John Wall a Tar Heel?

Word is that Roy Williams made a phone call during some down time before the Final Four. Williams reportedly called mega-recruit John Wall for a chat.

Wall is the top point guard in the nation but hasn't committed anywhere yet. He was leaning toward Memphis, but that has changed now that John Calipari has left for Kentucky. Many people felt that he would follow Calipari but this may change some things.

First off, Roy Williams is a heck of a recruiter in his own right. Since coming to the Tar Heels in 2003, he has routinely had one of the best recruiting classes in nearly every year since. Also, he has quite a history with point guards and turning them into stars.

With Ty Lawson almost certain to enter June's NBA Draft, there is an opening at the point at Carolina. Larry Drew II will be a sophomore but I'm not sure if the confidence in him is there right now. I think Drew has a Bobby Frasor type career where he is a smart, good role guy but not a star.

Despite having one of the best recruiting hauls this year, they didn't get a true point guard. Dexter Strickland and Leslie McDonald are more like wing guards (though McDonald is a Ginyard-type that can do a lot of things). Wall would easily start.

So what if he is a one-and-done player (which he is). The Tar Heels have already reeled in 2010's top point guard recruit in Kendall Marshall.

Here could be the kicker: Wall is from Raleigh and going to Carolina would allow him to be near his ailing mother. He'll get the same (if not more) exposure as he would be getting at Kentucky. Or Duke or anywhere else he's interested in heading.

The ACC Didn't Show Up In the Tournament

Everyone says the Big East is the best conference in the nation. I agree, to a point, but don't think the gap is as big as people think. I mean, the ACC did win 10 of 16 meetings between members of the conferences this year. The ACC did get in as many teams in the NCAA Tournament as the Big East did and they have four less teams. Of course, the NCAA Tournament is where the true value of a conference's strength are measured.

For the ACC, it didn't stack up.

Thursday was fine. North Carolina completely blew away Radford despite not playing ACC Player of the Year Ty Lawson. Duke blew up Binghamton and, for a night, put the rest that this was a team that chokes in the dance. Maryland actually pulled an upset by beating the No. 7 seed California Bears. The one stain was that Clemson underacheived in the tournament yet again.

That's a 3-1 mark heading into Friday where three more teams had a chance to flex the ACC's muscle. All three teams that were playing were rated a better seed. All three lost.

Boston College went out and lost to USC pretty handily. While the game was closer than the final score indicates, it wasn't that close. Florida State lost a tough, tight game to Wisconsin in overtime. And the shocker of them all, Wake Forest was pounded by Cleveland State. Yes, a team that was once ranked No. 1 in the nation lost to a team that wouldn't have even been invited to the tournament if they hadn't upset Butler for the Horizon championship.

Seven teams got into the dance. Only three teams remain out of the 32 left. While North Carolina and Duke are nice bets to get to the Sweet 16 and both have the ability to get to the Final Four. Still, it is disheartening for the conference that complained so much in recent years about why they didn't get more teams in.

My Tough Experience Watching UNC-Duke

As a die-hard Tar Heels fan, it goes without saying that the two games against Duke get my attention more than any other game. Right at January 1st (when my new batch of vacation days come in), I put in for the first Duke-UNC game which usually takes place in the first week or two in February. I'm usually already off on the Sunday in which the regular season finale takes place.

That was today. As I sat on my couch to watch the game, visions of another ACC regular season championship, the conference tournament's top seed and a possible No. 1 ranking were filling my head. Oh, it was also the final time Tyler Hansbrough will play at the Dean Dome. This was a big game.

So it was great to sit here just outside of Cincinnati where a storm was coming. So for the first half of the UNC-Duke game, my local CBS affiliate (Channel 12) decided it needs to keep interrupting the game to show me where the storm would be heading. Mind you, they didn't cut in during commercials or during the halftime show where Seth Davis said Virginia Tech and Northwestern would make the dance (seriously, why is this idiot on TV?).

The second half ... things changed. Instead of breaking into the game periodically to give me updates, Channel 12 decides to go full blast with the weather report while keeping my game up in a window in the bottom right corner. I could see the game as if I was watching a 9" screen but could hear nothing. And forget trying to read any graphics they were posting.

Still, the Heels won a good game, 79-71, and became ACC champs. That storm that was supposed to hit never materialized in my neighborhood. A few gusts of wind and a two-minute rain shower was all we got.

Tyler Hansbrough's Senior Night

I would never say that Tyler Hansbrough is the best player in North Carolina's illustrious history. Guys like Phil Ford, Michael Jordan, James Worthy, Antawn Jamison and others are right there with him in the argument. There hasn't been a player more decorated than Psycho T, however. An All-American for, likely, four seasons. ACC and National player of the year awards. Conference scoring and rebounding titles. He is the Tar Heels' all-time leading scorer and could topple J.J. Redick as the ACC's scoring leader. He already owns the NCAA record for made free throws.

I know it seems as if Hansbrough has been at Carolina for 10 years but remember the time right as he got to Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels has just won the 2005 NCAA Tournament and was watching stars Sean May, Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants and Marvin Williams leave early for the NBA. Add that to the graduations of Jackie Manuel, Jawad Williams and Melvin Scott and the Heels lost their top seven scorers from that title team.

Hansbrough wasn't even the highest regarded prospect in the ACC (Duke's Josh McRoberts was). That Carolina team was picked by many to be a bubble team that needed its youngster to grow up in a hurry for them to have any chance to defend their title.

He, along with fellow freshmen Danny Green, Bobby Frasor and Marcus Ginyard joined holdovers David Noel and Reyshawn Terry to become a No. 3 seed in the East Regional and a buzzworthy darkhorse to win the title. The signature moment of the season was in the final regular season game. Hansbrough's Heels went into Duke on J.J. Redick and Sheldon Williams' senior night and beat the highly ranked Blue Devils. They would go on to lose to George Mason in the second round of the tournament.

Since that time, Hansbrough has led this team to a couple of No. 1 seeds in the dance, one Final Four, two Elite Eights. He never lost in his four trips to Cameron Indoor Stadium, is 5-2 against the hated rivals in his career and has two ACC regular season and tournament titles (a win over Duke on Sunday gives UNC another season title and the top seed in the conference tournament). Due to his National Player of the Year award, his No. 50 will be retired in the already crowded rafters at the Dean Dome.

Sunday is senior night in Chapel Hill and it should be an emotional and proud day for Heels fans. Hard to believe that this will be the last time that Hansbrough will play in that building again. That was the floor in which he poured 40 points on Georgia Tech as a freshman. That is where he dunked on 7'9 Kenny George. That's where his nose was broken by a Gerald Henderson elbow in the last time that these two closed out the season at the Dean Smith Center.

The weird thing is how many people are sleeping on Hansbrough this year. Due to Psycho T overkill, people are tired of hearing about how great he is and concentrate on what he will be at the next level. The time for that is in June when the NBA Draft comes; I'd like to look back to what he has meant to the Carolina program. It is very rare to see a guy come in and dominate as a freshman and have it last four years. Guys like Jordan, Jamison and Joseph Forte have come in as freshmen and taken the league by storm but none of them got to have a senior night.

I'm not underestimating what Frasor and Green's impact has been on this program too. Both have been key members who have given a lot to fill certain team roles. Remember that if not for an injury to Ginyard, Green would have probably spent his entire Carolina career as a sixth man. Remember that Frasor was the team's starting point guard until Ty Lawson rolled into town. Both will be important parts of what Carolina will become in March and April.

But this will forever be known as the Hansbrough Era in Chapel Hill. As a Heels fan, I'd just like to say 'thank you' to Psycho T for what he has done for the program. It's rare to find a guy who gives as much as he has to a college program. Hopefully he can give them the ultimate team prize of a 2009 NCAA Championship.

Even if he doesn't, it has been one heck of ride!

A Look Ahead to the 2009-2010 Tar Heels

I know that March just arrived and that the most important part of the North Carolina Tar Heels season is approaching. Senior night against Duke, ACC Tournament and NCAA Tournament all loom. This team was assembled for one purpose: Win the whole thing!

Still, I wanna step back and look at what this team could look like next year. This year has that same feel of 2005 when the Heels had a team who had a great shot at winning the title.

GOODBYE! In college sports, there is always turnover due to graduation and early entrants into the pro draft. This Heels team will be no different. Tyler Hansbrough will take his wares to the NBA after one of the most decorated careers in college basketball. Fellow seniors Danny Green and Bobby Frasor will also graduate and move on in their careers.

Ty Lawson will most likely bolt for the NBA Draft. He would have been a first round pick last year and may have moved up a little in this year's class. The interesting case is Wayne Ellington. Ellington, like Lawson and Green, put his name in the '08 draft pool only to come back to school. While Lawson and Green seemed to have improved their draft statuses, Ellington has not. Several draftniks think that he will go undrafted if he enters the '09 draft. So maybe he stays on for another season at Carolina.

So what will this 2009-2010 team look like?

POINT GUARD: Dexter Strickland. This is an interesting battle. Strickland is wowing people and could have the inside track to a starting spot. However, Larry Drew II has run Roy Williams' system and will be the experienced guy going in. Still, I think Strickland will get the nod.

SHOOTING GUARD: Wayne Ellington. Again, this goes with the assumption that Ellington comes back for his senior season. If he does, I think that's a huge boost for this team. If he isn't back, then fifth-year senior Marcus Ginyard will most likely get the nod. Freshman Leslie McDonald should get into the rotation pretty quickly.

SMALL FORWARD: John Henson. This is very interesting. While Henson has the size to play the power positions, his true calling may be at small forward. He is in the mold of a Kevin Durant with his athleticism and range. Henson is so talented that it will be tough for Ol' Roy to keep him out of the lineup. Still, he could do so (ala Marvin Williams), start Ginyard and make Henson the sixth man. Starting Henson would give the Heels an unbelievably big front line (you'll see in a sec). The status of Will Graves is unknown (he is currently suspended) but if he returns, he gives the Heels another experienced player.

POWER FORWARD: Deon Thompson. It will be very interesting to see how Thompson responds to not being around Hansbrough. I tend to think Thompson will take the Scott Williams route of finally becoming "da man" in his senior season. He is the fifth guy on this year's team but may be the first option next year. Backing him up are the twins: David and Travis Wear. Both are bangers in the paint and smart players. They may not get a lot of minutes next year as this front line is so talented.

CENTER: Ed Davis. Many people feel that Davis is the best NBA prospect on the current Carolina team. Davis is a heady shotblocker and rebounder and is showing some scoring touch at times. I think he takes the reigns of a strong recent lineage of Tar Heel centers (Brandon Haywood to Sean May to Tyler Hansbrough). Backing Davis up will be those Wear twins, Thompson and Tyler Zeller. Zeller isn't a center by nature but is the tallest guy on the team and will get some minutes there.

As you can see, there is a lot of talent on next year's team and Roy Williams will have a slew of options to choose. He can go with that big front line of Henson-Thompson-Davis. Or go with the quick front line of Ginyard-Henson-Zeller.

The two biggest problems go hand-in-hand. Point guard play and experience. Only Ellington (again, that's assuming he's back) has been a big time performer at this level before. Thompson has a lot of experience but this will be the first time he will be the focus in the paint. Ginyard is a glue guy but he hasn't been healthy in a long time. Zeller, Davis and Drew are getting spot duty right now and not asked to do too much. That top-rated class of Henson, Strickland, Wear, Wear and McDonald are as talented as you can get ... but they are still freshman.

So can Roy feel comfortable about his point guards being so young? Drew and Strickland are talented but neither are ready to fully run Williams' offense.

All I know is that the 2009-2010 won't have the kinds of pressure the past three Heels teams have had. It has been win-it-all or fail in the last couple of years. Next year will have its own share of expectations but it will have that feel of 2005-2006 when a stripped down Heels team shocked everyone by being really good.

Tar Heels Choke Away Shot at No. 1 Ranking

I am angry that my beloved Tar Heels decided it was time to choke away a 16-point lead, ending their 10-game winning streak and forking over a shot at the No. 1 ranking.

But, whatever. It happens. Am I bent? Sure. But we lost to a rabid Maryland team that was led by the brilliant Greivis Vasquez.

This does take a lot of the shine off the Heels this season, but it doesn't make me think that this team cannot win the NCAA Tournament. I remember the 2005 team lost to Santa Clara and a loss to Georgia Tech team in the ACC Tournament. They also choked away a game at Duke, midseason. That team, like this team, lost at Wake Forest. That team also won a championship.

Same sort of thing in 1993. The Heels again lost to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets during the ACC Tournament (that was in the title game, which was in Charlotte). That Heels team lost at Wake Forest (they were destroyed, 88-62) and at Duke (by 14) in back-to-back games. That Heels team would go on to win a championship.

In 1982, the Heels only lost twice. Once at powerful Virginia. The other was ... you guessed it ... to Wake Forest. They won a title.

The 1957 team didn't lose a game all season long.

Am I rationalizing? You betcha! But sometimes you have to get a little perspective of what you've seen.

Sportz 'This Week In the ACC'

Alright, it is time for the nitty gritty. The ACC is reaching its second half and there is a lot on the line. North Carolina fights to get back atop the polls; Duke and Wake are trying to stop their reeling; Florida State and Virginia Tech are coming up; and Clemson is starting to look scary.

So let's take our weekly look at the ACC.

TEAM OF THE WEEK: NORTH CAROLINA. The Tar Heels have now won eight in a row after losing their first two conference games. Right now, they are in first place in the standings and are coming off a huge win at Duke.

DISAPPOINTING TEAM OF THE WEEK: WAKE FOREST. The Deacons are sliding a bit after their huge win over North Carolina. Losses to Georgia Tech and NC State are ridiculous for a team that was once No. 1.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: TY LAWSON, UNC. It was Lawson's effort that brought a win over Duke back to Chapel Hill. He could not be stopped by the ACC's best defensive team.

UPCOMING GAMES THIS WEEKEND: NC State at Georgia Tech, Florida State at Wake Forest, Virginia Tech at Maryland, Clemson at Virginia, Duke at Boston College, North Carolina at Miami.

Some huge games coming up. Florida State can really make a statement if they can go into Winston-Salem and beat a reeling Wake Forest team. Same idea can go to Wake, as a win over the Noles would bring back some of their swagger.

Duke has lost 3 of 5 and now heads up to Boston College to face a rabid Eagles squad (that has already beaten UNC). This is the kind of game that should show Duke's mental state. If they come out flat, then this will probably be just another season that fades away.

The game of the weekend is in Coral Gables as the Heels and Canes renew acquaintances. Miami gave Carolina all it could handle in Chapel Hill before Wayne Ellington started nailing threes.

Clemson and Virginia Tech are facing trap games on the road.

NEXT WEEK: Maryland at Clemson, Miami at Florida State, Georgia Tech at Wake Forest, NC State at North Carolina, Virginia Tech at Virginia, Duke at St John's.

Three in-state matchups, Duke heading to their home away from home, and Wake Forest trying to avenge a bad loss.

UNC-Duke: I Hate to Say 'I Told You So' ... But I Did

Last night, I wrote this about the UNC-Duke game:

They rank No. 3 and No. 4 (or No. 5 in the coaches poll) which means you have two elite teams with National Championships dancing in their heads. However, these two couldn't be any different. Duke can't guard Tyler Hansbrough or Ty Lawson. UNC can't guard Kyle Singler or Gerald Henderson. The Heels should dominate on the glass while Duke will hit more than its fair share of threes.

What games like this come down to is poise. Over time, the loser of this game tends to lose poise during a stretch in the game. Last year in Chapel Hill, Carolina lost poise when Duke was hitting everything they threw up. In Durham, Duke lost poise at the end of the game when the outcome was on the line. It happens when the bright lights are shining on 18 to 23 year olds.

Amazing that it did come out that way. Duke couldn't guard Tyler Hansbrough or Ty Lawson and Carolina couldn't guard Singler or Henderson. Lawson, Singler and Henderson were able to go where they want and get the shots they wanted. Well, for at least a half.

Singler and especially Henderson were on fire in the first half but non-factors in the second. Lawson was no where in the first half but dumped 21 points in the second half.

As for poise ... it was very evident. North Carolina went on a 43-19 run in the second half. During that run, Duke panicked. They took bad shots (Henderson's baseline fade away comes to mind), failed to run their offense and turned the ball over. They also allowed Lawson to keep getting to the rack. This will be my lasting memory of this game. The fact that UNC punched Duke in the mouth (29-18 opening run), Duke responded (32-12 run) and then the Heels dominated (46-21). Duke just couldn't respond; they couldn't punch back.

That's basketball ... or sports, really.

So congrats to the Heels and their amazing senior class. Danny Green and Tyler Hansbrough have both won in all four visits to Cameron Indoor Stadium (fellow senior Bobby Frasor didn't play in last year's game).

Oh Yeah, UNC-Duke Is Tonight

As a diehard Carolina fan, today is like a National holiday to me. I even have the day off of work. When people say "circle this date on your calendar" -- I do!

What is funny is that I live in Kentucky now and know only one Duke fan. Far from the thousands of Dookies I knew or ran into when I lived in Charlotte. So I love it when people ask me about how the game will turn out.

You can't answer that.

Part of a great rivalry is that whole "throw the records out the window" stuff. I think that is a bunch of crap because when UNC stunk and Duke was elite, the Blue Devils dominated the Heels. The same thing happened in the early 1980s when Coach K was building back up Duke's program and guys like James Worthy and Michael Jordan were dominating the Devils.

Aside from those moments, however, it is amazing how many of these games are so evenly matched ... even if they really aren't.

They rank No. 3 and No. 4 (or No. 5 in the coaches poll) which means you have two elite teams with National Championships dancing in their heads. However, these two couldn't be any different. Duke can't guard Tyler Hansbrough or Ty Lawson. UNC can't guard Kyle Singler or Gerald Henderson. The Heels should dominate on the glass while Duke will hit more than its fair share of threes.

What games like this come down to is poise. Over time, the loser of this game tends to lose poise during a stretch in the game. Last year in Chapel Hill, Carolina lost poise when Duke was hitting everything they threw up. In Durham, Duke lost poise at the end of the game when the outcome was on the line. It happens when the bright lights are shining on 18 to 23 year olds.

Regardless, it should be a great game. Two Hall of Fame coaches bringing their elite programs into one of the greatest venues to watch a sporting event with a lot riding on the outcome.

That makes a great rivalry.

State Of the ACC Address (Midseason Edition)

The greatest rivalry in college basketball ... and maybe all of sports ... resumes tomorrow. The UNC-Duke game ceremoniously marks the midseason for the ACC season. Everyone has played at least eight games and the standings seem to be settling.

TEAM TO BEAT: NORTH CAROLINA. The Tar Heels have won 7 straight after spotting the rest of the league their 0-2 start. Their offense has been clicking again while their defense has gotten just a little bit better. Still, there is some gleam gone from their pre-conference swagger as injuries have left the team a bit exposed.

IF NOT THEM, THEN: DUKE. Believe it or not, but the Blue Devils are actually deeper than the Tar Heels. Their defense is still dominating ... at times. The key will be their ability to defend and score in the paint. They can get away with this against some ACC teams, but Clemson and Wake Forest exposed this, just as UNC may do tomorrow.

TEAM WHO COULD RISE: Virginia Tech. Va Tech is laying in the weeds at 5-3. They have Georgia Tech, at Maryland, at Virginia and Florida State coming up. Very winnable games. They will need to win most if not all of those to get to 9-3 or 8-4. Their closing schedule? At Clemson, UNC, Duke and at Florida State. Yikes!

TEAM WHO COULD FALL: FLORIDA STATE. The Noles have finally appeared in the rankings, but will it last? They did win at Clemson but don't really have any other impressive conference wins. Coming up, they will have a stretch at Wake Forest, Miami, at Virginia Tech, at Boston College, Clemson, at Duke and Virginia Tech.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: TYLER HANSBROUGH. This is a tough one. Hansbrough is just doing what he always does. He has a sizeable lead in the scoring race and will be chasing down J.J. Redick's ACC scoring mark in a month. Wake's Jeff Teague has a good shot at taking the award away from Psycho T, but it may come down to whose team wins the regular season title.

COACH OF THE YEAR: AL SKINNER. There are a lot of great candidates for this. Roy Williams has had to deal with injuries and expectations at North Carolina; Dino Guadio has taken a young Deacons team to a No. 1 ranking; Leonard Hamilton has his Noles ranked; Oliver Purnell lost some key guys off of last year's team but has Clemson still in the thick of things. But Al Skinner has taken a Boston College team that was picked to finish dead last in the ACC and turned them into a possible NCAA Tournament team. I think that he may need to get them in to secure this award, but what he has done already is amazing. They won at North Carolina and have beaten Va Tech. They will get some publicized run soon as they will face Clemson, Duke and Miami in the next 11 days.

UNC Suspends Will Graves

Here is something interesting that I just heard about: North Carolina head coach Roy Williams suspended Will Graves for the season.

No one really knows why, though Ol' Roy did say this:

He will remain a part of our program and participate in practice and all other team activities. His status for 2009-2010 will be determined prior to next season.

So wha' happened? The reason given is that Graves didn't "maintain the standards [coaches] expect of a Carolina basketball player." Does that mean he had a run-in with the law? Probably not since we would have heard something by now. Does it mean he is acting up about losing some of his playing time? Maybe, but that usually doesn't work out very well. I'm also ruling out that he is in some sort of academic jam.

That story may unfold at a later time, but this is a blow to the Tar Heels. What was once a talented and deep team has now turned into just a talented team. One of Carolina's perceived strengths was that their six through ten guys were better than anyone else's. Now that isn't the case. Graves is suspended for the season; Marcus Ginyard has now been ruled out for the remainder of the season and will redshirt onto next year's team; and Tyler Zeller suffered that broken wrist at the beginning of the season and is done.

Losing Graves doesn't register as big as Ginyard or Zeller. Ginyard was a defensive leader for this team and a guy that was so versitile and filled the hustle stat sheet. Zeller, though only playing a few games, was turning into one of the top team scorers and rebounders and added height off the bench. Graves' importance was raised with the losses of the other two. He was another body out there but brought nothing more than a three-point gunner. And even then, he wasn't doing too well (10-of-36).

Unlike the pros where you can make a trade or two to recoup some of the losses, Carolina has to keep trucking on with what they have.

North Carolina's Mount Rushmore Of Sports

ESPN is doing this thing called the "Mount Rushmore of Sports". Each state will select four people to annoint as the best in that state's sporting history.

I'm going to do a few of these since I've lived in several states during my days. I was raised in North Carolina and still consider Charlotte as my hometown so let my crack North Kakalaka.

MICHAEL JORDAN: Believe it or not, you do pause a bit when deciding MJ. I mean, his biggest successes came while he was in Chicago and you know he'll be on the Illinois' list. Still, there has never been another athlete in the history of that state that is more beloved and respected than Jordan. None. That man is a god in the Old North State.

DALE EARNHARDT, RICHARD PETTY: You would think that one NASCAR guy is enough but you have to put both on the Rush. Petty was the O.G. of the circuit before it went beyond the southern borders. He won 200 races and seven championships. In 1967, he won a record 27 races ... including 10 in a row.

Earnhardt is, of course, his own legend. From his "Intimidator" mystique to his seven championships (a record that he and the King share) to his untimely death, No. 3 was one of the reasons the sport reached out to new areas and a spot with the big boys at the sports' table.

DEAN SMITH: This one was the hardest for me because I didn't want to make it a "UNC" thing by having both Coach Smith and Jordan up there. But I have to. Coach K may pass Coach Smith on the all-time wins list, but some of the wins he put doesn't count in the records. Coach Smith was a key figure in intergrating UNC basketball and the ACC. He played for Phog Allen, coached under Frank McGuire, and coached against John Wooden, Bobby Knight, Krzyzewski, Everett Case and many others.

I wanted to put guys like David Thompson, Enos Slaughter, Arnold Palmer, Mia Hamm or Charlie Justice (the last two are Tar Heels too) up there but I feel these four men are what North Carolina has been made up of.

TENNESSEE (Where I was born): Pat Summitt, Peyton Manning, Jeff Fisher and Johnny Majors.

KENTUCKY (Where I currently live): Muhammad Ali, Adolph Rupp (imagine those two side-by-side), Secretariat and Dan Issel.

Soft Tar Heels Need to Learn Defense

To shoot 35% from the field and still score 89 points in a college game is quite amazing. North Carolina got to the free throw line and hit the offensive glass to help offset their bad shooting night.

You'd think that scoring 89 points would be enough. It isn't when you allow 92.

That's what angers me. The Heels have shown the world that (again) they are soft. This team is made up of the same players that wet their pants when Georgetown made their comeback on UNC in the 2007 Elite Eight. They are the same team that fed into a Kansas beatdown in the 2008 Final Four. When the going gets rough, the Heels wilt.

That isn't entirely fair to say. The 2007 Heels couldn't win a close game all year. The 2008 Heels did an outstanding job changing that up. They held their own in close games against Clemson, Duke, Louisville, Virginia, Boston College and against Virginia Tech in the ACC tournament. The 2009 Heels spent the first seven weeks going untested. Now they are 0-2 in ACC play ... or 0-2 against the teams that aren't afraid of them.

In both games, the Heels allowed the opponent to get wide open threes. They also got into the paint, got to the line and were allowed to do anything they wanted on the offensive end. When the Heels tried to mount comebacks, they used poor shot selection (why is Ty Lawson shooting fade-away jumpers?) and keep turning the ball over.

Against both BC and Wake Forest, the Heels have been pushed out of the paint. Tyler Hansbrough has so much faith in his perimeter game that he doesn't fight for the inside position he used to. Deon Thompson doesn't do enough to keep his position. So now Carolina is forced to take tougher shots than they have been used to getting.

I said it after the BC game: the Heels have the best team in the nation. The problem is that sometimes they thing that is enough to win.