With all-world wing player Manu Ginobli injured, Green has had the opportunity to see significant minutes off the bench. According to Tim Griffin of the San Antonio Express-News:

During Ginobili’s absence, Green has emerged as the Spurs’ top wing off the bench. He’s given them outside shooting, a fierce defensive effort and moxie when they’ve needed  it. His emergence has been the biggest surprise of the season.

Outside shooting, defense, and moxie. Sounds like just the kinds of things he brought to the Tar Heels, especially during the 2009 national championship run.

With UNC playing three games in six days, Roy Williams gave the team the day off on Wednesday and flew to San Antonio to watch Green and the Spurs take on Houston.  Again, Tim Griffin reports:

“All of our guys in the NBA, whether it’s from Kansas or North Carolina, I try to see during the course of the year,” Williams said. “Danny I haven’t seen. He was with Cleveland two years ago and I went up to see him and he played like one minute.

“He’s a little more important here in San Antonio and he’s doing some nice things and Pop is one of my favorite guys in the whole wide world. We played three games in six days and I gave them a day off today so we could come and see Danny.”

Williams said he’s not surprised with the development of Green, who has blossomed as a consistent producer for the Spurs after Manu Ginobili’s injury.

“Danny is one of those of kids who has the ability to play, “Williams said. “But in the NBA you have to find the right spot and be there at the right time and take advantage of it. I think that’s what Danny’s done.

“He’s always had an ability to score. He’s a little sneaky and has the ability to block a shot and get some steals and an offensive rebound for you. He’s a good  basketball  player who was crucial for us in ’09 when we won the national championship.

“I always thought he had the ability, but I’ve had other guys with the ability who never found the right spot at the right time, nor if they did, they didn’t take advantage of it. Danny has taken advantage of it pretty well.”

It’s great to hear that Green, a fan favorite, is making the most of his opportunity. And, like at UNC when he was known to make a highlight reel or two, Green is continuing the tradition for the Spurs, as evidenced here.

And of course, it wouldn’t be a post about Danny Green without this:

First up, via Bobby Frasor who retweeted it and WRAL Sports Fan who posted the audio. The Pacers, as part of a promotion for the Indianapolis Marion County Public Library, had Hansbrough read the children’s classic Chicken Little for people to call in and listen to. Why? I really don’t know. Maybe there is a rash of parents in Indiana who would rather have their kids listen to a story read by a professional athlete over the phone than do it themselves. At any rate, Hansbrough dropping “turkey lurkey” is priceless not to mention his “oh my goodness” is getting close to Woody Durham territory.

Hansbrough was a good enough sport to talk with Adam Gold and Joe Ovies on 99.9 The Fan yesterday afternoon. They discussed Chicken Little and Hansbrough’s second season in the NBA. However the money part of the interview was this:

Joe Ovies: “Has Colin Cowherd invited you on his show yet?”

Hansbrough: “Who’s that?”

Smack.

For those of you who don’t know. ESPN Radio blowhard Colin Cowherd once said Tyler Hansbrough would never score more than 20 points in an NBA game and if he did, Cowherd would do his show in his underwear. Cowherd’s mistake(other than being a complete jerkwad) is underestimating a guy with Hansbrough’s work ethic. I stated when he went to the NBA that I did not know how good Hansbrough would be but I did know he would work harder than anyone else so don’t count him out.

Having sort of broken through in his second season and free of the stupidity of Jim O’Brien being his coach, Hansbrough should be setup for a solid third season in the NBA…providing there is one.

Baseball: Miami at UNC

Game 1: Saturday, 2:00 PM
Game 2: Saturday after the Game 1
Game 3: Sunday, 1:00 PM

Game 1 was supposed to happen on Friday but was rained out. Harrison Barnes was scheduled to throw out the first pitch on Friday but will now do it at 2:00 PM on Saturday. You can watch or listen to the games online by going to Tar Heel Blue. This is a huge series for UNC since they performed so poorly versus NCSU last weeked.

NBA

Game 4: Chicago at Indiana, Saturday, 2:30 PM, TNT
Game 3: Oklahoma City at Denver, 10:00 PM, ESPN

Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson and Raymond Felton will all be in action on Saturday. In the Chicago-Indiana series, Hansbrough has been going to war with Chicago’s Carlos Boozer. The two have been matched up against each other and it has been everything you thought it would be between a UNC and Duke player. In the first game of the series, Hansbrough stole the ball from Boozer and went down for the dunk with Boozer committing the questionable foul in the back.

Unfortunately the Pacers are down 3-0 to Chicago. Hansbrough had 22 points in the first game but has struggled since scoring six in Game 2 and ten in Game 3 on fairly poor shooting.

In the Oklahoma City-Denver series, the George Karl led Nuggets are down 2-0 to the Thunder. Lawson and Felton continue to see significant minutes on the court together. They have combined for 29.0 ppg and 9.0 apg in the first two games of the series. Denver returns home hoping to turn the series around.

Happy Easter to everyone, enjoy your weekend.

Comments if you have ‘em.

The UNC players had another pickup game versus the students on Wednesday. Local media was on hand and Barnes was asked about his plans and said he had no timetable.  Barnes also addressed the notion he was waiting to announce his decision for whatever reason people can come up with saying, “If I knew, I’d tell people, that’s the way it goes.”

This is speculation on my part but I think Barnes is waiting to see how the draft will shake out and he is probably torn. As for rumors that Barnes has enrolled in summer school and has been accepted for a local internship, none of that means anything. He could be covering his bases for whatever decision and if the NBA has a lockout then Barnes is probably going to fill his time going to school.  The NBA already canceled its Las Vegas summer league so chances are, no matter what Barnes decides, he is going to be in Chapel Hill this summer.

As for the pickup game, WRAL has video to quell your basketball withdrawal.

After last week’s announcement that John Henson and Tyler Zeller intended to stay in school and not enter the draft, UNC stated that Barnes would make a decision this week. Meanwhile, the Twitterverse has been alive with rumor and innuendo, most of it pointing in the direction of Barnes staying in Chapel Hill for another year.

Point zero of the Twitter craze pointing to Barnes returning is from Des Moines, Iowa sports radio host Marty Tirrell, who broke the news last year that Barnes would spurn presumed leader Duke for Carolina. Way back on March 29th, Tirrell tweeted that Barnes would return, and followed that up on April 3 that an announcement would be made the following Tuesday, which was a week ago today. He later said the Barnes announcement would be made on Monday, and yet we wait. To his credit, Tirrell stands by his pronouncement, saying he “will mow Coach Williams lawn by hand if I’m wrong on Harrison Barnes”.

For all the internet scorn being heaped upon Tirrell for his less-than-Nostradamus-like precision, it may be taking this long to gather the requisite information and make an informed decision. The NBA labor situation is very fluid and for those who have already declared or seem likely to (Kemba Walker, Kyrie Irving, Josh Selby) there are others who may sit this one out. The more that sit out weakens the value of this year’s draft, which in turn raises the value of Barnes. Barnes’ stock seems to have risen since the end of the season to the point where he is almost always in a top-5 discussion.

As much as Barnes has been reported to see his work in Chapel Hill as unfinished and while his return would almost guarantee a preseason #1 ranking for UNC and install the Heels as a title favorite, the labor uncertainty in the NBA works both ways. If Barnes could be drafted in the top five, it might be a case of the timing being absolutely perfect to leave, his own personal wishes aside.

Of course my own selfish personal wishes are that Barnes returns to school, works on his handles, continues working towards his degree, and enjoys the college experience with a bunch of guys who really seem to like playing with each other while winning a title he will never have a chance to achieve if he leaves. On the other hand, I trust Roy Williams  and the Carolina NBA family connection will provide Harrison and his mom the information they need to make the best decision for his family and his career. Besides, UNC will be a national title contender whether or not Barnes comes back; with a healthy Reggie Bullock and two legit high school All-Americans, Carolina can contend without Barnes.

Meanwhile, we continue to wait for the Black Falcon spotlight to shine over the Smith Center signaling the coming announcement.

North Carolina forwards John Henson and Tyler Zeller will return to college and play basketball for the Tar Heels in 2011-12.

Henson, a sophomore from Tampa, Fla., and Zeller, a junior from Washington, Ind., were each second-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference selections in 2011.

Freshman forward Harrison Barnes is still reviewing information about the possibility of declaring for the NBA Draft.

“I want to come back to school next year because I enjoy all aspects of being a college student and I truly love being a Tar Heel,” says Henson. “We had a fun and successful season, but we all want to improve on what we accomplished. I know at some point I want to play in the NBA, but right now I want to enjoy my college life. My teammates and coaches are great and I want to help them reach the big dreams we all share.”

“I came to Carolina because it had the balance of academics and basketball I wanted and it was the best place for me to prepare for life and a career in the NBA,” says Zeller. “That’s exactly what we have here. I want to finish my college career, compete for championships and graduate on time. That means a lot to my family and me. Plus, I know I can get stronger and improve my all-around game with another year. We had a great season getting to the Elite Eight, but I would like a chance at going out with another title.”

Roy Williams said Harrison Barnes was not as far in the process and wanted more information. Barnes stated the other day that he was looking at making a decision next week.

At any rate getting the two big men back is huge. Yes, it would be nice to have them all but if worse comes to worse and Barnes does leave, I think UNC is still a Final Four contender.

Via the Daily Tar Heel

Henson, a projected lottery pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, said he’ll have a decision on his plans for next year by Saturday. Teammate Harrison Barnes, who is all but guaranteed a top-five pick in the draft, will have fans wait just a few days longer.

“It’ll probably be in at least a week, week and a half or so,” Barnes said.

Obviously this contradicts Iowa radio host Marty Tirrell who was adamant the announcement was coming today and called Barnes returning a “fact.” At this juncture he is still standing by his  reports saying he was the first to break it. Yesterday on Twitter I commented that coaching searches have that one “guy” who claims to have exclusive inside knowledge but is woefully wrong. The same can be true of players’ draft decisions. In the case of the NCSU search it is guy named Greg Swaim who has been wrong multiple times over now. In this case we have Tirrell who is wrong so far about the timing of the announcement or even that a decision has been made. That apparently has not deterred Tirrell who upped the ante even more this morning.

I will mow Coach Williams lawn by hand if I’m wrong on Harrison Barnes! He is returning to UNC…

Alrighty then.

I will say this. The rumor mill continues to trend in a positive direction with the newest rumor being John Henson’s mother telling ESPN’s Jay Williams at the McDonald’s All-American game(where Henson’s sister was playing) that her son would return. Seth Davis is also out there saying he is hearing the trio will return. Contrast this to 2008 when we heard everything under the sun and spent three months analyzing every spoken word from Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green. Heck, we even had that guy who claimed Lawson was meeting with agents at Outback Streakhouse in Durham. That time period was far wilder and nerve wracking than this process appears to be. Of course the fact they have moved the withdrawal date back to early May means players are making their decisions now as opposed to “testing the waters” and then deciding. We are being spared the possibility of these guys doing workouts and culling the web for articles about how they might be doing looking for a sign. Now they will make the decision and that will be it.

As for real information, Roy Williams told Dan Patrick this morning:

“We’re going to meet with Tyler, John and Harrison this week. This week or next week we’ll know.”

Roy also said he would tell them to do what they want to do and he did not think they would drag the decision out. It is important to remember that UNC has a process which includes Roy gathering information from the NBA and meeting with players to discuss the findings. It is possible Barnes, Henson and Tyler Zeller already know what they are doing to do but they are availing themselves of the process offered by their coach. Meetings need to happen and if they are smart they do their due diligence with the information they receive. It is also possible they don’t know and are still working through the decisions with their families.

My gut feeling is they all come back but would not be surprised is one or all left. There is no way of knowing for sure. I do think there is unfinished business they want to take care of and this is as tight knit a team as I have seen in awhile at UNC. It is almost like the decision to stay or go is being made with consideration to their teammates. We will see if that bears out. Of course just because Henson decides on Saturday does not mean it will get announced then. UNC would probably rather announce them all together so it could be another week or more before we know something official.

Be sure to read the link article above discussing the pick-up game. Henson, Barnes, Kendall Marshall and Leslie McDonald took one regular student and played all comers with predictable results. And for a little basketball fix here is video via the DTH.

On Tuesday night, Hansbrough posted a career high 30 points versus New York two days after posting 29 against those same Knicks at Madison Square Garden. It was the fifth game in a row Hansbrough scored 20 or more points and his tenth straight in double digits. For the month of March, which covers nine games, Hansbrough is averaging 20.1 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 1.3 spg in 32 minutes per outing. Here is a breakdown of Hansbrough stats by month this season.

October(3 gms): 21.5 mpg, 10.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 50% FG
November(13 gms): 14.5 mpg, 5.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 53% FG
December(15 gms): 9.0 mpg, 2.7 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 22% FG
January(14 gms): 22.3 mpg, 12.4 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 49% FG
February(13 gms): 23.4 mpg, 11.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 39% FG
March(9 gms): 32.0 mpg, 20.1 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 51% FG

Season: 20.4 mpg, 10.5 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 46% FG, 80% FT

Hansbrough’s minutes were hurt earlier in the season by former coach Jim O’Brien’s insistence on not playing him and starting former Duke player Josh McRoberts. When O’Brien was fired, Indiana’s interim coach Frank Vogel started off by bringing Hansbrough off the bench for offense then ultimately made him a starter displacing McRoberts. Yes, McRoberts has had Hansbrough showing him up his whole career.  The move appears to have paid off. With the additional minutes, Hansbrough is putting up points and apparently really loves playing against the Knicks.

When Hansbrough came out of college most people, myself included, thought he could have a decent career especially if he found a niche. That being said, at the time I also thought it would be foolish to underestimate a guy who works as hard and much on his game as Hansbrough does. At least for now it appears that hard work is paying dividends and Indiana is in a fight for a playoff spot. There is no way of knowing whether the current numbers Hansbrough is putting up will be the norm or if it will balance out with a larger sample size. I would lean towards the latter in that respect however I still think Hansbrough can be a solid contributor in the NBA. Also remember this is basically Hansbrough’s rookie season since he did not play much a year ago so there is plenty of room for development.

In other 2009 UNC team news Danny Green has signed on with the San Antonio Spurs after putting up some impressive numbers in his NBDL stint. Meanwhile in Denver the Ty Lawson/Raymond Felton point guard combo is working out quite well. The duo combined for 45 points and 22 assists in a win over Chris Paul and New Orleans on Sunday.

UPDATE: Tyler Hansbrough dunking on Amare Stoudemire last night. Nasty.

Anthony, as you recall, played one season in college  at Syracuse leading the Orangemen to the NCAA title in 2003 defeating Kansas. It was after that game, Roy Williams(1) dropped the infamous “I don’t give a sh*t about North Carolina right now” to CBS reporter Bonnie Bernstein after the latter kept asking Roy about the open UNC coaching job. We all know what happened next in that story. Anyway.

Among the players involved with the trade was Raymond Felton(2) who is being sent to Denver where no one expects him to stay since the Nuggets will likely try to move him, possibly to New Jersey. Felton, having left Charlotte when it was clear Larry Brown(3) and I suppose owner Michael Jordan(4) did not want him, was having possibly his best season in the NBA in New York. Felton had a bona fide All-Star to feed the ball to in the form of Amare Stoudemire and was playing a more uptempo offense under head coach Mike D’Antoni.   That obviously did not matter as the Knicks were more than willing to part company with Felton. In return the Knicks will get a passel of players including Chauncey Billups who played college ball at Colorado. Billups was on the team that UNC beat in the 2nd round of the 1997 NCAA Tournament to give Dean Smith(5) his 877th win making him the all-time winningest coach in NCAA history. As for Denver, this bodes well for 2009 ACC POY Ty Lawson(6) who had been playing behind Billups. Now, I would assume Nuggets head coach George Karl(7) will make Lawson the starting PG.

Yahoo! Sports Adrian Wojnarowski noted in a column over the weekend that current Florida International head coach and former Knicks executive Isiah Thomas who led Indiana to the NCAA title over UNC(8) in 1981, was apparently the driving force behind the trade for Anthony. That means current Knicks president of basketball operations Donnie Walsh(9) had basically been undercut by owner James Dolan who chose to listen to Thomas instead. This all despite the fact Walsh cleaned up the mess left by Thomas and had the team over .500 this season after years of sheer futility. Clearly Thomas hates UNC with every fiber of his being since he has been screwing the UNC family since 1981.

Oh and one more thing. Another player involved in the trade was former Duke player Shelden Williams who was with Denver and now on his way to New York. Williams was ritually abused by both Sean May(10) and Tyler Hansbrough(11) while he was at Duke. Doesn’t sound like much has changed for him since.

The first occurrence came in 1995 when UNC’s Jerry Stackhouse dunked on what Mick Mixon called “almost fourteen feet of Duke post players.”

The second instance of this act occurred in 2008 when Danny Freaking Green did so on Duke guard Greg Paulus. It should be noted Paulus was known to bring out similar behavior by non-Tar Heels on several different occasions.

On Wednesday night, we were able to witness this event yet again during the Indiana-Golden St when former Tar Heel Tyler Hansbrough ran down the lane and slammed home a putback over teammate and former Blue Devil Mike Dunleavy.

Dunking on Duke players never gets old.