SB Nation User Blog: T.H.

Texas 103, UNC 90

T.H. — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 21:14:59 -0000

More photos » by Tony Gutierrez - AP

about 10 hours ago: Fans and media look on as Texas guard Damion James (5) shoots in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against North Carolina, Saturday, Dec. 19, 2009, in Arlington, Texas. The teams played on a basketball court that was raised roughly two feet off the ground in the first event basketball event at the stadium. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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In the Kentucky game it was three points. Today it was four. That's the margin in each game that UNC had fought back to after being down by double-digit margins for most of the second half. They cut it to four (or three) have the ball and all of the momentum... and the Heels just go stupid. Here are the possessions immediately following UNC cutting the score to 82-78: a missed Larry Drew three that shouldn't have been taken, a Will Graves turnover, a Tyler Zeller layup, a Marcus Ginyard turnover before crossing midcourt, and a Larry Drew turnover. Two minutes and fifteen seconds of clock, and all of a sudden the core is 91-80, Texas. The Heels wouldn't get closer than nine the rest of the way. Pathetic.

Of course, that one stretch isn't what cost Carolina game. It was quite simply the Texas players under the basket snatching rebounds right and left. John Gasaway may not like rebounding margin, but here it tells the entire story. UNC had 37. Texas had 54. 25 of those were offensive rebounds; Dexter Pittman alone had 12 of those (27 overall), more offensive boards than the entire UNC team. The Heels were pushed around like they weren't even there. It doesn't do any good to hold Texas to 41 percent shooting if they just get to keep trying until the ball goes in, and forty percent of their misses found their way back into Longhorn hands.

It's especially frustrating since Carolina was doing so well elsewhere on the court. They had nine blocks and were a remarkable 7 for 13 in three pointers. It was possibly the best game of Dexter Strickland's and Tyler Zeller's young careers. But the turnovers were still there (17, with 11 Texas steals, and Texas doesn't typically steal the ball) , Deon Thompson was a complete no-factor, and every rebound seemed to find its way into Dexter Pittman's hands. Roy Williams can't be happy with this performance, which goes against everything he likes to see in a performance. The team can't be happy, especially Marcus Ginyard, who seemed to have the weight of the entire team on his back at the end. It's another brutal loss against a really good team, but it has to grate knowing that a good performance on the boards would have easily flipped this into the win column. Carolina is left with a long Christmas break with a few cupcakes sprinkled here and there on the schedule. I can hope they'll learn from this, and use it come ACC season, but right now the Heels are failing on the national stage more often than they're winning. That's going to have to change.

Game Thread: Texas

T.H. — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 17:43:01 -0000

by Ed Reinke - AP

14 days ago: North Carolina's Deon Thompson, left, and Kentucky's Darius Miller vie for a loose ball during the first half of their NCAA college basketball game in Lexington, Ky., Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009. Kentucky won the game 68-66. (AP Photo/Ed Reinke)

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Funny story. I was at the second round tournament games in Greensboro last season, and the UNC-LSU game was followed by Duke-Texas. It was amazing how many UNC fans pulled off shirts to reveal Texas gear underneath. I would not expect that today. Rev up the Rick Barnes hate!

The Stars Are Bright, the Opponents Not: Deep in the Heart of Texas

T.H. — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:43:58 -0000

More photos » by Jack Plunkett - AP

7 days ago: Texas' Damion James brings down a rebound against Texas State during an NCAA college basketball game in Austin, Texas, on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009. Texas won 87-54. (AP Photo/Jack Plunkett)

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There are two schools of thought on how to introduce a young team to the rigors of college basketball. Roy Williams has chosen one way, to throw a series of quality opponents at his team and hope they improve against the stiff competition. It appears Texas tried to do the same, signing up for the CBE Classic that had them facing Iowa and Pittsburgh, and scheduling Southern California a week later. Their opponents haven't provided the necessary challenge, though – only Pittsburgh (and also rans Long Beach St. and Western Carolina) cracked Ken Pomeroy's Top 100. The Longhorns haven't payed down to their competition, winning their nine games by an average of 31 points, and having no game end closer than 16. They've got the most efficient defense in the country, and a top 15 offense. How good are they really?

Pretty good. The defense is built around two senior big men, Dexter Pittman and Damion James. Pittman is a shotblocker the Heels rarely see outside of practice, currently 15th in the country in possession adjusted blocks. (For comparison, DeMarcus Cousins is 17th, and Ed Davis 58th.) The two are also good for most of the team's rebounds, but it's defensing the ball where they excel. No team is better at defending the two. For that matter, only Florida is better at defending the three. It is extremely difficult to score against the Longhorns.

There are only two bright sides for the Heels when they have the ball. The first is their height. After Pittman (6'10') and James (6'7"), only a pair of 6'7" underclassmen get a significant playing time in the paint. The Heels have a big height advantage that Texas will counter with the typical Rick Barnes rough style of play, but UNC can rotate quite a few people in the paint and run them hard. Taking Pittman out of the game through fouls or exhaustion will go along way for getting Carolina the lead.

The other glimmer of hope is that the Texas defense is focused more on shot defense and rebounding than turnover generation. Getting the ball inside to Carolina's scorers will still be very difficult, and it's a task that the Heels will often screw up for large stretches of the game, but there won't be the pressure on the perimeter ball handlers UNC had to battle at Kentucky and Syracuse.

On offense, Texas isn't big on the three, although point guard J'Covan Brown is prone to launch the three, and big men James and Jordan Hamilton will also drift out occasionally for the long shot. The true shooting guards, Avery Bradley and Douglas Balbay, are more likely to drive to the hoop than pull up from behind the arc. I have mixed opinions on how well this will succeed. Carolina's big men alter a lot of driving shots simply by virtue of being teheir and being tall; Ohio State was absolutely destroyed in this manner, when combined with poor outside shooting. On the other hand, a quick player used to slicing through giants can make life difficult for the Heels, as we saw in Kentucky. It doesn't help that Rick Barnes likes the same up-tempo style of play as Roy Williams; the Texas defense can get back quickly and force UNC into a half-court set, while a quick offense can get the ball to the hoop before the Heels are fully back in position. Not that positioning is everything. I'd expecting a few more blocks on the run from Davis and Henson today.

It's Davis and Henson I'm most curious about in this game. Davis has yet to truly go off and have a Hansbroughesque performance, and he's due. Henson finally clicked and was a rebound away from his first double-double in seventeen minutes against Presbyterian, but is still a slender newbie in desperate need of a sandwich. If those two and Thompson can step up and play their games against the Texas front line, I have faith that the Heels backcourt, even sans Dexter Strickland, can handle the Longhorns' smaller guards. That's a tall order for a young front line, however, and I'm not fully convinced the Heels can pull it off.

The other X-factor, of course, is Jerry Jones' Taj MaTexas, a cavernous dome hosting it's first basketball game. Anyone watching the Heels' struggles in the Final Fours of the nineties knows how badly a football stadium can throw off an outside shooter. Neither team has a lot of experience in the backcourt. Whichever team solves the riddle of outside shooting in a dome is going to have a significant advantage. (Also whichever team scores more points will most likely win. I swear the insights I have on this game are unbelievably penetrating.)

In Which I Educate the Great Unwashed

T.H. — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 04:08:58 -0000

In Which I Educate the Great Unwashed

Peter Bean interviews me for Burnt Orange Nation. Creepiness ensues.

I remember going to Adonis Jordan's home. Rick Barnes, the Providence coach, was scheduled to come...

T.H. — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:16:57 -0000

I remember going to Adonis Jordan's home. Rick Barnes, the Providence coach, was scheduled to come in right after me. Rick arrived at the door 15 minutes early and rang the doorbell. Something funny had just happened and we were all laughing and carrying on, and someone opens the door to Rick, and he said, "Sounds like you're having a party."

I said, "Coach, you're right, and it's going to last 15 more minutes."

Roy Williams, in the only mention of Rick Barnes in Hard Work. Wililams will not be denied his fifteen minutes.

The Strange Fantasies of Rick Barnes Fans

T.H. — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 04:04:31 -0000

More photos » by Erich Schlegel - AP

about 1 month ago: Texas coach Rick Barnes sings "The Eyes of Texas" after Texas beat Western Carolina 73-41 in an NCAA college basketball game in Austin, Texas, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009. Texas won 73-41. (AP Photo/Erich Schlegel)

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The Duke Basketball Report had an aside in their coverage of Roy Williams' Crowd Management that might strike people not familiar with the ACC as odd:

A stray thought: UNC’s next game is at Texas (well in Texas anyway) against old nemesis Rick Barnes. Do you suppose there’s any chance he could yank UNC’s chain over this?

Normal people would be perplexed by this. Rick Barnes is a basketball coach. Basketball coaches speak entirely in, well, coachspeak. They'll mouth platitudes about their opponents, mumble some concerns, and then end the press conference. I can guarantee you Rick Barnes isn't going to discuss Roy Williams' actions in a game against Presbyterian. So Texas fans might be asking themselves, why would Duke bloggers think otherwise?

Well, fifteen years ago Rick Barnes got mad at Dean Smith.

The full story is here, but I can give you a quick rundown. It was the 1995 ACC Tournament and Jerry Stackhouse had just been fouled by Iker Iturbe. Smith yelled at Iturbe, Barnes yelled at Smith, and the two spent a timeout face-to-face having a spirited discussion on the finer points of the game. Both coaches were fined, and for the rest of Barnes' tenure the pregame coaches' handshake was covered with more cameras than your average presidential photo-op. Barnes was a hero to every ACC school outside of Chapel Hill, a love affair that continues to this day.

Said love affair leads to some strange behavior, most notably the abject lust for the man held by State Fans. The Wolfpackers always looked down on Herb Sendek, who had a poor record against UNC, preferring Barnes, who was a mighty 1-9 against the Heels. He said mean things about UNC, so naturally he's the best fit for a job leading fans that also hate UNC. Similarly, there's the Duke fan response linked above, with the faulty logic that since Barnes didn't like Dean Smith, and Duke fans don't like Dean Smith, they agree on everything. Ignore the fact that Barnes and Williams coached for a half a decade in the same conference without incident (Barnes was 1-4 against Williams, for the record) means nothing. They want to cut Williams down to size, so Barnes will want to cut Williams down to size.

The UNC-Texas game will almost certainly pass without incident. One team will win, the other will lose, and the folks who hate Carolina will be thrilled or disappointed based on which team has the most points at the buzzer. But Rick Barnes is never going to be the disgruntled fan you want him to be. He has a job and a team to manage; he'll be focused on that.

Mike Paulus Joins the Paulus Exodus

T.H. — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:41:11 -0000

It's being reported that Mike Paulus is transferring to William & Mary to finish out his remaining two years. His career at UNC as nasty, brutish, and short, first coming into prominence replacing an injured T.J. Yates last season against Virginia Tech only to lose the game and his spot on the depth chart to Cam Sexton. His final statistical line? 4-13 for 33 yards and two interceptions.

Paulus, of course, was recruited by Bunting at the expense of Russell Wilson. Ironically, State fans were attempting at the time to poach Paulus away with their own coach hiring, also one presumes, at the expense of Russell Wilson.

If You're Smart and You Play Soccer, You Go to UNC

T.H. — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:54:03 -0000

That's the takeaway from the fact that Carolina soccer players swept the awards for something called the Elite 88, which is, well:

An award founded by the NCAA [that] recognizes the true essence of the student-athlete by honoring the individual who has reached the pinnacle of competition at the national championship level in his or her sport, while also achieving the highest academic standard among his or her peers. The Elite 88 is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's 88 championships.

Yay! It's the part of the NCAA that pretends to care about its student athletes.

Anyway, as both the men's and women's soccer teams made it to their respective Final Fours, the men's award went to Bill Dworsky, who's pulling a 4.0 in Economics and Comparative Lit while Kristi Eveland took the women's award with a 3.93 in Business Administration. Eveland was part of a starting defense for the Heels that only gave up 12 goals all season; UNC finished the year a few weeks back with the third national championship for this year's senior class and 20th overall with a 1-0 win over Stanford. The men's team battled Akron to a scoreless tie in their Final Four, only to lose on penalty kicks. Akron would go on and lose in the finals to Virginia, also on penalty kicks.

Between these performances and UNC women's field hockey championship, the Heels should be high in the Director's Cup standings that will be released today, with only Stanford and Virginia possibly having higher scores. Please try to go about your day normally, and do not crack under the immense tension.

Roy Williams Is Not Here to Kick You Out of Your Seat

T.H. — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 01:20:44 -0000

More photos » by Ed Reinke - AP

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It's forty-eight hours since the Presbyterian game, and the internet has officially lost its collective mind. At least the sportsblogging segment of it has, as more vitriol is being thrown at Roy Williams for confronting a heckling fan than anything this side of philandering golfers. A Sea of Blue has a pretty thorough rundown of the Great Freakout, and if that doesn't wear you out you can join the legions turning to the Constitution or, well, being State fans. (No link for the State fans.) Even Ken Pomeroy loses it a bit:

Actually, the answer is, "No," he had no legal right to remove that particular fan.

Tru’s incorrect answer is an understandable error, because it would be the correct one were the University of North Carolina a private institution, and were the Dean Dome a privately owned hall. If that had been K at Duke, for instance, the fan could be removed, and his only remedy would be to sue to collect the cost of the limited license he had purchased in the form of the ticket.

Unfortunately for Roy, the Dean Dome is owned by the citizens of the state of North Carolina, and Roy Williams is a government employee who was acting within the scope of his employment as an agent of the state of North Carolina. The Smith Center is clearly a limited public forum for the purposes of first amendment analysis.

These being the case, the first amendment to the United States Constitution (as applied by the Supreme Court, anyway) forbids Williams (and every other government agent) from conducting "viewpoint discrimination." That means, if, as a government actor administering a public forum, Williams instructed a citizen to be removed from the facility based on the content of that person’s speech, then Williams has in fact violated that citizen’s rights.

It is clear beyond peradventure that Williams did in fact have the fan removed based on the content of his speech. I heard the press conference, and he said (loose paraphrase), "I just don’t think anybody should be able to come in here and say something negative about our players."

That is TEXTBOOK viewpoint discrimination, and it is absolutely forbidden and unlawful. The man did not yell, "Fire," or make a racial epithet, or even say anything vulgar. He apparently yelled, during a lull, "Don’t miss it, Deon." And for this, he was placed in the custody of the Gestapo and escorted by armed persons out of the building. That flat out gets my libertarian streak going.

The fan has an action for the clear violation of his civil rights pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Section 1982, and I wish he would read this comment and seek redress. Attorneys’ fees come automatically with the victory under that statute.

Mountain Man Roy needs to man up and apologize and kiss the guy’s ring before he sues.

by Ken Pomeroy on Dec 14, 2009 1:18 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

So that's one perspective on the matter.

The problem is, however, that the guy wasn't ejected for saying "Hey Deon, miss it." After all, anyone whose been to the Dean Dome with any regularity has heard opponents say much worse. He was tossed because of where he said it from, a seat that apparently wasn't his:

"First, Coach Williams didn’t tell security to throw the guy out of the building," Kirschner wrote. "He asked security to see if that guy had a ticket for that seat because he wanted to know who gave him the ticket to a seat behind our bench. Security tossed him because he appeared to be intoxicated and our security (and Duke’s, Maryland’s, NC State’s and pretty much anyone else’s security staffs) eject fans if they think they are."

And that gets to the rub of it. As I mentioned in the comments below, the twenty rows behind the bench are generally filled with former players and friends of the program – I remember seeing Warren Martin in that area a lot when I was in school. Add to that the fact that Williams has shown a lot of interest in the seating arrangements of the Dean Dome, including moving a lot of the older alumni players from the upper deck to the lower level, and in an otherwise slow game, I can see him definitely wanting to know why a Presbyterian fan was sitting there. I presume that's what he meant by "our" seats. Williams never mentions whether the fan was drunk in his postgame comments, because he had no way of knowing. He had security ask somebody about his ticket, and that's the last he saw of the guy.

Even so, discreetly finding out what seat he was in and dealing with it after the game would have been a better option, to me at least. But once it's in security's hands, it's out of Williams'. And within a few hours of it being on the internet, you'd think he'd climbed into the stands himself and started throwing punches, Artest-style. So maybe everyone should back away from the keyboards and stop attacking strawmen, all right?

UNC 103, Presbyterian 64

T.H. — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:13:46 -0000

More photos » by Gerry Broome - AP

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Sometimes, the postgame interviews tell you everything you need to know about a game. And when the two biggest topics of conversation coming out of Saturday's game were a) the players that didn't play and b) that Roy Williams got an opposing fan tossed from the place, well, you know you didn't miss much of a game.

The big news was the sitting of Marcus Ginyard and Dexter Strickland for minor injuries, which bumped Justin Watts into a starting role and Marc Campbell to the first point guard off the bench. Presbyterian, of course, had already gone the Heels one better, by red shirting all three of their returning starters for the season, to stockpile talent for next year when they join the Big South. And that's all you need to know, really.

For the record, Watts was on the court for 23 minutes and Campbell 14; both had three assists apiece. The game was mostly put away by the Heels' big men, as you'd expect against a team that played two players taller than 6'6". The Heels managed 48 rebounds, only Travis Wear had more than one foul (he had two), and everyone got a nice little post-exam workout. If you want to worry about anything, you can fret over the fact that a Blue Hose player tied his school's single-scorer record against Carolina. Of course that was only 29 points, and you figure someone has to get the team to 64, so why not Chase Holmes?

The Heels get to spend the week preparing for Texas and worrying about the health of their guards. The Blue Hose will return home to the largest bronze statue of a Scotsman in the world before playing Ohio State.

And the fan removal? Either it was a drunk fan in the wrong seat or a complete abuse of power. I can't really bring myself to care.