Moved to Wordpress

On The Heels has moved to it's own domain. Check us out and update your bookmarks.

Go Heels!

John Wall, Coach Clifton, and Roy Williams

There have been some rumors circulating about John Wall (left), the top ranked point guard in the 2009 class. Supposedly, Roy called him last Thursday from the Final Four, but Wall later said Roy wasn't recruiting him and UNC was not on his list. One of the reasons for this may have been Wall's AAU coach, Brian Clifton. Clifton apparently is upset that a.) Roy didn't recruit Wall sooner, and b.) Roy wasn't interested in another one of Clifton's recruits that Clifton had brought to Carolina earlier. According to the News and Observer, Clifton said, "I have no desire to talk to, to be involved with, to visit, to contemplate in any shape, form or fashion John Wall going to play for Roy Williams. Zero." Tarheelfanblog says that when a talk radio personality asked Clifton what he didn't like about Roy, he said "I don’t have any respect for Roy Williams. I encourage [my players] to play for guys that will inspire them to be good people. If you’re not a good person, you can’t make someone a good person."
I've never heard of Roy inspiring so much hate in someone. Clifton sounds a bit like a spurned, vindictive ex-girlfriend. I mean, tell me if I'm wrong, but he said he wants a coach who's a good person, and then goes on to call Roy a bad person. Take your own advice there, buddy. Roy is one of the most well liked and respected coaches in college. He has never been anything but a class act. So my guess is that Clifton, like a middle school girl, is trying to stir up controversy to get some attention. He's an embarrassment, and its a shame that he's partially in control of so many young talents' futures. Not only that, but his arm- flailing attention-whoring comes at the expense of his recruits futures. He's burning bridges, and I have no doubt that his lofty ambition of cannibalizing his players' careers for his own amelioration will fail.
Furthermore, Clifton met with Coach K and said he was impressed with Duke, and Wall now has Duke on his shortlist. Clifton said, "The emergence of Duke as a viable option, that in and of itself has caused a change."
"We all left the meeting with the conclusion that it was worth exploring further," said Clifton. "I respect Coach K and the way that he goes about business. … He was enough of a professional to deal with people based on who they really are, not on what he’s heard they might be. I’d be comfortable with any of my guys learning from and being shaped and molded by a guy who’s got that in his character."
Based on his earlier allusions, that last bit again seems like a dig at Roy. Clifton has proven himself to be a sycophantic leech, a carpetbagging, opportunist parasite, drunk on the power he gets from his players' leverage. I certainly hope his outlandish attention mongering doesn't affect the players unlucky enough to be in his auspices.

Coach on ESPN Radio

Roy was on ESPN Radio the other day talking about the Championship game, the motivation for the team... Give it a listen. (Its about 10 minutes)

2009 vs. 2005

I'm not going to try to tell you which team was better. But I think the stat comparisons are pretty interesting. First, some overall team stats. 2009 (2005): 90 ppg (88p ppg), 48 rpg (40 rpg), 18 apg (19 apg), 12 turnovers per game (16 turnovers per game), 8.6 spg (10 spg), 5.2 bpg (3.8 bpg), 75.2% FT (72.5%), 48% FG (50%), 38.7% 3pFG (40.3%). Those are pretty remarkably similar. The only player that averaged more than 27 minutes per game on that team was Ray Ray Felton, whereas the 2009 team had 4 players averaging 27+ mpg (Hansbrough, Ellington, Green, and Lawson).
Some position player comparisons (and keep in mind, like I said, these guys had more minutes per game than the 2005 team, which partially explains the inflated numbers)
Hansbrough (20 ppg, 8 rpg) vs. Sean May (17.5 ppg, 11 rpg)
Lawson (17 ppg, 3 rpg, 7 apg, 2 spg, 2 TOpg) vs. Felton (13 ppg, 4 rpg, 4 apg, 0.3 spg, 3.6 TOpg)
Ellington (16 ppg, 5 rpg, 2.7 apg) vs. McCants (16 ppg, 3 rpg, 2.7 apg)

If we can objectively use these players to project NBA success, I think this 2009 team could be solid NBA players. McCants has shown some flashes of greatness. Felton has been excellent for the Bobcats and has consistently gotten better. The comparison between May and Hansbrough, though I think is much less apt, because May seems to have no drive whatsoever, whereas Tyler... well, it doesn't need to be said.

Championship Celebration at the Dome

I can't figure out how to embed this video, cause I'm a dumbass, but if you go to tarheelblue and click on "Championship Celebration," beneath the video player, you can watch the players arriving at the Dean Dome on Tuesday. Its about 30 minutes long, but worth it. Especially Waynebow Ellington and his three piece suit.

2009 One Shining Moment Video, plus the Championship game in 2 minutes

...in case you're into this sort of thing.




Here are some highlights of the Championship game. I think I've probably watched this clip 10 or 12 times.

Honored Jersey's from the 2009 Championship Team

So, as if you didn't already realize how special this team was, let's talk rafters. For a player to be eligible to have his jersey honored, he must:
1. Be MVP of a Championship team
2. Be first or second team all American
or
3. Be a member of a gold winning Olympic team.

Waynestorm Ellington (number 22) was named MOP of the Final Four, and Ty Lawson (number 5) was a second team all American. Frankly, I (along with Roy Williams) think that ACC Player of the Year honors should also make someone eligible to have his jersey retired. I'm not sure how many ACC POYs there have been who haven't been first or second team all American. I'm guessing not that many.
And, for a player to have his jersey retired, he must win one of the six National Player of the Year awards: Associated Press, National Association of Basketball Coaches, Sporting News, John R. Wooden Award, Oscar Robertson Trophy, or Naismith College Player of the Year. Obviously, this includes Hansbrough (number 50).
So 60% of the starting 5 of this team will be in the rafters. That's pretty amazing. Carolina currently has 43 jerseys honored/retired. Adding 3 to that number from one team is pretty incredible.
And FYI, there's already two number 22s in the rafters; York Larese, who played from 1958-61, had his jersey retired when he was named second team all American. The second is from Bob Lewis, who played from 1964-1967, a first team All American.

Franklin Street Celebration Time Lapse

This is pretty awesome. CNN.com posted a time lapse video of the celebration on Franklin Street. If you look carefully, you can make out me and Alex on the balcony at Top O. Not really, but that'd be cool too.

Eazy-E Returning for his Sophomore Season

Ed Davis has said he won't even test the waters in the NBA draft this season. ESPN had him predicted as a lottery pick, but he's said he won't hire an agent and is "definitely" returning. Obviously this is great news for Carolina fans... he'll be an experienced body in the spectacular returning front court for Carolina next year.

2009 NCAA Men's Basketball

CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GO HEELS

Now's the time. Do it for Tyler. Do it for Danny. Do it for Bobby. Do it for Roy. Do it for everyone out there who gets chills at the first few words of Kurault's quote, who tears up at the mere idea of the Clefs singing "Carolina In My Mind" on the Kenan turf, who can spell C-A-R-O-L-I-N-A with their arms faster than most people can spell Y-M-C-A.

Do it for blue cups at He's Not. Do it for cheese tots at Hector's. Do it for the bowl of muthafucking cheese. Do it for the kids who jump into pools from frat house roofs.

Do it for all the right reasons because it's one of the few places left in this world where you can.

But above all, before anything else in the world: do it for yourselves. Game on.

Bring on the Spartans!

Great win against the Nova Wildcats. After dispatching the traditional Cinderellas with relative ease, it's time to crush the dreams of the 2009 version in like fashion.

One thing's for certain- no matter how much they protest, we know the Spartans will be at least a little in awe of the Tar Heels. Their eyes betray them (thanks Beth).