University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: UNC Basketball Mailbag
March 31, 2009 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
March 31, 2009
By Adam Lucas
Quick note: make sure to check out today's Talking Points for a pretty unbelievable stat about the way Carolina has carried the ACC in the NCAA tournament lately. Now, on to the questions.
I'm a Carolina fan hoping to plan a trip to Detroit. What are the primary UNC-related things to do, and do you have any other Detroit travel tips?
Kyle Williams
Fuquay-Varina
Not to brag, but I knew we would get a question like this. So as soon as the Tar Heel Sports Network went off the air on Sunday night, I asked Eric Montross what his Detroit recommendations would be. After all, he played for the Pistons for four seasons, so he would surely be a fountain of Motor City information. I even had a cute headline picked out for the piece: "Montross's Must-Do's." Here's Eric's actual quote when I asked him for advice:
"There is nothing."
Yes, it seems some things haven't changed, and Eric still isn't much of an assist man. He wasn't exactly overwhelmed by the Detroit living experience, and it probably didn't help that the Pistons actually played an hour away from downtown, at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Despite his lack of assistance, here's a quick list of things you'll want to know as a Carolina fan in Detroit.
Team hotel: Hilton Garden Inn
NCAA-designated UNC gathering spot on Saturday: Detroit Beer Co. (1529 Broadway) Tar Heel Fan Central opens there at 11 a.m.
Website for all information about sendoffs, etc.: Alumni Association Site
Official Final Four activities
Carolina's open practice at Ford Field: 3:10 on Friday.
What time to see the Peabody ducks: Sorry, that was last weekend.
Detroit restaurants to try: The Rattlesnake Club, Giovanni's, and The Whitney.
What is Greektown? You're going to hear a lot about it, because it's very close to Ford Field. As you might have guessed, it was originally the area where many Greek immigrants settled. Now it's sort of a Disneyfied cultural area, but it still has plenty of restaurants (we hear Pizza Papalis is a good bet for pizza), bars and even the Greektown Casino. Speaking of casinos, there's also an MGM Grand approximately a mile from Ford Field.
If you're looking for something to do on Sunday, the Pistons host the Raymond Felton-led Bobcats at 6 p.m. Tickets are still available. If you're a hockey fan, the Red Wings host the Minnesota Wild on Sunday at 12:30, so you could do the hockey/hoops doubleheader. Tickets are still available for hockey, too. Unfortunately, the Tigers open on the road on Monday, because Comerica Park is a great stadium. Ann Arbor is only about 45 minutes away, so you could also take a drive to check out the Big House. It's very next to Crisler Arena, so you can stop by and ask if they have any extra time outs while you're there. I'm sure they'd love that.
If you or someone in your group would rather kill an off day with some shopping, your best bets are either the Renaissance Center or the Somerset Collection mall in Troy, which is allegedly one of the top malls in the world. Of course, the final AP poll in that category hasn't been released yet.
Look, there's no question Detroit is one of the least appealing Final Four locations ever picked by the NCAA. But if you start feeling sorry for yourself, call one of your Duke friends and tell them how great it is. After all, they'll never know any different.
In this week's Sports Illustrated, there is a photo which shows a #8 on Wayne's left shoe, & the number doesn't appear to be written in marker. Is this a personalization he added & what does it mean, as Wayne's # is not 8.
Marshall Benbow
Greensboro, NC
Somehow we have missed our annual "what shoes are the Tar Heels wearing" segment for this year. First, in answer to the most commonly asked question, players don't have to all wear the same shoe styles. Sure, there was a time when every Carolina player sported the Converse Weapons, but sadly, those days are gone. Now, players have their pick of essentially any shoe in the Jordan/Nike line. Some of the more popular choices include the Jordan 2.5, Jordan XX2, Jumpman Team Pro, Jordan Ol' Skool II, Ty Lawson's Zoom Soldiers, and the shoes in question--Wayne Ellington's Nike Blue Chip. The #8 in question is actually the uniform number of Deron Williams of the Utah Jazz, who endorses that particular model.
Williams, of course, is better-known to Tar Heel fans as "the shut-down man." That's the way he was anointed by Billy Packer one second before Raymond Felton drilled a three-pointer in Williams's eye in the 2005 title game (go to the 7:00 mark of that video for the fun memories). .
What are the plans for Marcus Ginyard's stress fracture in his left foot? Will it heal completely for next season?
Ronnie Haigler
Durham, N.C.
The plans are for Ginyard to be the healthy senior leader of a 2009-10 team that will look very different from this year's edition. In theory, he'll play a role very similar to that of David Noel with the 2006 squad. In some ways, it's Ginyard coming full circle--he came into Carolina under Noel's leadership, and he'll go out as the 2010 version of Noel.
Look for an extended story on Ginyard later this week on TarHeelBlue.com.
Who/what rules determine(s) game times for the teams in the tournament. For instance 1-seed Louisville, 1-seed Connecticut and 1-seed Memphis all are playing in their "physiological" prime time in the round of 16 for the 2008/09 tournament. However 1-seed Carolina is playing at their bedtime against Gonzaga who will be in their prime time. I assume there are more than a capricious or arbitrary set of rules governing this set up, but if that is so, then these rules have favored three number 1 seeds while disfavoring the Heels. Can you shed some light on this?
Leif King
Schriever AFB, CO
There are stringent guidelines for setting NCAA tournament guidelines. They are as follows:
1. CBS decides what times they want the games to be played.
2. Everyone says, "Yes, sir," and shows up at that time.
That's the complete list of rules. It has nothing to do with time zones, "physiological" prime times, fan convenience or common sense, which is why the Tar Heels can play a Sweet 16 game in which the second half starts around the same time as the 11:00 news. You will notice that CBS tries to prevent teams in the same area from playing at the same time. So you're unlikely to see a situation when Carolina and Duke, for example, would be playing in the same time slot, because that would prevent CBS from airing both games to the natural viewing areas of those teams.
Brownlow's Down Low
We hear a lot about the "lack of defense" from UNC but it seems to me that most of the time UNC has an overall advantage from a team perspective in turnovers. Can you give us a rundown on the current year totals for the entire team verses all of the opponents we have played and give us a season assist to turnover ratio? For example, in the last 6 games the opponent has a combined 77 turnovers and UNC has 58.
Wayne Miracle
Jamestown, NC
Lauren writes: This is a very important question. Even when Carolina plays a dominant defensive game, it might not seem like it with the field goal percentage allowed. But looking at the turnovers forced - and particularly with what Carolina can do with those turnovers - tells a different story.
Carolina's opponents have averaged 13.8 assists and 15.9 turnovers; the assist to turnover ratio is 0.87. Carolina has averaged 18.2 assists to 12.6 turnovers, a 1.45 ratio. But perhaps the most telling statistic is that Carolina averages more points off turnovers (19.1) than its opponents turn it over (15.9). The Tar Heels are capitalizing nearly every single time an opponent makes a mistake and turning it into points.
Of the 572 times Carolina's opponents have turned it over, Carolina has scored at least one point on 305 ensuing possessions. Contrast that with Carolina's opponents, who have taken 453 Carolina turnovers and failed to score or turned it over again 268 times, scoring at least one point just 175 times.
In the NCAA Tournament, opponents have 40 assists to 61 turnovers (a 0.66 ratio) while Carolina has 66 assists to 43 turnovers (1.53). But oddly enough, the Radford game was the one that Carolina had the most problems scoring off of turnovers, making five two-point field goals on 18 turnovers and missing ten shots and turning it over again three times. Since that game, Carolina has forced 43 turnovers and turned those into 57 points, missing just ten shots and making 17 two-pointers and four three-pointers.
Last season in the NCAA, Carolina had a 1.43 assist/turnover ratio and opponents had a 0.94 ratio. Carolina's loss of ball percentage by its NCAA opponents is identical this year and last year - 17.5 percent. But Carolina's loss of ball percentage is down (14.4% in last year's Tournament, 12.4% in this one).
Also, this Carolina team is doing what Roy Williams ideally would like it to do in every game - forcing turnovers while simultaneously limiting opponents' points per possession. Dean Smith ideally wanted to hold opponents to 0.75 points per possession or fewer and score one or more. Carolina is holding its NCAA opponents to 0.76 points per possession and scoring 0.98 points per possession. Last year in the NCAA Tournament, Carolina scored 1.03 points per possession but allowed 0.86.
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of four books on Carolina basketball.
