Round 2 with Duke this Sunday. I really think we matchup well with Duke. We came up just a tad short in Durham after outplaying Duke for 37 minutes. A win against the Dukies would make me very very happy because I think our team and our players deserve another big time win, especially with our only chance for the NCAAs lying in winning the ACC tourney. I look forward to making the Dean Dome rock this Sunday in this awesome rivalry. Get hyped! :D

I'll be there! I've really felt good about this game all season, even though we've been slumping at times lately. We play so much better at home, and we played dook well in Cameron. None of the main guys on our team have beaten dook, and I think they will be pumped. Should be fun!

-JD

Game day tomorrow. Watching these reruns on ESPN Classic has gotten me pumped baby! I am ready: go heels! :D

Dook/UNC game on CBS in a couple minutes... Go to the lounge chat, for in game talk!

UNC up by 4 with less than 10 seconds left... If felton and mccants stay for a while, they will be a devastating backcourt.

Sweeeeeeet!!!!!!

Must have been because JD was there...

Congrats to the Heels on defeating the dookies!!

Yes -- I'm 2 for 2 this year!!!

GREAT WIN! I was sitting upstairs, yelling my lungs out. With 45 or so seconds left, I hurried downstairs with a friend to see if I could get in the lower level. A lot of folks were waiting at the top (afraid to go down, it seemed), but we busted through like our seats were down there. We stood in the middle of one of the aisles for a few seconds, and then we could see people coming down behind us. So, we kept moving down -- and the next thing I knew, we were at the bottom standing next to the band, with a mass of people behind us. After the game, they held us up for a few seconds while the risers emptied... and then they let us go.

And, afterward, we walked up to Franklin Street for a little bonfire fun. All in all, it was a great day! And I have no voice to show for it....

GO HEELS!

-JD

If you're two for two, I hope you have tournament tickets.

I wish. Yes, my two games were the two best home wins of the year: UConn and dook.

I think I may have found myself in some photos. In this one, I *think* that mine is the outstretched arm closest to the camera on the right:



In this one, I *think* that is my finger pointing at the dookie walking by (I did that to all of them as they went by):



(Edit: I'm not so sure about the first picture anymore. I'm almost positive about the finger-pointing second pic, so I would venture to say that mine was one of the others in the mass of hands in the first one.)

-JD



<!--EDIT|JD Heel|Mar 10 2003, 11:25 AM-->

You're taller than I had imagined!

6'6" or so!

-JD

Huge, huge win! At least now we are assured of making the NIT but let's not stop there! :D

I wasn't sure if we could hold up for 40 minutes with them or not but I thought that mini-fight pushed over the top for whatever reason. Now its time to drop them to the mat for the second time in a week.

A couple of questions:

1.) Since I'm new to this board, how many people here are actually Alumni to UNC and how many are just fans of UNC in general?

2.) Is there any way for us to make the big dance other than winning the ACC tourny or are we pretty much NIT bound?

We'd have to win it all to go to the Big Dance. Going to the NIT is not a disgrace, even though McCants says he's already done that. I don't know if any team has won the pre-season and post-season NIT in the same year or not. I don't think so, however.

The NIT would give us exposure for recruiting in a great market, give the guys some more experience, and put some bucks in the coffers.

Alum here -- graduated in 2001.

I think we probably have to win the ACC to get in, but winning two games back to back and losing a close one in the title game would really make it interesting. That'd make us 18-15 with a win over Maryland and another probable win over dook. If that ended up happening, it could get really interesting....

-JD

I really hope we do well in the ACC tourney...it really hurt when May got hurt and there was no reall big man threat in the middle of the paint. Duke was just abusing Sanders in Sunday's game and I think most teams probably realize that they can just post someone up and have their way with the UNC big men.

I tell you what, with Felton, McCants, and May back healthy ...UNC is going to have a top notch team in the next year or two. Williams and Noel have shown moments of brilliance so hopefully they will continue to develop. They do need to add to their depth on their bench. Hopefully with some decent recruiting, they can add some help for their bench.

Sanders is a warrior, and that's what I like about him. He plays 100 percent all the time he's out there, and you know that any mistakes he makes aren't from a lack of effort. That gives me hope that he will continue to develop and be a big plus for us in the coming years.

Right now, though, he is obviously very limited offensively. He was able to stick a nice jump shot earlier in the season (especially the FSU game in Tally), but that shot disappeared somewhere. Nowadays, he's having trouble just catching the ball. Anytime I see him with the ball, some kind of fear comes over me... and I find myself yelling: "Pass, pass, pass!" I hate that I do that, because I really don't think Sanders is that bad of a player. But, he is playing without much confidence on offense, and that's causing a lot of his struggles.

Defense is another story. His trouble on defense has nothing to do with skill -- it has everything to do with strength. He just can't match up with some people, but he'll give you everything he has trying.

And, he's going to have to be especially warriorlike Friday for us to have a chance against Maryland. We're going to need an excellent defensive effort from him -- and a lot of help from everyone else. If Maryland ends up hitting their outside shots, then so be it... but we have to take that chance. We can't get burned down low all night.

-JD



<!--EDIT|JD Heel|Mar 11 2003, 12:54 AM-->

Yeah JD I totally agree. He had some very valuable minutes against Duke and you are right on the button when you say it has everything to do with strength. The other Sanders from Duke was just posting up too easy and backing his way into the 5 foot range in the key. I was supprised that they didn't make a defensive adjustment when they saw that was what Duke was going to do at the start of the 2nd half. I would have thought a double team here or there would have maybe helped him out a bit or even a zone defense like Duke threw at us with about 2:30 left in the 2nd. It seem though that everytime Duke dropped the ball down in the paint, that no help was available for Sanders.

Unfortunately, we are still in a scholarship, 5/8 rule crunch to some extent. That's why it's remarkable that Doherty is lining up so many guys as walk-ons. They will add depth and athleticism without using up scholarships.