University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: UNC Basketball Mailbag
February 17, 2009 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Feb. 17, 2009
By Adam Lucas
Before we get to the non-Tyler questions, let's answer the Tyler-related questions. First, Tyler Hansbrough. Some emails came in after the Miami game wondering why the National Player of the Year didn't look like himself on Sunday night against the Hurricanes. Here's your answer, courtesy of Roy Williams on his radio show on Monday night: "Tyler Hansbrough got a slight concussion early in the second half." The big guy still looked a little woozy in the locker room after the game but it's good news that it's being classified as minor.
Now, Tyler Zeller. This could be bad news for certain television broadcasters who already struggle with the difference between "Ty" Lawson and "Tyler" Hansbrough, because the Tar Heels might be about to add another Tyler to the mix. The head coach might have lit a match to a powder keg with this comment on that same radio show: "Thursday two weeks ago we started practicing Tyler Zeller...He's had seven or eight practices. We're in a time period that we are going to make a decision. His mom and dad and I got on a call Saturday before we left and talked about some things. Tyler and I met again today and we're about ready to make a decision or announcement. Right now I would not be surprised if Tyler did play Wednesday night against North Carolina State.
"Fifteen years ago I would never let a young man consider that. But nowindays when you're seven feet tall and have a chance to be pretty good you don't stay around as long as you have eligibility...This is Tyler's decision."
We'll pause here for a "wow." This is usually the time of year when teams lose players, not gain a seven-footer who was in the starting lineup for the first two games of his college career.
My name is Jake Douglas and I graduated in 2007. I studied abroad in Italy my sophomore year, spring semester (Jan - May 2005). I was able to catch almost every carolina game while I was out there, sometimes even having bars stay open until 7am, but the one game we couldn't get was the Duke vs. UNC game on March 6, 2005 (Marvin put back game). The game is never on ESPN Classic (I check weekly) and I can't find a DVD of the game online anywhere.
I feel like I'm missing an important piece from my life, and all I want is to be able to watch this game from start to finish. Do you know of anyway to find it?
Jake Douglas
This is a very popular question, as lots of people want to relive that 2005 game. Because seemingly every other Carolina-Duke game is on television constantly, it only seems logical that the 2005 game, with its great finish, would be included.
But games that are replayed on television have less to do with the quality of the game and more to do with which network originally broadcast the game. The 2005 game at Carolina was originally broadcast by CBS, and they don't allow ESPN Classic to rebroadcast CBS games. All the games you'll see on ESPN Classic were originally aired on ESPN or ESPN2.
If you need your Carolina-Duke fix, you might not know that several classic games are available on iTunes. There's also a DVD containing three Tar Heel wins (including the bloody Montross game). As you might notice on that site, the same company also produced a DVD containing three Duke wins over Carolina. It's doubtful anyone visiting this site would be interested in that particular production, and it looks like you've got company. Amazon.com sales rank for the UNC disc: 5,735. Amazon.com sales rank for the Duke disc: 12,801.
Now that Tyler is making some 3-point shots, I can't recall losing a game in which he made a 3 point basket. Does that claim have some credence or am I wrong?
Justin Crowder
Chapel Hill
Justin, at first I thought you were going to be the latest eagle-eyed Tar Heel fan to contribute a Tuesday Talking Point. But it turns out you missed it by just one game. Hansbrough has made nine career three-pointers. They came in the following games:
Freshman year: Boston College (loss), at Duke (win)
Sophomore year: High Point (win)
Junior year: None
Senior year: Notre Dame (win), Oral Roberts (win), Virginia (win), NC State (win), Maryland (win), and at Duke (win)
So the Tar Heels have been victorious in eight of the nine games in which Hansbrough has made a three-pointer. This also provides the opportunity to relay my favorite Hansbrough quote from last week. After the Duke game, he was sitting wedged against a cinder block wall in the cramped Cameron Indoor Stadium visitors' locker room. Reporter after reporter approached him and asked, "Were you surprised that three-pointer you shot went in?" Every single time, he answered it the same way and with the exact same amount of defiance: "No. I'm not scared to take that shot."
An unrelated Hansbrough stat: in games in which he has been hacked, clawed and bludgeoned in the paint this season, the Tar Heels are 19-2 (Hansbrough has missed four games due to injury).
1. Aside from running into the players on campus, is there any place or time (before/after games) that the players sign autographs? Or is it more, if you catch them, maybe they will.
2. What are the requirements as far as eligibility for season tickets to basketball games? Is that strictly for alum?
Joshua Kassab
Franklinville, NJ
Unfortunately, Joshua, the odds of seeing the players in Franklinville, New Jersey, are slim. Fans attending games, though, have had periodic success getting some players to sign as they come out of the home tunnel for the early shootaround (45-60 minutes prior) before the game. Keep in mind that Tyler Hansbrough has a long-standing superstition/policy about not signing autographs on game day. After the game, you might have luck either at the exit outside the basketball office or in the players' parking lot behind the Smith Center. Or, if you're the one particular guy, you could just camp out in the players' parking lot with a different item for the team to sign every day. I'm sure he's just a really big Tar Heel fan and not an eBay dealer.
As far as season tickets, the first step is to join the Rams Club. That earns you an application for mini-season tickets and individual game tickets based on availability and the points system. Season tickets are available to full scholarship donors (four tickets), Coaches Circle donors (two tickets based on availability), and original donors to the Smith Center Capital Campaign.
As was mentioned in this space last week, as long as students continue to struggle to fill their ticket allotment this season, it is always worth checking with the ticket office 60 minutes before tip-off to see if they might have any sudden availability. Rather than continue to watch entire rows of the student section go empty, it's possible that those seats might be turned over to the general population.
Brownlow's Down Low
I've heard much talk about Hansbrough/Green's 4-0 Cameron record and Wake's Duncan/La Rue class of the 1990s, but it seems to me the Duke teams aren't quite comparable for those two spans. What was Duke ranked for each of the last four Cameron wins compared to Duke's rankings in the Duncan/La Rue games?
Michael T. in Ithaca
Lauren writes:
In order, the Blue Devils have been ranked No. 1, 16, 6 and 5 during the Tar Heels' four-game sweep in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Carolina was ranked No. 13, 5, 1 and 3. When Wake Forest beat Duke in Cameron from 1993-97, the Blue Devils were ranked in order No. 3, No. 2, unranked twice and then No. 10. Wake was in the top 11 in three of the four wins and its streak was during a time in which Duke lost 16 home games. Carolina has beaten Duke four times in a row when Duke has lost just seven games in Cameron.Since Coach K arrived at Duke in 1980-81, the Blue Devils have lost 60 games in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Carolina has handed Duke 15 of those losses, including four of seven since the beginning of the 2006 season. Maryland and Wake Forest are tied for second with nine wins apiece and NC State is third with six wins. Duke has lost just twice in the past two seasons at Cameron, both to Carolina.
But to be honest, Coach K struggled early. So it's fairer to look at this from 1986 (when Duke lost in the national title game). Since then, Duke has 35 losses in Cameron and Carolina is responsible for 11, Maryland six and Wake five. Only Maryland, Georgia Tech and North Carolina have done it this decade.
The last time another in-state team won there was Wake in 1997. NC State hasn't since 1995 when both were unranked. Maryland has been the only other team to give Duke fits in Cameron. Duke has lost 13 times since the 1999-00 season at home; the Tar Heels own five of those wins, but Maryland has four. No other team has more than one. Maryland was ranked in three of the four wins, but the Terps were ranked at least ten spots lower than Duke in all four.
Duke has lost nine times at home in its ten Final Four seasons since 1986. Carolina has four of those wins and Maryland has two. Another interesting fact - of Carolina's last ten Final Four seasons, Carolina has beaten Duke in Cameron just three times; in two of the three, Duke was unranked. Only the 1982 team won a national championship while beating Duke in Cameron; the 1993 and 2005 teams both lost there.
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of four books on Carolina basketball.
