All posts by Dane Huffman

CapitalSportsNC.com wins national award for writing

Clifton Barnes, the owner of CapitalSportsNC.com, has won a national award for writing for a series of articles on the website.

CapitalSportsNC.com has now won awards four years in a row.

The series of articles revolves around former University of North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith won an Award of Excellence from the DC area-based Communications Concepts through its 2016 Awards for Publication Excellence competition.

John De Lellis of Communications Concepts says competition was intense as there were more than 1,600 entries with seven winners in the Writing Series category. Barnes was the only winner in the category from North Carolina or the South.

The columns, which appear on Barnes’ sports website CapitalSportsNC.com, address Smith’s life, death and funeral.

Judges appreciated the unique insight Barnes had from when he was a student journalist at UNC and his ability to lead readers through a range of emotions from tears to laughter.

In one column, Barnes told about how Smith was committed to the student body at UNC and how that extended to him as a writer for the student newspaper.

Barnes wrote, “Even though one would think I was a bother as a whipper-snapper budding journalist, Coach Smith took time to answer my questions when he wouldn’t talk to anyone else. He allowed me into practice when he would allow no other journalists. He even let me travel with the team to various games, including the national championship game.”

The winning entries can be accessed by going to http://CapitalSportsNC.com and scrolling down to a section on the left titled “Dean Smith.” Articles from media outlets and sports teams in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area are featured on the website along with videos, tweets and original sports commentary.

Barnes, who has won more than 70 journalism awards, served as director of communications for the N.C. Bar Association from 1987 to 2002 and, before that, was a newspaper writer and editor.

Today he is a freelance writer, editor and Web developer who owns several websites including cb3media.com. In 2016, he completed a book on the University of North Carolina’s Order of the Bell Tower. Barnes is also credited with the idea for the Town of Cary’s Hometown Spirit Award, given each year since 2009 to honor those who promote small town values.

Barnes, a native of Rocky Mount who has lived in Cary since 1996, is a UNC-Chapel Hill journalism and political science grad. Along with his wife Andrea, he raises their 10-year-old son Will Griffin.

Wilson leaves, deserves great legacy

Another day, another athlete leaves N.C. State by “mutual decision.”

And you have to think there’s  more – a great deal more – to this story as Russell Wilson has decided not to return to N.C. State, but to leave open the door for playing football somewhere else.

N.C. State announced in a news release that Wilson had requested, and been granted, the right to play at another school in the fall if he wished. Wilson, as a graduate, would be eligible elsewhere, just as Justin Knox did in basketball for Carolina last season.

“Russell and I have had very open conversations about his responsibilities respective to baseball and football,” Pack coach Tom O’Brien said in a statement. “While I am certainly respectful of Russell’s dedication to baseball these last several years, within those discussions I also communicated to him the importance of his time commitment to NC State football.

My staff and I thank him for his contributions as a member of Wolfpack football and to this University and wish him only the best in the future.”

Wilson, in a statement, said, “It has become apparent that the time has come for the program to move on without me. … While my immediate plan includes playing professional baseball, I have not closed the door on football. With one more season of college eligibility remaining, I will continue to explore and consider all my options.”

You can’t blame either side in this equation. O’Brien is a demanding coach who wants to build around his starting quarterback. Planning for Wilson means one type of offense; planning for Glennon another. And O’Brien has never seemed thrilled by the fact that Wilson missed spring practice.

Wilson, on the other hand, is a gifted football player who was spectacular last season despite playing baseball all summer. And you knew something was up if you read Chip Alexander’s excellent piece on Wilson in The News & Observer recently.

Alexander wrote, “Wilson was told that some scuttlebutt among N.C. State fans was that as a graduate, he could use his final year of eligibility and play at another school if he wanted. But could Wilson see himself playing football for any school other than N.C. State? That question was posed to him.

“‘Obviously, I love N.C. State football,” he said. “It’s been a bless’ing in my life, and I’ve enjoyed every moment of it.”

Ah, in other words, he dodged the question.

On Friday, Wolfpack fans got an answer.

By the way, an old trick in the media relations game is to release bad news on Friday. The thinking is that the news comes out late in the day, leaving the media little time to report the story, and by the time most reporters are back to work on Monday it’s old news. NCSU released the Wilson news very late in the work day Friday.

It’s disappointing Wilson didn’t have a more dignified end. N.C. State can be tight-lipped with the media, and he never spoke with the press after the season about his plans. But Wilson is a great guy who deserves a tremendous legacy at N.C. State. He’s one of the best players ever to wear Wolfpack red, and regardless of what he does, and where he plays, he deserves a spot of honor in Wolfpack lore.

Panthers make risky move picking Newton

Ron Rivera’s future with the Carolina Panthers is now liked to Cam Newton, and the hunch here is Newton is not going to be a franchise guy. He was awesome at Auburn, but you can’t help but have the nagging sense that he was a college star in the mold of Vince Young at Texas.

Young was a better runner an Newton is certainly a better thrower. But Carolina’s needs across the board are just so great that a different player seemed in order. The move relegates Jimmy Clausen to the bench and basically tells you what the franchise thinks of his potential.

Thanks – but no thanks.

Still, Carolina needs help on defense. Da’Quan Bowers of Clemson saw his draft stock plummet, but Marcel Dareus of Alabama is clearly an elite defensive lineman, and those players are hard to find. Dareus at least will be a productive NFL player, and there  are no guarantees on Newton.

One scout told profootballtalk.com that Newton looked “terrible” at the NFL combine. And the Atlanta Journal-Constitution quoted a scout in December as saying he thought Newton had terrible mechanics and was several years from being a productive NFL quarterback. That scout didn’t see Newton going in the first round.

As for whether he had anything to say to his critics, Newton said Thursday, “I really don’t. I understand that they have a job to do and I have a job to do as well. And I understand that today everybody is not going to stop (criticizing) and say `that’s Cam, he’s the No. 1 pick, leave him alone’, more than anything the flood gates have opened officially. I’m just going to do what I can control.”

Obviously, the Panthers are believers. If he’s great, it was a bold choice. If he’s never a winning quarterback, it’s a pick that will haunt Carolina for a long time.

Lessons from 2009 could affect current Heels

You couldn’t help but watch North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament and think, Wow, this team could be really good next year. And Roy Williams’ comment s after the Kentucky game about how UNC should remember that feeling remind you of the process the Tar Heels endured before the 2009 NCAA title.

There are really three paths for top collegiate teams. One is to stuff your roster with NBA talent and hope you make a lightning run through the tournament. That’s basically John Calipari’s approach – it doesn’t matter if Derrick Rose or John Wall turn pro because you’ll bring in another hired gun anyway.

The other way is the one you see more often in sports. Generally, contenders learn hard lessons along the road to titles, and determined players push further each year until finally winning a championship.

The Chicago Bulls, with Michael Jordan, were the perfect example of a team that stumbled in the playoffs in the early years before continuing to add pieces and improve. Once they broke through, they rolled to six NBA titles.

Carolina endured the same process with Tyler Hansbrough. The Tar Heels suffered a brutal loss to Georgetown in the 2007 regional finals but reached the Final Four in 2008. That Final Four appearance ended abruptly with a horrible performance against Kansas.

But Carolina’s key players all returned and UNC reaped a decisive national title in 2009.

UNC is going through the same process now. The Kentucky loss was difficult, but the Wildcats made shots with the game on the line and earned the win. Carolina will return intact next season if Harrison Barnes, Tyler Zeller and John Henson return, and two key recruits also arrive. There are never any guarantees of national titles – just ask Carolina’s 1994 team – but UNC clearly would enter the upcoming season as the favorite.

Turning pro tends to be an individual decision. Gerald Henderson left a Duke team that went on to win the NCAA title, even though you knew that with Henderson the Blue Devils were a title contender. Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace abandoned UNC after one Final Four appearance.

One of the rites of spring in the Triangle is that players turn pro. All throughout the winter, the top ACC players profess loyalty to their team and say they want to stay in school and earn their degree. Then the season ends, the weather turns warm and they start thinking, Wow, I could be rich. So you learn over time to listen to what they say during the season and shrug.

But this Carolina team, and the players on it, appear different. And they also have a clear example of what staying in school can mean from their predecessors in 2009. Of all the gifts that Hansbrough gave UNC, perhaps the most was his zeal for enjoying the college experience. Barnes and Zeller and Henson may turn pro anyway, but that 2009 team set a clear example about the benefits of staying on track, and what that can mean for a career.

Irving is likely to turn pro

You don’t have to be a genius to figure out Kyrie Irving isn’t returning to Duke next season.

ACC players know these questions are coming, and have become smart about them. The standard line is, “I’m not thinking about the NBA now” during the season. Of course, most of the time they are.

But the truth usually comes out soon after the season. And that’s why Irving, Thursday night, told The News & Observer, “I’m not definitely guaranteeing I’m coming back. I’ll sit down with the coaching staff after the NCAA tournament and go from there.”

Go from there means turn pro. And that’s going to leave a huge hole for a Duke team that also loses Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler.

Nolan Smith not the same as Duke struggles to integrate Irving

For Kyrie Irving’s talent, it’s never easy to integrate a player back onto a basketball team, especially a great one. Duke had to gamble and play him – without Irving, the Devils weren’t on a trajectory to win a national title.

But Thursday’s loss to Arizona was an example of how tough this transition can be. Irving was very good, but Nolan Smith was rarely anywhere to be seen. Halfway through the second half you found yourself thinking, Where is Smith?

Smith just wasn’t the same dominant player at all. When Arizona pushed out to its 66-55 lead on a run that proved decisive, Smith tried to strike back with a critical 3-point shot.  But it missed, and he dropped to 2 of 9 from the field – with only four points.

Irving, at the time, had 18.

Duke kept trying to get back in this. At 77-64, you thought Duke might have one more run. On a fastbreak, Smith had the ball and drove the basket, but a Wildcat was right there. Smith slid to the left, and ACC fans have seen him score that way dozens of times before. But this time, the ball just grazed the rim and fell out.

On Duke’s next possession, Irving drove the lane and shot, as if it was all up to him. It wasn’t, but it seemed that way. The fluid, precise Duke team we’d seen all season was missing. It was almost as if the Blue Devils players were on the court wondering who was in charge.

Arizona deserves credit for an amazing performance. If the world didn’t know what a great job Sean Miller was doing before this, it does now. Some media outlets are hinting that Miller will at least listen to N.C. State, but come on, we know how that works. You listen, make a head fake to Raleigh, and get a half million dollar raise.

Miller would be a marvelous fit in Wolfpack red, but State’s chance to get him was 2009, when he was wrapping up a brilliant five-year run at Xavier. It’s too bad that didn’t work out. Watching Miller work Tobacco Road on a regular basis would have been fascinating.

Duke will need Irving to win back-to-back titles

Kyrie Irving had a huge smile in Friday night’s game for Duke, and for good reason. Irving had not played since injurying his toe in December, a time when the Blue Devils looked like the team to beat in college basketball this season.

Now, they are again.

Duke has a chance to win rare back-to-back titles, and another title run would stamp this as a special time in Blue Devils history. Only the Laettner-Hurley-Hill teams won back-to-back title for Duke. Florida did it in 2006 and 2007, making the Devils and Gators the only two-straight winners since UCLA’s streak of seven straight ended in 1973.

Steve Wiseman of The Durham Herald-Sun reported that Irving played in a pick-up game with his teammates Monday and did well. On Wednesday night, there were phone calls between Irving and his father, Drederick, and Coach Mike Krzyzewski and the medical staff.

“It was a collective decision after numerous conversations involving us three, the physical therapist and trainer,” Drederick Irving told The Herald-Sun Thursday.

The Devils will need Irving as the tournament unfolds. Although they won the ACC title without him, there are plenty of teams out there capable of unseating Duke without Irving on the floor.

Duke often seems to get favorable draws in NCAA play, but that wasn’t the case this season. The 87-45 win over Hampton was easy enough, but the field gets tougher from here. The Blue Devils face name schools with talented coaches, which often makes a difference in NCAA play.

Michigan, for example, is only 21-13 and was 9-9 in Big Ten play, but the Wolverines have John Beilein on the sidelines and shouldn’t be intimidated. After that, Duke wil face Arizona or Texas and then possibly UConn for the berth in the Final Four.

Ohio State, not Duke, was the betting favorite at first to win the NCAA title. But everything has to be recalibrated now that Irving is back. He had 14 points, making 4 of 8 shots, in 20 minutes of play against Hampton, and you can bet those minutes will go up as the tournament progresses and the opponents get tougher.

Sporting News: Sean Miller not leaving for NCSU

The Sporting News is reporting that Arizona coach Sean Miller will not leave for N.C. State. Miller is a former Wolfpack assistant who is from Pennsylvania and played at Pittsburgh.

His brother, Archie, is one of his assistants at Arizona. Archie Miller is a former Wolfpack point guard from the Herb Sendek era.

By the way, Sean Miller and his wife do not have North Carolina ties. The couple met when they were in high school in Pennsylvania. They have three children.

One Arizona paper has dismissed speculation that Miller would leave, noting that he makes $2 million a year with the Wildcats and has an outstanding recruiting class on the way.

Richmond coach is one to watch as N.C. State replaces Lowe

N.C. State fans lost faith in the program before the school’s administration did, and that’s one critical reason the school made a change Tuesday. Wins matter, athletics director Debbie Yow said, but wins are only part of the equation.

State averaged 13,779 per game this season, about 6,000 under capacity, and you could see hundreds of empty seats at many Wolfpack games. Yow, according to The News & Observer, said those unsold seats add up to between $3.5 and $4 million in lost revenue.

That means, of course, you have to make a change.

How N.C. State tried to couch that is a bit ironic. Even Yow, in a message to Wolfpack fans from the athletics department, refused to say Lowe was forced out.

“It is with mixed emotions that I share with you that Sidney Lowe has stepped down from his position as head men’s basketball coach,” Yow wrote. “Sidney is, and will always be, an important and valued member of the Wolfpack Family.”

He’s just not at the head of the table any more. And who will be? Yow said she keeps a list of names for potential coaches, and that list is “not long.” In fact, she said, the list is in single digits.

She made an interesting point about how certain coaches seem to win regardless of their level. And one coach to watch is Chris Mooney, a 1994 Princeton graduate who is having a great run at Richmond. Mooney, according to his bio, Has been a part of setting the school record for single-season wins at every stop in his playing and coaching career since high school. The Spiders’ 27-7 record is a school record for wins.

Chaos on Wolfpack sideline can’t continue

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.