O'sHeelsFan

I bet he'd have a real nice OBP in the second half batting lead off for the Birds. One thing is for sure he would NOT get pitched around!! Oh well, that ship has sailed I know.

That was a bad call, but Villanova earned their win, make no mistake. Crazy finish and great tourney for those guys.

I saw on ESPN bottom line that he is def out for Wednesday's game @ NCSU. Hopefully back for the weekend like you said. I guess those reports that he might have played in the Duke game right after the injury were slightly off base!!! IMO we are lucky that Duke game is the only loss we've suffered since he went down. We really need him back.

Wake nudges the door open for the Heels - still several games to go, but if they can avoid an upset, they will play for the regular season crown at Duke on the last Saturday of the season! Hopefully Lawson will be back by then. Beaner, what are you hearing about that? I have to look into it, haven't heard much news lately.

I really think, if Carolina wins out other than the Duke game, whoever wins the ACC tourney (IF it is Duke or Carolina), gets the #1. Unless Duke goes undefeated in the ACC regular season. Then they may get it even if we beat them for the tourney title. But that can't happen, can it?! I think they will both play in Raleigh in the first weekend, its just a matter of who gets the Charlotte Regional spot. Carolina could easily drop to a two seed if they don't win the ACC tourney. But there is too much b-ball to be played to speculate that. I have to check out the latest Lunardi brackets, that guy is pretty close normally, its downright spooky.

Great call here. Huge win, keeps them within sniffing distance of Duke for the regular season crown. I have a feeling Duke will stumble once, and the game in Durham will be for the title. Like we need any more stakes for that game!

Ditto my previous words on Clemson. I know they only shot 6, but you gotta make one or two down the stretch! I mean, its a double OT game, any one point can make all the difference! Carolina had no business winning tonite. Perimeter defense was horrible again, and the interior defense wasn't much better. And for a team that put up 103 points (82 in regulation), they sure did look lost on offense most of the night. I'll be glad when Lawson gets back, but the D on this team has got to improve either way. Really. That being said, another monster game from Hansborough, and glad to see Ellington's shooting slump only lasted for the Duke game. He kept them in it until they started actually playing D at the end. Danny Green came up HUGE at the end of regulation. And Q was much better in the second half. I still get nervous with him handling it so much, but at least he has shown the ability to drive to the hoop here and there, like on the tying shot in regulation last night. That 53 year streak makes me nervous every year. It's the kind of thing that you figure has to end eventually. It certainly looked like it was about to last night! It will be interesting to see how Clemson bounces back from this. They have a lot of talent on that team, and a good amount of size too. I know I don't want to see NC play them in the ACC tourney! Two games like this is enough for me

Turns out I did 'say' it, sorta

Well I've said all along (or at least thought, not sure if I ever 'said' it ) that Lawson was the player they could least afford to lose. And that would be the case even if Frasor was healthy. Unlike Beaner, I did not thing that Quentin Thomas played well on Sunday. But he will have to come up BIG now. We will still have a shot - our bigs will still have an advantage in the post - but Q has to take care of the ball. And Hansborough has to come up big. What's the over under on how many minutes into the game he is bleeding?

Yeah, 2v3, I had predicted 1v2 and came up just short thanks to Memphis. The first 8 minutes of that second half were impressive, went from down 9 to up 8 very quickly. Paulus was on fire. Clearly K had the right things to say at the half! (plus those unlucky green shirts were out of the picture )

I agree, probably their best ACC game so far (I'm not counting NC State because the Pack was so bad that day, it shouldn't count!) Glad to see Deon Thompson stepping up.

Well, tomorrow night will be a good one, Duke v. NC State and Carolina v. BC. Both teams need to build (or maintain, in Duke's case) momentum going into next weeks matchup! both games on the ESPN family of networks, NC at 7 and Duke at 9. A good night of ball, although I anticipate relatively easy wins for both home teams (NC and Duke both at home). Can't wait for 2/6/08!

100% agree with all of this. Cincy w/ Van Exel also made it to the Elite 8 in 1993, before losing to.....Carolina!

Also, I think Memphis might be the real deal this year. Loads of talent. And didn't those aforementioned Cincy teams make at least one Final Four? I seem to recall they did....could be the year Memphis gets one. But it will be a great wide open tourney IMO.

I'm here now as well. Very disappointed in the effort by the fellas tonite. Pathetic, really. I don't think anyone showed up, on either end of the floor. Kudos to MD though, huge huge win for them, they have a chance to salvage their season if they can build off of this. And Clemson? I don't think I've ever seen a worse FT shooting team. Not the reason they lost tonite, but it is the reason they lost to NC. Pathetic!

Does anybody else find this forum more fun the endless trade rumours in the O's forum? All I can say is thank God for ACC basketball (well, and I guess the NFL playoffs), for winter would be impossible to take! GO HEELS!!!!

Geesh, I've heard of being 'soft' in the middle, but that's ridiculous! Nice photo!

Just busting your chops chief. I saw the graphic during last night's game that the last three games had been very close, w/ FSU winning two in a row, I think. I think we are all aware of Duke's superiority to FSU

Well, FSU had a shot last night to come up with a big win v. Duke (AGAIN ), but they couldn't pull it out. Some good athletes on that FSU team, but they need some length inside!

UVA is in huge trouble after that loss to VA Tech last night. Big game by your boy though, w/ 34 & 10, I think it was? Impressive, but not enough help, I guess (didn't see the game). 9-10 wins is going to be tough, some of these teams may be better than advertised (see: GA Tech v UNC)

Geesh another tough road game for the Heels last night. I hope they aren't all this close, I can't take the stress! Seriously though, that game shows why the ACC is the greatest. A winless conference team takes the #1 team in the country to the buzzer. A very entertaining game. The Heels definitely need to shore up the interior defense, I was very disappointed that they gave up so much inside. Teams with enough big bodies that are willing to bang definitely make things interesting. The Clemson game and this one prove that. If they don't get better on D, they will be in trouble in March. But I'm confident they will get better, Roy will have them practicing w/ no rims all winter! On a side note, how bad is Jimmy Dykes as an analyst? He was terrible last night. At one point he was talking about how Hansborough was playing extra minutes because of the depth problems due to Frasor's injury. WHAT? Yeah, those valuable backup PG minutes really are affecting our center's PT, Jimmy And that whole Chemistry thing? How many times did he say we needed that extra 10% like Joakim Noah had, so we can thump our chests and know we mean it? What an idiot. Jay Bilas is so much better, its not even funny. Even though he is a Dukie, I've grown to appreciate Bilas' commentary over the last couple of years, and I am glad he has had the chance to get out of the studio to sit in for Dukie V a little more. But Dykes has to go!

Clemson won't finish second unless they can learn to start hitting free throws. That was a terrible performance down the stretch from them at the line, and it really kept Carolina in the game. That being said, HUGE shot by Ellington, HUGE game by Ellington! I don't think many teams are going to be able to put those kinds of multiple bodies on Tyler, but its nice to know that if they do, Wayne will be there to shoot the lights out! I too was impressed by Clemson, other than the FT shooting. I knew it would be a tough game, but it wound up being even tougher than I thought. Great win, and a thoroughly enjoyable game to watch. Made me feel a little better after watching the Skins lose in Seattle on Saturday.

Beaner, what how severe is Thomas' injury? He was out last night as well...

I guess he can appeal for it, but they have already played 12 games now - that is close to 1/3 of the schedule, way more than 20%. Should be interesting to see what the NCAA does in this case. At least he has the first half of the season part in his favor. Last year would have been the year to redshirt, but Roy felt he needed Bobby for depth at the guard positions, if I recall correctly.