First off, Bald Don’t Lie, thank you for
allowing me to grace your blog with what is bound to be a below average
installment. Here it goes.
For the span of my 30 year life, all I have known is
Carolina basketball. I grew up in a family that bleeds Carolina blue, and
anyone who dared turn their eyes to another team would surely be banished. But over the years, my "Carolina blue shades" have come
off and my love for good, solid basketball has grown. The "Carolina
Way" millionaire alums associate with is basically dead, in my opinion. More over, the dark cloud of NCAA sanctions has been hanging over Chapel Hill for
the better part of three years, and it is beginning to make me sick. The
News and Observer, fueled by PackPride.com is on a witch hunt. NC State fans are irrelevant. They are
obsessed with bringing down their biggest “rival”. To them, a Carolina loss is worth two State
wins. (Editors note: we acknowledge that not all State fans are obsessed with beating/destroying UNC.) In reality, dirty
things go on everywhere, including the prestigious university I hold dear,
and if you think your team isn't doing it, then you need to have your head
checked. I could go on for awhile about
this topic and the NCAA, who I believe is the most corrupt organization in
America, but I'll save this topic for another day.
Carolina returns three starters from last year: James Michael McAdoo, PJ Hairston*, and Marcus Paige. Aside from those three, the rest of our team is a group of role players. The question early on will be: who will step up to fill the other two spots? My guess right now would be Kennedy Meeks, a freshman big man who exhibits great outlet passing skills and great hands with an ability to put the ball in the hoop. I give him a slight edge over Joel James who still looks more like a robot than an actual basketball player. The other spot could be filled with Leslie McDonald when/if he plays this year due to off the court problems.
Carolina
may show a guard heavy lineup early with freshman Nate Britt accompanying Paige
in the back court with McAdoo filling the 3 spot. The thought of McAdoo
playing the 3 is terrifying unless he greatly improved his handle over the
offseason. The schedule for the Heels does them no favors early. They have games against the likes of
Louisville, Kentucky, and Michigan State. All three of those teams are
favored to be playing for the title in the Spring. Assuming
Hairston and McDonald suit up for these games, I like our chances to compete, but
without them we will suffer to score points.
Hairston comes with the (*) beside his name because I fear he will miss significant time due to off- the-court issues seemed to grow by the day (Editor’s Note: don’t speed on I-85 South in Lexington and drive with handguns and weed in your rental car through Durham late at night). McDonald is in the same boat with rental cars, illegal mouth pieces, parking tickets etc.
As
of now, it looks like we will have a starting lineup of Paige, Britt, Brice
Johnson, JMM, and Meeks/Hubert. Does that starting five scare you? It
should. Where will the points come from? Hopefully they play good
defense, because I don't see a way they crack 60. I really hope the Heels
have a great season, I just fear the worst with the NCAA nonsense hanging over
our heads. If Hairston and McDonald don't see action at any point this
year, which I believe is a real possibility, I can't see them finishing
anything better than 6th in the league.
My
below predictions are based on all teams at full strength. So cheers!
College basketball is here! Go Heels, Go America! Go to hell
State!
A conference preview: With the addition of Syracuse and Pittsburgh to the ACC this year, you have to figure that the conference will likely be the most difficult in college basketball. Duke is the heavy favorite to win the conference and most likely will win. They lose a few players to the league, but in Duke fashion, they reload and will win 30 games going away. My early predictions for conference are:
1-Duke
2-Syracuse
3-UNC
4-Notre Dame
5-UVA
6-Maryland
7-Pitt
8-BC
9-Miami
10-FSU
11-GT
12-WF
13-VT
14-Clemson
15-NCST (I hope they lose every game)
Contributed by Dave Johnson - life long Tar Heel fan, drinker of beer and professional tailgater.
Such a classic UNC preview. I'm glad that you removed your Carolina blue shades and were able make calculated, objective assessment. Here are some thoughts (from someone who grew up an NC State fan, but has chosen to remove his NC State red shades. I'm only writing this because I love well developed arguments):
ReplyDelete1a. NC State isn't your rival, but you blame them for the "witch hunt" and hope that they lose every game this season. Seems like something you would say about a rival, doesn't it? I know that NC State isn't your #1 rival, but any team you hope loses every game (a team to whom every UNC loss is two wins), might get under you skin a little as a rival.
1b. On that note, why do you let such irrelevant fans make you mad? That sound like the mark of relevancy.
2. The identification of a witch hunt implies that you think there aren't a lot of issues around NCAA violations, which is strange because you also think that two of your players will be sitting out the entire season due to NCAA violations. Great call, though. Nothing shady going on there. Those glasses you wear definitely aren't shaded with Carolina blue.
3. As an NC State fan, I'm always looking for something, other than my team, to blame. Schedule is pretty low-hanging fruit, so I'm not surprised that you chose it (of course, after blaming another university's fan base, and the corrupt NCAA). My only question is this: How can 3 different teams be favored to play for "the title" in the spring? Also, who calls it "the title," and how can someone be "favored" to "possibly" play for it (I removed the rest of your grammatical errors in that sentence)?
4. I'm glad that your love of good basketball, not your love of Carolina basketball is what sparked this article. If that was the case, wouldn't you have previewed one of the 5 teams you think will finish above Carolina this season?
Bald Don't Lie: This guest writer seems to think he will be given another opportunity to present another well-thought-out, unbiased argument ("I could go on for awhile about this topic and the NCAA who I believe is the most corrupt organization in America, but I'll save this topic for another day"). Please raise the bar on guest writers and don't allow this nonsense again.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGo Pack, thank you for reading the blog and contributing your passionate comment.
ReplyDeleteI won't get into the jabs from Dave or you or who is right or wrong. I'll simply provide a perspective from someone outside of the fray. I grew up in Cincinnati, so I'm used to being a part of a fan base with an inferiority complex. Reds fans are jealous of the success of the Cardinals. Bengals fans are jealous of the success of Pittsburgh and Baltimore. University of Cincinnati fans are jealous of Ohio State and everyone else who moved up in conference affiliation over the last few years.
There's no denying the jealousy that exists from NC State fans towards UNC. Given the levels of recent success, it's natural. I also think UNC fans can be a bit arrogant on the whole. Try living around University of Kentucky fans. I empathize.
What constitutes a rival? I say beating the other guy on a consistent basis. Just because the Bengals play the Steelers and the Ravens twice a year, doesn't mean they're rivals. The Ravens and Steelers are rivals. Those guys trade punches twice a year and the recent head to head record is about even. I bring up the comparison, because until NC State has a little more success, they're not a rival. Until then, you're just the little brother.
All that being said, NC State won't finish 15th in the conference and UNC may not finish 3rd. However, one has a talent level that's at a NCAA tournament level while the other has a roster that's more NIT/CBI.
Dear all: as a passionate NCSU fan and regular contributor on Bald Don't Lie, the last bastion of good sports journalism on the web, I can't remain silent on this topic.
ReplyDeleteI think our friend "Go Pack" is speaking more to the jabbing at NCSU/PackPride and general UNC/NCSU fan interactions than the product that UNC is putting on the field or court. And the NCAA violations, but I'll leave that alone for this. NC State fans constantly hear that we aren't their rival, but consistently you hear that they hate NC State fans more than Duke fans. Why? As one who has lived in the Triangle his entire life, Duke fans are faceless. There aren't enough of them. Maybe up in New Jersey the Duke/UNC rivalry is more intense, but not really here where the schools are located.
[On a side note, I would argue that a team can have multiple rivals. One of many examples, Georgia football:
1) Georgia/Florida - "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party"
2) Georgia/Auburn - "Deep South's Oldest Rivalry"
3) Georgia/Georgia Tech - "Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate"... Most debatable, but they play every year.]
I agree: the best rivalries are those that are even and competitive. As to the product on the field, I think beating UNC 5 out of the last 7 times in football puts NC State into the category of "relevant." As to the product on the court, even though NC State split with UNC last year, we have a long climb back to being on their level. That said, looking forward to Duke kicking both of our butts this yearl