N.C. State, with an 11-17 record, has only two things to play for. The game against State in Raleigh is an absolute must win for the Tar Heels, who cannot lose to the ACC’s last-place team without sliding off the NCAA tourney bubble. And, still, it’s a dangerous foe. The Wolfpack is tied with Georgia […]

NIL and the transfer portal are entwining demons of college athletics. They happened about the same time, but athletes being paid for their Name-Image-Likeness while allowed to transfer and not sit out a year have taken the corruption in college sports to a new level. UNC football coach Mack Brown said so in his pre-spring […]

It was more than a touch of the old days at the Smith Center. Before a boisterous and highly appreciative crowd, Carolina advanced what could become a late-season surge into the NCAA tournament with another hard-fought and hard-earned victory over rugged Louisville. The Tar Heels weren’t great for most of the game, but they made […]

Wasn’t it Al Davis of the old Oakland Raiders who coined, “Just win, baby!” That’s exactly what our schizoid Tar Heels did in Blacksburg, using a formula that can only be described as “gumption and gifts.” Gumption because the Heels bounced back from what looked like a disastrous home loss to lowly Pitt with their […]

Carolina at Virginia Tech is basically an NCAA tournament play-in game. The Tar Heels’ visit to boisterous, 10,000-seat Cassell Coliseum Saturday afternoon was already a huge game for them. Now, it is even bigger for several reasons, the most important of which is they have to win to stay on the NCAA bubble. It also […]

Carolina’s crushing loss to Pitt will be dissected from every angle. Let’s start with the home crowd, one of the smallest of the season. The official attendance will reflect how many tickets were sold to the game, not how many people showed up. The upper deck is always the indicator, and above the loge seats […]

It was a strange night for Duke coaches — past, present and future. Before the tipoff between the Blue Devils and Wake Forest in a typically wild Cameron Indoor Stadium, excerpts from a new book hit the internet. It is written by long-time college basketball reporter Ian O’Connor and is titled “Coach K: The Rise […]

ACC Tournament, Episode 3, is all about Dean Smith’s maiden years. The third and fourth installments of the ACC Tournament documentary aired this week on the ACC Network, and Carolina fans have to love the beginning of Smith’s 36-year career as head coach of the Tar Heels. It goes from some students hanging him in […]

By the chalk, Virginia Tech is the biggest remaining game for Carolina. Six teams could still win or tie for first place in the tepid ACC, but going by the favorites, the Tar Heels have one game that means the most. Assuming they can take care of Pitt Wednesday night, their trip to Blacksburg Saturday […]

For the second straight year, Florida State is THE game for Carolina. Last February, the unranked Tar Heels started their late-season push for an NCAA tournament bid by upsetting the 11th-ranked Seminoles at the Smith Center, which opened its doors to about 3,000 fans in the pandemic. Carolina trailed 41-29 at the break before outscoring […]