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Thursday, March 27, 2008
UNC-Washington State postgame thoughts/notes
That was a workmanlilke game from the Tar Heels, who advance to Saturday’s Elite Eight game (which, as of right now, has not been given an official air time (it will either be 6:30 or 9 p.m., if you trust the TV listings).
The 47 points Washington State scored were the least UNC has allowed in an NCAA Tournament game since Oklahoma A&M defeated the Tar Heels, 43-40, in the 1946 championship game. Suffice to say, that was before the advent of the shot clock.
A few notes, coming from the fine folks at UNC’s Sports Information Department.
— UNC has won eight straight Sweet 16 games, dating back to 1993.
— Tyler Hansbrough is now the highest scoring junior in ACC history. Dennis Scott, of Georgia Tech, previously held the record.
— For the 37th time this season, or every game UNC has played, Hansbrough scored in double figures. That’s a UNC record, previously held by Eric Montross (1993) and Antawn Jamison (1998).
— UNC is now 21-0 in games played away from the Smith Center.
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UNC-Washington State halftime thoughts
— There were a total of 66 possessions in the first half, or 33 on each side. Dean Smith always looked at 100 for his team as a benchmark of offensive success, and Ol’ Roy has never deviated from that. So 33 in 20 minutes is a little off, but not too far. Blame it on Washington State’s slow-down offense.
— Tyler Hansbrough as looked average. He was called for traveling early on, the Cougars’ big men are doing a great job of coming down to double-team him and he’s generally been out of the flow of the game.
— Before the game, the UNC band played “Jump Around,” House of Pain’s seminal hit and the unofficial pre-game anthem at the Smith Center. Yes, Danny Green danced. Not quite as emphatically as at home, but it was hard to pick up the beat of the trombone.
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UNC pregame thoughts
OK, so I am finally in Charlotte Bobcats Arena.
I say finally because the combination of foot traffic/car traffic/construction has created a FUBAR outside of the arena. There should be a law against building a downtown arena when your city does not rely on a major public transit system.
As you would expect, the city of Charlotte is collectively cheering on the North Carolina Tar Heels. Outside of a few fans of the other three schools, everyone is wearing Carolina Blue.
The big question, in my mind, for this game is whether or not Washington State is going to be intimidated. This is, after all, the Cougars’ first trip to the Sweet 16. Players said yesterday that a typical postgame press conference is a few cameras and a few guys on laptops.
There were 275 or so people credentialed for Raleigh, and there are more people than that here. The Cougars are a good team, bordering on great. But you never know what is going to happen in UNC jumps out to a 10-0 run, WSU coach Tony Bennett has to burn a timeout and Bobcats Arena explodes with UNC-fandom.
For a variety of reasons, mainly the fact that my seat on press row does not actually include a table, I will not be live-blogging this one. I’ll be back at halftime with a few thoughts.
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