A Different Gear

Last night against the North Carolina State Wolfpack, the North Carolina Tarheels achieved the different gear that they have been searching for most of the season. It was fun to watch. They ran up and down the court to the tune of 113 points against a Wolfpack team that has made it as high as #17 in the polls. The Tarheels were led by freshman Coby White who seemed to be at full speed after about one step. The Tarheel bigs ran the court almost as well especially senior Luke Maye who slashed his way to 31 points. It is too bad that Luke Maye cannot see red against every team the Tarheels play.

The Blue Team

Watching Nassir Little, Leaky Black, Brandon Robinson, and Seventh Woods come off the bench and provide valuable minutes and give the North Carolina Tarheels basketball team a boost of energy against Virginia Tech the other night reminded me of Dean Smith's "Blue team" concept from the 1970's. Coach Smith would bring in five players at a time off the bench to rest his starters and play mostly defense. It was a bonus of they provided any offense but this was before the shot clock and the three point shot.

Nassir Little scored a career high 23 points, Leaky Black hit a three during that initial Blue Team run, and Brandon Robinson has become one of the defensive stoppers on the team and made a beautiful bounce pass to Kenny Williams in the second half for an easy lay up. The only player missing was Center Sterling Manley who has been out for several games with a sore knee.

North Carolina Vs. Old Dominion Preview

The North Carolina Tarheels go into their third game of the season looking for their first win of the year against an undefeated Old Dominion Monarchs team. The Tarheels enter the game as a 10 1/2 point favorite.

Games like this make me nervous because the Tarheels are primed for an upset. This is the Tarheels first road game and some in the media have described this game as Old Dominion's "Super Bowl". It's an ACC opponent and the last time the two teams played in 2013, the Tarheels broke just about every offensive record in the book in an 80-20 victory. That game was played to long ago for revenge to be a factor and this game would not be an upset on the scale of Appalachian State-Michigan, but it would be a huge program win for Old Dominion.

The Tarheels come into the game unsettled on offense with no clear cut starting quarterback so I would expect Brandon Harris and Chaz Surratt to split snaps again, the Tarheels have not really established a running game and all but abandoned the run in the second half last week against Louisville and need to get freshman Michael Carter some more carries. The Tarheels have also been slow to develop a vertical passing game. Some of the young wide receivers-Dazz Newsome, Roscoe Johnson, Anthony Ratliff-Williams, Juval Mollette-for North Carolina. The Tarheels are also banged up on the offensive line and depth has already become an issue three games into the season. The Old Dominion defense leads the nation in sacks and already has 21 tackles for loss in their first two games.

Old Dominion has lost some of their top playmakers on offense so this is an opportunity for the Tarheels defense to get things right. Old Dominion features a balanced offense with a fairly even run/pass ratio but Old Dominion will be without one of their top wide receivers Jonathan Duhart and running back Ray Lawry has been hobbled by a hamstring injury.

The phrase "defensive struggle" and the North Carolina Tarheels have never been associated with each other but this may be a rare game in which the defenses will take over and control the outcome of the game. Turnovers will be a factor and whichever team plays mistake free football will win. The Tarheels need to use offensive tempo to keep the Old Dominion pass rushers at bay and I believe North Carolina will pull it out 24-17 to get their first win of the year.

No Defense Of or For Larry Fedora

Before the North Carolina Tarheels started their 2017 college football season, most experts agreed that the North Carolina Tarheels defense would have to carry the team until the offense got some game time under their belts, depth charts were decided, and a few playmakers were found.

Two games into the season, the offense has played well enough to win both games but the defense has regressed to its pre-Gene Chizik days and is giving up 41 points a game. Granted, the last game was against Louisville and reigning Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson, but he torched the Tarheels for 525 total yards by himself and 706 total yards to Louisville. In the first game against California, redshirt freshman quarterback Ross Bowers lit the Tarheels defense up for 363 yards through the air and four touchdowns.

The defensive talent is there for the Tarheels. They have a good mixture of veterans and youth in the defensive backfield with M.J. Stewart, Donnie Miles, Myles Dorn, Patrice Rene, and K.J. Sails. The linebackers are also a veteran group led by junior Andre Smith. A lot of veterans on the defensive front as well with Dajuan Drennon, Malik Carney, Jalen Dalton, and Jeremiah Clarke among the notables.

When defensive coordinator Gene Chizik left the North Carolina Tarheels after last season, John Papuchis was promoted from within so the defensive changes should not have been many. A more aggressive defensive was promised and that "aggressiveness" has resulted in three sacks and two interceptions. The two interceptions already doubles the Tarheels interception total from last season.

The Tarheels have blitzed more in the first two games and one example of this is a cornerback blitz by Patrice Rene on Lamar Jackson during the Louisville game. The blitz was perfectly timed and Patrice Rene should have had the sack. Jackson sidestepped Rene and threw a 75 yard touchdown pass. The Tarheels defense has been unable to get off the field on third down. The opposing teams are converting over 50% over their third down opportunities in the two games.

The reasons behind the Tarheels struggles on defense could be classified as "the usual." "Missed assignments" and "lack of communication" are popular reasons given but as a Tarheel fan, there is nothing more frustrating than watching the Tarheels take a 28-27 lead over nbationally ranked Louisville going into the fourth and watching it disappear within minutes.

High Expectations

The North Carolina Tarheels football team came into the 2016 season with high expectations. The Tarheels were coming off an 11-3 season in which they made the ACC Championship game and had most of their starters coming back along the offensive line, highly touted quarterback Mitch Trubisky finally taking over the reigns of the high powered Tarheel offense, and almost all of the wide receivers and running backs were returning.

Thursday night's 28-27 loss to Duke virtually took them out of the running to return to the ACC Championship game. Losing to Duke stinks anyway but to lose this game really hurt. The Tarheels will go to a bowl game this season but it will not be the one they wanted. The bottom line is that I would rather suffer from the disappointment of not meeting high expectations than to not have those expectations at all. Larry Fedora has the Tarheels headed in the right direction, they are poised to be a factor on the national stage, so I will take the Toilet Bowl with the trophy being the Golden Plunger or something, and I will look forward to the high expectations for next season.

Surfing The Green Wave

The North Carolina Tarheels beat the Tulane Green Wave last night in their first basketball game of the season last night 95-75 and it was your typical first game. Justin Jackson and Joel Berry II had career highs in points, 27 and 23 points respectively, and Kennedy Meeks had a career high in rebounds with 15.

Ten Players for the North Carolina Tarheels got at least ten minutes of playing time. Three of those players were freshmen- Tony Bradley, Brandon Robinson, and Seventh Woods. Tony Bradley got the most playing time of the with 17 minutes and he scored in double figures with 10 points but he also picked up four fouls in those minutes.

Head Coach Roy Williams place an emphasis on assists to made field goals and North Carolina was much better in the first half (14-17) than they were the second half (9-17) and 23-34 for the game. I do not know what Roy Williams considers an acceptable percentage but I don not think it is 67.7%. The Tarheels were also -1 in turnovers.

Ready To Lead

The North Carolina Tarheels got the 2016-17 basketball season started the other night with an exhibition game against UNC-Pembroke. I think I liked it better when they were Pembroke State. Joel Berry II looks like he is primed and ready to lead this team. A case could be made for Berry II as the team MVP down the stretch last season as he was the team's most consistent outside threat and stepped up in the big games.

With Theo Pinson out injured again until late December, someone needs to step up and take his 15-20 minutes a game. Sophomore Luke Maye brings a different skill set to the table but he made his case for more minutes with his play against UNC-Pembroke. Maye reminds me of a Pete Chilcutt type of player. He is not a great athlete but he is fundamentally sound in all areas of the game.

Wreckin' Georgia Tech

As a Tarheels fan, the Georgia Tech game is a point of concern for me every season. Georgia Tech's triple option offense eats up yards and time off the clock and their defense is usually blitz heavy. Combine those two factors with the Tarheels perpetual two minute offense and the potential for the Tarheels defense to spend the majority of the game on the field is very good.

The Tarheels received the ball to start the game and true to form scored their first touchdown within two minutes. A quick dose of a healthy Elijah Hood and it was 7-0. The Tarheels added a field goal and then the Georgia Tech offense struck. Georgia Tech's offense makes you susceptible to the play action pass and the Tarheels defense got burned for 83 yards. An ill advised attempt at a strip by defensive back M.J. Stewart and Georgia Tech was back in the game. North Carolina scored a little over two minutes later when Elijah Hood broke a 36 yard touchdown run up the middle on fourth and one. The two teams traded field goals and touchdowns after that and the Tarheels took a 27-17 lead into halftime.

Georgia Tech opened up the second half with a drive that netted them a field goal and it was all North Carolina after that. The Tarheels scored 21 straight points and won going away 48-20. The Tarheels defense recovered two fumbles in the second half, Georgia Tech QB Justin Thomas left the game due to an injury, and the Tarheels put the game away with a balanced offense.

Mitch Trubisky's Break Out Game

Quarterback Mitch Trubisky finally put his stamp on the 2016 North Carolina Tarheels football team. Trubisky led two fourth quarter drives with the Tarheels trailing Pittsburgh 36-23 with nine minutes to go in the fourth quarter and threw the game winning touchdown pass to Bug Howard with two seconds on the clock and the ensuing extra point gave the Tarheels a 37-36 win. Trubisky converted four fourth downs on these two drives with his pinpoint passing. He also set career highs with 35 completions, 453 yards, and five touchdowns. This was in spite of the absence of a runn9ing game that only mustered 18 yards on the day.

The North Carolina Tarheels offense had been stale for most of the second half. They had only scored seven points to that point, getting a touchdown on their second drive of the second half. The Tarheels running game was non existent (only netting minus yardage in the second half), Trubisky was sacked four times as Pittsburgh blitzed a lot more in the second half and he was hit on several different occasions. Trubisky put the team on his back, drove the field twice, stayed poised in the pocket, and his wide receivers helped him out with some big catches.

Tarheels Football Going Forward Part One

The North Carolina Tarheels football team had their best season in 2015 since the Mack Brown era in the late 1990's. The Tarheels finished 11-3, they won the Coastal Division for the first time and made their first appearance in the ACC Championship game and they made an appearance in the Russell Athletic Bowl against Baylor. The Tarheels offense set numerous team records with Offensive Coordinator Seth Littrell calling the plays and the defense made great strides under Defensive Coordinator Gene Chizik.

Keeping continuity in the coaching staff is important in maintaining the excellence of a program and the Tarheels were able to keep most of their coaching staff intact for 2016. They did lose offensive coordinator Seth Littrell who went to the University of North Texas to be their head coach but managed to hold on to Chizik. I believed Chizik would be gone because of his previous head coaching experience and because of the improvement in the Tarheels defense.

The biggest question for the Tarheels on offense is who the backup quarterback is going to be. Quarterback Mitch Trubisky has not been anointed as the starting quarterback yet but barring injury or he forgets what a football looks like between now and next September 3rd when they take on Georgia. Sophomore Caleb Henderson got some reps last season as the third string quarterback but only had one pass attempt. The Tarheels also have redshirt Nathan Elliot and incoming freshman and North Carolina State Player of the Year Chaz Surratt waiting in the wings.

The Technical That Inspired

Notre Dame was near the end of an 11-0 run when Brice Johnson committed a cardinal sin for Tarheel players, past and present; he was called for a technical foul. Notre Dame hit the two free throws and then hit a jumper to take a one point lead. North Carolina responded with an 11-0 run of their own highlighted by a Theo Pinson to Isaiah Hicks alley oop and the Tarheels were on their way to an 88-74 win. Johnson did have 25 points and 12 rebounds in the game, his Tarheel record 23rd double-double of the season, breaking a record held by Tarheel great Billy Cunningham and John Henson. The Tarheels also moved on to their 19th Final Four, an NCAA record.

On To The Elite Eight

The North Carolina Tarheels took it to the Indiana Hoosiers in their 101-86 Sweet Sixteen victory. The Tarheels hit a season high eleven three pointers, held Indiana to 41% shooting, and outrebounded Indiana 37-32. All five Tarheels starters scored in double figures led by Marcus Paige's 21 points and Brice Johnson's 20 points and 10 rebounds. Isaiah Hicks had the strangest stat line of the night with four points and four rebounds in seven minutes but he also fouled out of the game.

Indiana was probably the toughest five seed in the tournament. I said Marcus Paige was the key to North Carolina winning it all and he broke out of his slump in a big way going six for nine from the three point line and the Tarheels hit 11 for 20 overall.

Reaction To Duke

I just watched the ESPN show Pardon The Interruption and at least 45 minutes of the hour long show was devoted to what Coach K of the Duke Blue Devils said or didn't say to Dillon Brooks of Oregon after he hit a thirty foot shot right before the game ended with the game well in hand and if Brooks exhibited poor sportsmanship by even shooting the shot. If another coach said something to Grayson Allen after he exhibited poor sportsmanship on several occasions this season, Coach K would have come unglued. Allen exhibited poor sportsmanship by not shaking Brooks hand after the game. Here is an idea none of the "experts" proposed and that is Coach K takes care of his team and not worry about the other team. Coach K has coached his share of jackasses over the past 35 or so years and their antics were more than acceptable. I hope Dillon Brooks celebrated deep into the night and I may download his shot and use it as my screensaver.

Sweeping The Blue Devils

The North Carolina Tarheels beating the Duke Blue Devils in any sport is always a beautiful thing and it doesn't matter if the chess teams are facing off against each other. The Tarheels sweep of the Blue Devils in baseball this past weekend was an excellent example of baseball domination. The Tarheels outscored the Blue Devils 31-6 in the three game sweep and the Tarheels starting pitching trio of Zac Gallen, J.B. Bukauskas, and Jason Morgan- pithed a combined total of 20 innings and only gave up three earned runs while striking out 22 and walking eight.

The Tarheels offense scored 31 runs on only 29 hits but drew 22 walks and also took advantage of a shaky Blue Devil defense that made nine errors in the three games. Centerfielder Tyler Ramirez drove in eight runs in the series and shortstop Logan Warmoth drove in seven runs. North Henderson High School product Zack Gahagan has been key as a spot starter and a late inning defensive replacement at third base. He did his Best Brooks Robinson imitation in a game against Fairfield fielding a grounder deep behind the third base bag into foul territory and throwing out the runner at first. That play made the internet rounds.

The Tarheel Party Moves To Philly

The Brice Johnson block party moves to Philadelphia Friday night when the North Carolina Tarheels go up against the Indiana Hoosiers. The Providence Friars were the latest guests that were invited to leave and sometimes in a rather rude fashion. Johnson sent one Providence shot into about the third row. He also had his 21st double-double on the season with 21 points and 10 rebounds as the Tarheels place five players in double figures. The Tarheels outrebounded the Friars 42-24 and had 16 second chance points to Providence's one in the Tarheels 85-66 victory.

Block Party

Brice Johnson had an old fashioned block party last night and Florida Gulf Coast University were the guests of honor. Johnson blocked six FGCU shots in the second half and eight for the game. A nickname that was used by FGCU a few years ago, "Dunk City", was referenced early in the game and Johnson had a party at the rim on the offensive end as well. FGCU was only down by a point at halftime but the Tarheels were able to turn up the defensive pressure in the second half and were able to secure the 83-67 win.

I was listening to the Tarheel radio show before the game with Jones Angell and Eric Monross and a statement that was made by Roy Williams was brought up where he said that this season's team was one of the most criticized and under appreciated teams that he had ever had. The press has really gone after the Tarheels this season whether they win or lose. The Tarheels have been the popular punching bag in college basketball by the sports media. No matter the upsets that occurred yesterday the Tarheel win was greeted with a ho hum attitude.

Offense On A Roll

Reporting that the North Carolina Tarheels baseball team scored in double figures again is not news. The Tarheels had 11 hits, walked six times, and Elon made three errors in the Tarheels 11-6 mid-week win. Adam Pate had three hits and drove in three runs and Brandon Riley had two hits and drove in a pair.

Brett Daniels came on in the second inning with the Tarheels trailing 2-1, got out of a jam, and pitched through the fourth inning. Daniels was the beneficiary of the Tarheels scoring four runs in the bottom of the second inning and got credit for his first win on the season. Taylor Sugg came on for the second game in a row and pitched the final three innings, retiring all nine batters he faced, for his first save on the season.

March Madness Begins

March Madness begins for the North Carolina Tarheels against Florida Gulf Coast University who already has one game in the tournament under their belt, a victory over Fairleigh Dickinson, in a "First Four" game. I never did like these first round games. Florida Gulf Coast will come into the game inspired at the possibility of knocking off the #1 seed and if North Carolina doesn't win by 30 points, the questions about their toughness and their ability to put away smaller division teams will begin anew, if they ever really stopped. North Carolina is coming off their best three game stretch of the season and it just happened to come in the ACC Tournament. The Tarheels have great senior leadership in the low key Marcus Paige and an emotional leader in Brice Johnson. They are primed for a long run into the NCAA Tournament.

Double Digits

The North Carolina Tarheels scored in double figures for the seventh time in 15 games this season in their 17-4 romp over East Carolina. Leadoff man Brian Miller had three hits, including a triple, and two RBI's and Adam Pate drove in four runs including a bases loaded double. Cody Roberts and Tyler Ramirez both drove in three. East Carolina came into the game as the #17 ranked team in the nation.

Reliever Spencer Trayner got the win for the Tarheels pitching 1 2/3 innings giving up two hits and striking out two. Taylor Sugg came on to pitch the final two innings, allowing three hits and giving up no runs. The Tarheels improve to 13-2 on the season and take on Elon next.

Win And Advance

The seedings have been announced, the brackets are set, and the NCAA Tournament is about to begin. North Carolina got the #1 seed in the East Regional and they drew a pretty tough bracket. Xavier is the #2, West Virginia is the #3, and Kentucky is the #4. There was a report on one of the sports websites that stated Coach John Calipari of Kentucky is not happy with the #4 seed. He thought they should have been seeded higher. They lost eight games this season.

Most of the "experts" have Kentucky and North Carolina facing each other in the Regional Semifinals. In order for that matchup to occur, North Carolina will have to get by USC/Providence and Kentucky will have to get by Indiana/Chattanooga. In my perfect world, Kentucky will lose to Stony Brook, and all of his freshman will turn pro....again.

It is all about win and advance and Roy Williams said it best when he said that no matter who you play, you have to show up on game day and win. All of the teams have something to prove. North Carolina has to prove that the Virginia game was not an aberration. Indiana is out to prove that they are better than they were in the Big Ten tournament. Kentucky is out to prove that they are better than a #4 seed. That is why they play the game.