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13th Annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge matchups announced

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The 13th annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge Presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods on Nov. 29-30 will be highlighted by Duke at Ohio State and Wisconsin at North Carolina — four traditional power programs expected to be highly ranked entering the 2011-12 season – and an expanded format with new Big Ten member Nebraska. ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3.com will combine to broadcast all 12 games of the two-day event, one more than in the previous 12 Challenges.

The 2011 Challenge involves six teams ranked an early preseason top 25 by ESPN.com senior college basketball writer Andy Katz, including three in the top five: No. 1 North Carolina, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 5 Duke, No. 11 Wisconsin, No. 21 Florida State and No. 23 Michigan.

This year’s event – top college basketball programs playing for conference supremacy and the Commissioner’s Cup — will include 11 teams that played in the 2011 NCAA Tournament: Clemson, Duke, Florida State and North Carolina from the ACC, and Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin from the Big Ten.

The ACC has won 10 of the first 12 Challenges with league teams winning 72 of the 119 games played. A year ago, the Big Ten won its second consecutive Challenge by a 6-to-5 margin. Home teams won six of the 11 games in 2010 and five of the contests were decided by eight points or less, including two by three or fewer points.

In the event of a 6-6 tie in the Challenge, the Commissioner’s Cup will remain with the conference that won the Challenge the previous year.

• Following a First with a Rematch: Georgia Tech and Northwestern will follow the first meeting between the programs (Northwestern 91-71) with a second consecutive Challenge showdown.
• Pursuing Perfection: Boston College will look to continue its undefeated streak in the Challenge when the program hosts Penn State. The Eagles have won their previous five games.
• Going for 12: Duke, which lost its only Challenge game in 2009, will look for its event-record 12th win. Duke also won its previous Challenge game against Ohio State, 91-76 in 2002.
• Commissioner’s Cup: The Big Ten won the Commissioner’s Cup for the second consecutive year; the ACC won the previous 10 Challenges.
• First Challenge Matchups: nine of the telecasts will feature first-time Challenge matchups: No. 11 Wisconsin at No. 1 North Carolina, No. 21 Florida State at Michigan State, No. 23 Michigan at Virginia, Miami at Purdue, Clemson at Iowa, Indiana at NC State, Penn State at Boston College, Virginia Tech at Minnesota and Wake Forest at Nebraska.
• Four’s a Charm?: Illinois and Maryland will meet for the fourth time in the Challenge with the Terrapins winning the previous three matchups (69-61 in 2007; 72-66 in 2006; 76-63 in 2001).

2011 Big Ten/ACC Challenge schedule – times and networks are to be determined
(Rankings refer to preseason top 25 by ESPN.com senior college basketball writer Andy Katz)

Tuesday, November 29
Miami at Purdue
Northwestern at Georgia Tech
Illinois at Maryland
No. 23 Michigan at Virginia
Clemson at Iowa
No. 5 Duke at No. 3 Ohio State

Wednesday, November 30
Indiana at NC State
Penn State at Boston College
No. 21 Florida State at Michigan State
Virginia Tech at Minnesota
Wake Forest at Nebraska
No. 11 Wisconsin at No. 1 North Carolina

Duke, Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

Getting home field edge doesn’t always work out – Ask UNC lacrosse

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No. 9 ranked North Carolina got the No. 8 seed in the NCAA tournament and thus got to play its first round game at home. Unfortunately for the Tar Heels, they were matched up against Maryland, which had a better record, was higher ranked (eighth) and had won the ACC tournament.

That ticked off Terrapin team came down to Chapel Hill and dominated early and late to defeat the Tar Heels 13-6 to advance to play top-ranked Syracuse in the second round.

In the first few minutes, Maryland got up 3-0 but UNC’s Billy Bitter keep the Heels in it with two goals to draw the home team to withinn one goal. But the Terps, who had a 7-2 faceoff edge early, scored three more goals fairly quickly to get back up 6-2.

The Heels managed a pair of goals late in the first half, including a third by Bitter, to make it 6-4 at the break. It was still close at 7-5 until Maryland reeled off six straight goals to break it open.

Drew Synder led Maryland, 11-4, with four goals while Bitter finished with three for Carolina, 10-6.

The emotion on the Terp sideline was very high most of the game. Too bad for Carolina that the Heels didn’t either draw a different opponent in the first round or had to travel to College Park instead. The emotional edge may just have been reversed.

In other action, homestanding Duke held on to defeat Delaware 15-14. For more on that game, please click here.

Featured stories, N.C. State, The skinny

State’s Leslie caught up in our politically correct society

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N.C. State’s C.J. Leslie has been forced to apologize for a comment he tweeted where he said he’d rather not have a gay person in the locker room.

Really? It seems pretty tame. While many may feel differently, he was just saying how he feels. This is political correctness run amok. No one would have said a word if a female basketball player said she didn’t want a heterosexual male in the locker room.

Leslie didn’t say he hates gay people or anything particularly derogatory about gay people. He’d simply rather not share a locker room with someone of a different sexual orientation.

As soon as the tweet came out, radical groups and sensitive N.C. State officials came down on Leslie, who released this statement: “Wanna apologize for hurting or offending any 1 with my tweets yesterday…Was watching espn about it and didn’t think before I tweeted. Meant no disrespect to any 1.”

I believe him but left-leaning sportswriters aren’t giving him any breaks. For instance, Tim Hall, who covers ACC basketball and football for 99.9 The Fan and 620 The Buzz, wrote “Let’s be real, the apology was only a formality. Did he suddenly change his personal view on how he would feel with a gay athlete in his locker room in a 24 hour span? The apology probably isn’t for having the opinion, just for tweeting it.”

So, evidently in our policitically correct society, we are supposed to apologize for our opinions. Leslie’s opinion is Leslie’s opinion and many Americans believe it is a legitimate concern. He should have a right to it without being PC-ed to death.

Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

First three UNC football games to be televised

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North Carolina’s first three football games will be televised this season, including a 3:30 p.m. ESPNU matchup against Virginia on Sept. 17 in the third week of the year. ESPNU is available in more than 73 million homes nationwide.

Tar Heels start the season with three consecutive home games for the first time since 2006, beginning with a 3:30 p.m. matchup against James Madison on Sept. 3. The game will be televised on the league’s new syndicated Regional Sports Network, which will be available throughout the ACC footprint, and includes Fox Sports South.

Carolina’s non-conference contest vs. Big East rival Rutgers will be televised by the ACC Network at its new 12:30 p.m. kickoff time. Other times and television schedules will be released later.

Featured stories, The skinny

Bulls rally falls short at DAP

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The Durham Bulls brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning in the form of Leslie Anderson, but his deep fly to center field was caught to preserve a 7-5 win for the Indianapolis Indians on Monday night at the Historic Durham Athletic Park.

Before the game, the Bulls all-time winningest manager Bill Evers threw out the ceremonial first pitch, pop star Clay Aiken performed the National Anthem and bi-planes from the World War II era did a flight over the ballpark.

Brandon Guyer led off the Bulls ninth inning with a single and Felipe Lopez then singled to put runners on the corners with no one out. Guyer scored on a wild pitch cutting the Indians lead to 7-5. Wood was able to get Chris Carter to pop up to second baseman Josh Harrison, struck out Russ Canzler and then got Anderson to fly out to end the game. Wood picked up his fifth save of the season.

Carter got the Bulls on the board first with a two-run double off of Indians starter Jose Ascanio in the first inning that scored Ray Olmedo and Ruggiano and gave the Bulls a 2-0 lead. In the second inning Jose Lobaton hit his third home run of the season to left field to give Durham a 3-2 advantage. The Bulls added to their lead again in the bottom of the third inning when a Canzler double, Anderson single, and Lobaton single loaded the bases for JJ Furmaniak, who hit a sacrifice fly to give the Bulls a 4-2 lead.

Indianapolis got to Dane De La Rosa (3-2) for five runs on six hits in the seventh and eighth innings. This included a two-run home run from Adam Lambo in the seventh that tied the game at four. The Indians added a sacrifice fly in the seventh to grab their first lead of the game 5-4 and would add two more in the eighth.

Garrett Olson (1-0) worked three innings allowing only one hit while walking to and striking out one, to earn his first victory of the season. Durham will continue their four game series against Indianapolis at the Durham Athletic Park at 7:05 p.m. on Tuesday May 10 when they will send Edgar Gonzalez (2-2 3.69) to the mound against the Rudy Owens (2-3 5.81).

– FROM NEWS RELEASES –

Featured stories, N.C. State, The skinny

NC State’s Choi named ACC’s top freshman golfer

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NC State’s Albin Choi was named unanimously the 2011 Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Golf Freshman of the Year when the All-ACC team was announced on Monday by the conference office.

Choi and teammate and fellow Canadian Mitchell Sutton were voted on the 12-man All-ACC team for the first time, as selected by the league’s head coaches.

Additionally, Choi was a finalist for player of the year after leading the conference with a 71.03 scoring average. The Toronto native scored two victories in his first season with the Wolfpack. He also recorded a runner-up finish and had seven top-10 placements, and wound up out of the top 20 in just one of 11 tournaments.

Sutton, from London, Ontario, was about as good as Choi was this season in his sophomore campaign. He notched a 71.97 scoring average, good for the 11th lowest in the ACC. He won the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate in the spring for his first collegiate win. He has three top 10’s and six top 20’s to his credit this year.

-NEWS RELEASE –

Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

UNC lacrosse tapped to host Terps in NCAA first round

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The North Carolina men’s lacrosse team has received the No. 8 seed in the 2011 NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Championship and will play host to Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament champion Maryland Sunday at 1 p.m. in the first round of the tournament at Fetzer Field. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN.

North Carolina (10-5) is coming off a 9-8 overtime victory against third-ranked Notre Dame on Friday night at Fetzer Field. It was a win which not only clinched a berth in the field for the Tar Heels but also earned a home field in the first round of the tournament. Maryland (10-4) won the ACC Tournament championship two weekends ago, beating Duke 11-9 in the championship match.

Carolina and Maryland played twice this season, splitting the two games. UNC won 11-6 in College Park, Md., on March 26. The Terps avenged that loss with a 7-6 victory over the Tar Heels in the ACC Tournament semifinals on April 22 in Durham, N.C. The Tar Heels led that game 6-2 going into the fourth quarter before the Terps outscored Carolina 5-0 in the final quarter to emerge with the win.

Tickets will be on sale on TarHeelBlue.com in the Ticket Center. Gates on Sunday will open at 11:30 a.m. and tickets will be on sale at the Carmichael Arena ticket office.

UNC will be hosting a first round game for the fifth successive year. The last time the Tar Heels were a No. 8 seed they defeated Navy 12-8 in the NCAA first round in 2007. This will be the 26th NCAA Tournament appearance for UNC. The Tar Heels are 27-21 all-time in NCAA play.

– NEWS RELEASE –

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UNC’s Felder, Davidson To Transfer; McAdoo Dismissed

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Defensive back Brendon Felder will transfer from the University of North Carolina football program due tofamily issues, head coach Butch Davis announced Monday. A native of Monroeville, Pa., Felder redshirted as a freshman last year.

“Brendon’s family is going through some tough times,” said Davis. “His grandmother is sick and he wanted to be closer to the family for support. I wish nothing but thebest for Brendon and his family as they deal with this situation.”

Linebacker Herman Davidson also will transfer to another institution this fall. Davidson played primarily in a reserve role at linebacker in 13 games last year.

Davis also announced that defensive lineman Jared McAdoo has been dismissed from the program for violating team rules. McAdoo played in 12 games as a redshirt freshman in 2010.

In addition, linebacker Shane Mularkey has elected to discontinue playing football. Mularkey played in the first two games last year before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery.

– NEWS RELEASE –

Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

No. 12 Carolina lacrosse beats No. 3 Notre Dame in OT

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A goal from Pat Foster just over a minute into overtime gave No. 12 North Carolina a 9-8 victory over third-ranked Notre Dame in non-conference men’s lacrosse action on Friday evening at Fetzer Field. The Fighting Irish conclude the regular season with a 10-2 record.

Notre Dame ended regulation on a 4-0 run to force the extra session. The Irish surge began on a Westy Hopkins goal with 6:22 left in the fourth quarter. Junior attackman Sean Rogers cut the Tar Heel lead to two (8-6) with 1:24 remaining. Notre Dame made it a one-goal game seven seconds later after senior Jake Marmul won the faceoff and assisted on a Colin Igoe goal. Igoe, a senior attackman, knotted the game (8-8) with 13 seconds left in regulation.

North Carolina (10-5) jumped out to a 3-0 lead behind back-to-back goals from Nicky Galasso and a score from Marcus Holman, who had a game-high three goals. Hopkins, a freshman attackman, put the Irish on the board with 3:18 left in the opening quarter. The Tar Heels led 3-1 after the first quarter.

Goals from Holman and Ryan Creighton 52 seconds apart gave North Carolina a 5-1 lead by the 8:31 mark of the second period. The Irish answered back with a goal from sophomore midfielder Tyler Kimball off a pass from Eric Keppeler. It was the first career goal for Kimball. North Carolina led 5-2 at the intermission.

A goal from Fighting Irish senior midfielder David Earl cut the Tar Heel lead to two (5-3) just over a minute into the second half. Scores from Creighton and Foster extended the North Carolina advantage to four (7-3) midway through the third quarter. Earl’s second tally of the quarter put the Irish back to within three (7-4) by the end of the third period.

North Carolina went up by four (8-4) less than a minute into the final stanza on goal from Holman.

Sophomore goalie John Kemp made 12 saves, including nine in the first half, for the Fighting Irish. Steven Rastivo had 13 stops for the Tar Heels. North Carolina held a 36-35 edge in shots. The Tar Heels won 15 of 21 faceoff attempts.

Pairings for the 2011 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship will be announced at 9:00 p.m. (ET) on Sunday during the ESPNU Selection Show. The official bracket will be posted on NCAAsports.com. The tournament’s first round will take place May 14-15 on campus sites.

– NEWS RELEASE –

Duke, Featured stories, N.C. State, The skinny, UNC

Barnes: Political Justice Department should stay out of college football

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The Justice Department has sent a stern letter to the NCAA asking why there isn’t a playoff system for big-time college football and implying that the Bowl Championship Series does not comply with federal antitrust laws.

Hey, this from an inept and politically motivated Justice Department that doesn’t have the time to investigate Project Gunrunner where the government sold weapons to Mexican drug lords and those weapons were used to kill Americans.

The open borders Justice Department instead wants to get involved in something for which they have no legal standing. As most with this Justice Department, the letter is politically motivated. With dreams of the successful college basketball tournament dancing in their heads, fans want that similar feeling from a college football playoff. The Justice Department knows they have a winner with this distraction.

But the majority of the NCAA member institutions don’t want a postseason tourney so why should the NCAA make plans to do something its members don’t want?

The fact is that college football and college basketball are different animals. For one, and for a lot of reasons I won’t go into now, there are a third fewer football games than basketball games. Each game of the college football season is huge. NCAA basketball champs Connecticut lost nine games this season – that’s about a fourth of their games. That’s like a football team winning the national championship with a 9-3 record – that can’t happen now and it shouldn’t.

I like college basketball the way it is – actually fewer tournament invitees would be better – and I like college football the way it is. The college football bowl system has been around since 1902 and there is great tradition. Why do we have to throw out tradition when a few tweaks here and there would preserve what has been successful? Yes, there are too many bowls games with strange names but Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delaney said what I believe is the best argument against a college football playoff.

He told me in an interview recently, “We are about making the regular season relevant – we think it’s the greatest regular season of all sports, college or pro.”

He’s right. Don’t mess with it to placate a politically motivated Justice Department and misguided fans who would miss the importance of each and every college football game. So-called fans will wait until the playoffs to start following college football.

To read a different take from Capital Sports’ Dane Huffman click here.

Letter From Dept of Justice to NCAA on BCS