If I am not mistaken and I could be but I think UNC has a three game losing streak versus Boston College. They lost in 1994 to BC in the East Regional 2nd Round when UNC was the defending champions and #1 seed. They lost twice to them last season and I am not certain they played in between 1994 and 2006. At any rate this game is huge and UNC has bounced back very well from every loss this season.
9:00 PM: College Game Day crews gives their predictions: Hubert Davis and Jay Bilas: UNC, Digger Phelps: BC. And I know we get Dick Vitale but at least we miss out on Mike Patrick.
9:01 PM: In the interest of full disclosure I lived 30 miles north of Boston from 1999-2003 and no one up there cares about BC basketball except maybe the people who are actually at the game tonight.
9:04 PM: Plotline #1: The Redpemption of Jared Dudley. If he can shut up at the refs he might score a little more.
9:05 PM: All Hansbrough all the time early. Roy did not take my advice on Ellington...that really hurts.
9:06 PM: Wright did start and missed his first shot. Game tied at 4.
9:07 PM: Yeah, this figures. BC mails it in versus Duke but shows up tonight. Terry fouls Dudley shooting a three. Colored me shocked that Terry would commit such a foul.
9:08 PM: Dudley clanks one....two FTs and makes the third.
9:09 PM: I don't know...you might want to but a body on Oates. You should not allow a 4.5 ppg game kill you.
9:10 PM: Game tied at 10 on the Hansbrough steal and dunk. It should be noted that if you get the ball ahead of a BC defender they are absoultely gauranteed to give up on trying to stop the dunk or layup...just ask Duke.
9:11 PM: 1st TV timeout. UNC shooting well early, and so is BC's John Oates. Looks like Hansbrough can do what he wants until Al Skinner decides to double him then it will be up to the rest of the guys to hit shots.
9:12 PM: Tell me how you put Roy and Dick Vitale in the same company. Clearly one does not belong.
9:13 PM: Wayne! As long as he hits them I have no issue.
9:14 PM: *Jaw drops* Lawson is fast. UNC up 15-10
9:15 PM: I thought that ball hit the rim...at least it sound that way...replay looks different.
9:17 PM: Lots of turnovers for BC. Honestly UNC has moved into "We Look Bad Without Ty Lawson" territory. This of course is the sequel to the movie we watched back in 2005 called "We Look Bad Without Raymond Felton"
9:18 PM: Danny Green puts UNC up 17-10.
9:19 PM: Dick Vitale is sticking to his guns on saying UNC will win the national title.
9:20 PM: Okay, Lawson needs to come back in because (1) Frasor cannot run the offense and (2) Rice is going to eat him alive.
9:23 PM: Hansbrough gets the "and 1" putting UNC up 20-14.
9:24 PM: Okay that's not called penetration per se...that is called beating the trap which basically creates a 5 on 3. If UNC wants to jump out and trap Rice they need to close it down fast.
9:26 PM: I have seen Ellington pass off when the look was no good twice now...maybe he has learned something. UNC up 24-16.
9:27 PM: I cannot say enought how much I like Deon Thompson. I think he is going to be at least a three year guy and he is going to be a very good player.
9:28 PM: UNC up seven. Heels are also shooting a ridiculous clip right now.
9:29 PM: BC climbing back in as UNC goes a little out of sync on offense.
9:31 PM: In my opinion I think the thug ratio of fairly high on the BC team. The players strike me as being somewhat lacking in class. And yes I am still holding a grudge over the near decaptiation of Derrick Phelps in the 1994 NCAA game.
9:33 PM: Are we really going to do nothing but talk about Jared Dudley tonight? I know he was featured on Game Day but I do not think they talked about Hansbrough that much during the GT game.
9:34 PM: BC takes the lead and Lawson answers...Rice answers back.
9:35 PM: Three on Dudley who is nothing but a whiner about it. Vitale is not sure which is of no real surprise to anyone watching.
9:36 PM: The announcers think Hansbrough did some good acting there. Memo guys: This is not Duke you are watching.
9:37 PM: I thought QT was hurt? Nice assist on the Hansbrough jumper.
9:38 PM: Okay, 56 minutes of griping at the refs going back to the Duke game finally gets Al Skinner a technical foul.
9:39 PM: Green hits one of the tech FTs.
9:40 PM: Rice has gotten odd fouls called on both Lawson and Thomas.
9:41 PM: You know it is not only the BC players, the coaches, but the fans whine incessantly about every foul called. Then again they would all be at a Red Sox game were it baseball season so they might be somewhat confused about the rules.
9:45 PM: I would think there is an opportunity with Dudley out.
9:46 PM: Nice ball movement to Ellington for the three. He seems to be playing more relaxed, picking his spots a little more.
9:47 PM: Okay just as I say something nice about Ellington he drives the lane when there was nothing there.
9:49 PM: Ah, the Beefmaster Franks End of the 1st Half Timeout by Roy Williams.
9:51 PM: UNC 44 BC 38 at the half. I hate that we did not get some points to make it 8 or 9 at the half.
That was a good half of basketball from UNC. The shooting was good, the defense was pretty good though BC did hit some threes. BC also turned the ball over a lot, some of that was defense and some of that was BC's own failure to handle the ball. The three fouls on Jared Dudley which I am sure was not take very well by the producers at ESPN was big but not really that big since they had a lot of guys stepping up. The two questions I have are: (1) Can UNC continues to shoot well since basic college basketball theory stipulates that hot shooting goes away in the second half and (2) Will the UNC depth matter to a BC team which seems to be used to playing lots of minutes?
10:02 PM: I heard something odd during the Vandy-Florida highlights. They said the SEC fines a school for having fans rush the court. Is that true? Sounds kind of idiotic. Also, Joakim Noah is a pansy. He swiped at UK cheerleader last Saturday and this week he swiped at the ball while the Vandy coach was holding it. Now granted the Vandy coach should not have been holding the ball but Noah just strikes me the wrong way.
10:05 PM: And yes I do know that calling the SEC "idiotic" is redudant.
10:07 PM: Wow BC is shooting 59%. They showed a replay of Dudley's foul and despite Vitale calling it a bad call, it was clear he pushed Hansbrough at the top of his back.
10:09 PM: Nice fast break...wish we could do that more. UNC up nine.
10:10 PM: BC players play with a chip on the shoulder? No kidding Sherlock and it comes of like plain vanilla thuggery.
10:11 PM: Maybe Ellington read my blog this morning and got fired up.
10:12 PM: Lawson kills me with that reverse layup. I just see Lawson when he was growing up out in the yard seeing how many different ways he could throw the ball at the backboard and have it go in.
10:14 PM: I would like for Dudley to get his fourth foul to see if Al Skinner's head would actually explode.
10:15 PM: Yeah, I imagine Roy is pissed at Wright for trying something that risky.
10:16 PM: 1st TV timeout of the 2nd half. Based on what happened against VT, I think UNC needs to out their foot on BC's throat and push down, put these guys away, and then head back to North Carolina.
10:18 PM: It seems that BC can be counted on to throw the ball away much the same we can expect Terry is going to thwart any chance UNC has of extending their lead.
10:20 PM: Okay BC has four players around Hansbrough who goes up, gets fouled and misses the shot. All four players act like they did not do a freaking thing wrong and Dudley immediately started griping to the ref. UNC up six.
10:21 PM: We have Judgement Week coming up next week. I am not real sure who is being judged or who is doing the judging but ESPN is having it.
10:22 PM: That is two possessions UNC has forced BC down below eight seconds on the shot clock then given up a jumper.
10:23 PM: I am not kidding. You really need to put these guys back about three possessions and keep them there, when that happens the crowd is out of it. UNC 59 BC 57 at the second TV timeout.
10:26 PM: Texas almost lost to Baylor which is the main problem with Kevin Durant being POY in the nation because his team really is not that good...then again that might be a credit in his favor for POY.
10:27 PM: Might want to think about putting a body on Marshall.
10:28 PM: Aarrrrggghhh. Nice hustle by Terry but he was off balanced and went out of bounds. Now we are tied.
10:29 PM: Gut check time. Terry answers the bell and hits the three.
10:30 PM: Lawson takes every Rice basket personally.
10:31 PM: Wow..that was an interesting sequence. I cannot imagine Hansbrough moving that much on not traveling.
10:32 PM: I mean Dudley complains about every. Single. Foul. Called. I would like someone to T him up in hopes he might stop.
10:35 PM: Wow. Doug Flutie is here and this is the first time he has been shown. I remember the Duke game last season where they showed him no less than 73 times, even when he beat a hasty exit at the end.
10:36 PM: I would like to hit one of those end of shot clock threes at some point.
10:37 PM: Terry is killing me. I am going to have a very hard time in March if Terry does stuff like that in a close tournament game.
10:38 PM: Sean Marshall is a punk. He is walking around thumping his chest after missing a shot and getting fouled. Ha...missed both free throws so why don't you focus on your free throws instead of thumping your chest.
10:39 PM: Erin Andrews tells us that Marshall was unhappy about the focus on UNC despite the fact they won twice versus the Heels last season. Here is a clue Sean and it has to do with those FOUR NCAA titles banners we have in our buiding, what have you got besides the chip on your shoulder.
10:41 PM: Nice defense and the dodged a bullet there on the steal by Dudley. We need a knife in the chest.
10:42 PM: And thank you very much Reyshawn Terry. BC wants a timeout down seven with four minutes to go. Terry is just hot and cold on the plays he makes. He is really good at moments like that and he also seems to be at the center at some key bad plays.
10:44 PM: One thing about BC games they go by quick.
10:46 PM: Vitale: "Not a good play by Ginyard" regarding his foul in Dudley. Well geez Dick, he ran out there to try and grab the basketball off the miss and he knocked Dudley down after he grabbed the ball, no one is faulting that kind of hustle.
10:47 PM: This is going to come down to executing on the offensive end and hitting free throws. BC is so methodical and that shortens the game or forces them into an uncomfortable pace in the half court offense.
10:49 PM: I do not like this milk the clock offensive set. It nearly killed Duke and it will kill us here if we are not careful.
10:50 PM: How many times are we going to allow them to run the clock down to nothing and still score? UNC 73 BC 70
10:51 PM: Key possession, there is no way you allow BC to come down with a chance to tie.
10:52 PM: Don Shulman: "UNC has lost four games this season all of them close with a chance to win at the end" Really Don, I must have missed those games because I recall one. Gonzaga, NC State, and VT the first time required huge rallies and they never seemed to have a chance to tie.
10:53 PM: Dudley gets away with that foul on three point shots too often for it to be legal..but he is 1 for 6 on the two chances he has hd in the situation this game.
10:54 PM: Okay, Rice just threw up USDA Certified garbage at the basket and it went in. Now it comes down to FT shooting. UNC up one with the shot clock off.
10:57 PM: Ginyard...hits one...hits them both. UNC up three with 22 seconds left. Time to play defense. They cannot give up a three here. I want no part of OT with BC.
10:59 PM: Rice shoots a three after the BC timeout and makes it. We can only hope he shot his wad there.
11:00 PM: I hope Roy told them to watch that Dudley three point foul deal.
11:01 PM: Dudley misses the three and Lawson smartly throws it down court but is fouled. Hit these and let's go home.
11:02 PM: Lawson puts UNC up four, one more just to make sure....and he does. UNC 77 BC 72.
11:03 PM: UNC escapes with the five point win.
I thought it was a nice well rounded win for UNC. They also bounced back from the heartbreaking loss to win a close game on the road against a very dangerous team. That was the really big hurdle to clear. The four remaining games are more like medium size hurdles. Now we can only hope that BC is so upset but losing two straight that they go to Virginia Tech and beat the Hokies.