“Tyler Hansbrough has always been known for his points and rebounds, but on Thanksgiving Day in Maui, North Carolina’s All-American forward came through with a timely assist.

After winning this week’s Maui Invitational, the top-ranked Tar Heels were set to begin a long trek back to Chapel Hill, N.C., when their travel plans hit a snag. As American Airlines Flight No. 6 backed away from the gate, a passenger in seat 25C was discovered unconscious.

When attempts to wake him failed, a flight attendant yelled for assistance from some “big, strong basketball players.” Within seconds, Hansbrough had sprung from his seat six rows up and rushed to the man’s side.

Hansbrough, teammate Deon Thompson and video coordinator Eric Hoots then lifted 45-year-old Melvin Ridley into the air. Holding him chest-high, they carried him to the galley, where paramedics rendered aid for nearly 30 minutes.

Once Ridley became responsive, he was removed from the plane and transported to a nearby hospital.

“It was a scary situation,” North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams said, “but I was proud to see how our guys responded. I’m sure there are some people who saw that and thought, ‘Those are some really good kids on the North Carolina basketball team.’”

Lester Banks, Ridley’s cousin, said Ridley was diabetic and that he had a history of heart problems. Banks said Friday morning that doctors in Maui ran a battery of tests on Ridley and determined that he had a seizure. He was scheduled to be released later today and has been cleared to take the next flight home, Banks said. Ridley lives in Silsbee, Texas.

“It’s a blessing that all of this happened before the plane left the ground,” Banks said. “If this had happened up in the air … who knows how it would’ve turned out.

“I wasn’t able to tell those players how much I appreciated their help. We’re going to do everything we can to get in touch with them and to let them know how much (their actions) meant to us. They were class acts.””

Let’s see you top that Duke!

Post from: EveryJoe

Is there anything Tyler Hansbrough and the Tar Heels can’t do?

In no particular order and in no particular feeling of confidence either:

**** Scoff at it, just get mad at it UofA fans. Your team will lay an egg this year but totally get hot and win the NIT.

^ Addition by subtraction in Texas—ludicrous to say maybe, but D.J. and A.J. were beguiling wonders on the court that irrevocably held back the Longhorns from placing more impactful punches against stronger fighters.

$ The Spartans will further cement themselves as the college version of the 21st century Detroit Pistons. Each has won one championship, yet both fan bases are becoming impatient with the standstill success. So much talent yet so little to show for it.

#!#@ Calling Conference USA a power conference was a little wishful. That statement, although made while sober, still feels dirty, but it could end up alright. Just hoping Vaden or some other power conference guy can make a run at the scoring title.

? Calling Northwestern a NIT team was an undemonstrative springboard to tomfoolery, as this season I will probably be glued to all news NW basketball, akin to the energy I gave them during the Jitim Young and Tavaras Hardy days.

(Preview of Big Ten season)—Probably the most accurate prediction of the Big Ten season as you will find, minus the Michigan placement. No Big Ten quality pg will be available to suit up for the Wolvies until the second semester.—-

% Hasheem Thabeet is ready for a monster year and a long run into the tourney. It would not be surprising to see the Huskies stay in the top 5 for the entire season, especially if Thabeet can average 14.5ppg, 9 reb and more than 4 blk. Just think about the terror an offensively skilled Thabeet would be.

高人 Speaking of impact big men, one should keep an eye out for UNC-Asheville’s Kenny George. When fresh, he’s really not much different than your rudimentary 7 foot center, except for the fact George can regularly hit free throws and, while this might not seem feasible, still surprises many guards with his length. After awhile you’d think they would find new ways to attack a 7’7 dude, but often they make the same mistake over and over. However the time to attack George is when he’s sucking major air. Not exactly an original idea, yet, for huge guy, the opportunities present themselves much more frequently.

It’s almost as of George has decent enough foot speed to move laterally and react, but it’s the body that often takes awhile to catch up. If the coach can really substitute him frequently and wisely, UNC-Asheville will be the best in the Big South.

The next two are direct matchup predictions.

$$$ The Big Ten will once again fall to the superior ACC and it will, as it has always been, be because of the significant back of the conference weakness’s of the Big Ten. Need I go further?

\&/ The Fighting Irish will beat the Tar Heels in the finals of the Maui Invitational.

So with that out of the way,

#1

My pick to win the whole enchilada.

Discuss.

photo credit: Newscom

Post from: EveryJoe

Ahhh Finally

The Challenge tips off on the first of December with Wisconsin visiting Virginia Tech.

After the opening day 5 games on each of the next 2 days will take place. There are some salivating matchups for sure.

Duke at Purdue

UNC vs. MSU at Ford Field– ok, UNC at MSU

Ohio St. at Miami

Eh, I guess know “salivating” is more of a subjective take on these games.

But those three matchups just about do it for me.

Is this the year the Big Ten will amass more than 5 wins in the challenge?

Nope.

7-4 will be the ACC’s record for this year’s challenge.

The rundown…

Wisconsin at Virginia Tech
Everyone is back from Tech save Deron Washington. A.D. Vassalo might be the best baller most of America doesn’t know about.

On second thought, Wiscy’s Trevon Hughes might be the best unknown dude. At any rate, Tech must shoot the ball better from downtown if they are to escape Bo’s onslaught of a defense.

Edge- Wiscy

Ohio St. at Miami
The deep and deadly Hurricanes will stomp the Buckeyes, of course.

Edge- Miami

Iowa at Boston College
Both of these teams suck, but Tyrese Rice brings excitement and scoring to the game. Iowa could overtake the cellar from Indiana before it’s all said and done this year.

Edge- BC

Clemson at Illinois
Clemson returns 7 of its top 10 players from last year’s NCAA tourney team, including the Eric Piatkowski look alike, Terrence Oglesby. I vividly remember a game last year where Oglesby jacked up about 18 threes and hit about 2 of them. Actually it was a 1 for 11 performance against Villanova in the first round last year. Look for a strong game from Terrence.

Edge- Clemson

Duke at Purdue
This will be one of those early tests for Purdue, one in which will help sort out the veracity of the heavily pro-Purdue prognosticators.

Expect a shootout.

Edge- Purdue

Virginia at Minnesota
The teams look to be even, but the coaches are far from it.

Edge- Minny

Indiana at Wake Forest
Wake will easily win this one. Wake looks like it could give anybody in the country problems as all five starters return and a highly touted class comes in.

Edge- Wake

Penn St. at Georgia Tech
Tech could be an ACC dark horse this year. Penn St. needs the Crispin brothers back.

Edge- GTech

Michigan at Maryland
Greivis vs Corperryale.

Michigan will turn the ball over 20 plus times but still be within 6 or 8 when it’s over.

I live in Michigan. Bet on it. No really.

Edge- Maryland

UNC at MSU (Ford Field)

MSU fans get loud. Ford Field is way bigger than the Breslin.

Unfortunately,

Hansbrough and Deon Thompson>>> Goran Suton and Marquise Gray

Edge- UNC

Florida St. at Northwestern

(Snorts and giggles)

The Seminoles will get their asses handed to them by an academic school that has had virtually no success in basketball, hence the giggling and snorting. This will feel like losing to Duke in football. Florida St. will have some mighty trouble this year, they lost too much from last year’s team. Northwestern is tough at home.

Edge- NW

The ACC, albeit not looking like a super strong conference this year, will still end up tearing apart most of the sluggish teams from the B10.

Not really going out on a limb here with the history of this challenge and all, but you’ll forget about this one after you read my final two death wishes… er, predictions.

Post from: EveryJoe

Prediction 8: ACC/Big Ten Challenge

Will the lack of depth hurt UNC?

The announcing crew is  Mike Patrick and Len Elmore. Let’s get to the opening tip…

• Kent State comes out in an extremely aggressive man-to-man defense – lots of pressure up top on the guards, overplaying the passing lanes – and it results in an early backdoor dunk by Tyler Hansbrough.
• Another easy dunk by Hansbrough – the Golden Flashes are trying to single team Hansbrough, and it isn’t working – UNC up 8 to 4 early on.
• Note to Kent State head coach Jim Christian – Hansbrough is a Player of the Year candidate for a reason – he can finish around the basket. You might try a few double teams here and there. Just a thought.
• The Golden Flashes, who only average 11 turnovers a game, already have 3 – and we’re only 5 minutes into the game.
• Pretty top-of-the-key jumper off a curl by UNC’s Wayne Ellington – very pretty stroke. UNC up 10 to 4 at the first T.V. timeout.
• Kent State is very deliberate on offense – lots of movement, off-the-ball screens, backdoor cuts and slashes to the basket. They are 10-2 for a reason. Very sound fundamentally.
• Kent State decides to triple team Hansbrough on the low post, who proceeds to kick the ball out to Danny Green who nails a deep three. You need to double team Hansbrough and make the Tar Heel outside shooters beat you.
• Hansbrough puts up an ugly shot out of the double team – very poor decision. If Kent State can rattle Hansbrough enough, this game might be interesting.
• Long range three by Mike Scott brings the Flashes to within 4.
• UNC up 19-13 with 11:21 to go in the half.  Kent State cannot afford to get into a track meet with the Tar Heels, and they are doing a good job at slowing the game down.
• Lawson comes back into the game after a long breather – not having Frasor around definitely hurts the Tar Heels point guard play.
• UNC is now up 24-13 – the Heels are coming up with every loose ball.
• Hansbrough is absolutely mugged on a breakaway dunk attempt by Al Fisher, who is called for the flagrant foul. Fisher is 6′1″… Hansbrough is 6′11″. You’ve got to give Fisher credit for not being afraid of the big man. Hansbrough hits the two foul shots to push the lead to 26-13.
• Lawson hits another three after a nice kick-out pass from Green. Hansbrough forces a traveling call on Haminn Quaintance – #8 for the Flashes – and the game is starting to slip away from Kent State. UNC up 29-13. Somewhere in Florida, Dick Vitale is whispering (no yelling yet Dick) “Take a T.O. baby!!!!!” Christian somehow hears Vitale and calls timeout.
• UNC is shooting 52% from the field so far, Kent State is shooting 42%.
• Ellington swoops in from the right side for an easy layup – UNC up 37-19 at the 3:42 mark.
• Kent States is running some good sets, but they are missing some easy shots.
• Fisher hits a trey off a Quaintance screen to bring the Flashes within 13 with under a minute to go.
• Williams calls a timeout with 35.5 seconds left after Quaintance hits an easy lay-up – UNC up 41-30.
• Ellington hits a three from downtown Charlotte to push lead to 44-32. UNC had allowed an easy alley-oop dunk before Ellington’s long range bomb. Williams cannot be happy with their letdown on the defensive end of the floor. Once you have an opponent down, you need to go for the jugular, and UNC took their foot off the pedal.

2nd half

• UNC comes out with two quick turnovers. You can actually see Roy Williams’ hair turning more gray with each turnover.
• Quaintance with a nifty block on Lawson’s dunk attempt leads to an easy layup for the Flashes. UNC up 53-38 with 15:56 to go.
• Deon Thompson with a nice turnaround J from the low left block – Thompson has been very quiet this game, and with his size and athleticism, UNC needs to feed him the ball more.
• Kent State with another extra pass to free up Fisher for the backdoor layup. Kent State hanging around at 57-42.
• UNC forces a turnover off their midcourt trap that leads to a Hanbrough flush – Carolina now up 19.
• With Quaintance on the bench, UNC is looking to Hansbrough more, and he’s coming through with some good shots. Carolina up 63-42 with 11 minutes left.
• Ellington with yet another bucket from the elbow off a screen – he is an absolute pure shooter.
• Lawson penetrates and hits the up-and-under layup to push the lead to 23. Both teams are getting a little sloppy on both ends of the floor, and UNC is getting the better of it.
• Hansbrough bullies his way through two Kent State defenders for the basket and foul.  UNC up comfortably 72-48 with 7:47 left.
• UNC is shooting 71% in the 2nd half, but they are still allowing some defensive lapses that need to be corrected.
• Give Kent State credit – even though they are down big, they are staying within their offense and are not forcing shots. They are getting some good looks, but can’t seem to find the bottom of the net.
• Mike Scott just came flying through the lane, grabbed a rebound with his right hand and sent it home with authority. “That was awesome, baby!!! Scott is a high-flyer!!!”. Unfortunately, it was only worth two points.
• Hansbrough leaves the game at the 5:00 minute mark with 25 points. Ellington follows him to the sidelines with 17 points. Looks like its garbage time.
• Final score: UNC 90-61.

Kent State showed everybody the blueprint for beating UNC – take away the Tar Heels transition game and force them to run their half court sets. Carolina was much less effective in the half court game and showed some vulnerabilities.

Unfortunately for the Golden Flashes, they didn’t have the depth to hang with Carolina for the full 40 minutes.

With athletes like Lawson, Green and Thompson, UNC is deadly when they push the tempo. And if you choose to single team Hansbrough, you might as well not even show up.

Post from: EveryJoe

1/2 – Kent State versus North Carolina – as it happens

Frasor was a valuable cog in head coach Roy Williams’ rotation and his absence will definitely impact the Tar Heels as they enter the ACC conference regular season schedule.

But as long as Hansbrough, Ellington, Ty Lawson, Danny Green and Deon Thompson stay healthy, the Heels are still the odds-on favorites to win the national championship next March.

Post from: EveryJoe

12/28 – UNC beats Nevada, loses Frasor for season