Devils shouldn’t have a problem with complacency, energy against Carolina

The Duke Blue Devils have already lost two games in the ACC, including a vexing loss to Miami at home yesterday, but that won’t put a damper of their first meeting of the year with North Carolina coming up in Chapel Hill Wednesday.

“A Duke team should play with energy for 40 minutes – or 45,” Krzyzewski said after the Miami loss. “Go outside and look at the banners. They’re quite a few of them up there. They were not won without energy, without hunger, with … complacency, with(out) people really wanting it.”

On the other hand, the Tar Heels have one loss in the conference and had a time with the Terrapins in Maryland Saturday. Both teams could be playing better but you can bet there won’t be any complacency or lack of energy for either team. If anyone, one or the other might be too keyed up and lose focus.

The Tar Heels, being at home, figure to be the slight favorite but after losing to Florida State and Miami at home, Duke pride could lift them to a victory in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels will have to play better than they have to hold off the Devils – and they have to hope that Harrison Barnes’ re-aggravated ankle will be OK by game time, set for 9 p.m.

Turgeon needs a history lesson before criticizing Henson’s dunk

It’s amusing that Maryland coach Mark Turgeon made a big deal about John Henson dunking with one second left on the clock. He said, “I didn’t like the dunk… It was between me and Coach (Williams). I didn’t like it. Coach knows that. There’s no need for it. But we are going to be good soon. It comes around.”

This from a guy who got ejected, not just given a technical but got thrown out of the Terrapins last game. This from a guy who was seen cussing and appearing on camera to take the Lord’s name in vain during this game.

This from the coach of the team that had Greivis Vasquez hot doggin’, trash talkin’ and running up the score on Carolina two years ago in a 92-71 victory by the Terps over the Heels. I know this is his first year as Maryland’s coach but before he starts yackin’ about things coming back around to bite you, maybe he should learn a little about the recent Maryland-UNC rivalry.

Henson was on the floor when Vasquez was celebrating in the Tar Heels faces with several minutes left on the clock two seasons ago. He heard the Maryland fans mock the Heels with the chant, “N.I.T., N.I.T., N.I.T.” What goes around comes around indeed.

Even Terrell “The Ball Hog” Stoglin got in on it by saying, “I felt it was a bad play, personally.” Stoglin takes a third of his team’s shots and in this game took more than twice as many shots as anyone else on the team. He took 21 shots, including missing eight of nine threes. After a while, maybe you should give the three a rest, especially in a close game. No other Terrapin shot the ball more than eight times. I feel that is bad, personally.

For his part, instead of reminding the media about Vasquez and the N.I.T. chants or taking shots at his former assistant at Kansas, Coach Roy Williams took the high road. “It’s not a big deal – they’re kids,” Williams said. “I probably would have liked it better if John hadn’t gone in and dunked it. The guy (Alex Len) was trying to block his shot. If they were standing out at the center line I would have really been disappointed at John. That’s because of my feelings for Turge that I didn’t want it to end like that.”

If you go back and look at the play, Maryland was pressing full court down by seven points with 12 seconds left. If they hadn’t done that, the dunk never would have happened. Then, if Maryland’s Pe’shon Howard had done anything at all besides wave at Henson as he went by, there would have been no dunk. Why press full court and then allow someone to go right by you for a dunk. Makes no sense.

I don’t like running the score up on anybody but winning by nine rather than seven isn’t running up the score. What Maryland did to Carolina two years ago was running up the score.

In addition, I’m not a fan of games ending with teams dribbling the ball real high or holding the ball for 10 seconds while players walk off the court and shake hands and the clock is still running. I’d rather see teams play until the final buzzer. I bet Maryland will next time and that’s ok with me.

For more on the game itself, please click here.

Former UNC linebacker among three Tar Heels caught with cocaine

Shane Mularkey, former UNC linebacker and son of new Jacksonville Jaguars coach Mike Mularkey, is one of three former Tar Heel athletes arrested with cocaine. Mularkey, Nicole Marie Suarez, a former member of the Carolina cross country team, and Jacob Carl Groeschen, a former walk-on quarterback and student manager, were spotted on a parking deck by Chapel Hill police and appeared to be using cocaine. Drug paraphernalia and a bag with cocaine residue was also found.

Mularkey, 21, played in all 13 games for the Tar Heels in 2009 but he left the team after a shoulder injury in 2010.

For more coverage, please click here.

Canes complete season sweep of champion Bruins

The Carolina Hurricanes may be in last place in their division but you wouldn’t know it from the way they play against the powerhouse Boston Bruins. The Canes beat the Bruins 3-0 in Boston to win all four games against the defending Stanley Cup champions.

A Tuomo Ruutu (pictured) rebound shot for the second goal may have been the play of the game but Cam Ward was the star as he kept the Hurricanes in it with 47 saves, including 22 in the first period. The Hurricanes scored a goal in each period.

“It was probably the best game we have played all year,” Canes coach Kirk Muller said. “Guys get excited to play the Stanley Cup champs. It seems to bring out the best in our game.”

The Hurricanes return home to play the Los Angeles Kings Saturday night. For more on the Bruins game, please click here.

Duke’s Mason Plumlee is Oscar Robertson Player of the Week

The U.S. Basketball Writers Association has selected Duke forward Mason Plumlee as its Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week for games ending the week of Sunday, Jan. 29. The USBWA’s weekly honor is presented by Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook and will be handed out each Tuesday through Feb. 21 this season.

As the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Week, Plumlee was nominated for the weekly award, which was chosen by a representative of the USBWA board of directors from a list of Division I conference players of the week.

Plumlee, a 6-10 junior from Warsaw, Ind., averaged 19.0 points, 14.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game in leading the Blue Devils to wins over Maryland and St. John’s. He opened the week with a 23-point, 12-rebound, four-assist performance in a 74-61 win at Maryland. He was 9-of-13 from the field and knocked down all five free throws in the contest.

In Saturday’s 83-76 win over Big East foe St. John’s, Plumlee recorded his ACC-leading ninth double-double of the season with 15 points and a career-best 17 rebounds. For the week, Plumlee shot 66.7 percent (14-of-21) from the field and 71.4 percent (10-fo-14) from the foul line.

This is the third season that the USBWA has selected a national player of the week. The weekly Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week is added to the Oscar Robertson Trophy watch list, which will be released at mid-season.

Thankfully most of the other UNC 600 victories were prettier than this one

North Carolina’s victory over Wake Forest was the 600th conference win for the Tar Heels program. That’s more than any other team. Fortunately most of those have been prettier efforts than this one where UNC shot 31 percent and Wake shot 29 percent.

Carolina seemed to have the game in hand at halftime but mysteriously went nearly nine minutes between buckets at the start of the second half.

Luckily for the Heels, their defense was good and the Deacons’ shooting eye was poor. Maybe it has something to do with those ugly, dizzying tie-dye shirts the Wake Forest students wear.

Interestingly, neither team turned the ball over much. In fact, Carolina turned the ball over just six times and Wake failed to score any of those six times.

Speaking of six, Kendall Marshall, who averages about 10 assists a game, had only six in this one but he lit it up offensively with a season-high 14 points. He hit an open three early in the game and hit another as the Heels were pulling away in the second half.

He also was part of the play of the game when John Henson got a rebound quickly, moved it out to Marshall who immediately went upcourt to Reggie Bullock who scored and was fouled. It was all quick and the ball never touched the ground. It also gave the Heels their largest lead of the game up to that point at 28-19.

Despite an ugly game, that was pretty.

For more on the game itself, please click here.

Panthers’ Newton could be poster boy for canceling the Pro Bowl game

Maybe it’s time to stop the lackluster NFL Pro Bowl game – past time probably. Panthers quarterback Cam Newton could be the poster boy for a movement to cancel the game. In the last few minutes of the game, Newton threw an interception. The intercepting player lateraled and that player continued the run. Newton had a chance (more than a chance) to tackle or at least hold up the runner at the 15 yard line and he just let him go, looking like a matador yelling “Olay!”

There was no defense in this game (other than interceptions I guess). It looked more like touch football. In fact, I would prefer that they play touch football. Even the announcers said Newton looked like he was playing flag football. By no means was it all Newton. The offensive linemen and defensive linemen mostly just playing patty cake with each other as quarterbacks, receivers and defensive backs played – somewhat.

No one wants to get hurt in the game, and the rules are such that hardly anyone could get hurt. It’s all a joke – even QB Drew Brees attempted a drop-kick extra point that wasn’t nearly high enough. The game is more for the players getting a trip to Hawaii and messing around on the field than it is for the fans and the integrity of the game.

If they want to do something fun, and entertaining, why not have a real flag football game or a competition like the old Battle of the Network Stars where players run through obstacles and such? That would even be more competitive. Remember Gabe Kaplan and Robert Conrad going at it? You could even do an old-timers flag football game. Even a skills competition would be better than these less-than-half-speed football games. Olay!

By the way, as the Associated Press reported, “Newton played horribly — struggling to move the ball, stay in the pocket and find his targets, which drew some boos from the sun-splashed, sellout crowd of 48,423.” He finished just 9 of 27 for 186 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions.

Oh, the AFC won the game 59-41 if anyone cares.

How to have a bad taste after hitting 10 threes and winning

In the old days, under Dean Smith, the Tar Heels were known for coming back in the second half and usually putting teams away down the stretch. Duke has been closer to that description lately than has North Carolina.

These Tar Heels have done a good job of getting on top early but it has to be concerning that Carolina has finished recent games with a whimper, this time against 8-14 Georgia Tech, where Carolina led by 24 but won just 93-81.

The first half was certainly as well as the Tar Heels have shot this year. Carolina was shooting just 25 percent of threes in ACC games and hadn’t made more than five threes in an ACC game. On this day, the Heels hit 10 of 16 for 62.5 perecent. There really should be a good taste in the mouths of Tar Heel faithful. But Carolina had its 24-point lead cut in half in the second half. The Tar Heels scored just nine points in the last seven minutes and three points in the last four minutes.

For more on the game, please click here.

UNC baseball ranked first in ACC poll; ninth nationally

North Carolina will enter the 2012 season ranked No. 9 in the Baseball America Preseason Top 25 as announced this week. Carolina has also been selected as the 2012 Atlantic Coast Conference preseason favorite in a vote of the league’s 12 head coaches the conference office announced Friday. The Tar Heels have been named the preseason favorite four times in the last six years.

The Heels return 18 letter winners from a year ago after advancing to the College World Series for the fifth time in the last six years.

Nationally, Carolina is the top ranked team in the Atlantic Coast Conference checking in at No. 9, while fellow conference foes Georgia Tech (12), Clemson (16), Miami (18) and Florida State (20) all earned spots among the top 25.

In the ACC voting, the Tar Heels were named by seven coaches as this year’s ACC team to beat, while Georgia Tech received four first place votes and Florida State one.

North Carolina received 63 points to lead the Coastal Division with seven first place votes. Georgia Tech finished second followed by Miami and Virginia with both receiving 47 total points. Virginia Tech and Duke rounded out the Coastal Division.

Clemson and Florida State were the runaway favorites in the Atlantic Division with 67 and 64 points, while NC State was tabbed third in the division. Wake Forest, Maryland and Boston College finished out the Atlantic Division.

The Tar Heels are coming off their fifth College World Series appearance in the last six years and were tabbed the ACC favorite for the fourth time since the 2007 season.

Carolina opens the 2012 season Feb. 17 when Xavier heads to Boshamer Stadium for a three-game set.

The NCAA Top 10
1. Florida
2. Stanford
3. South Carolina
4. Arkansas
5. Arizona
6. Rice
7. Texas A&M
8. LSU
9. North Carolina
10.Vanderbilt