycom, the local N.C. sports netowrk, I was able to do so for this close one.
Playing without Lawson, it was easy for many to predict this would be a tough game. Va. Tech ain’t bad. And anytime you play without the conference playerof the year it’s going to be a different ballgame
I was fighting urges to slam my monitor into the cubicle wall for the first half and decided it’d be better to go out for my lunch break for the second. I went to Timberlake’s, a bar on Conn. Ave. near work, and was thwarted in my attempts by the odd fact that they did not get ESPN2. On channel 8 instead was ESPN News. Strange, but nonetheless unacceptable. A coworker and I moved to Buca di Beppo ,which is a chain Italian restaurant in the same building as my office.
Finally the cheers could fly, and it turned out the only other people eating at the bar at 1 p.m. were Hokies fans. Excellent.
Psycho’s back, baby! Hansbrough played tough and got really into the game, pumping his fists on that last jumpball call and cheering hard on his way to the locker room. If the team starts to feed off his energy it will be really fun to watch.
I havent’ yet checked in on the Ty Law situation, but I can see him sitting out another game. Of course I’d be much happier if he were back to the floor tomorrow, but there is a bigger prize than the ACC tournament on the horizon after all.
Overall, today was a gutsy, great win against a tough team that was fighting for its postseason life. If Maryland wins again today, they would probably have a better change of making the Big Dance than Va. Tech, but strange things always seem to happen so the Hokies should probably at least watch the selection show — albeit with low expectations.
Considering Carolina never led by more than three, I thought it showed that the team is ready to be challenged on the road to the Final Four. At times this season I’ve questioned their motivation and hussle, but today was different. They never lost sight of the win, even in this game that was not a must win for the NCAA title. Having probably safely secured a No. 1 seed, UNC could have let this one go, rested up and gotten healthy for next weekend, but where would the fun in that be?
Let’s Go HEELS!
Great article on ESPN.com right now in which it comes out that gamblers don’t trust Coach K. A must read, soley for that fact. The picture that accompanies the article is of K and says:
“Don’t trust this man” – Sincerely, Wiseguys
