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Pat Dye Field => Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum => Topic started by: Tarheel on October 20, 2011, 02:22:14 PM
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Is it College Basketball Season yet?!
As one of the proverbial Grumbling Old Men of Franklin Street waiting on College Basketball Season to start this sports editorial particularly caught my eye this week. I thought that I'd post at least a few excerpts from it for those of you not deeply engrossed in teh Football Season. It is a long editorial (and so are my excerpts for which I apologize) but it's well-written and well-reasoned; worth the read if you have any interest in the great sport of Mr. Naismith...and in Carolina of course (link below).
Excerpt from "Grantland", all emphasis is my own:
Why the North Carolina Tar Heels Will Win the National Championship
by Jay Caspian Kang
17 Oct 2011
On January 16 of this year, the North Carolina Tar Heels were 12-5, having just beaten Virginia Tech in a close game in Chapel Hill. The grumbling old men of Franklin Street were grumbling about what they had been grumbling about for the past two years: Larry Drew II, the team's starting point guard, was playing horribly. In the Virginia Tech game, he had picked up more fouls (4) than assists (3), points (3), or rebounds (2). Kendall Marshall, Drew's freshman backup, had played spectacularly.
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Three days later the wheels finally came off what had already been a disappointing Tar Heels season. North Carolina lost by 20 to a Georgia Tech team that would finish the year with a 5-11 conference record. Drew did not score in that game. He was benched. Three weeks later he left the team in disgrace.
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Amid great fanfare from both the message boards and the old grumbling men, the Kendall Marshall era began.
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For the North Carolina basketball team, the point guard is "the engine that runs Roy Williams' supercharged machine." Carolina basketball, as the metaphor goes, is a beautiful machine stocked with elegant, fast parts — the Bugatti of college basketball. And like all high-performance cars, the machine is fragile and bound to break down every once in a while.
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It's a system with one massive inherent risk: Point guards are notoriously difficult to scout and project — in 2008, Drew was the fourth-best point guard prospect in his high school class. The three players ahead of him — Brandon Jennings, Jrue Holiday, and Kemba Walker — are all in the NBA. Drew, for his part, stunk for two years, and was stinking up his junior year before abruptly leaving the team in February.
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The point guard for North Carolina is the single most important position in college basketball. When Roy has a good one, the team wins national championships. When Roy has a bad one, the Heels are barely a tournament team.
This year, the Heels have one hell of a point guard in Kendall Marshall. He will probably never be the offensive force that Ty Lawson was, and there is a chance he'll leave Chapel Hill without a championship. But in 20 years, when we look back at Ol' Roy's era in Chapel Hill, Marshall will be the one we remember the most fondly.1 At heart, Carolina fans are basketball purists, and nothing on Tobacco Road reads as purely as the pass-first point guard.
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The 2004-05 Tar Heels finished the season with a 14-2 conference record, went 33-4 overall, and stormed through the NCAA tournament.
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The 2008-09 Tar Heels were one of the best teams in the history of college basketball. Their average margin of victory in the tournament was over 20 points per game.
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I bring this up because the 2011-12 Tar Heels are built a whole lot like the past two championship teams. They have a point guard who can run Roy's system (Marshall, Lawson, Felton). They have a sweet-shooting wing with a knack for knocking down big shots (Harrison Barnes, Ellington, McCants). They have a five-star freshman forward who can concentrate his effort on the defensive side of the floor (James McAdoo, Ed Davis, Marvin Williams). They have a low-post player who can take over games (Tyler Zeller, Hansbrough, May). They have an athletic two guard who can bear down on defense and help push the tempo (Jackie Manuel, Ginyard/Green, Dexter Strickland).
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When this system is firing on all cylinders, the Heels are unbeatable.
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There is a surplus of talent in Chapel Hill. Almost all of it — save Marshall — is interchangeable.
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So, my Carolina brethren, please join me in the following prayer for Kendall Marshall. Please, please, please let him be healthy. If he plays 35 games, the Heels will be cutting down the nets in March. If he plays 15, expect two losses to Duke, a quick out in the ACC tournament, and nothing past the second round of the NCAA.
There is very little middle ground here. But isn't that why we love Ol' Roy?
Source:
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7114532/why-north-carolina-tar-heels-win-national-championship
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Go Blue Devils!!!
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Go Blue Devils!!!
This man knows
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Our little NC/Dookies pokes always reminds me of one of my fav ESPN commercials.
http://youtu.be/qMDIC8DOLUg
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Maybe not
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Go Blue Devils!!!
Infidel.
And I thought that Snaggletiger and Harvey Birdman were the only heathens in this Forum.
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Go Blue Devils!!!
Auburn>FSU>Duke>UNC = Auburn greatest basketball team in the nation.
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Maybe not
Hmmm. Embed disabled.
I'd expect a dookie to have some trouble wif teh ebays, googles, and yootoobs.
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Hmmm. Embed disabled.
I'd expect a dookie to have some trouble wif teh ebays, googles, and yootoobs.
We don't concern ourselves with such trivial matters. Time is better spent perfecting the 15 foot jumper.
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Auburn>FSU>Duke>UNC = Auburn greatest basketball team in the nation.
Roll Tide logic.
Amusing.
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We don't concern ourselves with such trivial matters. Time is better spent perfecting the 15 foot jumper.
I expect to find out when I come down to Auburn for the Basketball Iron Bowl in January.
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I expect to find out when I come down to Auburn for the Basketball Iron Bowl in January.
You'll see!!! You'll see!!!
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Roll Tide logic.
Amusing.
Oh, it's twue. It's twue. It's twue, it's twue!
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You'll see!!! You'll see!!!
Maybe I'll actually be able to obtain tickets this year...unlike last year...not that drinking excessively at the Auburn Conference Center while watching the game on TV was bad...
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Oh, it's twue. It's twue. It's twue, it's twue!
Bad ol' puddytat elefant!
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Infidel.
And I thought that Snaggletiger and Harvey Birdman were the only heathens in this Forum.
I really don't care for either of them. I just like messing with you when you venture outside the political forums.
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I really don't care for either of them. I just like messing with you when you venture outside the political forums.
You and many others apparently. No worries.
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Bad ol' puddytat elefant!
Was going for Blazing Saddles but I guess Tweety Bird works too.
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Was going for Blazing Saddles but I guess Tweety Bird works too.
Kind of tells you where those Chapel Hill boys minds are at.
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Was going for Blazing Saddles but I guess Tweety Bird works too.
I got the Blazing Saddles reference; that honestly did come to my mind first; but I thought that I'd take it in another tangent; Tweety Bird came to my mind next (love those old Warner Bros. cartoons).
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Kind of tells you where those Chapel Hill boys minds are at.
I'm really going to be disappointed if you and AUT1 don't show up for the Basketball Iron Bowl this season.
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I got the Blazing Saddles reference; that honestly did come to my mind first; but I thought that I'd take it in another tangent; Tweety Bird came to my mind next (love those old Warner Bros. cartoons).
Kill da wabbit, Kill da wabbit. Yes they were.
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I'm really going to be disappointed if you and AUT1 don't show up for the Basketball Iron Bowl this season.
I am going to try, not banking on it, but going to try.
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I got your back Tarheel.
Duck Fuke.
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I got your back Tarheel.
Duck Fuke.
My man.
:bar:
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My man.
:bar:
Make it a Jameson. No ice. No nothing. Just a glass.
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Make it a Jameson. No ice. No nothing. Just a glass.
Good. Done and done next time I'm in Auburn; which will probably be for the Basketball Iron Bowl at this point.
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You two........
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You two........
..should get a room?
Oh, and I'm buyin' first round for err'body.
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..should get a room?
Oh, and I'm buyin' first round for err'body.
Was not thinking that, but that works.
Really? You are buying? So everyone gets whiskey and coke?
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Was not thinking that, but that works.
Really? You are buying? So everyone gets whiskey and coke?
Yep...you can mix em' if you want to. I will.
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..should get a room?
Oh, and I'm buyin' first round for err'body.
Jack and coke.
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Jack and coke.
If he bought Jack and coke, I would kick him in the nuts.
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I'll buy Jack a coke.
Who is Jack?
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I'll buy Jack a coke.
Who is Jack?
He is an ass.
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I'll buy Jack a coke.
Who is Jack?
Jim's friend.
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Jim's friend.
:bar:
To Jim
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Was not thinking that, but that works.
Really? You are buying? So everyone gets whiskey and coke?
I didn't say nothing bout no coke. Good whiskey simply needs a glass.
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:bar:
To Jim
Helluva guy