Skip to content
The Archive of The Carrboro Citizen
Menu
  • Home
  • News
  • Community
  • Schools
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Obituaries
  • Sports
  • Mill
  • Flora
  • Print Archive
  • About
Menu
Posted on January 2, 2010 by Staff

Frank Heath

Football … 

Early during the Meineke Bowl matchup between North Carolina and Pittsburgh, fans watching the game were treated to two spectacles in succession – both courtesy of UNC wide receiver running back Greg Little. On the field, Little made perhaps Carolina’s most sensational offensive play of the season, out leaping a couple of Pitt defenders to snare a lob pass from quarterback T.J. Yates along the right sideline of the end zone, then somehow landing a foot inbounds to score Carolina’s first TD of the big game. Then (for a moment I thought I was dreaming, but this actually happened) Little trotted to the back of the end zone and punted the ball into the stands, incurring a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty. I have watched a good bit of football, but I’ve never seen a college player punt the football in celebration of a touchdown – and likely never will again. 

This was the initial sign that the Tar Heels might have trouble winning the game. Because, although the touchdown put UNC up 7-3, Little’s subsequent antics gave an indication that the Tar Heels might not have been as fully focused on winning a football game as they could have been. 

The next ominous sign, for me, came when Pittsburgh drove the ball into UNC territory on its first three possessions, but only came away from those drives with three points; yet Carolina failed to capitalize and went into halftime trailing 13-10. Other indicators that this was not necessarily going to be the Tar Heels’ day were the several lack-of-focus penalties the Heels incurred throughout the game and a botched kickoff near the end of the first half that set up an easy Pitt field goal. 

In such a close game, little things do matter, and Carolina lost that battle, while the one big thing – Pitt running back Dion Lewis’ 159-yard night – favored the Panthers, enabling their 19-17 win. If Carolina wants to win close bowl games, or ball games, in 2010, it will need to put an end to the type of foolish mistakes it made in the Meineke Bowl. 

Ahh, basketball …

You might think that with fewer moving parts than the football team, the UNC basketball team’s issues would be simpler to diagnose and, hopefully, correct. 

Such does not seem to be the case thus far in the season. The Tar Heels are ranked No. 9 in the country – not a bad poll position for a “rebuilding” season. But listen to coach Roy Williams and one gets the impression that darker days may be near if his team does not begin to pay a lot more attention to details entering conference play. 

Williams’ comment after Monday’s win over Rutgers (“I am so ticked off, it’s unbelievable”) indicated severe frustration with the Tar Heels’ level of concentration and ability to keep in mind what the coaching staff has them work on in practices. So while watching this team develop may be “fun” for us fans, who can enjoy a change of pace after last season’s pressure cooker, these Tar Heels so far appear to be something of a pain in the neck for their hall of fame coach. The things his players are doing poorly, Williams indicates, are so numerous that he almost doesn’t know where to start. 

After Carolina’s recent game against Texas, in which Longhorns big man Dexter Pittman and swing forward Damion James out-muscled and out–hustled the Heels for seemingly every important rebound, James had this to say:

“All week, everyone’s telling us how North Carolina has the best front line in the country, how they like to run, how they do this and do that. Well, we just beat them at their own game.”

Contrary to what James has been told, this UNC basketball team does not have the best front line in the country. That was last year’s team. And although this team does endeavor to push the pace, it does not run anywhere nearly as effectively as last year’s team was able to run with Ty Lawson at the point and Wayne Ellington and Danny Green filling lanes. 

This year’s team may get to the point where it is very good at running a fast-break pace, and it may get to the point where its front line consistently plays up there among the best. Right now, it is feeling its way, which is not good enough for its coach. But that’s OK, and it’s his job to push them. 

Web Archive

© 2025 The Archive of The Carrboro Citizen | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme