By Frank Heath
Sports Columnist
The end of college basketball season often means that sports fans (especially the ones around here for whom sports = Carolina Basketball) go into hibernation or withdrawal. But this particular spring, there’s been almost enough going on to keep even the die-hardin’est of UNC fans distracted – and for late April, that’s saying something.
Across campus and beyond, there’s been a veritable beehive of athletic activity.
For example …
In men’s tennis, Carolina battled its way to the ACC Tournament finals before falling Sunday against a fresher opponent in Virginia. The Tar Heels had won tough matches Friday and Saturday against Virginia Tech and Florida State to reach their first final since 2002.
Carolina freshman Chris Kearney was selected ACC Rookie of the Year and Sam Paul was named league Coach of the Year. The Tar Heels, now 23-3, began the season 20-0 (for the first time since 1966!) and will more than likely be rewarded by being selected as host for an NCAA Regional, beginning May 11th.
The women’s tennis team lost in the ACC semis Saturday, but should still reach the NCAA Tournament. Senior Jenna Long and freshman Katrina Tsang were named All-ACC. Over on the lacrosse pitch, the women’s team is 13-3 entering the ACC Tournament. The Heels vaulted to an 8-0 start this year and were ranked No. 1 nationally at one point, but lost some momentum toward the end and dropped their regular-season finale Friday against Duke. They play Virginia Tech Thursday in a first-round ACC Tournament game.
After a pair of losses to Florida State last Friday and Saturday in Tallahassee, the Carolina baseball team rebounded Sunday to clobber the Noles with a 20-hit barrage and take a hard-earned 10-6 win – the Tar Heels’ first victory at FSU since 2003. The diamond Heels’ big week of rivalry continued Tuesday night as Carolina whipped, 10-0, hated in-state foes ECU at Boshamer. They play a three-game series against NC State in Raleigh over the weekend, with the first game Friday at 7 p.m.
ECU and State seem to be Carolina’s biggest rivals in many sports, largely because of the number of in-state players on both sides of the field.
In other news of potential interest to Carrborites, beloved 1990s Tar Heel hoopsters Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, Rasheed Wallace and Jerry Stackhouse are all prominent presences in the just-cranking-up NBA playoffs. Wallace’s Detroit Pistons and Stackhouse’s Dallas Mavericks are the best bets to go places this year, although the Mavs unexpectedly dropped game one against Golden State, with Stack going 0-6 with five turnovers (blecchh).
And Jeffrey Jordan, the son of Michael, did better than some expected in his recent appearance in Michael’s annual high school all-star game at Madison Square Garden. JJ scored nine points. It will be interesting to see how that young man develops as a college
player, probably with a mid-major school.
Getting down to the meat and potatoes (yes, there is football and basketball news, even now), the UNC football team finished up its first spring practice under Butch Davis with some much-needed positive momentum.
Among other notables, red-shirt freshman quarterback T.J. Yates impressed many – including Davis and the coaching staff – with his passing and poise during the spring game and in practices.
Lastly, but of course not leastly, Carolina basketball freshman Brandan Wright finally announced his decision on Monday to head for the NBA. This means that Tar Heel fans can get down to the serious business of thinking concretely about what next season’s team, with all returnees now accounted for, will look and play like.
It’s likely that rising 6’ 9†sophs Deon Thompson and Alex Stepehson will gobble up Wright’s abandoned minutes. With Reyshawn Terry graduating, the Tar Heels will need the rebounding help those guys can bring; but wing players Danny Green and Marcus Ginyard have also been good on the boards and should chip in to make up for some of Terry’s lost production.
It will be interesting to see how all four of these Tar Heel forwards adjust to probably getting more minutes on the court.
In a sad note on the national scene, writer David Halberstam died Monday in an automobile accident near San Francisco. Halberstam was the author of several acclaimed sports books, including one published in 1999 about Mr. Jordan. Halberstam also covered weightier subjects, such as the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War. His 1972 book The Best and the Brightest helped many to understand that Vietnam had become an unwinnable conflict for the U.S.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Halberstam was en route to interview former NFL great Y.A. Tittle for a book he was researching called The Game – about the 1958 NFL championship game won by the Baltimore Colts over the New York Giants – when the car in which he was riding was broadsided.