Category Archives: Featured stories

Duke, Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

Duke gets on top early, uses threes and defense to stop UNC

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You don’t tug on Superman’s cape. You don’t spit in the wind. You don’t pull the mask of the old Lone Ranger. And you don’t get down early to Duke, which defeated North Carolina 75-58 in the ACC tournament championship game.

I’m not sure I’ve seen Duke any more excited to beat Carolina. Nolan Smith, the tournament MVP who led all scorers with 20 points, said it was almost like winning the national championship.

The Blue Devils defense cut off the passing lanes and Smith seemed to never get tired hawking Carolina point guard Kendall Marshall, who had five turnovers. “We had a freshman point guard who did not play well today,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “Nolan Smith forced us to start our offense 45 feet from the basket. Kendall didnt feel like he could get past him.”

Duke was the better team overall and especially the better three-point shooting team (nine threes vs. two for UNC) but the officials amateurish effort kept Carolina from making any comeback. A kind Tyler Zeller of UNC said, “The refs let us play and I don’t think we adapted to it as well as they did.”

With just over nine minutes left, Duke’s Kyle Singler barreled into Justin Knox, nothing called. Two seconds later Miles Plumlee lost the handle on a shot but UNC’s John Henson was called for a foul. If you have the game on tape, I urge you to try to find the Henson foul.

Carolina had a chance to cut the deficit down to 10 points but Duke defender Miles Plumlee, two feet from the basket mind you, moved into – that’s moving forward into – a driving Justin Watts and Watts was called for a charge.

With less than five minutes to play, Nolan Smith used an arm to get Zeller off of him. The foul was called on Zeller and Smith hit two free throws.

With less than four minutes to play, Duke’s Seth Curry reached in on a driving Leslie McDonald to tip the ball. McDonald managed to keep control but officials, obviously not having seen the Curry tip, called McDonald with double dribbling.

The officials also dampened Carolina’s spirits in the first half when they waved off a Dexter Strickland dunk, calling him for a charge. That call was wrong on so many levels. First, Singler was too close to the basket to draw a charge. Second, Strickland actually went to the left of Singler and hardly even touched him. It certainly wasn’t enough contact for a charge. The basket would have cut the Duke lead to five. Instead, the game never got closer.

For more on the game, please click here.

Featured stories, N.C. State, The skinny

Chaos on Wolfpack sideline can’t continue

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You can watch Sidney Lowe on the sidelines and know exactly why he won’t return as N.C. State’s head coach.

On any given possession, Lowe is out on the court yelling at his offense. Go here … cut there … watch this … It’s looks like Lowe’s players don’t know what to do, and Lowe is trying to coach one play at a time.

By comparison, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and UNC’s Roy Williams usually watch from their seats, trusting that their players are well-schooled enough to know what to do. Sure, Kryzewski and Williams get emotional, and that’s when the TV cameras catch them,  but if you really watch them, you’ll see that most o the time, they are watching attentively – not yelling.

UCLA’s John Wooden was like that, too. Wooden’s view was coaching was to be done during practice, and it was his job to prepare the players for the game. Once the game started, his role was essentially done. You didn’t see Wooden screaming on the sidelines – instead, he was famous for watching calmly with his rolled-up program in his hand.

By comparison, Lowe’s teams seem perpetually confused. And while you might think it’s unfair to compare Lowe to Krzyzewski, Williams and Wooden, the fact is other ACC coaches – Frank Haith, Tony Bennett, for example, and even Gary Williams – are much more composed on the sideline.

Whether Lowe simply hasn’t prepared the players, or they haven’t paid attention in practice, does not make any difference, since the outcome is the same. State seems poorly prepared for games, and Lowe is constantly trying to direct the team rather than let it flow.

That responsibility falls to him. Lowe’s tenure at N.C. State has not worked, and that’s too bad, but that’s the way it is.

Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

It’s a redux as Carolina comes back behind Barnes

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During the Tar Heels 92-87 overtime win over Clemson in the ACC tournament today, North Carolina fans must have felt they’d seen this picture before. The Tar Heels were turning the ball over and the opponent was hitting threes to get out to a big lead.

Carolina turned it over four times by the time the first TV timeout came around and trailed 14-3. The Tar Heels trailed by 10 at the half, after getting down by as many as 14 points. But the Heels clamped down a bit in the second half to get the game close down the wire.

Harrison Barnes, who scored 40, hit his sixth triple with 1:22 left to bring the Heels within a bucket at 73-71. Then Tyler Zeller scored to send the game into overtime. Barnes tallied 14 points in the overtime period to lead Carolina to victory.

“In the second half we got more aggressive, the defense was better and Harrison made a bunch of shots,” said UNC coach Roy Williams. “We’ve got to be more aggressive ourselves and not let the other team be the aggressor.”

It’s been fun for fans of basketball to see the comebacks the last two days but you have to figure that the Heels won’t be able to do that again in the finals of the ACC tournament or in the NCAA tournament.

For more on the game itself, please click here.

Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

Secretary of State’s investigation continues despite agent’s death

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The sports agent at the center of the NCAA’s investigation of the UNC football program has died but the investigation will continue.

Gary Wichard, 60, died from diabetes and pancreatic cancer at his home in California. Wichard was a friend of former North Carolina associate head coach John Blake, who resigned last year when details of the scandal began to emerge which included revelations that Blake accepted funds from Wichard.

Just last week, a NC Secretary of State’s office executed a search warrant on a bank account belonging to Wichard. A spokesman from the office said that the investigation will continue and that there are “other avenues” to explore.

As an aside, after looking at the only picture of Wichard that seems to be out there, you’d think he was younger and in better shape than a 60-year-old man with diabetes and cancer. Makes his death even more shocking.

Duke, Featured stories, The skinny

Bad toes hampering Duke’s season

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If Duke fails to defend its national championship this spring, the Blue Devils can blame bad toes and bad timing, so says NY Times Sports Blogger Viv Bernstein, referring to Kyrie Irving’s early-season toe injury and Nolan Smith’s injury during Duke’s 87-71 victory over Maryland in the ACC tournament Friday night.

It was a tough day for Duke despite the win. Irving practiced Friday for the first time since injuring his big toe Dec. 4 and it doesn’t appear he’ll be back soon. Then Smith went down with a toe injury with just less than seven minutes to go tonight. He injured the second toe on his left foot and it’s not yet known if he will be back Saturday to play Virginia Tech, who survived a final shot by Florida State that was ruled late.

“To make a run in this tournament, in the NCAA, you need your players, there’s no question,” Krzyzewski said. “Nolan’s been the player of the year in our conference. It’s not just losing a player, it’s losing an outstanding player if we don’t have him.”

As for Irving, he’s in a new phase of his rehabilitation. “He’s progressing very well. There’s no timetable on him, though. He’s not going to magically appear tomorrow or anything like that. He hasn’t done anything with the team, but it’s coming along great.”

Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

One fan’s observations from the ACC tourney

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Greg Pierce, who volunteers with the Raleigh Sports Club, attended the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament Friday afternoon and relayed this information from his Blackberry.

. The scalpers did not get the message about the economy and availability of tickets. Scalpers were asking up to $30 above face value.
. The only tickets available @ the box office were NCSU upper deck section. They were one of several schools that did not sell their allotment.
. The crowd was 98% UNC. It was a very subdued atmosphere until “Blue Steel” came into the game. That instance along with the game winning shot were the two loudest moments of the game.
. Approximately 25% of the crowd chose not to stick around for the BC/Clemson game. If UNC had not won the tournament attendance and atmosphere would have taken a severe hit for the semi-final and final games due to the large presence of UNC fans.
. Roy Williams’ decision to go to a three-guard line-up was the key that ignited the run. UNC was able to match up better with Miami’s athleticism.
. Miami’s athleticism created 20 turnovers and 12 steals. Miami playing it’s second game in two days started to look a little fatigued when UNC began to make its run.

Featured stories, N.C. State, The skinny

Wiederer piece captures the mood of Lowe’s impending departure

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One of the most gifted writers in the Triangle market is Dan Wiederer of The Fayetteville Observer, who covers the ACC for that newspaper. Wiederer had an excellent piece Wednesday morning that captured the sadness, and inevitability, of Sidney Lowe leaving N.C. State

Lowe is widely respected and appreciated by the media and fans, but the harsh fact is State just has not found a way to win. A loss in the first round of the ACC Tournament would put this Wolfpack below .500 for the season, and it is hard to see Lowe returning in those circumstances.

Duke, Featured stories

Smith has the face and words of a winner, Coach K says

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Duke’s Nolan Smith has grown steadily over the years and now as a senior he’s ready to play in the NBA as a winner, Coach Mike Krzyzewski said today.

“He has the face of a winner, then he has the words that a winner should speak,” Coach K said adding that he is more of a vocal leader than teammate Kyle Singler. “He’s a guy that every day imparts some guidance to his teammates. Not just how he talks, but how he looks – he’s been pretty poised the entire year.”

Coach K says that Smith has been like a big brother to the younger players and he believes that’s one reason he has had such an outstanding senior year. Now he’s the only unanimous selection for the All-ACC First Team and is a sure-fire NBA player.

“From his freshman year to now, Nolan’s probably progressed more than any player we’ve had here,” Coach K said. “He’s a Player of the Year candidate, and rightfully so. When he came in, he was really good. He didn’t start. Then he started a little bit. Then he didn’t start. It’s not like he was this instant star. He’s done it because he continually looks for ways to improve. Nolan has become a pro player this year.”

Duke, Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

Duke’s Smith dominates All-ACC; No Heels selected for 1st team

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Duke’s Nolan Smith, possibly on his way to national player of the year honors, has been unanimously selected to the All-ACC team by the members of the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association. Even though the North Carolina Tar Heels finished atop the conference, no players made first team.

Three Tar Heels – Tyler Zeller, John Henson and Harrison Barnes – made the second team.

The first team consists of Smith, Jordan Williams of Maryland, Malcolm Delaney of Virginia Tech, Kyle Singler of Duke and Reggie Jackson of Boston College.

Zeller was next in line and should have beat out Jackson for the fifth slot. My first team consists of Smith, Williams, Delaney, Singler and Zeller.

The official second team consists of Zeller, Henson, Barnes, Iman Shumpert of Georgia Tech and Jeff Allen of Virginia. My second team is the same except Jackson would take Zeller’s place since he’s on the first team.

Owning up to my preseason picks, I had Singler, Smith and Delaney, who all made it, but I also had NC State’s Tracy Smith and UNC’s Harrison Barnes as the other two first teamers. I did not foresee Tracy Smith’s injury of course but I also thought State would be one of the league’s best teams. As for Barnes, had he not started so slow, he would have been a first teamer.

My preseason second team consisted of two players who were lost for the season to injury in December (VT’s Dorenzo Hudson and Duke’s Kyrie Irving) and one who was injured for much of the ACC season (FSU’s Chris Singleton). The other two were Henson, who did make the second team, and Maryland’s Williams, who made the first team.

First team
Nolan Smith, Duke (225 points)
Jordan Williams, Maryland (210)
Malcolm Delaney, Virginia Tech (202)
Kyle Singler, Duke (199)
Reggie Jackson, Boston College (190)

Second team
Tyler Zeller, North Carolina (161)
John Henson, North Carolina (148)
Harrison Barnes, North Carolina (145)
Iman Shumpert, Georgia Tech (132)
Jeff Allen, Virginia Tech (131)

Third team
Chris Singleton, Florida State (126)
Demontez Stitt, Clemson (81)
Joe Trapani, Boston College (63)
Malcolm Grant, Miami (62)
Kendall Marshall, North Carolina (45)

All-Freshman team
Harrison Barnes, North Carolina (75)
Travis McKie, Wake Forest (74)
Kendall Marshall, North Carolina (71)
Terrell Stoglin, Maryland (62)
C.J. Leslie, N.C. State (46)

All-Defensive team
John Henson, North Carolina (75)
Chris Singleton, Florida State (64)
Iman Shumpert, Georgia Tech (60)
Nolan Smith, Duke (26)
Jerai Grant, Clemson (20)