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December 04

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First, a board editorial written by the staff of the Daily Tar Heel. It is a well-written plea for the return of our superstars, espousing the value of life on the Hill.

Next, HeelsBlog reader William Loeffler submits the following essay for your perusal. He addresses a criticism many in the national media (I'm looking at you, Musburger) aimed toward the Tar Heels. Thanks, William!

It occurs to me that all season people said that Carolina had not had enough close games and would be in trouble in the post-season, but with the exception of the first Duke game and the somewhat meaningless GT game, Carolina ended up having quite a few close games and won all but the above two, which is pretty impressive in a Dean Smithesque sort of way.

e.g., defining close as a margin by the other team of fewer than 10 points: at Indiana, 70-63, at Maryland, 85-83, at UConn, 77-70, Duke, 75-73, vs. Clemson, 88-81, vs. Villanova, 67-66, vs. Wisconsin, 88-82, vs. Illinois, 75-70.

Honorable Mention: a win at NC State, 81-71, without McCants, and a loss at Wake Forest, 95-82 where Carolina was trailing by 7 or so in the last 2 minutes, but Wake hit all their free throws to win by 13, thereby becoming the only team all year to run with UNC and like the result.

The exceptions resulting in losses were at Duke, 71-70 and vs. GIT in D.C., 78-75.

All of the above games, except perhaps, the Wake and NC State games were in doubt in the final couple of minutes.

Strangely enough, it was Illinois that seemed, perhaps, not to have had enough nerve-wracking endings. With the exception of the overtime Iowa game in which Illinois never really trailed, and the OSU game, which was a loss and where Illinois really never trailed until the very end, and then the Arizona game, Illinois was simply not involved in many games where the outcome was undecided in the last two minutes. Probably not a factor Monday night, but it is interesting to note, and does seem to correspond with the strength of schedule ratings by both Greenfield and Pomeroy. Ed. note:  Also check Jeff Sagarin.

William Loeffler

As always, read, recap and react, faithful readers.

Tomorrow:  Who's checking out?

Coming Monday: HeelsBlog's countdown of the Top Ten moments of the school year.