UNC-Virginia

[DukeFencer]

As Hanstravel went for a rebound and ended up on his back in a scrum, one of the announcers said:

"Hansborough flat on his back. And that's where he's at his best."

[SilkyJ]

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

god if it had only been "on his knees"

[ChrisP]

What the heck is up with that multi-noted horn? Sounds like a Volkswagen in mid collision. Or is it a tone-deaf child with a Casio? Either way, it sounds WEIRD.

[Bluedog]

The crowd was also pretty weak.....despite the fact their team was in it late, I felt the crowd didn't really get that into it...not sure why. Gah, I can't believe Carolina won yet ANOTHER close one.

[ugadevil]

Gah, I can't believe Carolina won yet ANOTHER close one.

And UVA lost yet ANOTHER close one.

[feldspar]

I didn't watch the end of this game on purpose.

Didn't work.

[VaDukie]

I have never seen a more unimpressive 2 loss team.

[BigTedder]

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

god if it had only been "on his knees"

Hands and Knees....hahaha

[feldspar]

Hands and Knees....hahaha

Or better yet, Hans and Knees. :D

[Highlander]

Or better yet, Hans and Knees. :D

I heard a quote the other day...

"If Hansbrough is Superman, then contact lenses are his kryptonite..."

[feldspar]

All I can say, Highlader, is please don't EVER post again, because seeing "Shane Battier" next to your Braveheart avatar is...well...priceless.

[Kimist]

Today's Raleigh newspaper has a great picture of Hans FlopMeister in action:

"North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough tries to draw a charge against Duke's Nolan Smith during last week's game."


Sorry, I could not extricate the picture from the article to post here. :(


http://www.newsobserver.com/734/story/938581.html

k

[Ignatius07]

I too was unimpressed both with Carolina and with John Paul Jones Arena (or Stadium, or whatever it is). I was actually quite bullish on Carolina even when they were squeaking by OK-to-decent teams, but how much of tonight's performance can you really pin on Lawson's absence? UVA looked pretty bad on offense for much of the night, and they still only lost by one.

Also, did anybody hear the outrageous things Packer was saying about Hansbrough when he got completely clotheslined by Pettinella? Packer said something about how it was a good block-out, and then upon replay - when it was pretty clear Hansbrough got mugged - Packer again praised Pettinella's actions? Look, I'm no Hansbrough apologist, but I would have been pissed as hell if it happened to a Duke guy. Even though it wasn't intentional, I don't see how Packer could defend and even praise Pettinella for it.

[dyedwab]

Watching the game, you really notice that UVA had no consistent offensive options other Singletary - they made some really nice plays to get shots, but had no ability to covert.

But the other thing is that they were beating UNC to loose balls most of the night. That's not about missing Lawson- that's about being outworked by an inferior team.

I know Singletary hit that shot against us to beat us last year, and has generally been a pain in our necks, but I like him and feel bad watching such a good player play with so little support.

[Pam]

I purposely didn't watch the game as I really thought it would be boring. It would have been worth it just to hear that comment. UNC appears to be falling apart. My brother has always been a big UNC fan (he started pulling for Duke when my daughter went there in 2000) and actually reformed to a large extent :D His comments to me about Sunday's game were pretty dead on, I think. They are a team of ball hogs, whoever has the ball throws it up. Good things happen with Hansborough touches the ball, but Roy doesn't seem to call the plays that way. Go figure!


As Hanstravel went for a rebound and ended up on his back in a scrum, one of the announcers said:

"Hansborough flat on his back. And that's where he's at his best."

[Channing]

i honestly think that with Lawson, UNC is a top 5, if not top 3, team. However, there is no other team in the top 10 that is SO reliant on one player - and I am talking about Ty Lawson here.

As far as utter reliance on one player, there is GTown with Hibbert, or UT with Lofton, or Stanford with Lopez, B. However, without Lawson UNC looks fairly pedestrian.

[npdevil27]

I have never seen a more unimpressive 2 loss team.
Reminds me a lot of this team (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/teams/schedule?teamId=150&year=2006)

[feldspar]

Reminds me a lot of this team (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/teams/schedule?teamId=150&year=2006)

I was going to post this, but didn't want to be the one to take the beating. Good luck. :D

[sandinmyshoes]

Like the DBR in their ACC recap, I find myself with a grudging admiration for the toughness of this UNC team, at least for this night. When the early season unfolded I thought only Hansbrough and Ginyard were what I would call tough players. The rest of them seemed soft to me.

But not last night. Thompson especially surprised me. He was in obvious pain but played through it. Ginyard reminded me of Chris Carrawell. Even the player we love to hate most, Hansbrough seemed to rise to an extra level of grit.

If I want to think beyond my bias, I imagine the Devils playing this game without Greg or Nolan, Kyle with a toe having just been drained from an ingrown toe nail, Lance with a brace on from an in game hyper-extension of his knee. I know I would be raving about their toughness.

It worries me that Lawson might get inspired by all this gutty play. He is a tough player when he's attacking, but seems soft as putty when being attacked. If he joins the rest of them in toughening up, they are going to be better than they have been at any point this season, even when Frasor was available.

On the good news front, I'm willing to bet that witnessing all these injuries will motivate Lawson into going pro, and probably influence Hansbrough and Ellington as well.

[dcarp23]

i honestly think that with Lawson, UNC is a top 5, if not top 3, team. However, there is no other team in the top 10 that is SO reliant on one player - and I am talking about Ty Lawson here.

This is a popular opinion, but I personally think it is a disservice to Hansbrough. Even with Lawson out, they have played games close either on the road or against strong ACC teams. If Lawson were playing and they didn't have Hansbrough, they would have gotten crushed in a number of those games. He is by far the most indispensable player in the country.

[CDu]

This is a popular opinion, but I personally think it is a disservice to Hansbrough. Even with Lawson out, they have played games close either on the road or against strong ACC teams. If Lawson were playing and they didn't have Hansbrough, they would have gotten crushed in a number of those games. He is by far the most indispensable player in the country.

Agreed. They were somewhat competitive with a top-5 team in the country without Lawson. With Lawson and without Hansbrough, we destroy them. Hansbrough is the guy who makes that team dangerous. He's going to score double figures, and he's likely to get 20+ and 10+ rebounds. And he's going to get your team in foul trouble and get his team into the bonus.

Without him, they have no substantial interior presence. Thompson is a nice big man but not a go-to guy, and Stepheson is non-existent offensively. Without Hansbrough, they look like any number of backcourt-oriented teams.

[sandinmyshoes]

I think Frasor's injury has elevated Lawson's importance. There is a big drop off from Hansbrough to Thompson and Stepheson, but there is a much, much greater drop from Lawson to Thomas. I've thought all along that Thomas was a better than credited five to eight minute backup, but he isn't within sight of Lawson as a thirty minute guy. A gimpy Ginyard was more effective than Thomas last night, although Thomas has probably played better in Lawson's absence than most of us would have guessed. Certainly better than we had hoped.

When Frasor was available, he did a passable job for thirty minutes, with Thomas backing him up. Now, it's part grit and part luck that they haven't lost three in a row.

[weezie]

And partly the fact that a steady Ellington is essential to any success the holes can hope to have, Lawson or not. Ellie was pretty good last night and the poor hoos had nothing to stop him with.

[Dbluedevils1530]

Well first off I'd like to say that Hanstravel is a baby.(I know everyone knows that.) UNC is bound to lose 2 more games before the ACC Tournament, obviously to Duke. But i think they could lose on the road to NC State or possibly at home against Florida State.

[norduck]

http://www.wral.com/sports/story/2443479/