Lawson Better? Hansbrough better than JJ?

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!

Stomping Grounds

Went back to Chapel Hill over the weekend for an awesome time with some family and friends. I stayed with my brother, who’s a junior at UNC, and my parents came up for the game and some dinner Saturday.

Hansbrough set the NCAA record for free throws made. People think he goes to the line too much, and they’re jealous, but it’s still impressive to have actually made that many charity tosses. Just because you go to the line doesn’t mean you’re given those two points.

 After that rousing 30-point win – making my record 1-1 in games attended this year (CURSES!) – dinner was at the famous Mama Dip’s. Typically our family doesn’t go crazy when it comes to eating out, but the parents were so happy to see us that we went for it. I don’t think we’d ever ordered three appetizers before Saturday night. We got sweet potato biscuits and fries, and some hush puppies. For entree, I got my favorite thing that Mama’s serves up, fried chicken “smothered” (as they say there) in gravy. Desert was chocolate pecan pie.

It took some time to recover from that one, but it didn’t stop me from making sure I went out on Franklin St. both nights I was there. Went out with some buddies who still live there and even some that don’t. We went to Bub O’Malley’s (my first time there even after four years) and were kicked out – not for drunkeness – but for our unorthodox method of foosball playing. (long story) We also went to a new bar that wasn’t there when I attended UNC that was in the old Hector’s space. It made me wish Hector’s was still there. I was notorious for going there late night even if I went by myself. Also made it to Deep End.

Work’s kind of busy so I really should get back to it. That will spare ye readers the hellish story of my return trip to Washington on the Amtrak. Let’s just say it involved an unfortunate car accident, a subsequent three-hour delay, multiple delays from being given second priority to the tracks, about five loud children under the age of three  and a total of about 12 hours of ordeal.

At least it’s snowing today.

House of Hansbrough

I’m so excited and have read so much about the game last night that I feel me writing anything about it would be redundant.  But I will anyway. The best part was obviously reading about a “red-eyed” Greg Paulus getting emotional about never beating Carolina in Cameron. I can’t think of two players I’d rather see accomplish a 4-0 record in Durham than Hansbrough and Green. Of course, I guess I’d say that if any other UNC player had done it. Not only did dook lose, they got rocked. It was the first time a Coach K team had given up 100 points in Cameron since 1983. They’ve held all other opponents to 80 or less. 

It was also a comeback win. Nothing much better. UNC is starting to look like the team that everybody thought they would be, and I like. 

Watched the game at Crystal City Sports Pub in Arlington. It was a good time as the bar was full of UNC alumni and BLUE CUPS! Apparently this bar brings up authentic blue cups from He’s Not Here in Chapel Hill for Heels games. Nice touch. Takes me back to Tuesday nights in North Carolina. 

More reasons to hate Duke:

They are so touchy-feely with K
They cry…… often
Singler’s intentional foul last night

UNC 108, Maryland 91

Haven’t exactly been on top of my Hansbrough record watch, but here’s a couple of updates.

Last night against Maryland Psycho T:

• moved into third place on the ACC all-time scoring list,
• set the school record for double-figure scoring games at 119, and
• passed Oscar Robinson for third on the NCAA all-time list for made free throws.

Nice.

Heels shot the lights about against UMD. Ellington had seven 3’s, Green and Lawson each had four and Hansbrough even hit one to give the team 16 on the night, totaling 48 of the team’s 108 points. (Yes, I got out a calculator to do that.)

Thompson struggled again but did have seven boards. There was an utter lack of defense that you could tell really bothered Roy in the first half. We were giving up layups on the fastbreak like free condoms at a concert. Larry Drew II didn’t score but tallied four dishes and he didn’t look out of control. Ed Davis got around his usual on the rebounds but only three points. All in all though, we looked good and got the scrubs some playing time, which is always nice.

UNC’s Double Digits, Hansbrough’s Quadruple Digits

The wom took a break over holiday in case you hadn’t noticed.

Anyway I had a huge let-down last night as I watched UVA beat Georgia Tech in overtime and not because of who won the game. I really could care less who prevails in a matchup of two teams who will be fighting for a middle of the pack presence in the ACC this year.

No, instead I was watching because Mike Gminski said that “following this game we’ll head to Chapel Hill for UNC vs. Rutgers.”

Oh my! I get to see a nonconference UNC game out of market! I thought it was a late Christmas present. Well, after UVA pulled it out in the final seconds of OT, a commercial followed. Then an announcement came on the screen. “We will now switch to our regularly scheduled program which is already in progress.”

“Good. It’s already almost 8 o’clock and I probably missed the first six minutes or so,” I think I probably said aloud, alone in my apartment……

……………

Fishing.

F***ing fishing.

That’s what it switched to. I was reduced to getting text messages from friends that told me about Tyler getting his 1,000th rebound and Ed Davis stuffing the ball harder than a Christmas turkey. But, at least I can now tag this as a record watch post.

Tyler got his 1,000th rebound. And UNC beat its opponent by double digits for the twelfth straight game. That passed the former school record of 11 games, set by Eric Montross and the ‘92-’93 Heels. I think most of us remember what happened to that team, though I think Chris Webber would like to forget it.

There’s a nice pattern emerging .  This year the team seems to follow previous champions’ examples. First, they won the Maui Invitational, a feat last accomplished by Raymond Felton, Sean May and Rashad McCants, oh, and the most handsome UNC player of all time, Jawad Williams. (pictured above)  Now, they have broken a record for blowout wins set by the ‘93 champs. Nice.

photo from nba.com

Record No. 1

By now it’s old news but Psycho T broke the UNC all-time scoring record, passing Phil Ford on Thursday night against Evansville. His jersey will already be in the rafters, but this is just another feather to put in his cap. I would have posted something sooner but my Friday was spent with a hangover from celebrating T’s accomplishment so I didn’t feel like posting. What did I crack open for this feat you ask? Well it was a bomber of Weyerbacher’s Insanity, an oak-aged version of their Blithering Idiot barleywine. I’d never been so happy for another athlete’s actions. Perhaps I should try to accomplish something spectacular so that people could celebrate and drink great beer for me? Well, I like being on the drinking end too much I think. The Insanity was really smooth. I can’t discern from their Web site how long they age it but I think it has to be at least a year. It’s very mellowed out and takes on some bourbon flavor from the barrels. I could barely tell it was 11.1 percent abv, hence the hangover on Friday.