Going To The Beach

It is hard for me to have respect for a college basketball program that calls itself "The Beach". They have it written on the front of their uniforms, and they have have it plastered on the center of their court, adorned by big palm trees. That being said, they have proven themselves a very tough program over the past three or four years, and I was seriously worried about the Tarheels making a stop over here on their way to the Maui Invitational. Thanks to ESPN2 I only got to see the second half. The 'Heels held a 33-32 lead at halftime and just by looking at the stat sheet, it looked like the same old story. Poor three point shooting (3-13) and giving up several easy baskets. They warmed up from the outside in the second half (7-13), including 5 in a row at one point, and James Michael McAdoo heated up on the inside, finishing with 18 points. Coach Roy Williams is still tinkering with his rotations as Brice Johnson got the start in the second half ahead of Desmond Hubert and Joel James. Brice Johnson has the most developed offensive game of the trio but because of his slight build, he seems to get pushed around on the inside defensively. He still manages to get to the basket for offensive rebounds and easy baskets and he runs the floor well. He finished with 10 points in 13 minutes. Joel James ended up with 3 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 blocked shots. P. J. Hairston had 14 points off the bench on the strength of 3-7 three-point shooting and Marcus Paige was the other double figure scorer with 15 points but his assist to turnover ration is still only about 1 to 1. It was a good victory, an important victory as they played well in their first road game and they needed the road experience.