Category Archives: Featured stories

Featured stories, UNC

Heels hang on in low-scoring affair against BC

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I like low-scoring games, I promise. But I found myself surfing the Internet during the first half of North Carolina’s 48-46 victory at home over Boston College. (It was just 21-20 at the half.) BC certainly controlled the tempo and made for a ho-hum game for much of the time.

“We could have played a nice offense like we usually do and we would have lost by a lot,” said Boston College coach Steve Donahue.

Carolina looked really good offensively for five minutes in the second half but that was it. During that stretch, UNC outscored BC 15-3 and appeared to have the game in hand at 41-26. A long pass from Kendall Marshall to a streaking Tyler Zeller started the run which included a Harrison Barnes three and a pair of spinning, driving layups by Marshall and Barnes.

But then the Heels lost the ball on five straight possessions and BC, unlike the Heels, were able to hit some threes which got them back in it.

The Tar Heels did hold BC to just 27 percent shooting and outrebounded the Eagles 44-30.

Carolina’s defense is carrying the Heels right now but it’s just a matter of time before they lose one they oughta win unless they get their offensive woes figured out.

For more on the Boston College game, please click here.

Featured stories, N.C. State

Leslie’s poem is unwelcome tempest for N.C. State

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It has been that sort of season for N.C. State, hasn’t it? Thursday night was exactly what you wanted from the Wolfpack – an intense ACC win over a good Clemson team, solid defense and some real effort by the Wolfpack.

Not only that, but we saw something from C.J. Leslie we thought we’d never see – real hustle. Leslie actually dove for a loose ball, something that seemed abhorrent to him earlier in the season. One of the defining moments in State’s home loss to North Carolina was when Leslie barely reached for a loose ball while two Tar Heels dove for it.

But rather than relishing that 69-61 victory, the talk Friday morning is all about Leslie’s poem for an English class that made it to Deadspin. The poem essentially focuses on the poet’s efforts to hook up with a girl and his excitement when she sends a text saying, “sex.”

N.C. State hasn’t confirmed if that was really Leslie’s poem, and the fact is, no student should have his academic work splashed all over message boards. Would you want your freshman essays shared with the world? Uh, no.

Regardless of what you think of the poem, Leslie doesn’t deserve to have his private work shared with the world without his permission. The N.C. State Code of Student Conduct prohibits “willfully damaging the academic work or efforts of another student.”

Frankly, the school should find out who leaked the paper and punish them accordingly.

But all this doesn’t change the fact that State is being made fun of in the national and local press. This morning on 96 Rock radio, for example, the hosts made a big deal of making fun of Leslie’s poem.

Too bad, too. Leslie played great Thursday, with 18 points and 10 rebounds and a determined effort across the board. It’s what coach Sidney Lowe has been waiting for from his star freshman, and what this Wolfpack team needs. What should have been a big win wound up as fuel for talk show hosts, and that’s too bad.

Duke, Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

Williams more comfortable with this UNC team

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North Carolina might be coming off a big win over Florida State and UNC may have found a solid point guard but now the Tar Heels have a week where they play at Duke and at Clemson, two teams that beat them by a combined 51 points on their home floors last year.

The Heels, who play at Cameron Indoor Stadium Wednesday night, were embarrassed 82-50 at Duke last year. While the Tar Heels weren’t playing with their full complement of players a year ago, they just weren’t very good. Carolina was 16-15 and 5-11 in the ACC after that game.

This time the Tar Heels are 17-5 and 7-1 in the ACC as the teams meet in Durham. Coach Roy Williams, during his weekly media teleconference today, said he was “scared to death” but feels more comfortable with the team he is taking over to Duke this year, especially considering the way they are playing.

He said it would be a “monumental task” to beat the Blue Devils but he is confident that his team will try extremely hard and will play together.

Some have marveled at how quickly the Tar Heels seem to have gotten over the loss of point guard Larry Drew II. Freshman Kendall Marshall, who had won the starting job from Drew four games earlier, had 16 assists in Carolina’s impressive 89-69 win over Florida State.

“Kids get over things so much easier and quicker,” Williams said adding that coaches have a harder time with adversity. “But it was a tough 48 hours for all of us.”

Earlier Dexter Strickland seemed to indicate that Drew along with the Wear twins and Will Graves – four players no longer on the team – were not “all in” when he came to being a part of the Carolina team.

For his part, Williams said that the team practiced really well the two days after learning that Drew had left the team. He said that team chemistry is built throughout the course of the entire season and that adversity, within reason, tends to bring a team together.

“I love coaching the guys we have left,” Williams said.

Duke, Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

Harrison Barnes: UNC alumni game swung his thoughts to Carolina

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Duke was quietly confident it would sign Harrison Barnes. North Carolina didn’t come on until late, but once it did, the Heels made a huge impression. Barnes, now a UNC freshman, had a long one-on-one interview with Dan Wiederer of the Fayetteville Observer that was published this week, and in it, he told Wiederer that a trip to the Smith Center for the UNC alumni game changed his perception.

“I’ve never seen or felt anything like it,” Barnes said. “Not only to walk in as a recruit and see all the guys here, all the coaches, but to see how Carolina basketball came to be. Seeing Dean Smith talk to Roy Williams, that was the man he learned everything from. To see the 2005 championship team, to see the ’09 championship team. To have Michael Jordan come back. Vince Carter. Antawn Jamison. Rasheed Wallace. All of those guys are back.

“All of a sudden Carolina basketball and all of the history and legends that they talk about? It’s all literally right in front of you. I wouldn’t say it was an out-of-body experience. But there was definitely something surreal about that. It was like a live and in-person history lesson. The history of the program was playing right in front of me. …

“For any recruit that was there, I don’t know how you could say no after that. For me, it seemed like Carolina was the place to go.”

Duke had recruited Barnes hard, and he was close to Mike Krzyzewski and the staff. His final decision was closely guarded, and many were shocked when he went on Skype and told UNC he was headed to Chapel Hill.

Wiederer asked Barnes if he spoke with Duke after that announcement.

“We went our separate ways after that,” he said.

Featured stories, N.C. State, The skinny

Lowe blames Leslie’s suspension on ‘youth,’ says Leslie will play Sunday at Wake Forest

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N.C. State doesn’t have a game until Sunday at Wake Forest, and perhaps it comes at a good time for the Wolfpack. Tracy Smith’s knee is ailing – again – and State is also looking to get freshman C.J. Leslie back on course after he was suspended from Saturday’s loss at Duke for violating team rules.

Wolfpack coach Sidney Lowe said Monday that he expects Leslie to practice Tuesday and play Sunday.

As for the suspension, Lowe said, “I characterize that just as youth, just not understanding the importance of things, little things. …

“It’s just youth. It’s just growth and maturity and understanding  there is structure, there is discipline, and it has to be done.”

Lowe also made a pointed remark about the club circuit and its impact on the elite players. Lowe suggested that some of the behavior seen at the college level has its roots in club basketball.

“Unfortunately sometimes kids today – and I hate to talk about the AAU circuit – but there is not a lot of structure and discipline there. And then we get the kid and we have to show them that.”

Featured stories

Wake’s Desrosiers coming on, giving Deacons hope for the future

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This has felt like a lost season for Wake Forest, with one ACC win  and a new coaching learning the league and his personnel. But there may be more hope for the Deacons longterm than one believes.

The Deacons lost 91-70 at Maryland Saturday, dropping them to 8-15 overall. But the Deacons started two freshmen and two sophomores, and one of those freshman, center Carson Desrosiers, is starting to show potential. Desrosiers is a slender 7-footer but he is a decent shooter and should improve rapidly.

He scored 11 points and had five rebounds against the Terps. Those are hardly All-ACC numbers, and he is averaging only 4.4 points and 3.5 rebounds for the season. Tall players take time to mature, though, and Desrosiers may be a center Wake can build around.

“In a quiet way Carson is slowly becoming one of the the elite freshmen in this league,” Wake coach Jeff Bzdelik said Monday. “Down the road as he acquires the necessary strength to finish around the rim and be able to hold and contest his position around the rim, he will develop into one of the elite big men in the ACC in the future.”

Elite? That’s a strong word, and Bzdelik used it later in the ACC teleconference when referring to freshman point guard Tony Chennault. But the idea that Wake could have high-level players at those two critical positions is important.

Desrosiers, the first native of New Hampshire to play at Wake, had already committed to the Deacons before Bzdelik was hired.

“He could have reneged and gone somewhere else. But a the same time whwne we met, it took him abut 10 mintues to say coach, ‘I’m in.”

“I’m sure glad he did. He’s a cornerstone of our program.”

Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

UNC’s Marshall now making opponents sick

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Kendall Marshall said he threw up at halftime of North Carolina’s 89-69 win over Florida State. If his first game without Larry Drew II sharing time is any indication, he’s going to be making a lot of opponents and their fans throw up.

Marshall dished out 16 assists, two shy of the all-time Carolina record held by Raymond Felton and breaking the record for a game against an ACC opponent.

He made some spectacular passes including a nifty driving underhand job to Tyler Zeller who dunked it and a long upcourt fastbreak assist to John Henson who dunked it.

Carolina might want to get a bodyguard for Marshall, who saw his minutes go from about 20 a game to 36 against Florida State. Without Drew, he’ll have to stay healthy for the Heels to have a chance at an ACC title and a long run in the NCAA tournament.

UNC coach Roy Williams said he’d like to get Marshall’s minutes down a bit but backup Dexter Strickland, a shooting guard, hasn’t had time to get up to speed at the point.

Williams said Marshall not only is smart but he has a good feel for the game and has good court vision. He can also score when he needs to. He drained a pair of threes against the Seminoles.

The team’s shooting percentage should improve as Marshall gets the ball inside for dunks. Carolina will miss Drew’s defense but there may be better chemistry now with Marshall playing more minutes.

Maybe the amount of playing time as much as his nerves led to Marshall throwing up. But it was Florida State that felt sick after this game.

For more on the Florida State game itself, please click here.

Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

Larry Drew’s leaving Carolina continues Calif. exodus from Chapel Hill

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The stunning decision by North Carolina guard Larry Drew to leave Chapel Hill in the middle of the semester continues a trend in which recruits from the state of California have not remained in Chapel Hill.

Under Dean Smith and Bill Guthridge, the Tar Heels rarely went to California for players. Center Scott Williams was one of the few from that state to play in Chapel Hill. But Roy Williams had established deep connections to California in his time at Kansas, and he continued to recruit that state, with success, at UNC.

But the shocking news that Drew is leaving marks the fourth time a California product has left Chapel Hill early under Williams. Alex Stepheson transferred to Southern Cal after playing the 2007 and 2008 seasons in Chapel Hill.

Last season, David and Travis Wear surprised Williams after the season when their father told him after the season they were transferring. They eventually picked UCLA.

Drew continued that trend Friday, and in a manner similarly surprising. Williams, in a news release, said Drew’s father told him the son would leave. (You’d think the players, in the cases of both the Wears and Drew, would have had the nerve to tell the coach themselves).

Regardless, it’s a stunning development for a team that appeared to be hitting its stride with that win at Boston College.

Carolina never seemed to play to its potential with Drew at point guard, and UNC fans heaped criticism on him for last season’s failures. Fair or not, it was clear Carolina had renewed fire when Kendall Marshall took over at point. Marshall is a deft passer and his teammates just exude more joy and confidence with him on the floor.

Drew had appeared to take the demotion gracefully. He played 19 minutes in the impressive win at Boston College Tuesday. He didn’t score a point but had nine assists. From the outside, he certainly appeared ready to share the ball and put winning first.

With Drew gone, that knocks a hole in Carolina’s depth, but not one that is unsurmountable. It solidifies Marshall’s job at point guard and means Reggie Bullock will get more minutes. Not a bad thing but still, a stunning development in Chapel Hill, where players rarely voice public displeasure over playing time.

Featured stories, N.C. State, The skinny

With Wilson gone, look for Wolfpack to build around Mustafa Greene in 2011

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N.C. State coach Tom O’Brien doesn’t expect Russell Wilson back, he said Wednesday, which means the Wolfpack will have a different look as it heads into spring practice and the 2011 season. The loss of Wilson to baseball obviously means Mike Glennon moves into the starting quarterback job, but the real change here may be the heightened importance of Mustafa Greene.

This past year, the Wolfpack’s first official depth chart included unheralded Dean Haynes as the starting tailback. That said a great deal about State’s personnel at running back, since the coaches switched a DB over to offense and he wound up being anointed the starter. But it also said a great deal about the emphasis on offense. If you were planning on building your offense around Wilson, then you could live with less of a running game. What you needed was someone who could catch and block and wouldn’t fumble.

State’s offense won’t have Wilson at the wheel this season – or at least, State isn’t planning on it. Glennon has height and talent, but the Wolfpack is likely to have a more conventional attack than what it had under Wilson. The hunch here is State will look to build more of a running game into its offense, and that means more emphasis on Greene.

Greene showed star potential in 2010. It’s asking a great deal of a true freshman to understand blocking schemes and route-running in addition to carrying the football, and that’s one reason why Greene wasn’t on the field all the time. But this fall could be different. He led N.C. State with 134 carries for 618 yards and four scores while averaging 45.9 yards per game.  Significantly, he averaged 4.5 yards per carry, which is a pretty stout number for a freshman.

Wilson averaged 33.5 yards per game rushing, but you won’t see that from Glennon. Wolfpack coaches love to credit Glennon with being more mobile than you’d expect, but still, he won’t be weaving through defenses like Wilson did. We expect Greene to emerge as a critical part of the Wolfpack offense, and potentially as a good a runner as State has had since Ted Brown. This wasn’t stated Wednesday, but keep in mind that N.C. State built its offense around Wilson long before outside observers realized how good Wilson was going to be.

The hunch here is Wolfpack coaches believe they have a star in the making in Greene, and he’ll be a major part of the Wolfpack offense in 2011.