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WRAL has their preview of the 2010 Tar Heels up. Among the interesting stories told there? Deon Thompson is John Henson's meal monitor.
Deon Thompson has a critical role on the North Carolina basketball team this season, and it has nothing to do with rebounding or blocking shots. He has to get freshman John Henson to breakfast every morning. And make sure Henson takes a picture of his meal and e-mails it to UNC strength coach Jonas Sahratian.
"I pick him up every morning to take him to breakfast and make sure he’s eating," Thompson said Sunday of Henson.
If you recall, the rap on Deon Thompson is that he likes to eat. In fact Thompson had a little too much weight on him when showed at UNC which he subsequently lost. It stands to reason if anyone on the team can get Henson to eat it would be Thompson. Or Marcus Ginyard. Based on his Twitter updates, Ginyard eats all the time.
- Donald Williams is excited to see his #21 honored at UNC following a rule change championed by Roy Williams to include the Final Four MOP and ACC POY awards among the qualifications for having one's jersey placed in the rafters. Williams, now the girls basketball coach at St. Mary's in Raleigh, scored 50 points in UNC's two Final Four wins in 1993. At the time Williams set a record for three point shooting at the Final Four hitting 10-14.
- The ACC announced the sites of the ACC Tournament through 2015. It appears the powers that be in Greensboro are making the common sense move to keep the tournament there(where it rightfully belongs in my opinion, you non-Big Four schools can get over it.) The only exception in the upcoming slate is 2012 when the tournament will return to Atlanta but not to the Georgia Dome. The ACC will utilized Phillips Arena instead which is the home of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks. The smaller venue makes perfect sense based on the poor site lines in the Georgia Dome but more so due to poor ticket sales.
- One other tidbit from the ACC and Operation Basketball. The league said it would be tightening up officiating on a handful of areas during the game:
The ACC also said it would be more strict on calling excessive swinging of elbows, 3-second violations, players intentionally trying to break a foul shooter's focus and will have zero tolerance on unsporting behavior. Unsporting behavior includes taunting, obscene gestures and pointing fingers at opponents
If that last bit holds I would expect Maryland's Greivis Vasquez to get a technical foul at least once a game. Maybe we should just call this the Greivis Vasquez Rule. To Duke's relief it does not appear excessive chest bumping and intimate physical contact between teammates was part of the new restrictions.
- The UNC women's basketball team topped the ACC preseason poll. Jessica Breland was named preseason All-ACC and freshman Tierra Ruffin-Pratt was named Rookie of the Year in the ACC.
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