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(04/26/06 4:00am)
Ever since I started working at The Daily Tar Heel, I've gotten to cover sports - something that makes me extremely fortunate.
I've been even more fortunate to be able to write a number of sports columns, of which maybe one has dealt with an issue of any sort of traditional importance.
I've philosophized about the merits of college basketball announcers.
I've lamented misspellings on soccer jerseys (which managed to infuriate a lot of people).
I've written about Quentin Thomas not having a posse (which, by the way, he absolutely deserves by this point).
And this time, in my final column for the DTH, I'm going to write about my cousin.
Don't worry, he's not part of a tear-jerking sob story that'll make you cry like Adam Morrison with five seconds left in a big game.
His story is worse.
He decided to go to Duke.
And I encouraged it.
In fact, I told him he'd be crazy not to go.
OK, before I receive more death threats than Barry Bonds at Dodger Stadium, let me explain the reason I did such a thing.
Sports.
Duke's a great school. Then again, so were the other ones my cousin, a high school senior, was considering.
The thing is, though, it's a bit tough to get enthused about the likes of Middlebury men's basketball. Or Hamilton College football.
(Of course, the amazing Jamal Boykin very well could be Duke's star post player next season, but you get the point.)
At places like North Carolina and Duke, sports play such a vital role in the so-called "college experience" that it's impossible to imagine what the past four years would have been like without them.
Sure, they don't headline an admissions office's list of reasons to attend a particular university - that's an honor usually reserved for things like a wide range of top-notch academic programs.
But they are a lot more important than many people - especially those who haven't been through a similar situation - are willing to admit.
For example, when people ask me why I chose to attend UNC, I tell them, "Sports were a huge reason." Usually their response begins with the phrase, "Yeah, but ."
I hate that.
Years from now, the things I'll remember about college (besides, obviously, blue cups at He's Not) are the things accomplished by the UNC athletic program.
It's not everywhere students get the chance to storm a major thoroughfare at least twice in four years because of a basketball game.
It's not everywhere you have a baseball team so good that fans are willing to sit in a tree to watch a sold-out game.
It's not everywhere a group of students, at 2:30 in the afternoon, bring a boom box to a dorm lawn to listen to a Lawrence, Kan., radio station for updates on a certain coach's possible return.
And it's not everywhere you can sit in a bar drinking blue cups in the middle of the summer and watch Michael "Oh my God, is that really him?" Jordan stroll through the gate in a powder blue jumpsuit and order a Miller Lite.
So, while I'll leave UNC with a degree from an awesome journalism school and tons of experience at perhaps the country's best student newspaper, those aren't what I'll remember most.
I'll remember the sports.
Contact Derek Howles at howlesd@email.unc.edu.
(02/16/06 5:00am)
It's not often that David Noel stammers three times before answering a postgame question.
But when a reporter asked the North Carolina forward to describe the locker room during halftime of the Tar Heels' 82-75 thriller of a win against Georgia Tech on Wednesday night at the Smith Center, Noel took a few seconds searching for words.
"You know how the Tasmanian Devil has this little thing, and he just destroys everything?" Noel finally said. "That's kind of how it was."
He was describing Coach Roy Williams' initial reaction to the Tar Heels' abysmal first half - but just as well could have been talking about their play in the second.
Down by 13 at the break - and by 20 at one point in the first half - No. 23 North Carolina roared back, and in a performance that's sure to be etched in Dean Dome history, outscored the bewildered Yellow Jackets, 40-20, in the second half.
"It was the most frustrating half I've ever coached - and about the exact opposite in the second," Williams said. "I told the kids after the game that five years from now I'd be in that locker room when we'd be down, and I'd be talking about tonight's comeback for them."
Georgia Tech started the game by hitting its first nine 3-pointers and ended the half 9-of-10 from beyond the arc. Thanks to what Williams called unintelligent defense, the Yellow Jackets shot 61 percent from the field in the first half en route to 55 points.
That all changed in the second half, though, as Georgia Tech went from looking like Loyola-Marymount to Loyola of Maryland. It took the Tar Heels 11:08 to make up the 20-point deficit, tying the game at 61 with 12:55 to go by extending their suffocating defense.
"We got in trouble a little bit when they started pressuring us and the five-(second) count was on," said Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt. "Instead of taking them off the dribble, we got a little tentative."
Considering the Yellow Jackets used their final timeout with 12:22 to play, their uncertainty wasn't surprising.
And the only thing that disappeared faster than Georgia Tech's timeouts was guard Anthony (No)-Morrow, who, after scoring 18 points in the first half, had only four in the second on 2-of-10 shooting.
In the meantime UNC's Tyler Hansbrough was in the process of scoring more points than any Tar Heel freshman in history. He played the Incredible Hulk to Williams' Tasmanian Devil, going 13-for-17 from the field and 14-for-19 from the foul line for 40 points. He also snatched 10 boards, completing his fourth double-double on the year.
A simple stat at the 2:28 mark epitomized the stunning reversal of fortunes.
For the second half, at least, Hansbrough had outscored Georgia Tech's entire team.
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(02/14/06 5:00am)
CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Never mind they were on pace to score 191 points, having poured in 22 in the game's first 4:36.
Never mind they made their first 10 shots - six 2s, three 3s and a free throw.
Never mind they jumped out to a blink-and-you'll-miss-it 8-0 lead in the opening minute-and-a-half.
All those things paled in comparison to the most impressive thing the No. 23 North Carolina Tar Heels did in the early minutes of their 80-70 win Sunday night at the BankUnited Center.
Actually it was more like something they didn't do.
They didn't turn it over.
In fact North Carolina didn't record a turnover until almost eight minutes had elapsed.
And for a team that entered Sunday's game averaging a whopping 18.2 a contest, including an even worse 20.2 in ACC play, going that long without committing one doesn't often happen.
"When you look at us, and we have 13 (total) turnovers, that's like making eagle on the last three holes," said Tar Heels head coach Roy Williams, who made his team do extra running in practice this week for failing to value the ball.
"We've had 13 turnovers sometimes before they sing the national anthem."
But despite the Tar Heels' solid start, the Hurricanes pulled within four in the first four minutes by exploiting a porous North Carolina defense.
"Everyone was feeling it early on," said UNC point guard Bobby Frasor. "On the other hand, we weren't playing defense, and they kept hanging around because of that."
The game stayed relatively close for the remainder of the first half and the beginning of the second, until Miami suffered a drought of just four points during a period of more than six minutes midway through the second half.
In the meantime UNC turned a 56-all tie into a 69-60 lead by ratcheting up its defensive intensity.
"I kept telling the team the game was going to be won on the defensive end of the floor," Williams said. "We just needed to get one stop here and another stop there."
And though his four big baskets in crunch time were most visible, Frasor's defense of Miami's Guillermo Diaz, a 6-2 guard who's quicker than Dick Cheney's trigger finger, was just as important.
"He's just making big-time plays," said North Carolina guard Marcus Ginyard. "For a freshman guard like that playing in the ACC, that's awesome."
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(02/13/06 5:00am)
College basketball fans don't agree on much. Except when it comes to one thing, of course: the incompetence of the game's announcers.
Want proof? Just look around the ACC.
It's a subject on which fans of both North Carolina and Duke can unite, as evidenced by their joint pastime of relentlessly smacking Billy Packer around on Internet message boards, in bars and at work.
It's a subject that jacks up N.C. State faithful, who wonder why Dick Vitale, while calling a game in the Big Ten, spends so much time praising Roy Williams and so little time discussing the merits of Herb Sendek.
And it's a subject that irks Maryland fans, who might say Mike Patrick, a widely alleged Duke rooter, has so much bias, his first name should be Lenny.
In truth, the situation's not nearly as bad as many make it out to be. The vast majority of broadcasters - including those three - are mostly fair and genuinely enthusiastic. But it's not like there aren't flaws, either.
Packer isn't prone to ridiculous hyperbole, but he does have the annoying habit of picking one topic and harping on it more than that kid at the frat party who just wants to convince you that, 'Dude, he is sooo drunk right now.'
There's no doubt Vitale and his kid-on-Christmas-morning enthusiasm are positive for the game, but it's easy to wish ESPN would take a T.O. of its own (baby!) from Dickie V. every once in a while. Besides, he needs some time off to accept the lifetime achievement award for overbearing announcers with only one good eye. Stuart Scott will be presenting.
And, yes, sometimes Patrick does seem just a teensie bit partisan. After all, discussing the "brilliant" shooting of Trajan Langdon in the midst of a nail-biter is kind of suspicious. Especially when Duke's not playing. Also considering Trajan Langdon graduated in 1999.
All of which brings us to the bigger question: Who exactly is the best announcer in college hoops?
He's 62 years old. White-haired. Looks like Mr. Rogers. Spews more random phrases than Cosmo Kramer and George Costanza put together. Always gets accused by his partners of never picking up a check. He goes by the name of Bill Raftery.
For instance, Raf's the only guy whom you can mistake for a duPont commercial. ("Nothing but nylon . and other assorted materials" is a favorite synonym for a swish.)
He's the guy who patented the phrases "take it to the tin" (drive to the basket), "the kiss" (a shot off the glass), "send it in!" (a ferocious dunk) and "a little lingerie on the deck" (for when a defender's been totally fooled).
The guy who turned "man-to-man" into mantaman.
The guy who makes you smile every time he calls a cheap foul a "nickel-diiimer."
The only 62-year-old guy who can refer to a certain pair of male body parts ("onions!") and not make you cringe.
We don't get to hear him much here in ACC territory - he's usually teamed with Sean McDonough and Jay Bilas on ESPN's Big East telecasts - but when the next thriller between, say, Clemson and Wake Forest on WRAL becomes too insufferable, try moving on up the dial to see if Raf's calling a game that night.
After all, you can't spell Raftery without "rafter." And if there was such an honor for college basketball's greatest broadcasters, that's exactly where his jersey - or headset - would be.
Contact Derek Howles at howlesd@email.unc.edu.
(02/13/06 5:00am)
CORAL GABLES, Fla. - North Carolina started the game by scoring nine times on nine shots - once on each of its first nine possessions.
Still, Miami came back.
North Carolina recorded a rebound margin of plus-11 - an emphatic reversal from its first meeting with the Hurricanes in January, when it was dominated on the boards.
Still, Miami kept it close.
North Carolina turned it over just 13 times - five fewer than its season average - and only five times in the second half.
Still, Miami wouldn't go away.
So Sunday night at the BankUnited Center, with the Hurricanes finding an answer for everything North Carolina threw at them, the No. 23 Tar Heels turned to the most unlikely of sources for its most important plays down the stretch: guards Bobby Frasor and Marcus Ginyard.
Typically relegated to the shadows of players such as Tyler Hansbrough, Reyshawn Terry and David Noel in crunch time, the freshmen made several key baskets in the second half to help North Carolina pull away from Miami for an 80-70 win.
After North Carolina (15-6, 6-4 in the ACC) took a four-point lead with 17 minutes to go in the second half, Miami fought back to take the lead by one at the 12:26 mark. A Terry free throw soon tied the game at 56, and with 11:49 to play, a TV timeout was called.
"At the 12-minute mark Coach (Roy Williams) really got into us to play defense," said Frasor, who finished with 13 points. "At that point we did, and we got stop after stop, Marcus got to the offensive boards, got some baskets there and got fouled, and I hit some jumpers that really got us going."
The biggest of those jumpers, perhaps, was the first one out of that timeout - a 3-pointer on a swing pass from Wes Miller that gave the Tar Heels a 59-56 lead that they never would relinquish.
Then, around the five-minute mark with North Carolina nursing a five-point lead, the curtain came up on the Frasor-and-Ginyard show. Frasor hit a shake-and-bake layup in the lane. Ginyard grabbed an offensive rebound, made a foul shot and scored on a putback. Frasor nailed a pull-up isolation jumper with the shot clock dwindling. Game over.
"(Small forward) Danny (Green) had sprained his ankle or something and was limping out there, so I put Marcus in," Williams said. "He's played that spot some, but not as often, and the one time he didn't do what he was supposed to do offensively. I said, 'You're too good to have that happen. You can give us something.'"
But the Tar Heels never would have been in that position if not for the play of some more established offensive threats, most notably Hansbrough and Terry.
The latter poured in 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds, the fourth time in the last seven games he's had at least that many boards. And Hansbrough scored a hard-fought, game-high 25 points - one off his career best - despite being hounded by multiple Miami defenders almost every time he touched the ball.
And, as Williams said, it was that type of toughness - both physical and mental - that ultimately allowed North Carolina to pass Miami (14-10, 6-5) for third place in the ACC.
"This was a big-time game for us," Williams said. "In the second half I was more impressed with my team than I have been at any point this year. . During that stretch I was more impressed with our toughness than at any point this year."
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(01/20/06 5:00am)
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - When Tyler Hansbrough catches the ball in the paint, he's going to score.
Sometimes it's on his first shot. Sometimes it's on his second shot. And sometimes it's from the free throw line after he's been fouled. In other words, Hansbrough's efficiency in the lane ranks right up near death and taxes on the scale of certainties in life.
But that all changed Thursday night, as Virginia employed a relentless double- and triple-team attack on the North Carolina center, which repeatedly forced him to kick the ball out to open teammates.
Problem is, the jump shooting of those teammates is one thing that never will be mistaken for a certainty in life - and that was illustrated quite vividly when the Tar Heels shot a dismal 3-for-15 from 3-point range in the second half.
And that cold shooting combined with a 12-minute Hansbrough scoreless streak toward the end of the game resulted in a 72-68 Virginia upset of the No. 24 Tar Heels before 8,392 raucous fans at University Hall - a place where North Carolina has only one win in its last seven tries.
"We've got to be able to step up and make some shots," said North Carolina head coach Roy Williams. "And basically Tyler's just worn out in there."
Every time Hansbrough spun toward the basket, a white-shirted defender blocked his path. Every time he elevated to release a jumper, a Cavalier defender contested the shot. And even when he went to the foul line, a place where he's been near-perfect in ACC play, the frustration continued, as the 6-9 freshman went just 4-for-8 from the charity stripe.
"The last couple games it's been real physical . and sometimes my body doesn't have time to recover all the way," said Hansbrough, who still managed to lead the Tar Heels with 18 points and 10 rebounds. "They brought a lot of people at me, and it was hard to find space."
Like Hansbrough, the North Carolina guards seemed worn-down for much of the game, though it might only have appeared that way when compared to the jitterbug-like quickness of Virginia's backcourt.
Sophomore point guard Sean Singletary led the Cavaliers (9-6, 3-2 in the ACC) with 18 points while junior shooting guard J.R. Reynolds was close behind with 16.
Their ability to slither past the Tar Heels' perimeter defense created several opportunities for the Virginia frontcourt to pick up easy baskets after UNC's defensive rotation left them wide open down low.
"They were tiny," said North Carolina point guard Bobby Frasor. "That's why I'm angry about myself . it's something that I really have to concentrate on. If I (stop them) then they don't get layups here and jump shots there, and the whole game is different."
Virginia started the game on a 24-14 run, but just as the Tar Heels (10-4, 2-2) have done in their previous ACC games, they shook off the rusty beginning and asserted control, going on a 20-3 run that spanned halftime to take a 7-point lead early in the second half.
The lead didn't last long, though, as the Cavaliers started to feed off a home crowd that sensed its team's first win against a ranked opponent since the early part of last season.
"To really make a run you have to be scoring and getting stops," Williams said. "We couldn't get enough stops."
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(01/17/06 5:00am)
Undefeated in the ACC and tied atop the conference standings, then-No. 20 North Carolina entered its game against Miami on a high note.
The Tar Heels will enter their next game, however, looking to rebound. In more ways than one.
Despite outrebounding its opponents by almost 10 per game - a figure that led the ACC - North Carolina was dominated on the glass by the bigger, quicker, more energetic Hurricanes
in an 81-70 loss before 21,413 fans Saturday afternoon at the Smith Center.
"I don't think we boxed out, I don't think we had five guys rebounding on the defensive boards," said North Carolina coach Roy Williams. "We've preached that all year long . (but) today we didn't have five guys going after the basketball."
And while Miami claimed a 43-34 overall advantage on the boards, it was on the offensive end, where the Hurricanes scored 16 second-chance points and outrebounded the Tar Heels 21-11, that the most damage was done.
North Carolina's rebounding problems largely were a result of the devastating quickness of Miami's three-headed, six-footed starting backcourt, which combined for 65 points and time and again made the Tar Heels appear as if they were living up to their name.
"We were so worried about helping our guards defend the shot and get around screens that they did a great job of having inside position," said North Carolina forward David Noel. "When the shots came off, they had us buried on the back side."
"They definitely impressed me," said North Carolina point guard Bobby Frasor. "They were three of the quickest guys I've seen. ... I'd say those are probably the three best guards we've faced this year."
But the upperclass trio of Guillermo Diaz, Robert Hite and Anthony Harris did more than turn the game into an athletic showcase. They displayed tremendous poise throughout the second half in leading Miami to a pair of 12-0 runs.
The second, which turned a three-point deficit into a nine-point lead with less than two minutes to play, was capped by a Diaz fadeaway three as the shot clock expired - a basket that all but sealed the win for the Hurricanes (10-6, 2-1 in the ACC).
Miami's poise down the stretch - and North Carolina's lack thereof - was a departure from the blueprint of the Tar Heels' first two league games. In their first contest, a home win against N.C. State, they scored the final 13 points to pull away, and against Virginia Tech they made the necessary plays at the end to eke out a road win.
But North Carolina (10-3, 2-1) didn't help its cause in the second half Saturday, as the team repeatedly failed to get the ball to star center Tyler Hansbrough in the closing minutes.
Despite pouring in a game- and career-high 25 points, many of which came toward the beginning of the second half, the freshman didn't get enough touches to keep his team close as time wound down.
"We tried to throw it to him, but we turned it over," Williams said. "He did have a good run, (but) we didn't get the basketball to him enough. . During crunch time, we had three straight turnovers trying to get him the basketball."
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(10/10/05 4:00am)
What if North Carolina had converted a few of its nine first-half shots?
(09/28/05 4:00am)
So I've been covering the men's soccer team lately, and this one thing keeps bugging me.
(09/26/05 4:00am)
Five minutes before North Carolina's men's soccer game Friday, the stands at Fetzer Field were mostly empty.
(09/19/05 4:00am)
North Carolina's 2-2 tie with N.C. State on Wednesday night was so well-played and so dramatic that the rights would have been immediately snatched up by ESPN Classic - that is if men's college soccer was ever actually on TV.
(09/15/05 4:00am)
CARY - With about 13 minutes to play in Wednesday's soccer game at SAS Soccer Park, N.C. State forward Aaron King corralled a through ball, threw a fake and deposited a shot into an open North Carolina net. The goal - the first of the night for either team - looked like enough to win the game.
(09/13/05 4:00am)
Before North Carolina's season opener against Georgia Tech, Coach John Bunting was aggravated by a rumor that Barrington Edwards lost the starting tailback spot because of a couple of speeding tickets.
(09/12/05 4:00am)
ATLANTA - North Carolina quarterback Matt Baker stood in the shotgun, about 12 yards from the goal line and alone in the backfield, flanked by five wideouts.
(08/31/05 4:00am)
Marcus Storey? Gone.
(08/31/05 4:00am)
A wise man once said these words in a television commercial, ones I know I will carry with me forever: “I don’t look at myself as a basketball coach — I look at myself as a leader who happens to coach basketball.”
(04/28/05 4:00am)
Apparently, there’s a pretty simple recipe for college basketball success, and the North Carolina women’s team followed it this season.
(04/27/05 4:00am)
Find some North Carolina students who’ve seen Laura Gerraughty around campus. Show them her picture and ask if they know who it is.
(04/21/05 4:00am)
Jay Cox hit the ball. And then he prayed.
(04/13/05 4:00am)
Ever since Sean May grabbed the final rebound of North Carolina’s championship season, a single question has loomed ominously over the basketball program.