This weekend, you will have a wide variety of sports entertainment to choose from for your viewing pleasure. If you’re in the mood for speed, then the Daytona 500 on Sunday should rev your interest. Or if you’re looking for a good rivalry matchup, then the Georgetown and Syracuse contest on Saturday should be at the top of your list. If you’re longing for a star-studded extravaganza, take a moment to tune into the All-Star Weekend from Phoenix. The NBA gets it right by showcasing the incredible talents of their stars in multiple categories, even though they lose points by changing the game of H-O-R-S-E to sponsor approved G-E-I-C-O.
All times ET…
NBA Saturday, 8 PM: Slam Dunk Competition, Three-Point Shootout, Skills Challenge (TNT) Sunday, 9 PM: The NBA All-Star Game from Phoenix, AZ. (TNT)
NHL Friday, 7 PM: Boston Bruins @ New Jersey Devils Saturday, 8:30 PM: Dallas Stars @ Chicago Blackhawks Sunday, 12:30 PM: Philadelphia Flyers @ New York Rangers (NBC)
College Basketball Friday, 9 PM: #13 Villanova @ West Virginia (ESPN) Saturday, 12 PM: Georgetown @ #22 Syracuse (ESPN) Saturday, 1 PM: #6 UCLA @ Arizona (CBS) Saturday, 4 PM: #25 Florida State @ #8 Wake Forest (ESPN Full Court) Sunday, 1 PM: #20 Illinois @ Indiana (CBS) Sunday, 5:30 PM: #5 Duke @ Boston College (Fox Sports)
PGA Friday-Sunday, see local listings for broadcast times: AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Tournament (CBS/TGC)
Let me be clear — the call I’m about to discuss was NOT the reason that Duke lost the game last night. The Tar Heels played terrific in the second half and the Blue Devils simply did not. But the call in question indirectly set up North Carolina’s run.
Check out the video of Kyle Singler elbowing Tyler Hansbrough.
The first shot of it is at the 0:05 mark in real time. It’s tough to see, but you get the sense for how difficult it would be for Singler to stop his elbow after it slips off the ball. You can also hear that the whistle blew after the elbow, so he still had the right to fight for the ball.
The first slow mo shot is at the 0:25 mark. Singler is clearly trying to rip the ball out from in between Hansbrough’s legs and his hand slips off the ball on the third attempt. He’s not thinking about what might be behind him and Hansbrough isn’t really doing anything that would warrant an elbow to the face. Plus, this scrum occurred just 16 seconds into the second half. There really wasn’t enough game time for Singler’s temper to get to the point that he’d intentionally elbow something in the face. Remember, most of these shots are in slow motion, so while it might seem like a player could stop his arm when it slips off the ball like that, in reality it’s moving much faster. It was an accident.
Dick Vitale and the officials overreacted. Singler was called for a technical, so North Carolina got two free throws. At that point in the game, Duke led 52-44, but more importantly, it was Singler’s third foul. After North Carolina had almost tied it up, Singler picked up his fourth with 12:55 to play and had to come out of the game. That’s when the Tar Heels started to pull away. When he returned a few minutes later, he couldn’t challenge shots on the defensive end like he normally would have, and that led to a couple of North Carolina buckets.
In the end, the Tar Heels won, 101-87, so it’s clear that this call wasn’t the deciding factor in the game. The Blue Devils had plenty of time to overcome that technical, but they shouldn’t have been put in that position in the first place.
This is a great win for North Carolina. They now have the inside track for an ACC regular season championship, which usually results in a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. In order for Duke to get back to that level, they’ll have to shrug off this 2-3 stretch and string together some wins, including a victory on March 8 in Chapel Hill.
Hats off to Tyler Hansbrough and Danny Green who managed a 4-0 record at Duke during their careers at North Carolina. That’s a truly impressive accomplishment.
This is how a Duke/North Carolina matchup is supposed to be. Both teams are ranked in the top five, they’re tied for first place (at 7-2) in the ACC, and the winner will have the inside track to the conference championship. The game takes place at Cameron Indoor Stadium, a venue that even Duke haters will admit has set the standard for home court advantage. Duke was one of the first schools (if not the first) to put the student body front and center and that atmosphere has played a huge part in the Blue Devils’ success over the past two decades. (Though it should be noted that, with a win, Tyler Hansbrough could go 4-0 at Cameron in his career, so North Carolina has owned Coach K Court of late.)
Let’s say you’re sitting in a Vegas sportsbook yesterday afternoon and you decide that you want to get odds on a parlay that has #3 Duke losing to #10 Clemson by 27 points and #6 Wake Forest losing at Miami by the exact same margin. Or let’s just say that you have them both losing by 20-plus. What kind of odds would you be able to get? 100-1? 1,000-1? 10,000-1?
That’s exactly what happened. Clemson slammed Duke, 74-47, while Miami blasted Wake, 79-52. Littlejohn Coliseum is a great home court environment and the Tigers were able to jump all over the Blue Devils, leading from the get-go. It was just one of those nights for Duke when nothing was falling. Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith and Jon Scheyer were a combined 4 of 23 from the field for 12 points. As a team, Duke shot 23% from long range and 31% from the field, and they were rattled by the Tigers’ full court pressure. Trevor Booker was stellar for Clemson, posting 21 points and eight boards, both game highs.
Meanwhile, the Demon Deacons were stymied by Miami’s zone defense en route to a brutal 32% from the field (and just 15% from long range). Jack McClinton had 32 points for the Hurricanes. Miami broke a three-game losing streak with the victory.
North Carolina and Duke sit atop the ACC at 6-2, while Clemson is a half game behind at 5-2. The Tar Heels visit Duke next Wednesday in a game that will determine who is in the driver’s seat in the ACC.
Comments Off on #3 Duke, #6 Wake trounced on the road
North Carolina and Duke are located just eight miles apart, making their rivalry the most spirited in all of college basketball. This three-disc DVD set contains three of the Tar Heels’ most memorable wins over their hated archrival.
From the back cover…
March 3, 1984 Chapel Hill, NC North Carolina 96 Duke 83 (2 OT) The final home game for North Carolina’s Matt Doherty, Michael Jordan, and Sam Perkins, was a memorable one. #1 North Carolina looked to be finished down two with just second to go in regulation when Matt Doherty took the inbounds pass the length of the court and hit a 15-footer to force overtime. Michael Jordan opened the second overtime with an alley-oop dunk and Duke’s Johnny Dawkins came back to cut the North Carolina lead to 82-81 with a short jumper but Duke would get only one more basket as Jordan and Perkins carried the Tar Heels to the victory.
February 5, 1992 Chapel Hill, NC North Carolina 75 Duke 73 A rough one between #1 Duke and #9 North Carolina that featured blood and broken bones. The teams would exchange the lead 10 times before a Thomas Hill baseline jumper gave the Blue Devils a 39-38 halftime lead. The second half was just as tight seeing the Tar Heels take a 75-73 lead on a pair of Derrick Phelps free throws with 44.5 seconds remaining. Christian Laettner had two shots to tie the game in the final 24 seconds, but missed both. The lasting image from this game had to be North Carolina’s Eric Montross, who took a couple of elbows to the face – looking more like a boxer than a center, as he sank two late free throws with blood streaming down his face.
February 2, 1995 Durham, NC North Carolina 102 Duke 100 (2OT) Duke seemed out-manned on their home court from the opening tip, falling behind 26-9 in the first half, highlighted by an alley-oop dunk from Carolina’s Rasheed Wallace and a reverse jam by Jerry Stackhouse over two Blue Devils. However, Duke rallied in the second half and led by as much as 12, before North Carolina staged a rally of its own. The two squads exchanged leads four times at the end of regulation before heading into overtime. With three seconds left in the first overtime Duke’s Jeff Capel hit a running, 37-foot heave that tied the game at the buzzer. With the game still tied late in the second overtime, Jeff McInnis stole the inbounds pass for an easy layup, putting North Carolina up 102-98. Duke answered with a basket of their own and had a chance to force a third overtime or win the game but fell short on Steve Wojciechowski’s missed jumper.
Comments Off on DVD Review: North Carolina beat Duke
North Carolina and Duke are located just eight miles apart, making their rivalry the most spirited in all of college basketball. This three-disc DVD set contains three of the Tar Heels’ most memorable wins over their hated archrival.
