All posts by Cliff Barnes

Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

Heels click on all cylinders for the first time in a while; make Elite 8

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The dominating first half of the Marquette game might be good for a North Carolina team that hasn’t had its engine running on all cylinders lately.

The Tar Heels had to rally from way behind to make it to the ACC tournament finals and then they were whipped by Duke in the finals. They didn’t scare anybody with their win over a less talented Long Island team. While the tough victory over a very good Washington team seemed important, the Heels haven’t really clicked liked they did against Marquette.

The Tar Heels led 40-15 at the half and settled for a 81-63 victory to reach the Elite 8. The Heels had a 33-point lead in the second half and it took defense generating offense to do it. Carolina came up with 11 steals, eight blocks and helped force 18 Marquette turnovers.

Carolina held Marquette to six of 30 shooting in the first half including zero of eight from beyond the three-point line.

The second half might also serve as a lesson as fouls mounted up and the Marquette zone slowed the Tar Heels. Of course that also serves as a lesson for the next opponent who should try to get Carolina big men in foul trouble and employ a clamp-down zone. If Harrison Barnes and Leslie McDonald can’t shoot over it, the season will be over for the Heels.

While the Tar Heels aren’t a favorite to win the NCAA, they have as good a chance as most anyone left. They have to continue to score on fastbreaks as a result of defense and they have to be able to shoot over the zone.

For more on the Marquette game itself, please click here.

Duke, Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

Duke, UNC women’s teams make Sweet 16

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The Duke women’s basketball team has earned a spot in the Sweet 16 for the 13th time in 14 years with a 71-66 victory over Marist. Meanwhile the UNC women’s team advanced to the regional semifinals for the 15th time in program history with an 86-74 win over Kentucky.

Duke’s Chelsea Gray scored all 13 of her points in the second half to help the Devils rally from 11 down to take the lead for good with less than three minutes to play.

The Tar Heels, which led most of the way, outrebounded the Wildcats 55-31 and hit 21 of 22 free throws. Kentucky rallied from 15 down to pull within two but an Italee Lucas three held the Wildcats at bay and the Heels extended their lead again late.

Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

Rebounding key to UNC’s chances to beat Marquette

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The ACC now has three teams left and the Big East two after Florida State whipped Notre Dame Sunday night.

Carolina could certainly lose to a Big East team, Marquette, but I agree with Dane Huffman’s assessment in his article “Marquette win is a break for UNC” that Syracuse’s zone would have given the Tar Heels trouble. The Heels would have needed to hit 9 or 10 threes to beat the Orange. The Heels have been averaging about half that over the last five games.

Marquette has fewer big guys to battle Zeller and Henson. The one really big guy they have is 6-foot-11 starting center Chris Otule who averages only five points and 3.5 rebounds a game. Compare that to Zeller who averages 15 points and seven rebounds a game and Henson who averages 12 points and 10 rebounds.

In fact, Marquette (which has only Otule over 6-foot-7) has only two guys who average over five rebounds a game and nobody that averages over seven. Most of the comparisons between the two teams are close. Carolina averages two points more a game. The two teams give up the same amount of points per game. The field goal percentages are almost identical.

Marquette shoots three percentage points better than Carolina from the free throw line. The three-pointers average and steals average are about the same.

The biggest difference is in rebounding where the Heels average more than five more a game. If the Heels hit the boards hard offensively and defensively, Marquette will be hard-pressed to score another upset.

Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

Marquette win is a break for UNC

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Marquette is no easy chore, but North Carolina got a huge break Sunday when Marquette stunned Syracuse 66-62.

Carolina is simply not a strong outside shooting team, and Syracuse is exactly the type of disciplined zone team that would give UNC trouble. You saw it in the ACC Tournament, when Miami nearly knocked the Tar Heels out of that event. And you might have seen it again in the Round of 16 in NCAA play.

Marquette had beaten Syracuse 76-70 in the regular season, so it’s not like the Warriors were intimidated by the Orange. Marquette was just 9-9 in Big East play,   but that’s hardly an indictment in a season in which that league was simply phenomenal. If you watched any Big East games this season – and it was hard to miss them if you turned on ESPN – it was jarring how athletic and talented the Big East teams were compared to the ACC.

Still, the Big East has had a disappointing effort in NCAA play. Marquette and Connecticut are still alive, with Notre Dame facing Florida State on Sunday night.

A win by North Carolina would be a huge statement for the ACC against the Big East – and the Heels are fortunate they don’t have to face the Orange in this one.

Duke, Featured stories, The skinny

Duke goes small with four guards to hold off Michigan

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Duke played most of the second half of its 73-71 win over Michigan with four guards on the floor with either forward Kyle Singler or Ryan Kelly in the middle.

Al Featherston, veteran sports reporter writing for GoDuke.com, wrote an interesting piece about that angle. He wrote, “It’s not something Duke has used before – or even could have used while freshman point guard Kyrie Irving was sidelined with a toe injury. However, with Irving’s return this weekend, Mike Krzyzewski can not only put four guards together on the floor, but four guards that few opponents can match.”

The four are Nolan Smith, Andre Dawkins, Seth Curry and Irving.

Coach Krzyzewski said, “We have confidence in all of them. You can’t have equal minutes [for four guards], but for Michigan, thank goodness we had them. [Michigan] did a really good job against us, but they would have done a better job if we were real big. They can slice you up.”

To read Featherston’s piece, please click here.

Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

Tar Heels fight hard to make it to the Sweet 16

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North Carolina’s 86-83 victory over Washington was a hard-fought win that has to remind Carolina fans of the tough NCAA tournament victory over LSU two years ago as the Heels were on their way to the NCAA title.

While this Carolina team might not get that far, this win seems important. Washington was a tough matchup for Carolina with big guys that could hang with the Tar Heels and three-point shooters.

Carolina was outrebounded (38-35), outshot from the three-point line (10 to six) and was down by 11 in the first half. Yet the Tar Heels found a way to reach the Sweet 16 for a record 24th time.

The Tar Heels also won despite a below-par offensive game from John Henson, who seemed to get beat up a bit by the big bodies on the Washington team. He hit only four of 10 shots and two of five free throws.

But the guards, Kendall Marshall and Dexter Strickland played well. Marshall had 14 assists, breaking a UNC tournament record and Strickland got six rebounds, 13 points and didn’t turn the ball over.

Plus, Tyler Zeller and Harrison Barnes continue their excellent late-season runs. Zeller, who can score on anybody when he gets to his jump hook spot, led all scorers with 23 points. Barnes, who hit four threes and came up with three steals, added 22 points.

After not making the NCAA tournament last year and with an entirely different starting five this year, North Carolina has to now feel that this has been a successful season, no matter what happens in the East Regional finals.

The Tar Heels have won the ACC regular season against all predictions and have survived a tough team in the NCAA tournament. While it might seem like gravy from here on, and some pressure may be off, make no mistake that this team isn’t satisfied yet. Within minutes after the game, the players were talking about going to Newark, NJ. There is still some work to do.

For more on the Washington game, please click here.

Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

UNC women survive 50 three-point attempts to advance

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The North Carolina women’s team survived a 50-three-point shot barrage to defeat Fresno State 82-68 in the first round of the NCAA tournament in Spokane, Wash. today.

Fresno State only connected on 14 threes for a 28 percent clip. Meanwhile, the Tar Heels managed six of 16 threes and had five women in double figures.

Italee Lucas led the way with a game-high 22 points. Chay Shegog scored 12, followed by Cetera DeGraffenreid’s 11 along with Jessica Breland’s 10 and Tierra Ruffin-Pratt’s 10.

“They took 50 threes — that’s 10 more than anyone has ever taken on us. We had to make a lot of adjustments to cover that. The big kids had to come out,” UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said. By that she means that Carolina’s tallest players moved out defensively to guard the perimeter players from the three-point line.

Waltiea Rolle, the Tar Heels’ tallest player at 6-foot-6, saw 10 minutes of action while another tall non-starter 6-1 freshman Laura Broomfield played 19 minutes. Starters Shegog, Breland and Krista Gross are 6-5, 6-3 and 6-0 respectively.

UNC advances to the second round in Albuquerque on Monday against the winner of the Kentucky-Hampton game.

Featured stories, The skinny

Yamaguchi will appear in Raleigh to promote new book

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Kristi Yamaguchi, Olympic gold medalist ice skater, will be visiting Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh on April 11 at 4 p.m. to promote her children’s book, “Dream Big, Little Pig!” for ages 3 to 7. She will be at Raleigh Ice Plex at 6 p.m. The next day, April 12, she will make an appearance through Duke Health at 6:30 but the place has yet to be determined.

Yamaguchi, who is married to former Carolina Hurricanes player Bret Hedican, lived in the Raleigh area for years but is a San Francisco Bay Area native and moved back more than two years ago. One journalist said she moved back “so her kids can grow up with their cousins.”

Hedican and Yamaguchi have daughters ages 7 and 5. They were 5 and 3 when the couple decided they wanted to go back to California so Hedican did not re-sign with the Hurricanes in 2008.

“I think the fans know that I played hard every night,” said Hedican at the time. “I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from fans there. They’ve always been good to my wife and my kids. I have nothing bad to say about Carolina. It was just one of those situations where I think I’ve got kids old enough to move back West and get them in school. There’s no hard feelings.”

Rumors at the time were that Yamaguchi did not like living in North Carolina so it will be interesting to see if anyone asks her about that at the book signing.

The promo for the book reads, in part: “Poppy the Pig has big dreams—lots of them! But following her dreams isn’t always easy, and whenever Poppy thinks it might be time to give up, her family reminds her to ‘Dream Big!’ While on a “pig’s day out,” she has so much fun ice skating that she doesn’t even notice those around her who think pigs can’t skate…and without even knowing it, she achieves her dream while doing something she loves!”

Yamaguchi says it’s a “funny and inspiring tale that’s perfect for a family read-aloud.”

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of “Dream Big Little Pig,” priced at $16.99, will go to support Yamaguchi’s Always Dream Foundation and its early childhood literacy initiative.

Duke, Featured stories, The skinny

What they’re saying about Duke’s Kyrie Irving

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Here’s what they’re saying about Kyrie Irving after he led Duke with 14 points in an NCAA win over Hampton.

“I know he didn’t play much, but the little that he did play, you could tell he was very explosive, a good scorer. I think that now that Duke has him back, it’ll make it easier for them to make a farther run in the tournament.” – Hampton guard Brandon Tunnell said.

“Less than five minutes into the first half Friday, Kyrie Irving came into the game for Duke and changed the landscape of the NCAA tournament entirely.” – Raleigh News & Observer writer Luke Decock.

“Flashes of brilliance. That’s what we saw from Kyrie Irving against Hampton University in his first game back since injuring his right toe on December 4. And, since his return to the Duke Blue Devils’ lineup was uncertain for much of the season, the key question now will be how will Mike Krzyzewski utilizes him as the Blue Devils advance in the NCAA Tournament.” – former coach and ESPN contributor Fran Fraschilla.

“We’re even more dangerous. We’ve just added a player as talented as him [who] can score the ball, and it gives us another weapon.’’ – Duke’s Nolan Smith.

“Kyrie helps our team. We are a really good team. And now we’ll just have to learn how to play with him again. But he’s easy to play with, and it won’t be too hard.’’ – Duke’s Kyle Singler.

“Before this game, it wasn’t exactly clear how Irving would click with Duke’s stars, and the Blue Devils’ blowout didn’t really answer that question. Irving shared the floor with Nolan Smith, the ACC’s player of the year, for only a handful of possessions in the first half, and his post targets most of the afternoon were Ryan Kelly and Josh Hairston rather than Mason and Miles Plumlee, the starting duo. Irving’s team-high 14 points were deceptive in this way. He didn’t log a field goal until the Blue Devils had already built a 71-39 lead, and Duke’s matchup with Michigan, itself a blowout winner, will be a better indication of Irving’s newfound impact.” – Ben Cohen, Wall Street Journal writer.

The skinny

Tar Heels exploit height but can’t blow out inferior opponent

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The Tar Heels could never put the NCAA tournament game against Long Island out of reach but North Carolina did manage to win by 15 at 102-87 tonight in Charlotte.

Long Island didn’t shoot well (36.5 percent) but the Blackbirds were scrappy. The 18 turnovers hurt the Tar Heels but it especially hurt them because of the type of turnovers they were. Probably half of them were long, ill-advised passes that resulted in runouts and scores by the Blackbirds.

I think the turnovers were an anamoly, caused by the team’s inexperience in NCAA tournament play and the aggressive style of the Blackbirds that might have surprised the Carolina players a bit.

But the three-point shooting is going to have to improve for Carolina to go any further. Leslie McDonald’s shooting was abysmal as he went zero for seven including five misses from three-point land. Harrison Barnes was only two of 10 from beyond the arc.

Tyler Zeller and John Henson were dominant inside with career highs of 32 and 28 respectively but that won’t continue against taller and more talented teams. To Carolina’s credit, though, the Tar Heels exploited the matchup.

For more on the game itself, please click here.