University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heel Rundown: March 11
March 11, 2014 | General
Basketball
Marcus Paige was named second team All-America by The Sporting News, which means he will get an honored jersey in the Smith Center rafters...Carolina also did well in All-ACC balloting, as Paige was first team, James Michael McAdoo was third team, J.P. Tokoto earned all-defensive honors, Kennedy Meeks was picked to the All-Freshman team, and Paige was the recipient of the first-ever ACC Most Improved award...A collection of NCAA Tournament projections for the Tar Heels...Roy Williams has his pre-ACC Tournament press conference today, so stay tuned to the site for lots of basketball coverage today...
Just guessing: the Smith Center would not have fared well if it had been included in the research for this story...If you think you saw a lot of slow-paced ACC games this year, you're right:
The Big Ten was not the slowest-paced major conference this season. The ACC was, and it wasn't close. Strange days.
— John Gasaway (@JohnGasaway) March 10, 2014
Tar Heels in the NBA
Raymond Felton had 13 points in another Knicks win...Tyler Hansbrough scored 16 points and grabbed four rebounds...24 points and six assists for Ty Lawson in a Denver loss...Marvin Williams had 18 points against his old team, the Hawks...
Coach Sheed leaving his mark on the Pistons...No big deal, just John Henson (who had 10 points and eight rebounds last night) draining a three-pointer in practice from out of bounds:
Football
Hakeem Nicks is a free agent and wants to go to a team where he could be "the missing link"...The Chargers are said to be a top option for him and it looks like he wants a long-term deal rather than a one-year prove-it contract.
Olympic sports
Congratulations to Carolina track coach Harlis Meaders, who is the Southeast Region Coach of the Year...Big win for men's tennis, as they toppled No. 7 Texas and then turned around and swept Longwood...Freshman Jack Nyquist placed third at Monday's Zone Diving Championships...Carolina up to 19th in the new Baseball America poll...The women's lacrosse team visited the White House Monday:
Casual behind the scenes tour of the White House #HeelsMeetObama #goheelsgoamerica 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/GCVIGrg4T0
— Paige Hanson (@_paigehanson) March 10, 2014
And they were joined by some familiar faces--the women's soccer team:
Exploring the White House
#HeelsMeetObama pic.twitter.com/AApEfjeRIY
— UNC Women's Soccer (@UNCwomensSoccer) March 10, 2014
Here's President Obama's speech honoring the national champions:
This might be the Carolina athletics interview of the year. Men's tennis coach Sam Paul is interrupted by his daughter, who is belting "Let It Go" from the movie Frozen. Coach Paul grabs his daughter, gives some play-by-play on the song, then folds his arms and goes right back into the interview like nothing happened.
Today's games
Men's golf continues play at the General Hackler Championship at Murrells Inlet, S.C. Diving is at the NCAA Zone Diving Championships in Greensboro. And there are three events in Chapel Hill: men's lacrosse hosts Bucknell at 4 p.m. on ESPN3, baseball hosts George Mason at 4 p.m. on GoHeels TV, and softball hosts Campbell at 5 p.m.
Today in Tar Heel history
March 11, 2011: Carolina topped Miami, 61-59, in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. This might be one of the more overlooked comebacks in recent Tar Heel history, as they stormed back from 19 points down in the second half. Here's the video of the comeback, plus the Kendall Marshall-to-Tyler Zeller game-winner at the buzzer:
Long read
You've surely already read the extensive Dean Smith story that ran on ESPN.com last week. But you might not have seen a few deleted stories on Coach Smith offered by the author on his personal blog.
