Frank Heath
The men
UNC’s men’s basketball team fell with a clunk from the ranks of unbeaten on Sunday, losing in a dull, cluttered performance to surprising Boston College, which had been picked pre-season to finish second to last in the ACC. Instead, the Eagles are 13-2, ranked in the Top 25 and, for now, atop the league.
Carolina, which dropped from No. 1 in the country to last place in its own conference in the space of two hours Sunday, seemed to suffer from the “we’re too good to try that hard†syndrome until after the tone of this game had been set, at which point BC had decided it could in fact compete with the Tar Heels.
The UNC loss has been picked up, examined and dissected from all different angles over the past few days. The prevailing opinion is that Carolina may not be as dominant this season as people have been guessing unless the Tar Heels (a) pick up their defense and (b) become, or act, tougher and more aggressive.
Boston College seemed to say to UNC, “hey, you guys may be All-Americans and whatever, but we want to win also and if you don’t punch back, we’re going to take your candy.†It remains to be seen how Carolina will respond to this loss, which definitely qualifies as a “wake-up call.†But if comparisons can be made to last season, the Tar Heels will find ways to at least shore up the problem areas and win a lot of games. That is a big “if,†of course.
Whether the Heels will bounce back well enough to cruise all the way to ACC and NCAA glory remains another question. A couple of statistics that might be good indicators to keep an eye on are Carolina’s free-throw shooting and rebound-margin numbers. In 2007-08, the Tar Heels ranked at or near the top nationally all season in both of these focus-and-hustle/ toughness stats; right now, through 14 games, they lag behind last year’s pace significantly.
It is also likely that Carolina will look more like a team as its toughest and most fundamentally sound player, Marcus Ginyard, rounds back into shape from his foot injury — assuming he is able to fully recover.
A good measure of how well Carolina will identify its mistakes and weaknesses — and work to correct them — could come this week against College Of Charleston on Wednesday night and then at Wake Forest on Sunday. The Deacs, one of four unbeaten teams remaining, will no doubt be sky high for a Top 5 match-up on their home court.
The women
The UNC women, thankfully, are still carrying the undefeated flag for Carolina. Led by surprising junior forward Jessica Breland (14 points, 7 reb. per game) and senior all-star candidate Rashanda McCants, the Tar Heels have won 14 straight in impressive fashion and have earned the No. 2 national ranking. The Heels begin ACC play Thursday night on the road against 10-4 Clemson and then return home for a couple more tough league games against Virginia (13-2) and N.C. State before a Jan. 19 marquee showdown with top-ranked Connecticut at the Smith Center.
The gridiron
And finally, the Carolina football season came a bit more full circle in the past week with the 29-23 loss by N.C. State to Rutgers in the Papajohns.com Bowl and the announcement that junior wide receiver Hakeem Nicks will be heading to the NFL a year early. Nicks has been Carolina’s most focused, consistent and productive player in many years, and no one will be more deserving of a big-time pro career than he is.
And somehow, Rutgers managed to return a bit of balance and perspective to a football season that saw UNC blast the Scarlet Knights early, 44-12, on a memorable Thursday night in Piscataway, only to suffer an equally crushing beating (41-10) at the hands of State in Chapel Hill two months later. By knocking off the Wolfpack, the Knights reminded everyone that each game is still decided out there on the field, not in the stat box or the preview articles.