In one of his best tricks, Jackie Manuel levitates the ball in mid-air, completely befuddling opposing players.

Box score via Inside Carolina

It was a twenty-point win, sure, but the Tar Heels had an up-and-down game against the Miami Hurricanes, topping them 87-67.   It was fun to watch at times, but there was a lull in the second half where the Heels could not buy a basket, and turned the ball over several times in a row.  Luckily for the Heels, they were up 24 when the drought started.  Apparently Roy told the Heels after the game, "I don't want to coach a mediocre team."  Stretches like tonight's, against a stronger opponent, could be costly.

Quentin Thomas played well tonight.  At one point, he came in the game at 29-25, and checked out with the Heels up 33-25.  Job done.  The kid will never be Raymond, but he is doing a fine job as Quentin.

Obviously the Tar Heels have got to play better, but there will be some good things to take away as well.  Rashad played good defense when his shot wasn't falling.  Marvin brings needed toughness to the post.  Charlie Everett got thrown to the floor by his face, too, but that's not a good thing.

The best thing about tonight was when the students started chanting, "Let's play football" when wide receivers Brooks Foster and Jesse Holley checked into the game late.  'Cause we beat the Canes on the gridiron too.

The Miami Hurricanes blow into town playing some good ball; they beat N.C. State and gave Duke a semi-close game at home.  This is the Tar Heels' first home game in 10 days, so they should be happy to be back at the DES.

Guillermo Diaz is a great player at the guard position, so Raymond will have his hands full when the Canes have the ball.  But I don't think Miami matches up as well when the Heels have the ball, and we'll look to run.

Miami's an NCAA Tournament-caliber team, and will be a good test for Carolina.

I think (and hope) that Michael Jordan's presence at practice will ignite a new fire underneath the Heels and they will probably take this one by 18 or so.

So the HBG and I made the trip to see the Charlotte Bobcats play the Dallas Mavericks last night.  HBG's very generous boss used to work with the Hornets, so he had some Bobcats tickets we could use.  It was a lot of fun, in fact, more than I expected.  I normally don't pay much attention to the NBA, except to check on former Tar Heels, but I enjoyed watching the upstart hometown team.

For the first three quarters, however, it wasn't about the game, but rather about what celebrities (local and otherwise) one could pick out.  Here's who we found:

Bob Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Brian Vickers, Michael Jordan (all in the above picture), Charles Oakley, Muhsin Muhammad, Sam Mills, Mike Rucker, Julius Peppers, Mike Minter, Brentson Buckner, and actor Robby Benson. 

Also on the court were Emeka Okafor, Jerry Stackhouse, Dirk Nowitzki, Michael Finley, Josh Howard, and Gerald Wallace.

I'm sure I'm leaving someone out so HBG will have to log on and help me out.  She tried to stop Julius Peppers for a picture as he walked by us, but he just gave her a "Hey, what's up?"  He didn't even hang around for the answer.  He did, however, get a high-five and thug hug at halftime from Stackhouse.  That was neat to see.  Anyway, it was quite a spectacle and it will be interesting to see how the Bobcats improve in the next few years.

Now for the caption game:  What is MJ asking Jeff Gordon?  Your comments below, and the winner gets a fabulous prize!