Duke vs. North Carolina: Start Time, Date and TV Schedule
College basketball’s most celebrated rivalry resumes next week in Chapel Hill as the sixth-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels host the No. 5 Duke Blue Devils.
With the longtime foes once again tied atop the ACC standings, Wednesday’s winner will be in the driver’s seat for a top seed in March Madness.
Where: Dean E. Smith Center
When: Wednesday, Feb. 8 at 9:00 p.m. ET
Watch: ESPN, or live stream at ESPN3.com
Listen: Duke: WDNC-AM 620
North Carolina: 1360 WCHL-AM
Betting Line: Not available at this writing.
Key Injuries
North Carolina SG Dexter Strickland (knee) is out for the season, according to cbssports.com.
North Carolina SF Harrison Barnes (ankle) is listed as “in doubt” for Saturday vs. Maryland, as reported by the Charlotte Observer.
What’s At Stake?
If Florida State loses to Virginia tomorrow, sole possession of first place in the ACC will be on the line.
Regardless of the outcome in Tallahassee, Wednesday’s winner will gain a one-game edge over their archrivals and become the favorite for the ACC title and a No. 1 NCAA tournament seed.
What They’re Saying
Duke freshman standout Austin Rivers lauded his squad’s team-first approach in last night’s rout of Virginia Tech. “Everybody’s so unselfish now and it makes everything fun,” Rivers told USA Today.
Tar Heel point guard Kendall Marshall tried to look on the bright side of a 31-percent shooting performance by his team against Wake Forest. As reported by ESPN, Marshall observed, “You have to look at that as a positive that we are getting great shots and just keep working to get in extra shots and hope they go in next time.”
Duke Player to Watch
G Tyler Thornton got his first start of the season last night against the Hokies and put up minimal numbers in 28 minutes of action. Thornton is out there for his defense—his biggest edge over former starter Seth Curry—but he’ll need to produce more than two points and one assist against the Tar Heels.
North Carolina Player to Watch
C Tyler Zeller is coming off a monster 18-point, 18-rebound performance against Wake Forest. Duke has plenty of size to throw at the seven-footer, so he’ll need to be on his game again to avoid a serious letdown.
Key Matchup
North Carolina PF John Henson vs. Duke PF Josh Hairston. Even if Hairston plays only limited minutes (as he did against Virginia Tech), the 6’7” sophomore isn’t going to be able to avoid matching up with UNC’s 6’11” junior.
For all that Hairston’s defense got him the start over Ryan Kelly, he’ll be hard-pressed to keep Henson from dominating inside.
Prediction
If Barnes’ ankle gets worse and he turns out to be sidelined, UNC won’t have enough perimeter weapons to run with the deep Duke backcourt.
Assuming the more likely outcome that Barnes is good to go, though, the Dean Dome crowd and Duke’s inexperienced new starters will be enough to swing the game in the Tar Heels’ favor.
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Kahn: Time to let the roster ‘just breathe’
MINNEAPOLIS Just a week after his team signed fourth-year forward Kevin Love to a three-year contract extension worth more than 60 million, Timberwolves’ president of basketball operations David Kahn finds himself very much in the middle of a franchise turnaround. Signing Love was just one piece of a larger puzzle Kahn and the rest of the Timberwolves’ decision makers are trying to put together, but it was an integral step in Kahn’s vision for the franchise.
Wednesday night’s 109-99 loss may have been somewhat of a flashback to last season, but Kahn knows the system he’s trying to create will take time to coalesce. For now, patience and flexibility are the keys to his approach and outlook.
“We’re in a really tough conference, much tougher than the other conference, so I didn’t know what our win-loss record would be,” Kahn said. “I just thought it would be a fun year and that we would improve, that we would show maybe even some dramatic signs of improvement.”
So for now, improvement isn’t something Kahn, in his third season with the team, needs to quantify. What he’s doing with the Timberwolves is still in its early stages, and many of the moves the team has made and will make are going to take time to transform the team into a winner. Things could go very right as they sometimes have this season or very wrong. That’s the uncertainty that comes with trying to turn a losing team into a contender, but it’s also a situation that can have its thrills, and this season has certainly not been lacking in those exhilarating moments.
Kahn’s exclusive Q&A with FOXSportsNorth.com allowed him to take stock of a season that has produced a 10-12 start but also stamped Minnesota as one of the most exciting young teams in the league.
FSN: Can you reflect a little on everything that happened last week with signing Kevin Love, and what that does for this team?KAHN: I think that if Kevin just continues on the same pace that he’s been playing at and stays healthy, I told him to his face that this will be the first of what I hope many extensions at max money that he signs. Nobody would be more pleased about that development than me. I think he deserves the fact that next year, and for the next four years for that matter, there won’t be any instance where he will open his paycheck and be less compensated than anybody in his draft class other than Derrick Rose. …. I think that Kevin is making enormous strides in every way. His defense is improving. I can see him beginning to accept the responsibility of being a team leader. He’s as productive as almost any player in the league, and so I think the kid is as driven a kid as I’ve ever been around. He’s on a path that few NBA players have ever been on. This would be his rookie season if he’d stayed all four years at UCLA. I’m very happy for him.
FSN: Talking to Kevin over the past few weeks, he’s said several times that this team is moving in the right direction but that it still needs a few pieces, a few more players. Is that something you agree with, and is signing him sort of an implicit acknowledgement of that?KAHN: Kevin is a cornerstone, and the way Ricky (Rubio) is performing, he may well be a cornerstone. We’re certainly not taking the opinion that this is it, we’re done. But I certainly don’t want to send a message to the players that we’re looking to make some wholesale changes. That’s not very helpful for team chemistry, either. I think we’re very much in between. I think the most important thing we can do now for the next four to six weeks — now that we have everybody healthy for once — is to let the team play and just breathe. I don’t expect us to be making many changes this season. But to Kevin’s point, yes, we’ll do everything in our power to surround him and the others with a championship-caliber team.
FSN: Obviously, this commitment to change began long before you signed Kevin. Getting Rick Adelman as the team’s coach had to be a huge part of that vision, so what was it you saw in him that made him really fit into your plans?KAHN: He was in many ways a near-perfect, if not perfect, candidate. His track record spoke for itself: instant credibility for the team. I think that it had a way of permeating the entire roster. There was no way for the players to ever wonder now if it’s (losing) because of anything other than the players. It really sort of put the onus on them. Rick has a magnificent demeanor with them. He’s very understated, but he gets his point across when he wants to get it across, and he’s flexible. He plays to their strengths. He’s creative. I think that they really have enjoyed being with him, and I think the whole staff in itself has done a great job.
FSN: So in going about these various moves drafting people, signing people, getting a new coach do you look to other franchises for a model of how to go about the process of change, or is it much more of an internal discussion?KAHN: It’s a bit of both. There isn’t a blueprint for how to build a championship team, or else everybody would do it. But I did feel that the way we were positioned when I arrived here two and a half years ago, the only real credible way I could think of to do it was to build through the draft because we didn’t have a year coming up where we would have enormous cap room. We would have cap room, as we did have two summers ago, but we didn’t have the kind of enormous cap room that you need sometimes to do really big things. I felt that since I wanted to build something here that had some sustainability, building through the draft made more sense so we could hopefully accumulate a core group of young players.
FSN: Piggybacking off that idea of building through the draft, tell me a bit about your choice of Derrick Williams and what you saw in him that fit into your vision.KAHN: Well, he’s athletic. He’s capable of playing multiple positions, two at least. He can both play outside and he can play inside. I like the way, especially with Ricky, he can run. He can play an up-tempo style of basketball. So I just thought that he was a fit, and also from time to time, as you know, it wasn’t all the draft. We also did trades to get (Michael) Beasley, (Darko) Milicic and (Anthony) Randolph. They were all acquired here for frankly very little, so we tried to be entrepreneurial. We tried to be opportunistic. But even when we traded for people, we tried to stay young. It was important that the roster have some youth to it so that we could identify people who would be young when we identified a core, and then we could advance with them.
FSN: Obviously it’s still early, but did you imagine this level of success, that the team would be having what’s probably its best start in five years?KAHN: I didn’t know what to think in terms of our improvement and how quickly it would come. I told people, though, I think I was very clear that I thought it would be a fun year. Just fun. I thought that there would be a feeling of newness, a lot of excitement around some of the newer players. I thought about that excitement around Rick’s arrival. I didn’t know what to expect in terms of wins and losses because you’re never playing in a vacuum. I just thought that we would be a lot better.
FSN: How important is it for you, at this stage, to have those fluid expectations, where you’re not locked into a certain record?KAHN: At this stage of our development, that’s where we’re at. But as we advance we will have more concrete goals: making playoffs as we go down the road, certain levels of the playoffs, second round, whatever. I think that we have an opportunity, knock on wood, if everybody stays healthy, over time, the next three to seven years, we could be a team that’s one of the better teams in the conference on an annual basis.
FSN: When you go into that locker room, there seems to be a really good chemistry. And with so many new players, so many young players, sometimes stuff like chemistry you have to leave to luck. How refreshing is that to you?KAHN: I know that our team is close, that the players like each other. And frankly, we’ve had good locker rooms every year I’ve been here. We haven’t had players that were difficult. But I have heard anecdotally because I don’t hang around in the locker room; it would be inappropriate for me to do so but what I heard is that it’s a very positive atmosphere. The guys enjoy each other. Unselfishness is one of the hallmarks of being a great team. You have to have a locker room that is like that.
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Stormy patch for Magic, Dwight Howard as decision time nears
The Orlando Magic have lost five of six games in spectacular fashion as decision time nears on Dwight Howard’s future.
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It’s Time for Tiago Splitter to Start over DeJuan Blair for San Antonio Spurs
It’s still too soon to write DeJuan Blair off entirely. Despite only averaging 7.2 points and four rebounds in his last five games, he’s still scoring a career high 10.1 a game in his third season with San Antonio.
That doesn’t mean Blair is still the best man to start alongside Tim Duncan, though. As DeJuan struggles to rediscover his game, Splitter has earned high grades for his recent play.
The Brazilian big man had a career 25 and 10 performance against Houston on January 21st, highlighting an impressive stretch in which he emerged as a key part of the bench unit. He scored 10 or more in six straight games, and has averaged 11 and six over his last 10 while playing over 21 minutes a contest.
Those are great numbers for a 6’11” center getting limited minutes, and Tiago’s play has stood out even when the statistics haven’t. In his 27 minutes against the Mavericks, Splitter only scored eight points but hustled for a couple of huge baskets down the stretch of a tight game.
The heroic effort by a bench unit (anchored by Splitter) brought the Spurs back from a 17-point deficit to force overtime and nearly steal the game from the Mavericks’ starters.
As impressive as Splitter has been off the bench, you’ve got to wonder how he’d look as a starter. Splitter has a good four inches on Blair and would be a much longer complement to Tim Duncan. There’s no question he’d give the Spurs a different look defensively on the front line.
Popovich has been known to alternate starting lineups in years past (switching Finley and Ginobili at the 2, for example). There’s also a good argument to be made for switching Splitter and Blair, at least when the matchups call for it. Against taller front-lines (like the Lakers), Splitter might make more sense. Against teams without the size, Blair could continue to get some starts.
Currently, playing Splitter and Duncan together creates a few problems for Popovich’s rotation. When the second unit comes in, Pop is forced to play Blair and Bonner together more frequently, leaving San Antonio at a severe size disadvantage down low. The Spurs may be able to find creative solutions (e.g. a more staggered substitution pattern), but there are also signs San Antonio is looking for a more drastic solution to their undersized front court.
Rumors abound that the Spurs are interested in either trading for Chris Kaman or signing Kenyon Martin when his team in China frees him to sign in the NBA. Either acquisition might make starting Splitter a moot point. Kaman and Martin both represent a potential upgrade over Blair and would, at the very least, give San Antonio more size up front.
On the other hand, acquiring another post-player might give the Spurs the flexibility to start Splitter while bringing the more experienced veteran (e.g. Kaman or Martin) off the bench. With more size to pair with either Blair or Bonner, it would be easier to justify playing Splitter and Timmy together.
Of course, if the Spurs did end up acquiring Kaman, there’s a good chance San Antonio would have to part with either Splitter or Blair. The two young bigs each feature player efficiency ratings over 18 and are the closest thing to trade assets that R.C. Buford has to work with.
Whether the Spurs make a move or go forward with their current personnel, don’t be surprised to see a shake-up with the starting lineup. As Duncan increasingly patrols the high post on offense, San Antonio needs a companion who can hit the glass and make an impact on defense.
At the end of the day, this may be a decision that has more to do with hustle and focus than it does scoring and statistics.
Either way, Splitter makes a strong case for a chance at starting.
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Not this time: Celtics survive Cavaliers’ comeback
Paul Pierce scored 20 points and the Boston Celtics avenged a disappointing loss to Cleveland two days earlier.
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Vote: Is Griffin’s dunk the best of all time?
Usually we don’t like to choose between greatness. But Blake Griffin may have forced our hand.
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NBA Trade Rumors: Why Right Now Is Best Time for Orlando to Trade Dwight Howard
All right, Orlando, it’s time to bite the bullet and pull the trigger on a trade for disgruntled star Dwight Howard.
The Magic are falling fast, losing six out of their last eight games, and sitting at 12-9 overall. If the season ended now, the Magic would be an underwhelming six seed in the Easter Conference playoffs, which isn’t impressive considering they have Superman on their team.
The only problem right now with Orlando’s Superman is that he’s turning on his own teammates, calling them out for “not wanting to play.” While that may have been true, now isn’t the time for Howard to be calling out teammates for not wanting to play in Orlando because, well, that’s exactly what he is doing.
Howard hasn’t necessarily made it a secret that he wants out of Orlando, and the emphasis he is continually putting on his desire to be traded is finally starting to hurt the team.
The Magic could deal with the insistent trade talk surround star center Dwight Howard while they were winning games. When the Magic were 10-3, trading Howard seemed like the least of their worries, but now that they’ve lost four in a row in horrifying fashion, the Magic need to start seriously considering putting Howard on the nearest plane out of Orlando.
Sure, the Magic are a better team with Howard on their roster, even if he’s ripping apart teammates and playing like he doesn’t care.
But the one thing the Magic need to worry about is the possibility of Howard becoming more of a distraction for his teammates and the franchise as a whole, rather than him focusing on being the most dominant center in the NBA.
Now is the best time to trade Howard, not just because he’s hurting the team, but also because now is the time that other teams will be willing to give up the most in return for the disgruntled center.
As we move closer to the All-Star break, starting on Feb. 24, teams are beginning to understand now more than ever the chemistry that exists on their teams and what their team needs to get them to that “next level.”
There are a few teams, like the Nets, Warriors, Bulls and Lakers, that could benefit from bringing talent like Howard, and they also just so happen to be the teams that could offer the Magic the most in return for D12.
With the way things are going in Orlando, the Magic could go from being a playoff contender to a team vying for a lottery pick very quickly, especially if they keep Howard on their roster.
The way Howard is acting and playing isn’t benefiting the Magic in anyway. It’s taking the focus away from the rest of their playoff-caliber roster, and it’s becoming a massive distraction for the entire organization.
Look at it this way, Orlando. Trading Howard right now could very well end any hopes you have of making the 2012 NBA playoffs, but at the same time, keeping Howard on your roster could result in the same exact fate.
Unloading Howard now would at least ensure he doesn’t walk at the end of the 2011-12 season without getting anything for him in return, which would be the absolute last thing the Magic need.
Remember what happened to the Magic when they let Shaquille O’Neal walk in the summer of 1996?
Holding onto Howard for the entirety of the 2011-12 season and letting him walk at the end of it would lead the Magic to the exact same place letting O’Neal go in ’96 led them—to being a team that missed the playoffs or made a first-round exit in the following 11 years.
Come on, Orlando—even a blind man could see that Howard putting on a No. 12 Orlando Magic jersey every night isn’t what the Magic need right now.
The Magic need to trade away D12, and they absolutely need to do it right now.
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15 Underrated College Basketball Teams Peaking at the Right Time
The 2011-12 college basketball regular season is almost three-fourths over with and conference tournaments will start in early March.
Teams are fighting for position in their respective conferences amid arguably the most important part of the schedule. You want your school to be playing its best ball in its final remaining games and roll into the postseason on a hot streak.
Although we’ve seen big-name teams begin to do the opposite—such as the defending national champions, the Connecticut Huskies, who have lost four of six—there are some starting to rise from the abyss at just the right time.
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Illinois Basketball: Why It’s Time to Say Goodbye to Bruce Weber
I remember when Illinois basketball was actually fun to watch.
However, those days are long gone.
Now watching an Illinois game is more like going to the proctologist—you know it’s not going to end well and you’re just waiting for it to happen.
Many times you even feel like Chevy Chase in the 80′s classic Fletch, when he asks the doctor if he’s using the whole fist during the examination.
In other words, it has just become an absolutely painful experience to sit through an entire Illinois basketball game.
The big question is, how did it get to this point?
Since the 2005-2006 season—which incidentally was Dee Brown’s last season on campus—Illinois has exactly one NCAA tournament victory.
That’s right, one.
In addition to that, they do not have a conference title during that span, and they have finished second only once, and that year they actually tied for second.
This is pretty sad for a program that claims to be a “basketball” school.
Many fans have been clamoring for Bruce Weber to leave town for a few years now, but I was never really one of those people—until now.
Weber seems like a great guy, and he has done some nice things at Illinois, but I think it’s clear that Illinois needs to go in a different direction.
At this point, I don’t really know how anyone can defend him.
Honestly, what has he done to make you believe that the Illini will be anything more than mediocre?
He has had numerous players come and go, but the results have all been pretty much the same—middle of the pack in the Big Ten.
Illinois is better than that and shouldn’t have to settle for anything less, which apparently Weber has.
He seems content to finish in the middle of the conference, get an average seed in the NCAA tournament, (maybe) win a game in the tournament, and call it a season.
That infuriates most Illini faithful and it should.
It’s not like the Illini roster is full of guys who can’t play.
Early on Weber was criticized for not landing the big recruits, but since 2009 he has landed nine top 100 recruits, and yet the results are the same.
Nothing changes. The Illini continue to look like the same team every year, no matter who is on the court.
So is it the system or the players?
At this point I think you have to say it’s the system—meaning the coaching staff.
They continue to run the “motion” offense even though their personnel may be better suited for something else.
Meyers Leonard should not continue to get the ball 25 feet from the basket with the shot clock winding down. I’m not sure why this is so difficult to understand. The guy is an athletic freak and at 7’1″ he needs to continue to be fed the ball underneath the hoop. He’s still got some developing to do with his game, but for the love of everything holy, GET HIM THE BALL DOWN LOW!
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Atlanta Hawks’ Top 10 Worst Draft Picks of All Time
After losing starting center Al Horford, the Atlanta Hawks have been struggling to win games over sub .500 teams. They’ve been getting demolished by teams with winning records and are still paying Joe Johnson’s contract.
We figured it was an appropriate time, then, to examine some of the team’s greatest blunders though the years in the NBA draft (of which there are many).
You’ve got to find some humor through the pain, right?
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