The Principle
Jay Bilas was in South Bend calling the Notre Dame game on Monday, which also happened to be Ben Hansbrough's Senior Night and Tyler was in attendance. Bilas just recently started tweeting heavily and he is definitely worth following, despite being a dookie. @JayBilas tweeted:
Shook hands with Tyler Hansbrough after the game. His "Psycho T" eyes looked like he wanted to kill me on principle, with his bare hands.
Jay. You are right and you are lucky to still have use of that hand.
I am sure that it took every ounce of Hansbrough's self control, buttressed by his knowledge that Bilas is a lawyer that would pursue his assets, to restrain himself from crushing that hand like the roller truck of a road crew over crush-and-run. That is The Principle. No matter what, hate dook. It is THE PRINCIPLE! I don't care what it is. I will never support dook in ANYTHING, no matter how loosely connected. I almost voted for Barack Obama just because he played ball with the Heels in '08 and then almost didn't because Reggie Love is his personal assist. Who did I vote for? Why do you care? This is a sports blog.
I am sure that it took every ounce of Hansbrough's self control, buttressed by his knowledge that Bilas is a lawyer that would pursue his assets, to restrain himself from crushing that hand like the roller truck of a road crew over crush-and-run. That is The Principle. No matter what, hate dook. It is THE PRINCIPLE! I don't care what it is. I will never support dook in ANYTHING, no matter how loosely connected. I almost voted for Barack Obama just because he played ball with the Heels in '08 and then almost didn't because Reggie Love is his personal assist. Who did I vote for? Why do you care? This is a sports blog.
For me, this rivalry is personal. As I've already told you, my Dad went to dook and I went to North Carolina. I HATE dook. I am tired of hearing about it. UNC owns every major statistic of significance except ACC Tournament titles. Fuck very recent history. And let me emphasize VERY recent! I am so amped about the game on Saturday. In that same post that is hyper linked above, I told you that Butter would set the world right. And he has. It is a battle for supremacy. Not only ACC supremacy, but NATIONAL supremacy. We are on the precipice of a momentum change again in the rivalry. It was a short year and a half. Hope you enjoyed it dookies.
Since Sunday, I have literally worn a Tar Heel t-shirt every waking minute of the day that is possible. And when it is not possible, I am wearing something prominent that is Carolina blue. You think I am kidding? On Tuesday when I left a restaurant for lunch, the manager asked me if I was a Carolina fan (sarcastically) and told me would comp my meal (again sarcastically) if I wore or put on something red. State fans are pathetic. I told him to fuck off. Only power tie I recognize is Carolina blue. That is right. BOARDROOM BAD ASS!!! (Sidebar about State, if you can't make it as an engineer, I guess restaurant manager is the next best thing. Fail.) As if I needed to remind you guys, this is why dook sucks:
Since Sunday, I have literally worn a Tar Heel t-shirt every waking minute of the day that is possible. And when it is not possible, I am wearing something prominent that is Carolina blue. You think I am kidding? On Tuesday when I left a restaurant for lunch, the manager asked me if I was a Carolina fan (sarcastically) and told me would comp my meal (again sarcastically) if I wore or put on something red. State fans are pathetic. I told him to fuck off. Only power tie I recognize is Carolina blue. That is right. BOARDROOM BAD ASS!!! (Sidebar about State, if you can't make it as an engineer, I guess restaurant manager is the next best thing. Fail.) As if I needed to remind you guys, this is why dook sucks:
Tweet of the Day
My man JP is coming with me to #UNC! I can't wait to throw some oops to him on the break
I am with Marcus! Its going to be epic! Got a feeling it is going to go a little something like this:
Rumored Recruits
There is no regular season event that is any bigger than the UNC/dook basketball game, especially when so much is on the line. The environment in the Dean Dome is going to be ridiculous, so naturally, it is a huge recruiting weekend for both basketball and football. Timing is everything and this time of year basketball playoffs are in full effect for high school, which impacts prospects ability to visit, so we might not have all the guys there that we want.
For Basketball:
2011 - PJ Hairston, James McAdoo, Jackson Simmons, and Stillman White
2012 - Rosco Allen and Tony Parker (probably)
2014 - Justin Jackson
If you follow recruiting, you may be wondering why Shabazz Muhammad is not on that list. He has visited the Hill numerous time. Why would he miss out on this game? Good question. Epic Fail if he doesn't make it.
The projected scalping price for lower level tickets is $1,500 per ticket. Bazz, your tickets are free and better than most of those lower level tickets. What am I missing?
Bazz, you know you need to make that trip. Come check out the tennis courts outside the Dean Dome. The weather is going to be nice and those courts are pretty sweet (they are beside the beach volleyball courts if you know what I am saying). You can stay on your tennis game, so you can be competitive against your sister, and win a basketball National Title. Just saying.
(Bazz's sister is a professional tennis player. Good genes in that family!)
For Football:
Keith Marshal (5* RB)(really want this kid to stay in-state and become a Heisman candidate for us), Nick Dawson (OLB), Gorman Hopper (RB), Gimil President (DE), Greg Garmon (RB), and Todd Gurley (RB).
Arbitrary Analysis Time
I should note that the titles of this section are misnomers as Knox and Blue Steel will get the start because that is the Carolina Way. These guys deserve the start and I am excited to hear their names announced! It is a time to celebrate their rarely acknowledged dedication to the program we love.
Thank you Gentlemen!The Front Court:
In Cameron, Smith and Curry accounted for 56 pts, 8 rebs, 8 assts, and 2 steals. That is 71% of dook's scoring. Who gives a shit? That was in Durham. Welcome to Blue Heaven. Dex is going to avoid foul trouble (unlike in Durham) and lock down on Nolan Smith. Player of the Year my ass. We will see how he does against one of the best on-the-ball defenders in the conference away from the krazies intimidating the refs. As for Seth Curry, there's no place like home, there's no place like home. Looking back at Curry's last four home games (when he started receiving starters minutes), Curry is shooting 54.1% (20-37) from the field, 80% (8-10) from the line, and 50% (10-20) from three. Pretty good. Too bad it was senior night on Wednesday and he won't play another meaningful game in Hanbrough Indoor for quite a while. What you got Road Warrior? Answer, not much. Over the last four road games, Curry's numbers are much different than at home. He has 37.0 FG% (26-76), 57.1 FT% (4-7), and 41.2 3PT% (16-48). Not only are his shooting percentages much lower, his shot volume is much lower. The difference. At home, Curry averages 11.6. On the road, 7.8 pts per game. Welcome to Blue Heaven, Curry. You won't find it very welcoming.If dook stays with the same defensive match ups they played in the second half in Hansbrough Indoor, I like our match ups. Curry can't stay in front of Dex, so that is going to put a lot of pressure on the back line to defend the rim when Dex gets aggressive. If Butter can get to hole early, look to score, and finish, it will change the dynamic for which he is defended in this game. He is going to need to set aside his pass first mentality and look to score to loosen up passing lanes. Butter is one of the smartest freshman basketball players I have ever seen. I can't wait to see him play on Saturday.
The Back Court:
Do you see what I did there? I used visual media to illustrate that Zeller and Henson will exert control over the paint and the boards. It is a waterfall of dominance and dook's backcourt is the piece of wood that gets sucked back up under the fall by the undertow. You like that? I thought you would.
The Wings:
This is how I choose to express the fact that I think this match up will be a push. If you don't read the fine print, you will miss the analysis. I already told you that I am a lawyer. What did you expect? It can't all be visual media. Bottom line, Singular struggles against NBA-type wings, i.e. long and athletic. Barnes is definitely going to make a nice living playing basketball for the Association someday. Therefore, Singular will struggle offensively. However, Barnes sometimes struggles to get into the flow of the offense because he doesn't move as well as he could off the ball to get open looks. Singular will expend a ton of energy working to deny Barnes the ball. That is how you say that objectively. If I wanted to say that same thing within the context of fact and unconcerned about the perception of bias, I would say: Singular will be pulling, grabbing, and pushing Barnes all night long, like he did in Durham to deny Barnes the ball. Just saying. The Bench:
McDonald_vs._Dawkins/Thorton. Adv Tar Heels. If I have to explain, you haven't been paying attention. What are the chances that Dawkins is back next season? I'm thinking around 12.5%. Was it worth your senior year in high school? I guess because you were on a team that won a National Championship. However, I wouldn't say you played for a team that won a National Title though. Knox vs. Plumlee. Miles Plumlee is awful. His biggest talent is 5 fouls as a John Cheney "goon." Well, Knox is not only bigger and tougher, but actually has real basketball skills. Knox is not a goon, but a basketball player that can intimidate the Plumlee goon. Adv. Tar Heels.
Note: Justin Watts wasn't omitted as a slight. I did not want to insult him by pairing him up with Dawkins. That is why I combined Dawkins and Thorton for the comparison with LMac.
"Cooler than the other side of the pillow."
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