DUKE @ CAROLINA

[seth_hill 10]

So the game is wednesday at 9 on ESPN and as a Duke fan I'm really looking forward to this because Duke will be ranked 2nd and Carolina 3rd as # 2 Kansas lost this week to move them both up! So lets start early and get to talking about this game!! Whats Everyones Prediction? Comments?

[blueinbama 259]

Tar Heels in a nail-biter...should be a great game.

[bluefieldRocks 14]

Duke by 5....

 

"physco-T" gets into foul trouble early and fouls out with 9 min left in the game with 12 points and 5 rebounds

[EH31 2,532]

duke's playin good..i'm goin with them

[Sources 10]

Duke is overrated this year, IMO. UNC by double digits.

[bluefieldRocks 14]

Duke is always over-rated....always...

 

But I guess UNC isint...I mean, its not like they lost to Maryland at home while Duke beat them in Maryland

[GetMoney55 11]

Duke down by 7 with 4 minutes left. 'Brough gets put back in, gets two more points, then fouls out. UNC leads by 5 when he goes out.

 

Dukes makes comeback, takes the lead and never gives it up, although it becomes a back and forth game with UNC trying to tie starting at the 2:11 mark.

[seth_hill 10]

[ QUOTE ]

Duke is overrated this year, IMO. UNC by double digits.

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

Duke overated? thats the dumbest thing I have heard all day!

[vthokies4life 10]

Whether Duke is overrated or not, they and UNC are miles above the rest of the ACC. This game is in the Dean Dome, correct? If that's the case, I'm predicting UNC by 7. It's going to be a close game until Carolina makes foul shots at the end.

[GetMoney55 11]

I wouldnt say miles, considering UNC has already lost at home to Maryland, a team Duke beat at their home gym. The ACC is still tough this year. Although Miami has lost most of their conferenece games, they are still a tough team to beat..you just never know which team will show up for them (much like Marquette: the team that is lights out or the team that looks like they havent played ball before). Maryland is coming on strong. Id look for them to play good quality basketball to round up the season and give Duke and UNC some trouble in their 2nd go-rounds.

[Sources 10]

[ QUOTE ]

Duke is always over-rated....always...

 

But I guess UNC isint...I mean, its not like they lost to Maryland at home while Duke beat them in Maryland

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

 

That's a flawed way of comparing teams, regardless of sport.

[hokie07 11]

You CANNOT compare teams by scores of games. It doesn't work in anything, especially ACC basketball. The ACC is the gauntlet where any team can get beat by another team on any given night.

[Guest BEAVERTAIL]

[ QUOTE ]

Duke by 5....

 

"physco-T" gets into foul trouble early and fouls out with 9 min left in the game with 12 points and 5 rebounds

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

thats not very likely. considering Duke has no real post threat, i doubt Tyler will get into very much foul trouble, and you will see throughout his career he has done a good job of staying out of foul trouble. Anywho, UNC will win this game in the paint. Duke can not come up with someone to stop Tyler AND Deon Thompson. You may have not heard of Deon, but let me tell you, he can score at will. His post moves are so smooth and his jumoer and hook shot are feathery. Reminds me of Chris lang and his hook shot, just so smooth. But for duke finding 2 guys to guard them is gonna be tough, and thats where Duke's "big" guys will get in foul trouble.

[VivaFutbol 10]

I am a diehard Carolina fan but will pass this game up most likely to watch the USA/Mexico soccer game

 

:awaits bashing for watching soccer:

[Bluefield_Rules 46]

[ QUOTE ]

I am a diehard Carolina fan but will pass this game up most likely to watch the USA/Mexico soccer game

 

:awaits bashing for watching soccer:

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

LOL...NO, and I mean no, "diehard" Carolina fan would pass up a Carolina/Dook game, or any Carolina game, to watch soccer. So you may be a Carolina fan, but diehard you are not. I don't miss Carolina games for ANYTHING...

[Guest BEAVERTAIL]

[ QUOTE ]

I am a diehard Carolina fan but will pass this game up most likely to watch the USA/Mexico soccer game

 

:awaits bashing for watching soccer:

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

i wont bash you for watching soccer, but i will say you are not a true "die hard" Tar Heel fan. Honestly, there isnt a greater rivalry in sports beside of this. a few years ago, one of the games garnered the most watched game in ESPN history. Its better than Red Sox/Yankees (they play like 17 times) michigan/osu, and really there are no comparsions in the NFL or NBA. THis is the greatest rivalry in all of sports. You have 2 of the most storied teams, with 2 hall of fame coaches, and then look at the players, Grant Hill, Jerry Stackhouse, Bobby Hurley, Rasheed wallace, Shane Battier, Phil Ford, Johnny Dawkins, sam Perkins, Trajan Langdon, Vince Carter, Carlos Boozer, Antawn Jamison, Jason Wiliams, J.R. Reid, Jeff Capel, Jason Capel, raymond felton, JJ redick, James Worthy, Steve Wojohowski, Sean May, Christian Laetnerr, Eric Montross, Chris Carawell, Rick Fox, Mike Dunleavy, Larry Brown, Mike Gminski, matt doherty, tommy amaker, Hubert Davis, Jay Bilas, Rashad mccants, Danny Ferry, Joe Forte, Chris Duhon, Kenny Smith, Elton Brand, and of course Michael Jordan. and of course the list could go on...

 

Everytime these two teams step on the court, anything can happen. Which makes it the greatest rivalry in sports.

 

Im sorry that you are to blind to see that.

[VivaFutbol 10]

But I forgot to mention I am a diehard US Soccer fan too...and I think at least to me the USA/Mexico is a greater rivalry and it only happens once a year. And I will be flipping back and forth.

[Bluefield_Rules 46]

Hey, I may watch some soccer myself on Wednesday night. I'll be so wound up after the game ends around 11pm that I'll need something to help put me to sleep...

[VivaFutbol 10]

[ QUOTE ]

Hey, I may watch some soccer myself on Wednesday night. I'll be so wound up after the game ends around 11pm that I'll need something to help put me to sleep...

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

yeah the soccer game is at 9 so I am really pissed...since I can't watch both...I will record one and watch the other but will start out with USA/Mexico.

[Guest BEAVERTAIL]

how can you not love things like this...

 

Lucas: Tears in Heaven

 

Adam Lucas on the win over Duke.

 

March 5, 2006

 

By Adam Lucas

 

There was a time not too long ago when it looked like the signature image from this 2005-06 basketball season was going to be David Noel sitting in front of a cramped locker on the road trying to wipe away his tears.

 

That was the scene in Charlottesville. How long ago was that? The calendar says 44 days ago. That cannot be possible. It was longer than that. Do you even remember it? Virginia 72, Carolina 68.

 

Fast forward one and a half months. It is completely silent in Cameron Indoor Stadium. There is not a sound. No "Let's go Duke!" No "Go to hell Carolina, go to hell." No "Our house." Just silence. Of course, you are still shouting because you've had to scream at the guy next to you the whole night. What were you saying? Who knows? Who cares?

 

The scoreboard still says Carolina 83, Duke 76. That is not enough. What it should say is this: Too young, too under-talented Carolina 83, senior-dominated, homestanding on senior day for one of their greatest classes ever Duke 76. There is not room on the scoreboard for all of that. That should be fixed. Immediately.

 

Outside the Carolina locker room, a throng of reporters has already gathered. They are waiting for the go-ahead to dash in and begin their postgame interviews. ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews taps her foot and says, "Can't they hurry? We've got SportsCenter here."

 

SportsCenter is nice. Really, it is. Roy Williams and Tyler Hansbrough will eventually come out and talk to her. They'll enjoy it, especially Hansbrough, because everyone back home will be watching and they'll see his face and call into the kitchen and say, "Come in here! Tyler's on SportsCenter!" That will be a neat moment.

 

 

 

 

 

But right now all that can wait. Right now Carolina can't hurry. Right now SportsCenter couldn't be less important.

 

Right now on the other side of that locker room door, the Tar Heels are jumping around in their usual postgame victory mosh pit. It is complete pandemonium. Roy Williams addresses the team and then, still in their uniforms, the players have a couple minutes to collect themselves before the media enters. This is David Noel's first victory ever in Cameron Indoor Stadium. He has led his team to a 21-6 regular season record, 12-4 in the ACC. He has turned what was supposed to be a ragtag group into one of the most memorable Tar Heel teams ever. Behind that locker room door, alone for just another few seconds, this is what he does:

 

He cries.

 

Have you ever been so happy that you cried? Is there a more powerful human emotion? Imagine it--being so happy that you just can't control yourself, and then tears are running down your cheeks. Imagine the sheer joy that must well up inside your body to cause that reaction.

 

Maybe you don't have to imagine it. Maybe you experienced the same thing. Maybe you watched the game on Franklin Street or in your dorm room or with your dad or in your den with the kids asleep (until you woke them up when you shouted, "You are the freaking man, Bobby!") and found, when Tyler Hansbrough was hugging Noel when the clock hit 0:00 right on top of that newly-signed Duke "D" at center court, that you were giddy and shouting and all of a sudden the tears were running down your cheeks.

 

Maybe you did that. So maybe you know how he felt. We should all get the chance to feel that way, someday. We would be lucky to do that.

 

Luck, though, has nothing to do with this team. Luck has nothing to do with Quentin Thomas taking the ball inside on uber-defender Shelden Williams and laying the ball off the glass for Carolina's first lead. Luck has nothing to do with Bobby Frasor lining up a couple huge second-half three-pointers, letting them go, flicking his wrist, and dashing back upcourt before the ball was even halfway to the rim. He didn't have to watch the flight of the ball.

 

He already knew.

 

This team knows something, too. Roy Williams drew them in tight before the game. This is what he said:

 

"The only people who know we have the potential of winning this game are right here in this locker room."

 

Not "think" we have the potential. "Know" it.

 

Maybe that is why Marcus Ginyard suddenly has turned into the defensive wizard everyone thought he could be, why J.J. Redick finished 1 for his last 16 against Ginyard's harassment. The freshman from Alexandria will get significant credit in the days to come for his defensive job on the Blue Devil superstar. He deserves it. But consider this. Duke trimmed Carolina's lead to 77-74 with 1:41 to play.

 

If you could have been in Cameron Indoor Stadium at exactly that moment, it would have felt very familiar. It would have felt exactly like the Smith Center last year as Carolina mounted their terrific comeback against Duke on senior day. Remember how that felt? Remember how you stood there and thought there was no way that this group of seniors could go out this way? Remember how a comeback just had to happen? You didn't know how or when or who, but you knew why: because that's how it had to happen.

 

That's how it felt in Cameron. That's why it felt like Duke was making a run, why it seemed like they were about to send their beloved seniors off with a monumental comeback. That's just how sports works.

 

I want to tell you about a beautiful 10 seconds of basketball. I am sorry that this is so long, but I can't possibly go to sleep. So you have to relive this moment with me. You have to remember this terrific example of basketball. Not by a superstar. But by a team.

 

Duke comes down the floor and runs a play to get Redick the ball in the corner. If he gets the ball, he is going to strip the net. That is what he does. He is going to catch it, jump, use that hair trigger release while you're yelling, "Nooooo!" and then the ball is going to go straight through and it's going to be tied.

 

That doesn't happen. Ginyard is guarding Redick, and Demarcus Nelson sets a baseline screen. Redick twirls around the screen, trying to get Ginyard caught in traffic. He heads for the near corner.

 

Danny Green steps out. No room there.

 

So Redick circles around, goes out of bounds beyond the baseline, and uses a double screen. By this time Ginyard is about six people removed from his man. Redick bursts through and is headed for the opposite corner. This is it. This is daylight.

 

David Noel steps out. No room there.

 

The senior trails the opposing senior all the way to the corner, stays with him, and eventually forces Sean Dockery to throw up an errant shot that is promptly gobbled up by Tyler Hansbrough.

 

I could watch that play endlessly. Tomorrow, I probably will.

 

"I don't even want to try to figure out why we're playing so well," Quentin Thomas says. "It's just a blessing that this group of guys could come together at exactly the right time for this season. This team, we just stick together through everything."

 

There was a time not too long ago when it looked like the signature image from this 2005-06 basketball season was going to be David Noel sitting in front of a cramped locker on the road trying to wipe away his tears.

 

And now, maybe it is.

 

Or maybe there is more to come.

[Guest BEAVERTAIL]

or this...

 

Lucas: The End

 

Adam Lucas on the win over Duke.

 

March 6, 2005

 

By Adam Lucas

 

The end was going to be all wrong.

 

There was no way Jawad Williams, Melvin Scott, and Jackie Manuel could go out with a loss. It was not possible. It was not part of the script. It just wasn't right. Don't you understand? They were not going to get to shed happy tears, not the kind that are supposed to flow on Senior Day. They were going to be frustrating tears, tears that make you want to punch a wall.

 

There it was on the Smith Center scoreboard. Duke 73, Carolina 64. The Tar Heels had played 17 minutes of the second half and had 17 lousy points to show for it.

 

What about the postgame speeches? How are the seniors going to revel in the adulation that should rightfully be theirs when they've lost their final home game? It is not right. It does not make sense. It made you want to break something, made you want to ball up your paper and fire it into a corner somewhere where it would sit, undisturbed, for days.

 

 

 

 

 

This can't happen. Not today.

 

And then Jackie Manuel is missing a shot, and then Sean May is missing a shot, and then Jawad Williams is tipping it back in. 73-66 Duke, 2:40 left. A low buzz, barely a murmur. It seemed so unlikely.

 

Except in the Carolina huddle, where the head coach was telling his team something simple: "Believe."

 

"Me personally, I just, I don't know, you know when you get that feeling like everything is supposed to be right on this day?" David Noel said. "You find some way to get in a drought but it always turns out right? That's the feeling I had. And that's the feeling the team had when we came out of the huddle."

 

But still there was so far to go. Seven points in 2:40 against a good foul shooting team, against a team that was doing most everything right. Seven points. It seemed like too much.

 

Then, a Duke turnover. Raymond Felton did not seem particularly hurried. He knew.

 

And then it all became a rush. Two free throws for Marvin Williams and Sean May getting a three-point play and Felton missing a leaner and Noel knocking the ball away and the Heels getting a timeout and then Felton missing a free throw but tipping the ball to Marvin Williams who made the shot and you can't hear the whistle because it's so loud but then you realize he was fouled! and you are high fiving someone you don't know and they are giving you a hug and you don't know them but yeah it feels pretty good and you have just noticed that you can't hear anything.

 

And then Redick. Why has it got to be Redick? Why does he have to be taking the shot? The ball stays in the air forever. Shouldn't this be against the rules? Should he be allowed to shoot a helium-filled basketball? Really, is it ever going to come down?

 

You know what this means. You know that the ball finding the net would be a crusher, would instantly cause 21,750 people to go silent. Redick has said before, this is what he loves. He likes to hear crowds go quiet on the road.

 

This crowd is not quiet. This crowd is watching the ball bound off the rim, watching Sean May rebound Daniel Ewing's last-second follow shot, watching ushers hold their arms out to their sides in a vain effort to keep a mass of humanity from emptying onto the court.

 

This crowd is thinking that this ending is exactly right.

 

Be honest. At that very moment, you felt like jumping as high as you could and also felt like you wanted to sink to your knees. Pure jubilation and pure exhaustion.

 

That is how Jawad Williams felt. After Roy Williams had cleared the floor of happy students (the words, "This is Senior Day, and we're going to do it the right way!" have a magical effect), after every senior had gotten a snip of the regular season championship net, after Sean May had walked over to every cheerleader and dance team member and shaken their hands, Jawad Williams had to sit down.

 

His teammates were celebrating around him. His home career was ending. Four years, 62 home games, losses to Hampton, Davidson, Ohio. From virtually the same spot where he sat, Jason Capel beat Binghamton with a three-pointer.

 

Now this.

 

"I just had to reflect for a minute," he said. "I remember coming in here and losing to Hampton and Davison, just beating Binghamton. I had to reflect on everything I've been through since I came here."

 

They did address the crowd, did soak in the cheers that seemed like they would never end. The current Tar Heels and the coaching staff took a seat to watch their seniors say farewell to people who have watched them fail, succeed, and grow over the past four years.

 

"I'd like to thank the coaching staff for helping me find myself," Jackie Manuel said.

 

That's when those tears came for the head coach. That's when Roy Williams had to wipe his eyes.

 

Assistant coach Joe Holladay walked out of the Carolina locker room after the game with a broad smile. He kept it simple. He did exactly what most people did after this game--looked at people they knew and just shook their heads. No words. Just a smile and a shake of the head.

 

But then he added two quick sentences.

 

"Can you believe that?" he said. "You couldn't write a book with that ending."

 

The end.

 

And maybe, just the beginning.

[Guest BEAVERTAIL]

Let me ask you this Vivafootball, will there be any tears after the US/Mexico game? Probably not. Is US/Mexico a storied rivalry of over 50 years? not really. Did all of america even know US was playing mexico? no. Did 99% of this board not even know there was a game till you posted it? definitely no.

 

any real DIEHARD UNC, or DUKE for that matter would not miss this game for the world.

 

 

now its time for you to Choose your blue, vivafootball.

[VivaFutbol 10]

[ QUOTE ]

Let me ask you this Vivafootball, will there be any tears after the US/Mexico game? Probably not. Is US/Mexico a storied rivalry of over 50 years? not really. Did all of america even know US was playing mexico? no. Did 99% of this board not even know there was a game till you posted it? definitely no.

 

any real DIEHARD UNC, or DUKE for that matter would not miss this game for the world.

 

 

now its time for you to Choose your blue, vivafootball.

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

I might shed a tear after the US/Mexico game if we lose....and US/Mexico is a storied rival....on the World Soccer stage it is like Duke/Carolina...I choose Carolina blue....

[GetMoney55 11]

USA and Mexico is nothing close to the quality of rivalry between Duke and UNC.

[Guest BEAVERTAIL]

[ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]

Let me ask you this Vivafootball, will there be any tears after the US/Mexico game? Probably not. Is US/Mexico a storied rivalry of over 50 years? not really. Did all of america even know US was playing mexico? no. Did 99% of this board not even know there was a game till you posted it? definitely no.

 

any real DIEHARD UNC, or DUKE for that matter would not miss this game for the world.

 

 

now its time for you to Choose your blue, vivafootball.

 

[/ QUOTE ]

and US/Mexico is a storied rival....on the World Soccer stage it is like Duke/Carolina...

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

please stop. neither one of these teams are that good. The thing that makes UNC/Duke so a great is because they are 8 miles away from each other, and have an ENORMOUS amount of success. Neither Mexico or USA have any success on a WORLD stage. the best finish USA ever had was in 1930, which was also its first ever appearance. Mexico has never been past the quarterfinals in the world cup. People in Germany, Brazil, England, Italy, France and places like that are not sitting down to watch the US/Mexico match. Its not on a world stage like you say it is.