Where: Dean Smith Center, Chapel Hill, NC
When: Sunday, February 24th, 6:30 PM
TV: FSN
Records: UNC 25-2, 10-2 ACC; Wake Forest 16-8, 6-5 ACC
Lawson doubtful, Thompson probable.
One week ago, Wake Forest managed what no other ACC school had up to that point and that was winning over Duke. In doing so they revealed to anyone who was watching how good their guard play was and some serious chops on defense. The Demon Deacons also got a week off to enjoy it and prepare for a trip to Chapel Hill. And while that were readying for the #3 team in the country, the middle of the pack feeding frenzy continued in the ACC and the dust settled to show Wake sitting a half game out of 3rd place at 6-5. So as Wake board the bus to travel east, they do so looking for a 3rd place tie with idle over the weekend Clemson. The downside for the Deacs is the actual boarding of the bus aspect of the whole situation since they are 14-1 at home but only 2-7 on the road.  In short I really have no idea what we will see from Wake in this game. The big win over Duke and the week off screams flat start but the potential for an ascension in the standings says they will be highly motivated.
UNC comes off two impressive performances, one on the road in a building Wake lost in earlier this month. Ty Lawson is still not ready to play but did take limited practice. The good news is Deon Thompson is getting better and is listed as probably. Hopefully he can go for a full game after a part of truncated stints. In many respects it would have been nice to get Lawson back at full speed to face the quick Wake guards. However most of that concern is mitigated with how well Quentin Thomas has played of late. Still, handling Ish Smith and Jeff Teague is something Duke could not do and UNC’s perimeter defense ain’t the prettiest belle at the ball. Dribble penetration has been a huge bugaboo for the Heels at points this season. The positive for the Heels is the fact the defense has been playing much better and the Duke win means Wake will not be sneaking up on anyone. Also, UNC has an interior game which can make life difficult for the Wake Forest post players which was not the issue against Duke.
Now that Duke has lost two and UNC is in position to control their own destiny in terms of winning the ACC regular season, all games from this point on are must wins. Given how well Wake has been playing, there is opportunity here for the Heels to really establish themselves as the team to beat with a decisive win over the Deacs. Which for me is more preferable than the way they handled the last opponent they play at 6:30 on a Sunday night.
UNC 90 Wake 75
![[Bloglines]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/bloglines.png)
![[del.icio.us]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Digg]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Facebook]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[MySpace]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/myspace.png)
![[Technorati]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/technorati.png)
![[Windows Live]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/windowslive.png)
![[Yahoo!]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/yahoo.png)
![[Email]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)
I expect to see some more zone from Roy tonight, and another double-digit effort from Ginyard. Bout time for Green to shake off the cob-webs too.
My feeling is the Heels will win this get by 8 or more. Wake did make some bad turnovers in the Dook game. I don’t think they will be a problem for the Heels. And they have to deal with Pyscho T. Win and we should have the No# 2 ranking.
THF, I am wondering whether you have ever seen season one of the television show, Friday Night Lights?
The reason I bring this up is that the actor Kyle Chandler as Coach Eric Taylor is to coaching what James Gandolfini is to the mob. He is simply superb and he really reminds me of a young Roy Williams, both in looks and demeanor, before Roy turned himself into a piece of schtick with the ole Roy routine.
Anyway, I highly recommend it and predict that coaches everywhere will be doing their Eric Taylor impressions as what a coach should be and life will imitate art….
I don’t know if any of you are kenpom junkies like I am, but you might take a look at his rankings. I really think his newly devised rating system is piss poor, compared to his old one, but he seems to refuse to comment on it, despite email after email, lol.
After yesterday’s big top twenty action, guess who Ken has as number 1? That’s right, Kansas, because well, just because I guess. Of course, Tennessee and UNC must be numbers two and three, right? Um, no. Carolina is number 6 as Ken persists in his season long contention that Wisconsin is better than UNC and Tennessee is number 14. 14? Wow. Talk about not mindlessly following the opinion polls, but could Tennessee really be that bad? And it was only after Kansas State’s 8th loss (8!) that Ken’s system finally deigned to move the 25-2 Tar Heels in front of KSU.
I continue to recommend his system for everything but his team ratings, but given that he refuses to explain what is going on, I believe that they are currently worse than useless–go to Sagrin or Greenfield for power ratings.
William,
I know you are from MD, but where? I grew up in the Wheaton area and graduated from BCC in 83. Just wondering if we might know each other.
I grew up in Charlotte and graduated from East Mecklenburg in 1983, which used to be a great school but seems to be ageing these days.
Friday Night Lights…haven’t seen the show but the book is a very good read. This book is not too complimentary in regards to the underpinnings of big-time high school football in Texas, however
Not to be gloomy, but prior Sunday night ACC games for UNC thus far have not gone, shall we say, that smoothly this year. With Memphis & Kansas going down opens the way to a #2 ranking tomorrow.
Here’s hoping that the typical “away” Wake Forest team shows up. Thankfully, Roy should not have had to go very far to show the team that Wake can beat good teams if they don’t play solid defense.
Wake is one of the top home teams in the country and Carolina is one of the top road and neutral court teams so we shall see what trumps what….
I think the pollsters will simply flip UT and Memphis.
Gaudio is a class act–wish him all the luck in the world whenever they’re playing anyone but the Heels.
Everyone is handing K he ACC COY but consider this. If UNC wins out and Duke finishes 2nd outright while Wake goes 3-2 over their last five or even 4-1 and get to either 9-7 or 10-6 finishing in the 3-5 range I think the argument is strong for Gaudio. He took over after the death of Prosser, was picked for 11th and if gets Wake into the upper half that is far exceeding expectations where K simply met them even.
THF–K should be ineligible for oh, say 3 years for last season’s behavior. Only half-kidding when I say good sportsmanship ought to be a consideration in the award too.
Memphis has no chance whatsoever to win the NCAA title because they will lose any close games unless they happen to be against Clemson, the only team just as bad at the free throw line.
Memphis has been very unimpressive two Saturday’s in a row and with the exception of their win at home against Georgetown, I find them to be about the most overblown team since St. Joe’s. Their schedule is terrible in conference and their out of conference schedule is not all that great either. Look for them to go down in the round of 16.
what do you think of Stanford william?
Ellington looks like he’s ready for a big night.
Ah, sweet bliss. FSN in NYC showed the NCSU/UVa game, but elected to show horse racing and some kind of game called “hockey” instead of the Heels. I will never understand this place, nor will I ever understand how FSN was allowed to inflict itself on ACC basketball.
Is there a way to get streaming video through TarHeelBlue or any other Web outlet?
I honestly have not seen them play much. I read the SI article about their twin giants that mentioned that we beat them the last time they had twin towers in 2000. I guess they are on next. I have to think that a team like that would give us more trouble than Memphis. I read that ten page article on Memphis’s great new offense in SI last week and the jinx must have been on because Memphis looked terrible last night, after barely beating University of Albany-Binghamton the week before.
You have to get the Sports pack guys and then you just pick whichever FSN you want to watch. It is only $10 a month x 3 in basketball season.
Big Apple–go drown your sorrows with a glass of sweet iced tea, and a bbq sandwich…oops.
william–I love seeing teams like that in the NCAA’s–just hope they;re in somebody else’s bracket–good SI piece! Agree on Tigers.
Alex!
Black Mountain North Carolina. I doubt they play much bball up there….
Danny!
Danny! Again!
Well, we are looking kind of so-so so far. The pace is good and we are getting fouls but we are not shooting well. We should foul Ish Smith every time he shoots.
Will Graves has a nice touch.
Tyler and McFarland are really having at it underneath.
hate to say it but Lawson’s injury has been a blessing in disguise-it will be interesting to see if bench observation time benefits him as well.
William -many thanks, I somehow got a $2.95 package that does the job. Time Warner, for once, has not failed me.
BGJ- If only there was some delicious Parker’s BBQ to be had!
my wife doesn’t think much of FSN after that Hooter’s BD promo. I’m good.
gettin a little separation–yeah!
Ginyard is killing us!
Then why are you complaining about what they cover, Big Apple?
Ellington saves us after two minutes of ragged play!
Northern Virginia now has an authentic pit b-cue place. The guy moved up from Rocky Mount I think.
I bet somewhere in the deep canyons of Manhatten there’s a good NC que spot.
What is wrong with Ginyard? We need him running at all cylinders….
could be the toe/ankle, but more likely struggling with his offensive confidence–ongoing problem.
is it just me or does Wake ALWAYS have a bevy of foxy blondes?
He needs to do what he is good at and let the game come to him. Zen….
Time to set the DVD recorder since it is only possible to record one half of a game at HD quality….
Tyler must be a Zen-Master!
You only get 70 minutes at top quality–if you stretch it any more, then you get wavy motion artifacts….
Tyler very well may be a Zen master.
that would appear to be the case
You know, you never hear them call it “cage action” any more. Now it is always, “hoops.”
Maybe the PC crowd thought it was demeaning….
cage action–that’s a UFC term now, lol.
here’s some cage action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW-vQr7wcFM
4 on Mac!
Okay, now the kids are in bed I can give the game my full attention.
Ya think Ellington is on? Those threes are touching nothing but the nets.
Huge game from Stepheson tonight. Just the number of guys who have become better players because of the injuries could be the key in the tournament.
he’s truly developing a scorer’s mentality.
Deon has GOT to start setting up closer to the basket!
It seems like Wake’s guards are really exposing how badly we need Lawson back.
Wake’s guards would expose a lot of people
Green gives Roy a couple more gray hairs.
True, but this game is a reality check that while we are ecstatic with the way QT has played, we still need Lawson to be able to handle quick perimeter teams.
Big Apple Heel,
Which Parker’s are you talking about? Wilson, I assume. I’ve always been partial to B’s in G-Vegas, or Skylight Inn in Ayden.
Alright. Back to “hoops.”
Ellington’s last one bonked hard and he was wide open. This team is still dangerous and we are lollygagging around like this is a scrimmage
True enough, James.
I guess I mean that, as much improved as Q is (and I glad we all are about that), we are at best a top 15 team in the long run without Lawson. If everybody else plays to their potential, we are going to still beat a lot of teams, but it is getting close to the time of year where we are going to have to have Lawson back, at his customary form, and the team readjusted to his presence, or we will not be able to accomplish our goals for the season.
You guys keep talking about players we don’t have. Bobby would help too and so would Marvin–he’d only be a Senior….
Ginyard had no business throwing that pass.
Tim Brando referred to MD as the “surging Terepains.” Hasn’t MD lost three straight?
William, you are correct. The Heels are really messing around and they should put the foot on the throat and crush them.
Boy, Graves can shoot.
Roy, play Graves more. He is by far our best outside shooter.
Wake may be young but they play about as stupidly as possible. Really dumb fouls.
Yeah, let’s see some Christian Laettner attitude out there….
Danny Booyyyy!
Green is from New York–he is honorary Irish….
I think that was the extension of the lead I have been waiting for.
Also, Marcus Ginyard has five TOs tonight. Obviously just a bad game for him.
Talking about Q’s potential, I would like to see Lawson play up to his touted potential. He definitely has not achieved his high school press clippings so far. I was expecting Phil Ford. He is excellent, but not yet even a Ray Felton….
‘twould be hard to blow it now….
Anyone know if McFarland and Hansbrough are friends? They seem pretty friendly out there talking and at one point Chas gave Tyler a slap on the rear after a play.
Everybody said that Carolina had no new players coming in this year, which is incorrect and Will Graves has been quite an addition on the offensive end.
McFarland does not appear to be the brightest bulb….
Two Sunday’s in a row and McFarland makes stupid play after stupid play….
Ragged game on both sides….
Tim Brando re: QT-”A rare turnover by the senior”
Wow, never thought I’d hear that said.
Except I can count at least 3….
I don’t think Roy is going to be happy in the postgame press conference.
I noticed that too THF-not sure
good pint william (that’s Irish-wink)
But now we have 6 days off to recuperate….
Green has had a monster defensive game.
If Wake makes the tournament, it will be a short stay…. Don’t get those week-end suites….
Nice for Danny to show back up. 15 points and 9 boards.
Does that count as a turnover by Q?
We have crushed Wake and played p-poor.
this could be Marcus’ worst game this season
homework the culprit
That depends on how the official scorer sees it. When I was at UNCG I worked in the SID office and one of my jobs during basketball games was to help the SID guy enter the plays into a computer program that created the play-by-play sheets. I am not sure how I would have called that one. Pass was not great but QT had his hands on it.
At any rate looks like they may have charged to Ginyard.
Six TOs for Ginyard. That is 1/3 of the team total.
Yeah, tough call. I think Basketball may be tougher than baseball or football in terms of discretion….
BTW, that stint at UNCG included us playing Duke at the Greensboro Coliseum and I sat about 10 feet from the Duke bench. Made my skin crawl the whole time. That was the Greg Newton years.
heels going to cover!? gonna go down to the wire!!
that had to hurt
Oh…I was close on the score.
After hearing all week how great Wake is, we won by a decent margin….
Yeah, and we did not take care of the ball for anything.
I didn’t know you were a UNCG grad, THF….
Yes…I ran cross country there for three years, did my senior year in the SID office.