The Times-News Sports Blog

North Carolina’s Tar Heels are headed home sooner than they had hoped after Saturday night’s defeat to Kansas in the Final Four semifinals in San Antonio.
A team spokesman said the Tar Heels would depart for their return trip at about 10:30 a.m. (Central time) Sunday en route to Chapel Hill.
They had hoped to be staying until Tuesday — meaning they would have played in Monday night’s NCAA championship game.
Unclear was the traveling plans for junior forward Tyler Hansbrough because the Naismith Player of the Year award is to be presented Sunday night in San Antonio. Hansbrough would be considered the leading candidate for that award.

– Bob Sutton

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They’ll play the Final Four indoors, of course, but that doesn’t stop North Carolina coach Roy Williams from checking on the climate.
Coaches were disappointed to learn earlier this week that the forecast for San Antonio at the end of the week calls for perhaps quite a bit of rain.
Williams often makes his personal pecking order for NCAA Tournament destinations based on the projected climate. So ordinarily that would give high grades to San Antonio. But Williams would be pleased to take his team to the Final Four if the games were contested in Alaska if that’s what it took.

Anyway, courtesy of Williams’ weather report from earlier in the week, Tar Heels fans en route to the Final Four might might want to consider the possibility for some clouds blowing through. As long as black clouds don’t hover over their team, they’ll probably be fine with whatever they encounter.

– Bob Sutton

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North Carolina coach Roy Williams says he doesn’t want to make a big issue about his time as coach at Kansas.
But when the topic comes up, he’s inclined to discuss it nonetheless. There are so many issues and angles to Williams’ 15-year association with Kansas that he seems to find new material ever time it is brought up.

North Carolina plays Kansas on Saturday night in the Final Four semifinals. By then, you can be sure that just about everyone will be happy to have that game behind them and find some fresh storylines — those, of course, will involve either North Carolina or Kansas playing in Monday night’s championship game.

– Bob Sutton

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North Carolina had to deal with the inevitable after securing its ticket to the Final Four.
The Tar Heels will now play Kansas, which is the team previously coached by Roy Williams after the Jayhawks dispatched Davidson.

Williams now coaches North Carolina, and so there’s one obvious storyline.
So often, conspiracy theories arise when the NCAA Tournament brackets come out, complete with suggestions that certain matchups are fixed.
But this is Williams’ fifth year on the job as North Carolina’s head coach and this will be the first meeting between the Tar Heels and Kansas during that span. This wasn’t a fixed matchup, just one out of necessity this late in the season.

– Bob Sutton

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Here we are on the East Coast, and the East Regional final will be played Saturday at Charlotte Bobcats Arena.

So what do we get: A 9:05 p.m. scheduled tip-off.
Meanwhile in Phoenix, the West Region final will begin about 2 1/2 hours earlier.
We have the University of North Carolina to blame for this because the Tar Heels have become so popular that they’ve been tagged for the more prime time spot. The matchup against Louisville on Saturday was too appealing for CBS, which televises the NCAA Tournament and dictates the tip-off times for games.
So Louisville / North Carolina trumped Xavier/UCLA in terms of driving the decision on the game times.
As it turns out, being on the East Coast doesn’t help as the game is bound to end after 11 p.m. (and maybe closer to midnight).

– Bob Sutton

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Duke’s season ended in devastating fashion Saturday afternoon in Washington, an upset victim to West Virginia in the NCAA Tournament’s second round.
Though some people don’t go so far as to call it an upset, figuring Duke’s recent struggles made it a prime candidate to go down on the tournament’s first weekend.
So we ask: Did the Blue Devils overchieve so much during the first few months of the season that they created unrealistic expectations for themselves?
Or was this a monumental collapse the past few weeks, with three losses in the last five games (and nearly a loss for the ages in the NCAA Tournament’s first round to Belmont)?

Such questions about how this Duke team should be perceived could persist throughout its offseason.
What do you think?

– Bob Sutton

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After being on hand for 10 games in the last three days, it’s kind of strange that there was only one game here today. But today’s final was more than enough to satisfy any hoops junkie.

North Carolina and Clemson, the two best teams in the league at this moment, put on a show.

BOLD CHOICES: If you noticed that the Tar Heels seemed less than elated after winning the tournament, it may have had something to do with the music. For some reason the ACC decided to play “Maneater” by Hall and Oates for the immediate aftermath of the game.

Nothing like a song from 1982 by the virtuosos of light rock to help a bunch of 18-22 year olds savor a big basketball victory.

The next song was “One Way or Another” by Blondie. The song, which came out in 1978 or eight years before Tar Heels senior Quentin Thomas was born, was a little peppier, but still way wrong.

Danny Green still tried to dance to it. He’s a trooper.

LUCKY FOLKS: I shouldn’t be too hard on the powers that be in the conference because the Times-News had the best seats on press row. We were stationed right behind the ESPN team, meaning the stat monitor, several television screens with replays and notes passed to the announcers containing interesting info were in full view.

Good stuff.

ROY MAY BE RIGHT: Roy Williams aired his opinions on the ACC Tournament following Sunday’s victory. He may have a point. North Carolina’s victory was the talk of the media room for all of four hours.

Once the NCAA Tournament pairings were announced, the game might have well as been played in December.

MARATHON NOT A SPRINT: After five days and 11 games, I am way too familiar with the bowels of Charlotte Bobcats Arena and in desperate need of some daylight.

Next week we’ll be embedded in the RBC Center and a week after that we could possibly be back in the blue-curtain womb of this facility.

For now though, I’m just ready to go home.

- Stephen Schramm

Did I say something about this tournament being boring?

Yeah, I was wrong.

Saturday provided some unforgettable images, the most mind-searing being Tyler Hansbrough’s emphatic celebratory sprint following his game-winner against Virginia Tech.

That game, combined with Clemson’s nail-biting victory against Duke provided not only the tournament’s first curveballs, but also its most riveting games.

Here’s hoping tomorrow’s championship will follow a similarly intense script.

- House is rocking

With the tournament field down to four, and Clemson and North Carolina fans being the largest groups represented, the atmosphere in the Charlotte Bobcats Arena is taking on a properly intense tone. It should pick up tomorrow.

-Uh oh!

If you’re a defender trying to stop a fast break, is there a player you want to see less leading that break than Virginia Tech’s Deron Washington? If he never sniffs the NBA, can we still get him in the dunk contest?

He caught an alley-oop on Danny Green’s head in the second half against North Carolina. For most players it would top any list of posterizing dunks. But for Washington, it may not have made his personal top 10.

- Long season

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said freshman Kyle Singler was looking tired during Saturday’s loss to Clemson.

From courtside, most of the Blue Devils looked drained. If a long postseason run is in Duke’s future, the Blue Devils will need to get refreshed fast.

- Just what we need

For media members who were bemoaning the loss of the freezer full of complementary Dove Bars that was a fixture at most previous ACC Tournaments, the Charlotte Bobcats Arena folks brought out a case of ice cream following Saturday’s game. While it didn’t help my focus, it was tasty.

- Luck of the (temporarily) Irish

Those who frequent downtown Charlotte are warning everyone that tonight could be crazy as many night owls will be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day early. Good thing the games are early so I can get back to the Red Roof Inn by the airport and get a good night’s sleep before the final. (Insert sarcasm)

- Stephen Schramm

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I know the tournament began yesterday, but it isn’t until Friday that the intensity hits its proper post-season levels. The struggling teams have all packed up and headed home and the heavyweights are in the building.

That said, the afternoon session was pretty tame. Thus far the 2008 ACC Tournament has yet to yield signature moments. There’s still plenty of time and maybe tonight’s games can reverse the trend.

- Hallway is open

Due the legion of media members on hand to cover No. 1 North Carolina, and the Volkswagon-sized locker rooms at Charlotte Bobcats arena, the Tar Heels post-game interviews were held in the hallway. So far the Tar Heels are the only school have to take that step.

UPDATE: Late Friday night, Duke had to do the same thing. That also produced the odd sight of a dozen reporters and a trio of autograph -seeking ballboys clustered around Greg Paulus.

He answered questions while cranking out no-look signatures. That guy is skilled.

- Cocktail hour

North Carolina coach Roy Williams may have described the ACC Tournament as a “cocktail party,” but if that’s the case, the Charlotte Bobcats Arena was looking a lot like He’s Not Here on Friday.

Among the fans that packed the building, around half were wearing the lighter shade of blue.

Yeah, I know, North Carolina fans in Charlotte. There’s a newsflash.

- Dance owns us

Thus far, Florida State and Miami have been the only schools that have left the cheerleaders home and brought just the dance team. Both schools won at least one game this week. Coincidence?
Maybe.
Maybe not.

- Yikes!

I’m not sure what’s uglier, the free throw motion of Virginia’s Ryan Pettinella or Miami’s black alternate road uniforms.

- Stephen Schramm

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Ok, so there was actually basketball today. Judging by the performances of Wake Forest and N.C. State, we’re not sure exactly what kind of basketball it was, but they were playing.

So, at least we’ve got that going for us. Which is nice.

-Quasi-celebrity sightings

For college basketball fans, the ACC Tournament is a prime spot for gawking at former hoops stars. It almost get old.

Yep, Eric Montross down there on the radio. David Thompson’s a couple of rows away. Oh you saw Lefty Driesell? (yawn) That’s great.

But leave the realm of basketball, and all of the sudden who and who is not famous enough of garner a reaction becomes skewed.

For evidence, look at the fact that Chad, the character in a series of Alltel commercials played by actor Chad Brokaw, cause a minor stir when he was part of an appearance for the cell phone carrier.

- Some songs never felt so played, so played, so played

Can I propose that we enforce a moratorium on teams adopting the Neil Diamond classic “Sweet Caroline.” It’s played by several college teams and pep bands versions of it are more common at this week’s tournament than expensive parking.

Together we can do this.

-All-Media team improves

Yesterday I mentioned all of the former players-turned media members that, if combined, would make for a mean starting five. I forgot to throw in ESPN sideline reporter Stacey Dales, who played five years in the WNBA. A natural forward, maybe we could move her up to off-guard. She’d be out of position, but I think she’d manage.

Now, all we need is a point guard. You think Billy Packer’s got much game these days?

-Bobcats Arena earns assist

I would be remiss if I didn’t thank the IT staff of the Bobcats Arena who ran a line to my laptop when my wireless died. Judging by the dubious quality of some of this post, the jury’s still out as to whether or not it was a good thing to do.

- Stephen Schramm

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