Hope you had a nice Memorial Day weekend and hope you remembered the sacrifice of those who fought and died to keep our nation free. Some things you may have missed while you were at the beach or the barbecue:
** UNC's baseball team made the NCAA tournament despite not even making the ACC tournament. The ACC got a record 8 bids, but the Heels got in ahead of Boston College, with whom they tied in the regular season. Carolina and BC did not play this season, so the Eagles made the ACC tourney on a tiebreaker.
Carolina helped their case for an at-large bid by winning 12 of their 15 games and maintaining an RPI in the 20s. BC, on the other hand, lost 8 of their last 11, including two quick losses in the ACCT.
You would think that the those around the league would be happy at the record eight bids, but NC State coach Elliott Avent, whose team was in a dogfight for the last two ACCT bids until the final weekend, thinks UNC should not have gotten in over BC because the Heels didn't make the ACC tourney, despite a superior overall record and an amazing RPI. Avent thinks being able to earn an NCAA bid without making the ACC tourney devalues the tournament. Welcome to the world of ACC basketball, Coach Avent. Should a basketball team have to make it to Friday to qualify for the NCAAs?
Avent also gets in a dig in saying the Heels have had a week off to rest their pitchers and their injuries while other teams (meaning his, who lost in the ACCT finals and suffered key injuries along the way), played three or four. It is ridiculous that the ACC does not come up with a way to include all 12 teams, and since UNC and BC did not play head-to-head, UNC was excluded on a tiebreaker. Besides, Carolina finished exactly one game behind NCSU and took 2 of 3 from the Wolpfack, so Avent would be well-served to keep his yap shut.
UNC is in the Norman, Oklahoma sub-region and will play California in the opening round Friday at 8:00 PM. Oral Roberts and host Oklahoma make up the rest of the bracket as Carolina looks for a 5th-straight trip to the College World Series.
**The UNC women's lacrosse team fought the good fight, but fell to Northwestern 15-10 in the Final Four in front of the largest crowd to ever watch women's lacrosse in the USA.
**The Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions was in town this weekend with a lot of Carolina hoops flavor:
- Justin Knox is just happy to be here and hopes he can help the ball club.
- 2011 commit P.J. Hairston is looking good.
- Baby Zeller and Baby Plumlee play on the same AAU team and both may go where their big brothers play - or maybe not.