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Featured stories, N.C. State, The skinny

Q&A – State’s O’Brien says he’s satisfied with his team, and their health

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During the ACC Spring Football Coaches Teleconference Q&A, N.C. State football coach Tom O’Brien said he’s satisfied with his team which finished spring drills without any new injuries.

“We only had two guys not participate, scholarship guys. That is the least amount of injured that we’ve had coming out of spring,” he said. “We’re looking forward to getting ourselves ready to play a great game against Tennessee.”

Q. Coach, could you go a little more
into the program and what your players benefit
from that experience and where you first saw
that and thought that could be of help?

COACH O’BRIEN: Well, the program is
something that we did two years ago. It was first
brought to my attention. It was started up in the
New England area, so I had some idea. Learned
about Eric, a fellow Naval Academy graduate and
what he was trying to do with it. It’s all about
leadership training and team building.
I think it worked very well for us two years
ago, so we brought him back and did it Monday
night. We were on the field at 8:00 o’clock Monday
night. Got off the field a little after 11:30, and were
in the pool 4:30 the next morning.
He brings basically himself, who is special
operations, two other fellow Marine officers, a
captain and a major that were special operations, a
former NFL player, and they run the team through
various drills and various team building exercises.
I think it’s a great experience for the team. I think
they really enjoy it, especially once it’s over.

Q. What did you come out of spring
ball kind of feeling more encouraged about that
maybe you were looking to learn about your
team in the spring? On the flip side, what do
you go into August thinking I didn’t see enough
of what I wanted to see positively in this regard
in the spring, and thinking I hope I can see that
in August?

COACH O’BRIEN: Well, I think this is the
biggest thing we have to solve in August is the
linebacker position. We lost four kids. We planned
on losing two. Weren’t sure about Mann when he
went, and then certainly D.J. Green was a big
surprise to us. So not a lot of experience coming
back there at all. Have to play a lot of young kids.
Hopefully coach Tenuta can get these guys
headed in the right direction.
The other position on offense is the wide
receiver where we lost three kids last year that
played a lot of football for us.
Those are two key areas that we have so
solve. I think we’re making progress in some other
spots. We spent a lot of time on the offensive and
defensive line shuffling guys around. We have
experience coming back at those positions, but
aren’t anywhere near set on who is going to play
what position except with Wentz playing center.
So those are areas that we have some
guys but we kept moving around and kind of happy
with where we can be, then the experience with
secondary showed up at spring practice with those
four kids back there, that three of them are going to
be three-year starters, and the other ones, a
two-year starter, going into three years, and their
experience played out well in spring.

Q. For those of us who are old enough
to remember his father is an all ACC defensive
lineman, is R.J. ready to take that step on the
offensive line?

COACH O’BRIEN: We think so. I think he
has NFL potential. We’ve kind of moved him
around. He’s played about every different spot on
the line. He was a right guard, a right tackle and a
left tackle. We’re trying to get settled into a
position for him. But he has the skillset to play at
the next level. I think that he’s going to need a
good year this year to do it.
I’m glad he’s on our team. He’s got the
same fiery personality and leadership traits as his
father. He’s one guy that when we did the program
and the leadership drills the other night, he stood
out to this football team.

Q. The spring prospect us listed him at
313. Is that a good, comfortable weight for
him?

COACH O’BRIEN: Yeah, I believe so.
He’s moving well. He had an injury last year where
he had a floating body in the back part of his ankle
that required surgery in the off-season. We
thought he was going to miss all of spring practice,
and he missed the first five days.
So you didn’t see many ill effects coming
off the surgery with his ankle. He played through it
last year, but he certainly looked quicker on his
feet this spring than he did at the end of last year.

Q. I wanted to ask you about David
Amerson and how does he follow up a year
where I think they said it was the most
interceptions in a season by anybody in the
FBS since 1968. In my past experience, when
guys have big interception years early in their
career, they don’t get many after that because
people won’t throw at them. Is that something
you expect to see? How do you prepare to use
a weapon like that?

COACH O’BRIEN: Well, that’s left to be
seen what teams do. I think that happened a little
towards the end of the year, but certainly in the
bowl game they threw at him. He got his record
setting pick and played one of the most remarkable
interception returns for a touchdown I’ve ever
seen. Then he got the last play of the game.
I think that may be the case, and hopefully
he doesn’t get frustrated. But if that is the case,
that takes away a third of the field from a lot of
people, which then helps us with the rest of the
defense.

Q. Is there anything he could do
better? I mean, he obviously had a great year.
Could he improve?

COACH O’BRIEN: He’s really humble
about the situation. He’s studied a lot. As far as
technique and the thing that we’ve talked about all
the time, we want to be much better fundamentally
as a football team in the spring, not as concerned
with the X’s and O’s and concepts, but as
individuals our team improves.
There was a laundry list of things that
Coach Reed gave him that he wanted him to work
on: Back-pedal, breaking on the ball, those kind of
things that maybe he looks pretty good at, but he
can be a lot better at. Those are all things we
concentrated on in spring practice.

Q. After the game Saturday, you
mentioned Rodman Noel and his athleticism. I
was wondering what you saw that made you
think he would be a good linebacker? And how
much can you expect him to contribute next
year?

COACH O’BRIEN: Well, he’s in a similar
situation that D.J. Green was in last year. Both of
them had played back-up and special teams as a
freshman at the safety position. The way we
played defense for years is that field linebacker
position is a hybrid/strong safety/linebacker spot.
He has a lot of the same skill sets of guys that
we’ve had there through the years. He’s tall. He’s
got length to him. He can run. He’s smart. It
might have been a spot if E.J. was there, we would
have moved him to to start off as a back-up
anyway. But because E.J. isn’t there, he’s been
pressed into playing a little quicker.
He has the skill set that’s required to play
that position. Just a question of gaining the
experience and confidence to be successful there.

Q. At what point during the off-season
do you think that you’ll make a decision on the
status of Mustafa? What will happen with him?

COACH O’BRIEN: Mustafa’s on the team.
He just didn’t make it through spring practice. I
expect him to be with us in fall practice. If he
continues, he’s doing all that’s been asked of him
from that point on.
So as long as he continues and completes
what we’ve asked him to do, we should see him
when practice starts in August.

Q. With Mike last year, 31 touchdown
passes, 12 picks, and more than 3,000 yards
way above 60%. What are some of the subtle
things he needs to improve on in his senior
year?

COACH O’BRIEN: Well, the thing that we
like most is that he finished the year strong and
really used the time from the last game against
Maryland. I think he threw five touchdown passes
there in the fourth quarter to the bowl game. He
got better in the bowl game.
I lot of the things we stressed to him from
that point on was to get back, to set up quicker, to
deliver the ball and be more decisive in his reads.
We’ve carried that over into spring practice. The
thing that’s been good for him is we’ve talked
earlier about the experience of those kids in the
secondary.
When you have a kid like that, he’s
challenged Amerson all spring. Now Amerson got
him in the spring game, but that’s all part of the
challenge of going best against best. Both of our
safeties are three year starters. The other corner
is a three-year starter.
So he had a great opportunity this spring
to go against a good, competitive secondary,
getting that back foot down, getting the ball out and
making good decisions.

Duke, Featured stories, UNC

Walsh, Duke power up in second half to take ACC lacrosse title over UNC

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Christian Walsh scored four goals and No. 5 Duke came from a 4-2 halftime deficit to defeat No. 9 North Carolina 12-9 in the title game for the Atlantic Coast Conference lacrosse championship.

It was Duke’s seventh ACC title in the tournament era and its fourth conference title in the past six years.

“I’m very humbled that we had the opportunity to play in this game, and then we have an opportunity to win a championship game,” said Duke coach John Danowski. “Winning an ACC championship is a big deal. While the lacrosse world will say that, hey it’s only four teams, but our conference is so competitive that it is a big deal to be crowned a champion. Also with the physicality of these two games, you have to play so hard to win. It just goes to the team that fights the hardest to win. I’m very proud of this group at the end of the day.”

The first quarter ended in a 2-2 tie as four different goal scorers found the back of the net. Duke opened the scoring when Stephen Coyle scored his first goal of the season, an unassisted goal from the left side with 10:12 remaining in the quarter. The Blue Devils quickly extended the lead to 2-0 on a Christian Walsh strike 35 seconds later. North Carolina rallied with two goals in the final seven minutes of the quarter by freshmen Chad Tutton and Jimmy Bitter to even the match. Tar Heel goalkeeper Steven Rastivo preserved the tie with a big save with eight seconds remaining in the period.

Boxscore

Featured stories, N.C. State, The skinny

Wolfpack sweeps Boston College with 16-9 drubbing

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No. 18 NC State overwhelmed Boston College 16-9 by tying season-highs for runs and hits in Saturday’s nightcap to sweep a doubleheader and claim the series win at Doak Field at Dail Park.

The Wolfpack (26-12, 13-8 ACC) came from behind three times on the game, including a five-run response to an 8-7 deficit in the bottom of the sixth to seal the win. Trea Turner had a career-best 5-for-5 day with three runs, two RBIs, and a walk. Turner was caught stealing for only the second time all season, after leaving first early and being caught in a rundown. The freshman drops to 41-for-43 on stolen base attempts this season.

Chris Diaz tied a season-high with four hits and four RBIs in a 4-for-6 performance with three runs and two doubles. Wolfpack hitters amassed 19 total hits, matching a previous high establish in a 16-0 rout of West Virginia on February 25.

Danny Canela and Logan Ratledge each had two RBIs and a double on the ball game. The double marks Canela’s 14th of the season, second on the team to Diaz’s 16. Ryan Mathews went 3-for-6 with a double, two runs, and an RBI.

Reliever Anthony Tzamtzis (4-3) picked up the win in four innings of work, holding the Eagles (15-25, 6-15 ACC) to three hits and two unearned runs while striking out five. Starter Logan Jernigan threw the first five innings, giving up seven runs, four earned, on six hits and three walks while fanning six.

Boston College went through six pitchers, but reliever Geoffrey Murphy ended up with the loss by pitching in the Wolfpack’s five-run sixth. Murphy went three innings, allowing four runs, all earned, on six hits. Starter Tyler Hinchliffe lasted only two innings, surrendering five runs, two earned, on six hits and two walks.

State and Boston College played to a 5-5 tie over a wild pair of innings to open the contest. Back-to-back walks to start the game helped the Eagles take a 2-0 lead in the top first. The Pack bounced back immediately with four runs in the bottom half, taking the lead on a two-out, two-RBI Ratledge double to left center to score Canela and Brett Austin.

The Eagles responded with three in the top of the second to climb ahead 5-4. Matt Pare hit a ground-rule double that bounced into the bullpen in left, scoring two batters later on an RBI single by Marc Perdios. Blake Butera lofted a 2-1 pitch over the left field wall for a two-run homer to give Boston College the lead.

State answered with a run in the bottom second. Matt Bergquist led off with a walk, then moved to second as Turner scooted a perfect bunt single under the pitcher’s glove just right of the mound. With two outs and the runners stuck at first and second, Canela crushed an RBI double that hit the left field wall on the fly. Turner held at third, and both runners were left stranded.

The Wolfpack took a 7-5 lead in the third on Turner’s two-out, two-RBI single. Austin led off the inning with a single to left center off of Murphy, then moved to second on a groundout. Jake Fincher walked before Bergquist bunted the pair into scoring position. With two away, Turner threaded a single into center around the pitcher’s extended glove to score both.

The momentum swung back in Boston College’s favor on a crazy play to score three runs in the sixth. Spenser Payne led off the inning with a groundball up the middle for a single. A wild pitch moved him to second, and a hit batsman put two on, chasing Jernigan from the game for Tzamtzis. Travis Ferrick laid down a sac bunt, but Tzamtsis’s throw to first pulled Andrew Ciencin off of first to load the bases with no outs. A critical strikeout, and a foul pop up that Ciencin snagged on a jump at the wall made it look as though the Pack would escape, but Tom Bourdon laced a single up the middle. On the play, Fincher struggled to pick the ball off the turf, allowing the third runner to score, but his relay throw caught Bourdon in a rundown between second and third for the final out of the inning.

State wasted no time rebounding, scoring five runs in the sixth to take a 12-8 lead. Turner led off with a single to center, moved to second on a balk, and advanced to third on a passed ball. Diaz hit a ground-rule double into the Wolfpack bullpen to score Turner, tying the game. Mathews ripped a grounder under the shortstop’s glove to score Diaz, and stretched it into a double. Canela grounded through the right side to score Mathews from second to make it 10-8. With one out, Ratledge fired a liner to second, and it bounced off the fielder’s leg for a two-base error, plating Canela. Fincher lined a single through the right side to score Ratledge and extend the lead to 12-8.

The Pack padded the lead with two more in the seventh. Turner bounced a lead-off single over the third baseman’s head to start. Diaz sent a chopper down the left field line that stayed fair for a double to bring Turner around to score. Diaz stole third after a walk by Canela, then scored on a balk by reliever Kyle Prohovich.

The Eagles trimmed the lead to 14-9 in the eighth. Pare drew a lead-off walk, followed one out later by a single from Perdios. Butera sent a fielder’s choice to short, but Turner’s foot came off the base at third to load the bases. Tom Bourdon sent a sac fly to center to cut the Wolfpack lead to 14-9. Tzamtzis struck out the next batter to end the inning.

Diaz made it 16-9 on a two-out, two-RBI single up the middle in the bottom eighth to score Ratledge and Turner. Ratledge singled to lead off, and Turner drew a two-out walk. Both runners moved into scoring position on a passed ball to set up Diaz.

NC State returns to action on Wednesday, April 25 to host Charlotte in an out-of-conference tilt. Radio coverage will be provided by 88.1 WKNC, fans can follow Twitter updates from @NCStateBaseball, and live stats will be available at GoPack.com.

– News release

Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

No. 6 UNC splits twin bill with Georgia Tech

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No. 6 North Carolina opened Saturday’s doubleheader against Georgia Tech with a 12-6 victory before slipping in the finale by a 4-2 margin. The doubleheader split gave Georgia Tech (24-17, 9-12 ACC) the 2-1 series win and dropped the Tar Heels to 29-11 overall and 13-7 in ACC play.

Game One
North Carolina raced out to an 8-0 lead after the first inning and never looked back as the Tar Heels rolled to a 12-6 win over the Yellow Jackets in the first game.

The Tar Heels sent 12 batters to the plate in the first inning as Chaz Frank started the inning off with a double and eventually scored on a wild pitch. Jacob Stallings, Mike Zolk and Cody Stubbs all tallied RBI hits in the first before Brian Holberton dealt the big blow with a bases loaded double to cap off the scoring.

Holberton tacked on another run for the Tar Heels in the fourth when he connected on a solo home run to right center field for his first long ball of the year. Stallings made it a two home run inning later in the fourth as he connected on a two-run shot to left field after Tommy Coyle drew a walk.

Georgia Tech got into the home run mode in the sixth when Jake Davies hit a three-run shot to right center to make the score 11-3. Daniel Palka added a solo home run two batters later to make it 11-4 thus ending starter Benton Moss’ outing.

Moss finished the day by tossing 5.2 innings, allowing four runs only two of which were earned and struck out five.

Mike Zolk made it a 12-4 contest in the seventh inning with a RBI double to score Stallings before Georgia Tech tallied single runs in the eighth and ninth innings to provide the final margin.

Moss earned the win and improved to 4-2 on the year, while R.C. Orlan threw a scoreless inning of relief out of the bullpen.

The eight-run first inning matched the largest scoring output in an inning this season as the Tar Heels matched the eight-run second inning against Wright State on Feb. 24.

Game Two
Sophomore Hobbs Johnson got the call on the mound and mowed down the Yellow Jackets as he retired the first seven batters he faced.

The Tar Heels provided Johnson with a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning when Michael Russell started a one-out rally by drawing a walk. Russell moved to second after a fly out when Tommy Coyle walked as well.

Adam Griffin provided the go-ahead hit with a single through the left side as Russell raced around third and scored standing up to provide the 1-0 lead.

The Tar Heels added another run in the sixth thanks to a lead off double from Jacob Stallings. A single by Tommy Coyle right in front of Stallings forced the senior catcher to hold up at third and put runners on the corners with nobody out.

Griffin drove in his second run of the ball game with a slow chopper to shortstop that allowed Stallings to score from third. A double play would end the threat but not before Carolina held a 2-0 lead into the seventh inning.

Georgia Tech snapped a streak of eight straight retired by Johnson with a lead off single in the seventh before Jake Davies ended the shutout as well with a two-run home run to even the score at 2-2. Closer Michael Morin came on in the seventh to keep the game tied.

Number nine hitter Mott Hyde reached to open the eighth for the Yellow Jackets and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt but Morin retired the next batter on strikes. Morin had Brandon Thomas in a 1-2 hole but Thomas connected on a RBI single to right that scored Hyde and gave Georgia Tech a 3-2 lead.

The Yellow Jackets added another run in the eighth to take a 4-2 lead to the bottom half of the inning.

Tommy Coyle drew a one-out walk in the eighth and immediately stole second base to put a runner in scoring position. Coyle would be stranded at second after a pair of ground outs were unable to score the junior shortstop.

the Tar Heels would go down in order in the ninth as Alex Cruz secured the series win for the Yellow Jackets.

The bottom of the lineup provided six of the Tar Heels 10 hits in the game as Adam Griffin, Mike Zolk and Parks Jordan all registered 2-for-4 days.
Carolina will look to bounce back against a pair of in-state foes this week as UNC Greensboro comes to Boshamer Stadium Tuesday followed by East Carolina on Wednesday. Both games are set for 6 p.m. first pitches.

– News release

Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

Heels upset Virginia 11-9 in ACC lacrosse semi-finals

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North Carolina scored seven goals in the second half to break a 4-4 halftime score and upset Virginia 11-9 in the semi-finals of the ACC lacrosse championship.

Freshman Joey Sankey’s two goals and three assists, along with Junior Marcus Holman’s three goals and one assist led the Tar Heels. The Tar Heels took control in the fourth quarter and held on for their first victory over the Cavaliers since 2004.

The victory sets up a championship matchup between rivals UNC and Duke Sunday at 3 p.m. at Klockner Stadium in Charlottesville.

Carolina, which last won the ACC Tournament championship in 1996, last played in the ACC Tournament final in 2009 when it lost to Duke 15-13 in Chapel Hill.

The Tar Heels have now won six of their past seven games and improved to 10-4 on the season while Virginia fell to 10-3 with the loss despite a seven-point effort by senior attackman Steele Stanwick who had seven points in a game for the third time in the last four outings for the defending NCAA champion Wahoos.

Jack McBride had two second-half goals for the Tar Heels, including the game-winning goal with 6:33 to play in the game. That was the 100th career goal for McBride, a graduate student, who played his undergrad career at Princeton.

Ryan Creighton had a goal and an assist for the Heels while Jimmy Bitter, Chad Tutton and Nicky Galasso each scored once. Pat Foster and Thomas Wood added assists for Carolina.

Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

Zeller deserved UNC MVP honor all by himself

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Tyler Zeller was named the co-Most Valuable Player at the University of North Carolina basketball team awards ceremony. Yes, Kendall Marshall was the sparkplug that made the engine run but Zeller was the engine this year. It’s kind of a cop out to give the award to two players. If Marshall were a senior, like Zeller, I could see giving both MVP awards. But there should be consequences to leaving school early and this should have been one of them. Zeller was the MVP of the ACC but only shared his own team’s MVP to a player who left the team early and didn’t make the first team ACC.

Zeller was the man for Carolina and, again, being that he was the senior, he should have been named the sole team MVP.

Now, Marshall should have made first team but he didn’t. Marshall, a sophomore from Dumfries, Va., set an Atlantic Coast Conference record with 351 assists, the fourth-highest total in NCAA history. Zeller, a senior from Washington, Ind., averaged 16.3 points and 9.6 rebounds per game and led the Tar Heels in field goal percentage at .553.

Zeller also shared the team’s top defensive honor with junior forward John Henson. Zeller was named Carolina’s defensive player of the game a team-high 12 times and led the squad with 26 drawn charges. Henson led the ACC in blocked shots with 101, the third-highest single-season figure in school history.

Zeller and fellow senior Justin Watts were voted permanent co-captains. Other award winners included James Michael McAdoo, who was voted the most improved player and the freshman whobest exemplified determination, sportsmanship and sacrifice for the team (the Butch Bennett Award). Watts was voted the team’s most inspirational player.

2012 UNC Basketball Award Winners
Most Valuable Players: Kendall Marshall, Tyler Zeller
Mary Frances Andrews Award, Highest Field Goal Percentage: Tyler Zeller
Martha Jordan Award, Highest Free Throw Percentage: P.J. Hairston
Foy Roberson Award, Most Inspirational: Justin Watts
Carmichael-Cobb Award, Top Defender: John Henson, Tyler Zeller
John Lotz Award, Most Assists: Kendall Marshall
Oscar Vatz Award, Best Rebounder: John Henson
Butch Bennett Award: James Michael McAdoo
Jimmie Dempsey Award, Most Improved: James Michael McAdoo
Team Captains: Justin Watts, Tyler Zeller
Senior Awards: Stewart Cooper, Patrick Crouch, David Dupont, Justin Watts, Tyler Zeller
Athletic Director’s Burgess McSwain Scholar-Athlete Award: Tyler Zeller

Duke, Featured stories, The skinny

Duke holds off Maryland to make ACC lacrosse finals

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Duke University sophomore Josh Dionne scored three goals and junior goaltender Dan Wigrizer made two saves in the final seconds to push top-seeded Duke into the men’s lacrosse ACC Championship game with a 6-5 win over No. 4 seed Maryland at Klöckner Stadium. Duke advances to the title game for the 13th time in program history.

The seventh-ranked Blue Devils push their win streak to nine games and improved to 12-3 overall for the year. Duke is now 19-16 all-time in the ACC Tournament and 8-3 as the No. 1 seed. The 11 combined goals in the game were the fewest in a Duke-Maryland game since a 5-4 Terrapin victory in 1948 and the lowest combined score in ACC Tournament history.

“First of all I want to say that I’m extremely proud of our team,” head coach John Danowski said. “I’m very proud of how the team has evolved over the past seven weeks. With that being said it was for me a typical ACC street fight. Physical, tough, but clean and fair. And while I know not a lot of goals were scored it was a great college lacrosse game.”

The hat trick by Dionne was his seventh of the year and gives him 31 goals for the year. Justin Turri, Christian Walsh and CJ Costabile also added goals for the Blue Devils. Wigrizer finished with 10 saves for Duke, including three in the fourth quarter.

The first half featured three ties and one lead change as neither squad managed to get more than a two-goal lead. Costabile wasted no time giving the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead as he took the opening faceoff right down the field and netted his fifth goal of the season just six seconds into the game.

Maryland (7-4) and Duke proceeded to trade two-goal runs, leaving the Blue Devils with a 3-2 lead at the 8:54 mark of the second quarter. The Terrapins picked up an extra-man goal 40 seconds later to tie the game for the second time of the evening.

All square at three apiece and Duke holding the final possession of the first half, Dionne had perhaps the most exciting play of the game. After the ball was knocked loose to the ground, Dionne managed to pick it up in a swarm of defensemen with his back to the goal and throw it past Maryland goalie Niko Amato for a 4-3 Duke lead at the break. Amato finished with seven saves.

“It was a scrap there in the middle,” Dionne said. “And all week we’ve been working on scrapping and we focus on that every day. So when the ball is on the ground I’m going to be fighting for it. I was just fortunate to come up with the ball and another thing we do in practice is knowing where the net is so I had full confidence and it just so happened to go in this time.”

The defensive battle continued in the second half with the squads combining for four goals and 31 shots overall, 10 of which were on goal.

Turri gave Duke its largest lead of the game 1:27 into the third quarter on an unassisted tally. After an extra-man score from Maryland’s Mike Chanenchuk made it a one-goal game again, 5-4, at the end of the third quarter, Duke went up two, 6-4, 22 seconds into the final session with Dionne’s third goal of the game. Tommy Patterson provided the assist on what proved to be the deciding goal.

Joe Cummings netted his second tally of the game to pull the Terrapins within one and set up the thrilling finish. Maryland forced Duke into a turnover with 1:25 to play and quickly cleared. The Without a timeout remaining, the Terrapins managed two shots in the final 19 seconds, but Wigrizer stood tall and made both stops and picked up the loose ball with two seconds left to secure the victory.

“I love playing under two [minutes] with a one-goal lead,” Wigrizer said. “You know they’re going to shoot so I just stay relaxed and expect a shot and don’t be caught off guard whether there are 20 seconds or one second left.”

Costabile won 7-of-12 faceoffs and picked up three ground ball. Michael Manley helped anchor the defense with four grounders and two caused turnovers. Both squads had 31 shots, while Duke edged Maryland in the ground ball game, 27-26.

Duke will play the winner of the No. 2 Virginia – No. 3 North Carolina game. The championship game is set for 3:30 p.m., on ESPNU.

– News release

Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

ACC infractions committee publicly reprimands UNC

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By action of the ACC Infractions and Penalties Committee, the Atlantic Coast Conference has issued a public reprimand to the University of North Carolina. The reprimand follows the recent announcement of penalties imposed by the NCAA Committee on Infractions on UNC’s football program.

The ACC Infractions and Penalties Committee was formed in 1990, through a vote of the ACC members. The committee consists of one representative from each member institution and includes athletics directors and faculty athletics representatives. The Committee convenes following the NCAA Committee on Infractions announcement and its charge is to review and learn lessons from the case and make a determination relative to potential additional penalties by a vote of the committee members.

In accordance with the charge of the ACC Infractions and Penalties Committee, a thorough review of the University of North Carolina’s major infractions case was heard. As a result of the meeting, the committee acknowledged the institution’s corrective actions and the additional NCAA imposed penalties which included loss of scholarships, a fine, vacation of wins, three-year probationary period as well as a post-season ban that by ACC policy immediately results in the program being ineligible to compete for the 2012 ACC Football Championship.

The reprimand was issued by the committee to the University of North Carolina for its responsibility for the major violations documented in the NCAA infractions report. The committee was particularly concerned with the actions of personnel who committed serious NCAA violations regarding impermissible benefits, academic fraud and impermissible assistance, and/or improper relationships with sports agents. The reprimand also highlighted that the breadth and nature of the violations in this case should serve as a reminder of the importance of due diligence related to the personnel that interact with student-athletes and the importance of academic integrity as an ACC core principle.

“The Atlantic Coast Conference has been built on its ability to balance academics and athletics,” said Richard Carmichael, chair of the committee and faculty athletics representative at Wake Forest University. “The committee believes that the University of North Carolina has and will continue to strive toward this balance; however, the committee agreed that a public reprimand was appropriate in this specific case in addition to the other penalties already in place.”

“The ACC’s balance of academics, athletics and integrity will continue to be the cornerstones by which this league operates,” said ACC Commissioner John Swofford. “As I have said previously, it is disturbing anytime one of our member institutions has NCAA infractions issues. Such issues are counter to the goals and aspirations of our conference.”

Featured stories, The skinny

Duke announcer, Miss NC highlight Raleigh Sports Club annual banquet

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Legendary Duke radio announcer Bob Harris will speak at the Raleigh Sports Club annual banquet Thursday, April 26 at the North Ridge Country Club ballroom located at 6612 Falls of Neuse Road in Raleigh.

Hailey Best, Miss NC 2011 will be the special guest and will be available to meet and greet guests.

The cost is only $25 per person with advance reservation and payment required. April 23 is the registration deadline due to highly anticipated interest in this event. Make check payable to “The Raleigh Sports Club” (Memo) – “Annual Banquet”. We need the names of those attending for table assignments (Tables of 8). “Mail checks to: Katherine Lowman, 8214 Lake Allyn Dr., Raleigh, NC 27615”

The social begins at 6 p.m. with a cash bar and complementary iced tea available. The sit-down 3-course meal and program begin at 7:00 p.m. The dress code will be business casual (no tie necessary).

Harris – Voice of the Blue Devils – will be the keynote speaker. Harris is an award-winning sportscaster with distinguished service/promotion of the ACC. Author of “How Sweet It Is!” depicting life growing up in small-town America and what ultimately led him to where he is today as one of the most well known voices in college sports.

The RSC will be honoring a local Wake County high school coach and mentor who has dedicated his or her service to student athletes. Additionally, the RSC will be recognizing six outstanding Wake County high school student athletes with scholarships to further their education.

If you have questions regarding the banquet please send an email to [email protected] or contact Katherine Lowman at 919-847-4166. For additional information about the Raleigh Sports Club please see www.raleighsportsclub.org or email [email protected].