ACC Country

The lack of excitement in the ACC’s on Friday was more than made up for on Saturday, with two dramatic semifinal contests, one decided in the final minute, and the other decided in the final second. Virginia Tech contained the Carolina offense, particularly in the second half, putting the Heels on the ropes down as much as eight and slowing the game down to a favorable pace. But Wayne Ellington hit some big shots, and then the National Player of the Year, Tyler Hansbrough, comes from 20 feet away to grab an offensive rebound on the final possession, turn around and hit the game winner with 0.8 on the clock. The subsequent fist pumping, high stomping run to mid court is probably among one of the goofiest celebrations a Tar Heel has ever done, lacking the machismo of the Stackhouse strut or the smoothness of Vince Carter’s similar high stepping glide, but the pure emotion of the moment is right at the top of the MANY reasons Hansbrough is in the process of going down as arguably the most beloved Tar Heel of all time. Yes, that includes Phil Ford and Michael Jordan.

What’s lost in the pandemonium of Hansbrough’s shot – and the Heels’ subsequent ACC Tournament Championship – is how Carolina faced adversity yet again and bounced back to pull out a victory. They’ve taken just about everybody’s best shot this season: down to the wire battles on the road in Atlanta and Charlottesville, finding a way to get by Florida State without their starting point guard, rallying from 20 down against Tyrese Rice at Boston College two weeks ago, persevering Duke’s Senior Night rally and putting them away when it mattered (all five of those were ROAD games mind you) and then capping it off with a trilogy of wars with a very good Clemson team, and for once, not needing overtime to dispose of the Tigers in the ACC Final.

All of this of course adds up to the Heels being the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, their excellent regular season being rewarded with the Charlotte via Raleigh road to San Antonio. I’ve heard the moaning and fussing already from Carolina fans about how the Tar Heels were given the tough bracket and other such complaints, and sure, the East region isn’t quite the cakewalk that the West is. ButI’d much rather be in Raleigh playing Indiana (assuming they get by Arkansas) and then Charlotte (assuming we take care of business) playing either Tennessee or Louisville than dealing with the top to bottom killer brackets in the South and Midwest regions. The problem that the tournament committee obviously hit was their insistence of putting Duke as a 2 seed ahead of Winsconsin, due to the Blue Devils’ convincing win over them in the ACC/Big Ten Massacre, I mean, Challenge. Duke is OBVIOUSLY the weakest of the 2 seeds, but they can’t be placed in the same region as us. (Now why Duke didn’t get placed with #2 overall seed Memphis, I don’t know.) That leaves us with Texas, Georgetown, and Tennessee as the other 2 seeds, and of that group, isn’t Tennessee the best draw for Carolina? Bottom line is this – sure we’ve got both Tennessee and Louisville in the East, but we only have to play one of them in the regional final. If Carolina can’t handle business in their first three games, they don’t deserve a shot at the Final Four anyway.

As to the other ACC draws, I think Clemson got hosed by being stuck in the same sub-regional as Vanderbilt. I though both of those schools had the potential to make a run to a regional final, but one won’t get out of the second round alive. I think Clemson will knock off Vandy, setting up a good matchup with top seeded Kansas. Miami got no favors as the 7 in the South. If they get by St. Mary’s, which I don’t think they will, Texas will throttle them. Duke has banana peels down its path to the Final Four in West Virginia, Xavier, and if necessary, UCLA. If the Blue Devils make the Final Four, I will be shocked. I would guess that if a Duke/UCLA regional final in Phoenix were to take place, Kevin Love would at least make ONE visit to the free throw line. Virginia Tech got the hose, but fact is they don’t have the signature win, and if Hansbrough’s shot didn’t put the bullet in them, Georgia miraculously winning the SEC Tornado Invitational sure did the trick. I’d expect the Hokies to make a strong run in the NIT. And somehow, Maryland is the only other ACC team in the NIT, having to go on the road in the first round to play Tubby Smith’s Golden Gophers. I don’t expect much out of the Terps, who have mailed it in for the past month or so.

In other happenings, if there are such things this time in March, the Carolina Hurricanes shook off an embarrassing 7-1 loss in Buffalo Friday night and came home to defeat the Ottawa Senators at the RBC Center Sunday afternoon 5-1, with ex-Senator Joe Corvo leading the charge, scoring the first ever hat trick for a Hurricane defenseman. Patrick Eaves, who also came to Carolina with Corvo in the Stillman/Commodore trade, potted his first goal with the team, and hard working Scotty Walker added the other one for the Canes, who now enter their final drive for the Southeast Division title, eight games within the division to close out the season. That stretch begins at Philips Arena in Atlanta Wednesday night. I will be there personally and hopefully will have some stories to share when the Eye Wall returns later this week.

Between the times that the basketball games were finishing up yesterday and the selection show came on, I flipped it to the Arnold Palmer on NBC, just in time to see Tiger Woods in the fairway on 18, needing par for a playoff and birdie for a win. What appeared to be about a 15 mph wind was blowing right to left, with the Bay Hill green protected in the front by water and the back by sand. Tiger, being Tiger, sticks the approach dead center of the green, 25 feet from the hole. He’s got his playoff pretty much sewn up. But because Tiger rarely assumes human form, he decided he doesn’t want the playoff and buries the birdie putt anyway, slinging his Nike cap across the green in celebration as the ball dives into the cup.

Come on, Tiger. No Hansbrough fist pumping high stepping stomp? I thought that was the new craze, man.