have at it

That raises the question that commentators have been debating for weeks. Is this Krzyzewski's best coaching job?

"Considering everything that's happened, I think it's the finest coaching job that I've seen in Atlantic Coast Conference history," Billy Packer told USA Today.

I mean, it's Packer, but you've got to be kidding me...

Wednesday's weekly meme 9

will there ever be another one of these?

D'oh

This frontrunner to sudden removal stuff is getting comical:

In a dramatic turn of events, Matt Doherty's name was officially removed from contention for the University of Massachusetts men's basketball coaching job, and a new, favorite emerged.

Sources close to the situation said Kent State coach Jim Christian, whose name has stayed well below the radar screen during the week-long search, is the very likely choice.

UMass officials plan to meet today. An announcement of the new coach is likely to come this week, possibly as early as tomorrow...

While UMass officials contend Doherty's candidacy was never serious, another factor in the removal of his name may involve the vacant Tennessee job. North Carolina Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz will interview today at Tennessee. If Lutz gets that job, Doherty's name is expected to surface at Charlotte.

school sucks

and it starts tomorrow.

as a result, very sad is my state of emotion.

but the family is coming to visit this week, so that should liven things up a bit.

all in all, the point is I might not be around or blogging much. Hope you can get along without me -- I hate to deny you your DTM sustenance

march madness

there is not much to complain about for our games (except Jawad needs to get it back, and well, complaining about Melvin is a constant), so I give you an abridged version of my thoughts from an incredible first week:

best names: Abe Badmus, Kevin Pittsnogle

best story: Bucknell renting Northern Iowa's band by buying them pizza

best game: Wake-West Virginia, by far

worst performance: UConn's bigmen against State's horrendous lack of size

unbelievably clutch: Gansey, and to the same extent, Downey (and Paul for that 4 minute stretch where he never passed the ball, nor needed to)

best hustle: UW-Mil

biggest disappointment: not seeing but one play of the Vermont-Syracuse game, thanks CBS

biggest blunder: tie between McNamera's inexplicable TO and Bucknell almost choking it away with that horrible cough up and then the intentional foul

worst defensive player I've ever seen: Brenden Plavich

stone cold veins: Ronald Ross, money three pointer

best dunk: I loved Marvin's, but I might have to go with Hassan Adam's. Yes, I will have to do that. Too sick......well, upon remembrance and proper reflection of exactly where the ball bounced AFTER Marvin's dunk (near half court), I must call it a tie.

best hair: no idea

worst hair: Bogut's greasy mop by a mile. Then Adam Morrison

Best quote: Tom Brennan, anything he says -- especially if it relates to billboards, Paul Bunyan, God's son, or anything about life in Vermont

Weirdest quote: Bobby Knight -- wtf is a latter-day Santa Claus?

best moment: Us moving on to the sweet 16, of course.

two more things

that are entirely worthy of blog space considering their ultimate importance to this spring break.

1. I cut my own hair. And the results are acceptable.

2. Pizza has been eaten each and every day. In this diet, we have followed a non-discriminatory policy and included multiple restaurants and eateries, spreading our business around. At first such deplorable eating habits were unintentional, but today we have decided to aim for the maintenance of the streak at the risk of intestinal disorders.

FOON

oh and I did a lot of THIS too

this snippet of insight into the foray of FOON says all you need to know

	HabaneroEater1: some weird animal killed my guy DanTheHeel: it's not an animal DanTheHeel: i don't think DanTheHeel: it's like a guy on a speed tricycle HabaneroEater1: no its like a little meercat riding a blade-equipped tricycle HabaneroEater1: im thinking maybe you need a blood sacrifice to the gods to get fire

Good luck....I will give no hints

what we do

basically nothing for the past two days. I did a shitload of work on Monday, and we had a good team meal tonight, and in between we watched a lot of TV, had some quality late night viewing (Making the Band 3 marathon and Old School, respectively), and basically did a whole lot of sitting on the couch on our laptops and watching TV (see the theme). While some may say this is boring and shitty, I love it. I need the break, and I am relishing it. Though I do realize the grand extent of my laziness. Still, there was one thing that sort of got done:

We had grandiose plans for a glorious beer pong table, and while she is still in her initial creation stages, she has been unfortunately delayed. Yes, the rainy weather, combined with a general malaise and lack of foresight on our part (i.e. paint thinner) has temporarily derailed our plans, but as we speak a beautiful piece of plywood with only half-realized potential sits outside on the porch, awaiting the caring touch of an artistic genius. What it will receive is the drunken caress of a college-aged male, and before I offend anyone (again), let me just say that anything "art" is far from my forte, and therefore it is unlikely I will play any grand role in the finer points involving the likes of colors and shapes and whatever else is artsy. But I'm there in spirit, and I can give a lacquer coat or two...

That said, the excitement definitely piqued more than I expected yesterday (before this shitty weather), and I am more enthralled with the idea of G-9's own home court now than when Phipps made the initial proposal. Why the change in heart? First, I hearkened back to the days of GJ rules, and all those crazy, unbelievable nights. And then, to add to my hope, I realized we will straight domm our lovely creation borne of haphazard skill. We will craft it to cater to our every bounce, we will know the intricacies of the grain like we know the back of our hand, we will utilize depth and shade to our every advantage in depth-perception, and we will play A FUCK LOT.

We win.

We win AGAIN.

ode to spring break

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,
that is all ye know on Earth
and all ye need to know."-- Keats

(I think that's it; if not, I should be close)

Well the truth is I'm on Spring Break. Which is beauty. The first weekend notwithstanding, of course.

Back from D.C. though, I am in Alex and Chris' apartment now, languishing and loving it. Phipps isn't loving it so much, I think, as I have been a bit of a recluse and also a distracted conversation partner. This frustrates him. I think I will be better when I get ALL my work done, which is an objective already scheduled for the docket. I've started a bit, but the blog got to be an important distraction. However, seeing as I'm not in school, the focus should come quicker, and I will be able to return to productivity faster than usual. Then I will do nothing but watch basketball for long periods of time. I need to start reading and then eat. I will talk to you later.

D.C. debacle

Yes, so Jimmy and I, after years of wisely insulationg ourselves from emotional damage, naively pushed aside our reservations and pessimism and emotionally (and FINANCIALLY) invested in our Tar Heels. We travled to D.C. to catch the ACC Tourney.

As you all know, things could not have been any worse. Well, I take that back. At about 1:30 on Friday, things were looking unbelievably bleak. However, fter a miraculous comeback saved us from the tenacious throes of the indefatigable Clemson Tigers in the first round, I declared that I would ask nothing more of the weekend. And that's what I got. We proceeded to lose to GT, and of course, had the utmost joy and pleasure of watching dook cruise to yet another ACC championship. So yes, the weekend pretty much blew. (caveat: staying with Wendy at College Park and all other non-basketball related things like eating good food and seeing the new WWII memorial and learning the Metro was a lot of fun).

Still, it was not as crushing to the ego as past defeats, which is somewhat surprising to me particularly considering the stage, manner of play, and level of attachment involved in the defeat. While I very well might simply be searching for another mechanism for ego-protection, I give you my justification for not being completely despondent about our loss:

1. I kind of saw it coming. We haven't played well for a LONG time, going back at least to the State home game. We haven't been sharp, on point, finely tuned since then.

2. We had a No. 1 seed wrapped up.

3. I knew GaTech was really good. If I wasn't such a UNC homer, I would've picked the "upset." While I'm not sure if they have another NCAA run in them, GaTech is legitimately one of the top 10-12 teams in the country, IMO. They play great defense, and if anyone is on (Bynum, Elder, or Jack), they have a very, very good chance of winning.

4. Our chemistry is all out of whack. With Rashad out, May became the clear focus, and when Rashad came back, we seemed kind of lost. Felton had to dominate Clemson, further complicating things. And May plain sucked this weekend. So I think a loss might help us iron this stuff out, knowing that we can't just win "any way" but have to follow the formula that has proven itself successful all year.

5. Melvin sucks, and at some point it was gonna cost us. Bynum for 35 would be that time.

6. Honestly, I was a little worried about running the table from our loss in Cameron till St. Louis. I never like losing, but ACC reg season (especially the way we did it, without Rashad and the heroics against dook), ACC tourney, and NCAA tourney is a lot to ask. This team had/has the capability to do it, but it was a tough proposition.

So yeah, a loss CAN be good. We need to use it though. We need to totally refocus. Start playing the tough ass D that marked the first part of our season, the kind that littered the court with turnovers by our opponents early. Jump out to demoralizing leads early like we used to. Actually get fast breaks again. Play like we did in Maui, against MD and GT at home, get back to our peak level. Find the appropriate balance with Sean, Ray and Rashad, and get Marvin and Jawad to chip in smoothly. I don't know if we would have done this without losing, and I don't know if we'll do it now. But it needs to happen if IT's gonna happen.

the dissoultion of my world

I know I said I wouldn't blog again till after D.C., but today had as worthy a moment as ever before experienced by yours truly. Yes, today my life was forever changed. Let me set the scene:

I walk into my Phil 47 class, only to find the girl who always sits nearby shifted one seat over from her established perch, which is an unprecedented occurance. Slightly thrown off by this, I decide to maintain our usual 1-empty-seat separation and shift one seat over as well. As I sit down and get my notebook out, she says, "you'll be in the picture if you sit there." At this point I notice the photographer in the front of the class, and things start to make a little more sense. A brief inquiry reveals that this girl is apparantly the subject of a story for Carolina Alumni Review.

Now, let me tell you about this girl. She is very pretty -- beautiful, gorgeous, the like. I have never really talked to her except in passing, but in class we always make little jokes and stuff back and forth. So anyways, she's the type of girl I would love to see out at a party and go talk to. That's the extent of our relationship; nothing more, nothing less.

Anyways, it's the day before spring break and I'm feeling a little lighthearted, I've got a little spunk. So I pursue the conversation more ardently then in the past. Some might call it flirting, but I'm really bad at that so I think it was more just awkward conversation. So I ask her what the article's about, and she tells me they are doing a piece on "non-traditional students."

My first thought: she's like a model or something who goes to school part-time and travels a lot or something along those lines. (you see the level of my infatuation).

I decide to probe further. What ensued was glorious:

me: "Non-traditional, huh. What's that mean?"

her: "I'm old."

me: "Old?" (total cofusion sets in)

her: "Yeah, they are doing a story on me and Phyllis because of our age." (Phyllis, I later learn, is also in our class -- the seating shift was made so that they could sit together for the photo)

me: "how old are you? 24?" (I know this is never a question to ask a girl, much less venture a possibly comprimising guess, but I'm perplexed as to how being 24 makes her worthy of a story for the alumni magazine)

her, in a stunningly firm voice that showed both annoyance with my persistence and self-confidence issues on hers: "I'm 38."

holy shit.

That fucking floored me. 38?!?! Are you fucking kidding me? I couldn't say anything, I litterally had a bit of a choking reaction initially, which had to weird her out a little bit. Needless to say the conversation ended, on my part due to the fact that I have never been in greater disbelief of anything in my life and couldn't come close to formulating anything that would hold any semblance of composure. I was WRECKED, frazzled beyond belief. This girl who I'd been semi-lusting after was OLD, and I'd come nowhere close to recognizing it. I kind of stared at her after she told me, and I still couldn't believe it. I still am not sure if I do. Hell, I'd ask the girl out right now -- maybe just to say I'd hit on a 38 year-old, but still. Hell, she's not even a girl! She's a damn woman. She might have fucking kids.


My life will never be the same.

Wednesday's weekly meme 8

Will the men duplicate the women's feat and claim the ACC tourney this weekend?

BTW, I'll be in DC catching the drama firsthand (WHAT WHAT!!!), and I'll be sure to report any Chris Paul groin shots not captured by TV. But with my non-computerness this weekend and the likely malaise that will set at the beginning of spring break (next week, WHAT WHAT!!!), it may be a little WILE before the next post. Still, you should ring in with your opinion -- it don't mean shit if you don't put it on the record.

ACC Champs

Yes, the men, by a full game.

But this is about the ladies (I'm all about the ladies, wink).

Yes, once again overcoming the powerful tide of my pessimism, our lady Tar Heel's proved me wrong in claiming their first ACC Tournament title since 1998. After their first two games, things looked bleak. But two impresseive late-game comebacks, including from 17 down against UVA, pushed the Heels into the championship game.

Honestly, after our win at Cameron, I didn't think we'd be able to get back to such a high level of play within a week and expected a letdown in the semifinals. We did letdown, but still found a way to advance. And a veritable buzzsaw waited -- dook, who had DESTROYED their competition en route to winning by an AVERAGE of 44 points. No way, I thought. Not for the THIRD time. Not after we just snatched the ACC crown from them on their home court.

I was entirely wrong. We were simply better. Withstanding good early play by them, the "L" Raisers, as I like to call them, soon turned up the heat, and dook couldn't stay with them. While the "L" raisers have usually been limited to Latta and Larkins (who wasn't even initally a member) for most of the season, Little rejoined the parade in the championship game route. And Nikita BeLL even got in the act, continuing her heLLish defensive play and (shocking?) Leadership. Okay, enough of the Lame "L" stuff (even though I do like "L" raisers).

We won easily. 3-0 vs. dook. Best team in the ACC. Champs. Case closed.

Bring on the NCAAs. We'll be in the Smith Center to start out, and we better be a #1 seed -- fuck the ESPN analysts who were hyping dook and NOT us as a #1 AS WE WERE BEATING THEM. We'll see, but after this weekend (and even without it, IMO), we deserve it.

quick hitter

While perhaps it would be appropriate to expect a tome-lengthed dissertion on our miraculous win Sunday against dook, there are a few reasons that will not be happening. One, I only live in the past when living in the past means pain. Two, I simply don't have the time (indeed, I'm only here to avoid writing the paper rearing its ugly head at me). Three, and most importantly, I cannot really dissect how I feel.

In general, I don't have feelings, as most of you know. Only Tar Heel basketball truly makes me feel, but perhaps due to its overwhelming influence, I feel as if I am caught in the vortex of the storm. I am shocked, dazed, frazzled, and I cannot sort my thoughts from my feelings or my feelings from random electrically-induced spasms. I am too wrapped up, too affected to have any sort of identifiable perspective.

That said, my thoughts:

Sean May, I adore you. You deserve good things.

47 points in the first half, 58 with 8 minutes left in the second. What happened? Seriously, what happened?

Great comeback. I'd given up. EVERYTHING had to happen perfectly. It did. Mad props to the team for believing -- and DOING.

Melvin Scott, nothing but curse words.

Ray, in big games, don't try too hard. And at the same time, try harder. That is the mystifying paradox I have with you.

Reyshawn, thanks for making our only 3 (and for crashing the boards on a couple plays, keeping one ball alive and almost completing a beautiful tip). There are those of us out there who wish you would play instead of (insert euphemism here).

Along those lines, we really need Rashad. Like bad. Of course he makes us worlds better offensively, but that's not all. Get better fast.

Marvin. So clutch. Prolly a bad, rushed shot. But if you've got the composure to take it, and the talent to make it, as a true freshman, more power to you.

Coach K's sarcastic clapping at the freaking HORN operator. Coach K cussing out refs who then apologize to him. Coach K screaming at Kirschner. Larry Rose tossing Scott Williams, Roy's son, for riding him. These are things I will remember.

I don't like how dook isn't good, but is actually really good at the same time.

Best. Game. I've. Ever. Seen.

And lastly, Thank You, whoever You may be. I am scared to think about what would have happened to me in the alternative case. Seriously.

best. game. I've. ever. seen. 

Wednesday's weekly meme 7

What are your ACC post-season awards?

If you are ambitious, give an All-American team, too...

New NCAA Academic Evaluation

I'm sure some of you have followed this, but it's nice to know that the thing we can always hang our hat on (academic superiority) is indeed born out by the numbers.

UNC's mean for football, baseball and men's basketball is the highest in the ACC. The N & O includes women's basketball and once again we make the score.

In fact, all our sports (except men's golf and wrestling) make the necessary mark. NCSU football and basketball, on the other hand, look to possibly be in for some serious trouble down the road, as they constitute part of the 7 percent of all NCAA teams who failed to meet the standard. Sad, but it won't shut them up over in Rawleigh. Which is probably even sadder.

Oh, and the ACC again outclasses the SEC, which had only ONE SCHOOL with passing scores in both football and men's basketball. I'm sure you can guess which school.

The key thing to see will be if the NCAA actually enforces it. It will come down to a question of ethics or money, and I think we've seen what the NCAA usually does in such cases (heck it's already giving teams like State "confidence" exceptions).