Box score from ESPN

It's fun to be a Carolina fan. I gave up my ticket to tonight's game (just couldn't get home at 1:30 and teach in the morning), but had a great time in a Greenville bar with some fellow alums.

I am just so proud of our boys. They came to play - took some lumps early, but hung on and willed a win against a legit team. Contributions from everybody - Tyler - Brandan - Wes - Marcus - Bobby - Ty - Deon - Alex - Danny - Reyshawn. Think of any of those players and you can point to a time that they made a difference in the game. Wayne Ellington had a great second half. Tyler sets a career high on the boards. Brandan for three quick jump shots to keep it in reach early in the second. Ty drawing fouls. Bobby with a three and an assist to provide a spark late in the first.

Oh what fun it is to be a Carolina basketball fan.

What are your thoughts?

Oh - apparently - and this is SUPER PREMIUM info - Ohio State has a player - I think his name is Craig Odum - that is a freshman, and is supposed to be really good but couldn't play tonight. It's too bad ESPN didn't mention him.

So yeah, we’re admittedly not “real” bloggers, because we left Heelsblog a little bare over the holidays and slightly beyond, but here’s to hoping you can forgive and move on.  But in case you missed it, here’s a slight wrap-up of what’s been going on since we last posted:

 

Football: Butch Davis officially introduced as coach of the UNC Tar Heels.  Everyone seems to be in love with this guy in Chapel Hill, and here’s to hoping the unrealistic expectations don’t lead to a complete meltdown, a la this year.  Plenty of takes on this one, but I think the most out there by far comes from Barry Saunders of the News and Observer, who tries to argue that Davis’ Native American heritage is a big step (actually, he uses the word “momentous”) toward the racial diversification of ACC coaches.  WHAT?? Really?? Seriously, talk about creating significance where there is none.  I get upset enough when the race card gets played in sports journalism all too often (hello, Scoop Jackson!), but this article actually seemed to accomplish the rare feat of having the potential to offend all parties involved: intelligent readers such as myself, and Native Americans who this guy is saying should be proud of a football coach who looks a lot more like General Custer than Geronimo to me. Thanks for that insightful piece of journalism, Barry.

 

Basketball: The Heels fall to Gonzaga, but still takes third in preseason NIT after a beatdown of still-overrated Tennessee.  Unfortunately there was not a Bruce-Pearl-sweating-through-his-neon-orange-jacket sighting.  Not much to say about those games other than “the Tar Heels ARE who we THOUGHT they were!”; a young team that won’t be hurt by a few early losses due to growing pains.  They still go twelve deep, and they’ll still probably be pretty much unbeatable at home, which I think they’ll show in the marquee matchup of the Big Ten-ACC challenge tonight: #6 UNC vs. #1 (or 3) Ohio State.  In case you hadn’t noticed, the ACC has been rather dominant thus far and I can’t see this going in OSU’s favor.  Not sure if Roy will play the card that the guys should get excited about knocking off the number 1 team in the country to get his boys excited tonight, but regardless they come in at home in a major TV matchup with something to show the national audience.  Personally, I’m hopeful that this will be a statement game for the Tar Heels; Kansas and Florida seemingly made the rest of the sports world forget about UNC with their unbelievable barn-burner in Las Vegas that has a lot of experts talking about them being the two best teams in college basketball far and away.

It’s time for us to enter back into the conversation.  Without Oden, I’m thinking this thing gets out of hand early and the Heels cruise.