Is this the year for Duke-Carolina IV? Jay Bilas thinks so. Most college basketball fans cannot believe, with the schools going to the post-season virtually every year, that Duke and UNC have never met in the NCAA tournament. The Blue Devils and Tar Heels did play in the NIT semifinals back in 1971, with Carolina winning […]

If the Tar Heels are truly a great road team, they’ll have to show it. Carolina has nothing to complain about with its No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region, although it would have been interesting to see if anything changed with a win over Duke instead of a one-point loss at the buzzer. The […]

This Carolina team reminds me of some oldie-but-goodie Tar Heels. Think of freshman point guard Phil Ford, selfless shooting guard John Kuester, talented wing Walter Davis and versatile big man Mitch Kupchak. That was a long time ago, but this 2019 version has grown into something similar. Roy Williams acknowledged after Carolina defeated tough and […]

The real ACC tournament begins today — with an asterisk or two. The chalk has prevailed so far at the ACC tourney in Charlotte, with the top eight seeds playing in today’s quarterfinal games. Seems like the old days when there were only eight schools in the original ACC, not the current subway jam of 15. But for the […]

It happened 50 years and three Charlotte Coliseums ago. The college basketball season is longer these days, so the March 8th anniversary date has passed. But it will never be forgotten, and those too young to remember should hear the story. The Tar Heels of Dean Smith went to the 1969 ACC tournament at the […]

(featured photo via Todd Melet) Going to Charlotte, the Roy vs. K debate doesn’t seem close. The so-called GOAT arguments are always tinged by bias for your favorite team or sentimentality. Some people still think Joe Montana is the greatest quarterback of all time when Tom Brady now has two more Super Bowl rings. The […]

Carolina is preparing as if Zion will play, even though he won’t. The Tar Heels already had their game plan for February 20th at Cameron, and Roy Williams said they will be ready whether Zion plays or not for Duke. Without him, the match-ups favor the home team, as proven for the last 39 and a […]

Transition defense will be the key to the Carolina-Duke rematch. So many angles exist for Saturday night’s blockbuster on ESPN, which strangely chose the 6 pm starting time after Zion’s injury and conflicting prognoses from Coach K’s day-to-day diagnosis and word from the Duke medical center that it was a 4-6 week knee sprain. And […]

Are UNC and Duke going in opposite directions heading into Saturday? It was another doubleheader of near delight Tuesday night, as Duke and Wake Forest played the 7 o’clock game, with the Tar Heels at Boston College tipping off as the teams reached halftime in Durham. Carolina’s brilliant first half opened a 23-point lead at […]

Mack Brown must love the song lyrics, “Yesterday’s gone.” For those who wonder what has changed between Mack I and Mack II as the Tar Heels football coach, there is quite a difference. After leaving Carolina with a top ten program in 1997, Brown spent 15 seasons at Texas rebuilding one of the proudest college […]