From A Duke Fan: UNC to Final Four

This could be a classic Brett Boyer knee jerk reaction but I have a hard time right now seeing the Tar Heels as a "pretender" going into the tourney. At the beginning of the season Roy Williams' squad started out in a rut but of their last 13 games they've won 12, and one of those coming against rival Duke for the right to be named regular season ACC champs.

As I watched the Duke game I became more and more impressed by this Marshall kid who is a freshman and was plugged into the starting line up half way through the year. Against Duke it tore up Coach K's notoriously tough Duke team defense for 15 points and 11 assists. It's amazing watching this kid play with the idea of pass first in the half court game, he reminds me a lot of a younger Jason Kidd, born to be a leader. Marshall isn't the only reason why I'm high on UNC though.



The emergence of the young phenom in Hairson Barnes has finally come about and it's everything people thought they'd see out of him. He's finally come into this own and playing much more comfortable and it shows. At the beginning of the year I think he may have had the "whole world on my back" mentality and for a freshman that is just simply too much to ask of yourself. Only player I can think of that didn't suffer with that is one Carmelo Anthony, and we know how that story ended. His size, strength and athleticism is something to awe at and admire. Barnes can now be looked at a guy to go to when the game is on the line and you need a bucket to score.

Maybe the most important aspect when looking at a team to make a deep run is depth, particularly in the 4 and 5 position. Look at Duke last year, they had Zoubek, Lance Thomas, Miles and Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly, probably not the most intimidating scorers or even defenders for that matter but what matters is when one goes down they have many else to go to. To have a chance to make a run, being able to rebound and bang down low with the big guys is way overlooked in my opinon. Last years Duke team, no matter what the foul situation was with the big guys was, had guys to fill in an do a good enough job on defense and offense. UNC fits this category better than any team I've watched this year (not much a statement) but they kept rotating and Roy went deep into his bench. They have no players that avg over 30 min a game. Being a Duke fan I have no idea what that is like because Singler and Smith avg well over 30. The Tar Heels have Zeller, Barnes, Knox (Grad student who played for Bama but had eligibility left), and John Henson. To have four viable forwards to plug in well help in a game with a team which relies on points in the paint.

Last nugget that impressed me was their fast break offense. Holy Hannah. I remember one highlight after Singler had scored and in less than 3 seconds the Tar Heels had passed the ball up the court for a dunk. There really is no defense for a fast and efficient fast break offense, especially at the pace they do. And this brings me back to the previous point of depth. The Tar Heels go balls deep in their bench and Roy isn't afraid to do so.

It took awhile for the Tar Heels to get their ball rollin' but it's rollin' and it's rollin' fast. Unfortunately this doesn't please me because of my love for Duke, but I'm a realist and I can atleast recognize when a team is playing well no matter who.

Should make for an interesting conference tourney and of course an interesting NCAA Tourney. As much as it kills me, right now I can see the University of North Carolina Tar Heels making a serious run. Gee dangit.

Seth

Panthers One Win Away

In front of a surprisingly rocking student section, the Milwaukee Panthers Men's Basketball team defeated Valparaiso 70-63 on Saturday night.

The Panthers were again lead by senior forward Anthony Hill who had 24 points and 11 rebounds (four offensive) last night and moved into the Horizon League tournament championship game where they will face Butler. They also got 15 points from sharp-shooting 6-8 forward Tony Meier and 16 from JUCO transfer Kaylon Williams.


Valpo was lead by Brandon Wood who had 24 himself but didn't get much from anyone else. UWM held Valpo's Ryan Broekhoff to just 1 of 11 shooting and did a good job containing their 3-point attack. The Crusaders were also only 5-9 from the charity stripe where as Milwaukee was 24-36 and made their last five to clinch the victory in the burning embers of the game.

The Panthers were trailing by five at one point in the first half but never seemed fazed as they regained the lead before half and never looked back. Valpo closed the gap to 64-60 with 2:02 to go in the game but the free throw shooting of Milwaukee was pure from then on.

It's really amazing to see this team now from where they were after they got beat handily by this same Valpo team back on January 21st. They said during last night's broadcast that after that game, coach Rob Jeter talked to the team for two and a half hours about what the goals of the team were for the year and the team responded. The Panthers rattled off wins in their last nine Horizon League games and their only blemish since then was a non-conference tilt against Buffalo in an ESPN "BracketBusters" game.

I think the senior leadership of Anthony Hill and Tone Boyle can take this team into the Big Dance. I really like what the Panthers have with not only those two guys, but also Tony Meier who is capable of doing a lot of damage on any given night.

The only thing that makes me apprehensive about our team going forward is their lack of depth. Outside the starting five of Boyle, Hill, Meier, Williams and sophomore guard Ja'Rob McCallum, the Panthers only other player in double figures for minutes last night was Ryan Allen. You tend to get that from most mid-majors but they're going to need another guy to step up off the bench if they want to beat a Butler team that is possessed right now.

After not being able to attend last night's game, you bet I'll be in attendance on Tuesday and I hope to see everyone else there as well. Tickets are on-sale on campus starting today for $10 with student ID.

Let's help get the Panthers' ticket punched.

-Mitch

This Really Grinds My Gears

I have already been on record many times talking about how much I hate the Boise State "smurf turf" as well as how much the Oregon Ducks' football uniforms really make me mad (they didn't even have their school colors on their national championship uniforms).  And now, my two pet peeves have joined forces to really push me to the edge. 

The Oregon Duck's basketball team's court is the most atrocious thing I have seen in all my years as a sports fan. 

First of all, that big white/light yellow area in the middle of the court damn near blinds you when your trying to watch the game.  I can barely even keep track of where the ball is when they are near midcourt.  Second of all, for some reason they decided to use some type of asian language underneath the logo there.  I have been staring at this picture for 15 minutes and I still can't figure out what that is supposed to say.

This court is just so ugly on so many different levels.  I'm gonna do the country a favor and hop the first flight to Eugene with a bucket of paint and cover this thing up.