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Zeller to UNC
UNC added a second 5-star recruit to its 2008 recruiting class when Tyler Zeller gave his verbal at a southern Indiana Ponderosa. I guess he wanted a good meal before breaking the hearts of many Hoosier fans, but UNC has added a center who can run the floor and score from mid-range. Many feel UNC gained the final edge in a long recruiting battle with Indiana University after Kelvin Sampson was caught with his hand in the cookie jar for the second time. Or maybe, we should say, Sampson was caught with his hand on the speed dial making an illegal phone call...AGAIN. Good pickup for the ACC......
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Pre-Season Preview: NORTH CAROLINA
UNFINISHED BUSINESS…….
Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Division: Coastal
2006-2007 Results: 31-7 Overall, 11-5 Conference
NCAA Regional Finalist, ACC Regular Season Champion, ACC Tournament Champion
Head Coach: Roy Williams
Record Overall: 524-131 (.799), 19 seasons
Record at UNC: 106-30 (.765), 4 seasons
Last Year in Review
Tar Heel fans will probably remember the 2007 season with mixed feelings. With a stacked roster, the Tar Heels dominated ACC play and made a deep run in the NCAA tourney. As the #1 national seed, the Tar Heels went ICE cold in the second half against Georgetown and finished the season as a regional finalist.
Hansbrough, Lawson, and Ellington to Stay at UNC
At Tuesday night's awards banquet, both Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson announced their intent to return to North Carolina next season. Their joint announcement comes on the heels of Wayne Ellington's decision to return to campus, pleasing Tar Heel fans across the nation. The only remaining holdout at this point is Brandon Wright, who figures to be a lottery pick should he choose to announce by the early-entry deadline on April 29.
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Carolina Comes Unglued
By Michael
Marcus Ginyard made two free throws to put Carolina up 75-65 with 7:19 to play. Normally this is when the vaunted Carolina run comes. Instead, Carolina would only make 2 of its next 24 field goal attempts, eventually falling to the Hoyas 96-84 in overtime and ending the chances of the ACC in the field of 64.
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A Tale of Two Halfs: Carolina Races Away from USC
By Michael
Carolina ignited the rocket fuel with 12 minutes to play. By the time it burned out, the Tar Heels had vanquished USC 74-64 and advanced to the round of 8 where they will take on Georgetown tomorrow in a classic matchup.
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NCAA Third Round Preview: (1) UNC v. (5) USC
By Michael
Tim Floyd has found his way back from basketball exile. Can his Trojans stack up with the cream of the ACC? We're less than 24 hours away from the answer. Check out our preview of this game.
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UNC Carries the Hopes of the ACC
After the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, the only team left representing the ACC is North Carolina. Boston College, Maryland, and Virginia all had chances to advance while Virginia Tech seemed overmatched against a tough Southern Illinois defense. Had the ball bounced a little differently in a few cases, two or three ACC teams could be moving on. However, it's now down to the Tar Heels who are playing as well as any of the remaining teams in the tournament.
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UNC Wears Out MSU 81-67, Advances to Sweet 16
By Michael
Michigan State handled the Carolina pressure better than expected, but eventually ran out of gas with five minutes left to play. That's when the Tar Heel depth took over, allowing Carolina to earn the 81-67 victory and advance to the round of 16.
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Saturday Preview: (#1) UNC vs. (#9) Michigan State
Early preview of second round matchup......
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ACC Receives 7 NCAA Tournament Bids
By Michael
We would have posted some comments on the brackets earlier, but the server was down for several hours. Of all days for that to happen...
North Carolina wins a share of the regular season conference title and wins the ACC Tournament outright...and what is their reward? Possible games against Marquette, Texas, and Gerogetown in the toughest regional bracket. Thanks, but don't do us any more favors.
That and other thoughts in this post.
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UNC: 2007 ACC Conference Tournament Champions
By Michael
The Tar Heels held off a feisty Wolfpack squad to earn their 16th ACC Conference Tournament Title. Congratulations to Roy Williams and his cast of super freshmen.
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Tar Heels Up 42-34 at Half
By Michael
Two serious bombs by Wes Miller to close the first half. The 10-2 run was a reflection of the Carolina depth as the Wolfpack ran out of gas at the 2 minute mark.
TRR thought Wright's length would bother Costner inside and that appears to be true. State, however, is having good success with the high pick and roll with their bigs. Costner's well-rounded game and ability to put the ball on the floor really shows here. McCauley is cleaning the offensive glass and Carolina would be wise to keep a body on him.
TRR has UNC with 20 points in the paint and NC State with 15 points from behind the arc. We continue to feel this inside-outside aspect of the offenses will determine the outcome of the game. Three pointers need fresh legs...does NC State have one last reserve of energy?
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NC State Advances, Sets Up All-Tobacco Road Final
By Michael
NC State downed Virginia Tech 72-64, setting up an All-Tobacco Road final in the ACC Conference Tournament. The Wolfpack continue on their magical run, but have been fortunate to face three similar teams. That will change today when they meet North Carolina.
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UNC Advances to ACC Tournament Championship
By Michael
Except for a brief run in the second half, Boston College never really posed a threat to Carolina. The Tar Heels controlled the boards on both ends of the floor and sailed to an easy 71-56 win.
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UNC Dominates...73-58
UNC held Al Thornton to 12 points as UNC advanced over FSU. UNC was paced by their three heralded freshman who all scored in double figures on Friday. The game was fairly even with a 21-17 score with 7 minutes left in the first half. UNC closed the half with a 15-9 run and FSU could never get back in striking distance.
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Exit Stage Left
Arash, who sent in the View From Your Seat below, also sent us this photo of Henderson being escorted off the court after his hard foul on Hansbrough. Duke assistants blanketed him during his walk to the tunnel. According to Arash, the booing was extremely loud, as loud as it has ever been in the Dean Dome.
The View From Your Seat
[A loyal reader, Arash, sends us the view from his seat for the Carolina-Duke matchup.]
Tobacco Road Report All-ACC Awards IV
In this segment of the TRR All-ACC Awards, we offer our selections for the Tobacco Road Report Defensive All-ACC Team and Tobacco Road Report Defensive Player of the Year.
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Tobacco Road Report All-ACC Awards III
In the third installment of the TRR All-ACC Awards, we reveal our choices for the Tobacco Road Report Freshman All-ACC Team and TRR Freshman of the Year Award.
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Tobacco Road Report All-ACC Awards
We've finished passing around the ballots for the 1st Annual Tobacco Road Report All-ACC Awards. Today we present our results for the TRR All-ACC Team selections and TRR Player of the Year in the ACC. Congratulations to the winners.
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On Gerald Henderson and Hansbrough
There's been some heated discussion on the Gerald Henderson foul during the closing minutes of the Carolina victory over Duke. TRR saw it live and thought it was malicious. The slow motion replays didn't change our opinion. Contrary to Billy Packer's protestations, the forearm across Tyler's nose was not an attempt to make a play on the ball and the classification of the call as a flagrant-combative foul was on the money.
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On the Tar Heel Offense: Pound it In Versus Run and Gun
By Michael
If you find yourself alternately screaming at the Carolina offense and then thinking, "oooh, nice play...", then you're not alone. Find out why feeling like Sybil isn't inconsistent when watching this Tar Heel squad.
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Georgia Tech Gets Signature Victory...84-77
Georgia Tech established an identity on Thursday night and got an upset win over UNC at the Thrillerdome, 84-77. Unlike Saturday at Virginia, Tech was able to withstand a strong UNC rally in the last few minutes to hold on and perhaps move off the NCAA Tournament bubble.
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Maryland Flexes Muscles, Downs Tar Heels for Fifth Straight
By Michael
Maryland stays red-hot winning its fifth straight to run its record in ACC play to 8-6 and its overall record to 22-7. Just three short weeks ago, the Terrapins looked to be on the verge of falling out of the NCAA Tournament picture. A rededication to rebounding has paid off in spades. The Terrapins outrebounded Carolina on their way to an exciting 89-87 victory in front of the home fans.
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UNC Wins at BC's Game
by David
There is something to be said for individual effort. There were certainly some standout performances from the game. Tyler Hansbrough (17 point, 7 rebounds) and Jared Dudley (22 points, 3 rebounds) came through for their teams. Dudley will more likely be remembered for missing three free throws down the stretch. The key though comes down to this: UNC is a great team playing like one and BC is still looking for that prime time win that announces them as one of the elite of college basketball.
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ACC Men's Basketball Players of the Week for Feb 12
Boston College's Jared Dudley was named the ACC Player of the Week while Georgia Tech's Javaris Crittenton and North Carolina's Brandan Wright shared ACC Rookie of the Week honors. Read more here.
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Virginia Tech Takes Down Carolina, Moves into 2nd Place
By Michael
Outside of the last ten minutes of the first half, when they were able to combine stops on defense with some open court looks on offense, the Tar Heels looked out of sorts for most of this game. When Virginia Tech is on defensively, and the game is at their pace, they can make opponents look this way. It may not be pretty, but it is effective. The 81-80 overtime win moves Virginia Tech to 18-7 overall and 8-3 in conference, and should help the Hokies improve on their No. 25 ranking. The loss drops No. 4 Carolina to 22-4 overall and 8-3 in conference. The two are now tied with Virginia for second place in conference.
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Wine and Cheese
While watching the UNC - Virginia Tech game tonight, I'm reminded of Sam Cassell saying that Carolina had a "wine and cheese" crowd. These are the No. 2 and 3 teams in conference and Virginia Tech thumped Carolina in their last meeting. I'm really surprised that the crowd isn't into this game.
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Runnin' on Empty, Duke Falls to Carolina 79-73
By Michael
No. 5 North Carolina (21-3, 7-2) overcame the early Duke surge and used its superior depth to stay in the hunt at the top of the ACC standings. No. 16 Duke (18-6, 5-5) has now lost three conference games in a row for the first time since 1996. In another classic installment of the Carolina-Duke rivalry, the freshman came up big. Scheyer (26 points) and Henderson (14 points) led the Blue Devils from the perimeter while Brandon Wright (19 points) and Ty Lawson (15 points) provided an effective inside-outside combo that was too much for Duke to handle.
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Total Domination: UNC 105, Miami 64
By Michael
The performance of the Tar Heels tonight had the announcers comparing this Carolina squad to the previous five NCAA winners. The Tar Heels dominated Miami in every facet of the game. Things got so out of hand that Miami coach Frank Haith's frustrations boiled over and he was ejected with 7:48 to play and the Tar Heels up 73-51. Miami should take solace in knowing that Carolina is dominating everyone in the ACC.
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ACC Men's Basketball Players of the Week: Jan 29
Congratulations to Virginia Tech's Zabian Dowdell and North Carolina's Ty Lawson. Dowdell was named the ACC Player of the Week and Lawson was selected as the ACC Rookie of the Week. Read the story here.
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ACC Shows its Mettle: UNC Dominates Arizona 92-64
By Michael
We've been hearing a lot about the Pac-10 lately: 5 teams ranked in the Top 25 and six teams in the top 50 in the RPI. The Tar Heels went on the road to represent the ACC against No. 17 Arizona, which also had the No. 3 rating in the RPI. Things were looking grim when Roy Williams announced Ginyard and Wright would sit this one out in street clothes due to illness, but the superior depth of the Tar Heels overwhelmed the Wildcats.
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Tar Heels Down Wake: A Tale of Two Halves
By Michael
Wake Forest (9-10, 1-6) kept this one close for a good stretch, but eventually succumbed to North Carolina's (18-2, 5-1) superior talent and depth. The first half had the feel of a classic battle between two legends of Tobacco Road, and reminded us of why we chose the name we did for our humble report. Though nobody gave Wake much of a chance entering this game against the No. 4 ranked team in the country, pure effort and courage kept the Demon Deacons in it.
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This Just In....UNC is Good.
UNC 77, Georgia Tech 61
On Saturday night, UNC dominated Georgia Tech in all phases of the game, and imposed their will on both ends of the floor. Prior to the contest, TRR had questions concerning Tech’s toughness, and UNC exposed Tech as a youthful and raw team.
The opening few minutes of the game were key as UNC established the tempo with end-to-end action and sloppy play by both teams. While few points were scored, UNC began to exert themselves as Tech could not execute anything resembling a play out of their half court set. On the offensive end, Tyler Hansbrough once again dominated Tech inside. Few in the ACC can match Hansbrough’s effort in the paint and he easily established block position on Ra’Sean Dickey for easy put ins.
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Carolina Overcomes Miscues, Downs Clemson 77-55
By Michael
Clemson (17-2, 3-2) showed good energy on the defensive end from the start and used several Carolina turnovers to their advantage, but once Carolina settled down it was only a matter of time. The Tar Heels (16-2, 3-1) were much better in executing their half-court offense and blew the game wide open in the closing minutes before halftime. Brandon Wright (17 points) carried the Tar Heels early and Tyler Hansbrough (16 points, 7 rebounds) carried them late. Together they were enough to overcome 20 steals and 12 blocks by the Tigers.
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Virginia Tech Takes Down Goliath...Again
Virginia Tech (13-4, 3-0) built a 22 point second half lead and held on for a 94-88 win over No. 1 North Carolina (15-2, 2-1). It's been a good week for the Hokies, the victory over North Carolina comes on the heels --sorry for the bad pun -- of their victory over Duke. As we mentioned in our pre-season review of the Hokies here, the Hokies need Coleman Collins to provide an inside threat. For the second straight game, he did, being credited with 12 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 2 steals. Along the way, he helped frustrate Hansbrough into 5-13 shooting and 4 turnovers.
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Tar Heels Bury UNC-Asheville 93-62
By Michael
This one was over early as the Tar Heels dominated in every category. UNC-Asheville began the game in a 2-3 zone defense, trying to capitalize on the success that other teams have had in slowing down the pace of the game and bottling up the inside games of Hansbrough and Wright. But this time the Tar Heels were ready. Carolina used solid early outside shooting to open up the inside game, and used their pressure defense to create turnovers and generate easy opportunities in the open court.
Tar Heels Wear Down Kentucky 75-63
By Michael
If you told me that Tyler Hansbrough would finish this game with 7 points, I would have guessed that North Carolina had a post-OSU let down. However, the Tar Heels took advantage of 22 Kentucky (4-3) turnovers to register a 75-63 win and improve their record to 7-1.
The Death of the Mid-Range Game
By Michael
The first half of the OSU-UNC game last night was a perfect example of how college basketball lost the mid-range game.
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Tar Heels Knock Off No. 1 OSU
By Michael
If there was any doubt about whether OSU (6-1) was deserving of its No. 1 status, Wednesday’s game versus No. 6 UNC (5-1) should silence most of the doubters. The Buckeyes put on the most impressive first half performance seen in years before running out of steam against a deeper North Carolina team on the road 98-89.
Tar Heels Stumble in NIT Tip-Off Semifinals
By Michael
No. 2 North Carolina (3-1) looked like it may blow the game open early with a 10-0 run over the first 2 minutes and 26 seconds. The No. 23 Zags (5-0) looked a step slow on defense and Carolina dominated the defensive boards early, allowing the Tar Heels to get out on the break and create easy opportunities. However, the Zags overcame their early jitters and slowly began chipping away at the Carolina lead.
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Carolina Uses Second Half Rally to Down Winthrop
North Carolina (2-0) overcame a turnover prone first half and used their size and depth to finally down a tough Winthrop squad 73-67 in the Regional Finals of the Dick’s Sporting Goods NIT Tip-Off. Tyler Hansbrough led the way with 20 points and 10 rebounds, and superior effort on both ends of the court.
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ACC Lands Four in AP Preseason Top 25.
The Associated Press Top 25 basketball poll for week 1 of the upcoming college basketball season contains four ACC schools. North Carolina is ranked second, behind the Florida Gators who received 63 first place votes and one spot ahead of the Kansas Jayhawks. The Tar Heels received 9 first place votes while Kansas did not receive any.
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TRR’s Projected Order of Finish in the ACC.
1. NORTH CAROLINA. Roy Williams and company simply have too much firepower. The key will be getting the youth up to speed. Ellington, Wright, and Lawson surrounding ACC MVP Hansbrough will be too much for opponents to handle.
Postseason destination: NCAA final four or better.
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Pre-Season Preview: North Carolina: Does the Emperor Have Any Clothes?
Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Division: Coastal
2005-2006 Results: 23-8 Overall, 12-4 Conference
Head Coach: Roy Williams
Record at UNC: 75-23 (.765), 3 seasons
Record Overall: 493-124 (.799), 17 seasons
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