North Carolina wanted to cut down the nets at Duke

The Duke-North Carolina rivalry is the best rivalry in college basketball. No doubt about it. I’m not crazy about either one but you can’t deny that fact.

In the 2011-2012 season Duke beat the Tar Heels in a thriller in Chapel Hill. Carolina went down to Durham and returned the favor. After the game in Durham the rivalry nearly went into another stratosphere. Tar Heel players wanted to cut down the nets at Cameron Indoor Stadium. And coach Roy Williams nearly allowed it.

During the Tar Heel Tour, which is a Carolina media blitz, Williams answered questions and brought up the issue of cutting down the nets.

Williams called this past season “hard”. Despite the 32-6 record, Williams said the team never “had the chance to celebrate” aside from the victory over Duke to end the season.


However, the team thought about cutting down the nets in Cameron Indoor Stadium, but Williams thought it “might cause a scene.”

Cause a scene? It would’ve caused a riot. Although I probably would’ve taken great joy in seeing that happen. That would’ve been worse than the Ohio State football players tearing down the “Go Blue” banner before the Michigan game in 1973.

UNC’s Kendall Marshall breaks his wrist

Just when North Carolina got John Henson back from a wrist injury, another Tar Heel goes down with a wrist injury. This one might be the most important.

Point guard Kendall Marshall fractured his wrist late in a third round win over Creighton. Now an already thin guard corps gets even thinner with the seldom used Stillman White as the only healthy ballhandler on the team. This could be a big blow to North Carolina’s national championship hopes.

Marshall was probably the best point guard in the nation, as he knew how to set up his talented teammates and put them in prime position to score. He also started to find his scoring rhythm as the season went on. Even though the Tar Heels boast four future pros on the team Marshall was the conductor on the Carolina freight train.

The Heels will still be dangerous, but whether they’ll be championship good without Marshall remains to be seen.    

UNLV Stuns North Carolina

Even though preseason rankings in college sports, more so in basketball than football, intrigue me they don’t mean anything. I said that a few years ago, and I’m gonna say it again. They don’t mean a thing.

There have been a rash of early season upsets so far. Cleveland State over Vanderbilt, Loyola Marymount and Middle Tennessee State over UCLA, and Pittsburgh being taken down by Long Beach State. Now the number one team, the stacked and talented North Carolina Tar Heels were stunned by UNLV, 90-80.

These may all turn out to be fluky early season wins, but the Tar Heels are expected to contend for the national title this year. It’s only one game so I won’t make too much out of it since everyone has a bad night. I’m not making excuses for the Heels, but it was practically a road game for them. It was played at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Eventually the road catches up with you.

I won’t pencil the Tar Heels in for a championship, but I won’t be surprised if they win it all. But for now let things play out early in the season before handing out rankings like Halloween candy.

Nolan Smith May Be The Most Underrated Player In College Basketball

If you’ve read any of my previous postings that mention Duke basketball, you’ll know that I pretty much despise the program. So when I decided to retire for the night last night and saw North Carolina up on Duke at the half by 14, I thought maybe the Heels will get them at home. I went to bed with a slight smirk on my face.

Much to my surprise, well maybe not, Duke came back for a 79-73 win led by Nolan Smith’s 34 points. A great showing in his final home against their blood rival. Another thought came to my mind when I saw the score and highlights. Nolan Smith is underrated. I know Duke gets a lot of publicity and when they get a player that doesn’t live up to the hype, that player still gets a ton of hype. But Smith has somehow seemed to be under the radar for sometime now. I feel that if it wasn’t for Smith Duke might not have won the national championship last year. let alone compete for it. Sure they had Jon Scheyer for 12 years and Kyle Singler always got the hype, but Smith has been a solid player since he’s been there.

When the year began all you heard was how Duke had an improved backcourt with Seth Curry and Kyrie Irving coming in.You hear about the incoming McDonald’s All Americans, but not much about Smith. In fact the Irving one and done machine was in full effect until he had a foot injury. If there is no Nolan Smith this might be a team that would have about 5 or 6 losses. I’m not saying they’re not good, they wouldn’t be as good. You didn’t hear Smith’s name on many player of the year lists. Now he’s getting that kind of recognition. To me he’s Duke’s most important player, just ask Baylor. He has an insatiable will to win and won’t let them lose. As much as I don’t like Duke, I do have respect for Nolan Smith and his game.