North Carolina Preview show

Welcome again to McNamara Manor. There have been some changes at the Manor. I’m watching this preview on the same TV, but it’s in our new armoire that took me and the Mrs. over 3 ½ hours, a return trip to Target, and some mounting frustration to put together. Now that we’ve put that behind us, in a shameless attempt to pique interest in the post, I decided that the North Carolina team preview should be next on the list. Here’s hoping we double the comments of the Clemson preview.

As usual, the post will be in a running diary format and is meant to focus on the show, not serve as a team preview, which will come later. Onto the Tarheels…

Minute 1: “This is your 2008 North Carolina Tarheels preview. From the campus of UNC, Heather Catlin and the gang our back to bring us UNC basketball wrapped up in a nice 30 minute segment. Heather opens the show by noting that, “UNC is in a position to go all the way.”

See, this is why you have me watch these things for you. Did you know this? Did you know that four players that flirted with the draft are back? Did you know that Carolina is going to be really good this year? See, I bet you didn’t….until Heather cleared that up for us.

Minute 2: Wayne Ellington is interviewed. He seems to think that “a lot of teams aren’t in the position that we are.” He’s right. A lot of teams don’t return the national player of the year, the best point guard in the conference, another top ten conference scorer, and the best sixth man in the conference. UVA does return Tunji Soroye and Ryan Pettinella, but maybe Wayne forgot about that.

Ellington went on to proclaim that the sky is blue, Michael Jordan used to be pretty good, and you can watch homemade videos on YouTube.

Minute 5: After Danny Green breaks a record of using four consecutive clichés, Heather asks, “Where do the Tarheels go from here?” My guess is Hardees’ to get a Thickburger, but I’m biased by the sponsor of the show.

Minute 5: Although UNC led the nation in rebounding margin, they will have to replace Alex Stepheson’s production in that department as he decided to transfer. Playing in the Final Four wasn’t very fulfilling for Alex. Neither was returning to a team that has a chance to make history as one of the best college basketball teams ever. Either that, or Rob wasn’t happy about Stepheson only scoring 12 points in the tournament for him last year and made a few phone calls.

Minute 7: It’s man-crush time. I love Ty Lawson. I’ve actually decided to make this a running segment in the preview shows. Lawson is simply phenomenal and can get to the basket whenever he frickin’ feels like it. He’s led the league in assist to turnover ratio the last two years. Me likes the point guards.

Minute 7 (and 56 seconds): “Carolina does lose Quentin Thomas” (4 seconds on Quentin Thomas…yep, that about sums it up)

Minute 8: Carolina’s new faces include Ed Davis who is a McDonald’s All-American from Richmond. I used to teach at Oak Knoll Middle School and taught 8th grade there when Ed Davis was an 8th grader. I also coached basketball for a year at Oak Knoll. Now, I’m not saying I had a direct influence on his game. I mean, I didn’t actually teach him; and I coached before he came to school there; and my greatest basketball accomplishment is winning the rebounding title in our neighborhood basketball league. I’ll just say that we were in the same school at the same time for a year back in 2003 and you can draw your own conclusions.

Minute 8: Heather tells us the following (and I’m paraphrasing): There was one piece of bad news in the offseason… Ty Lawson was arrested for alcohol use. There is a silver lining though as it might have scared away potential NBA suitors and potentially kept Lawson at Carolina for at least one more year. That a way to find the positive in alcohol abuse. Nice job, Heather.
On another note, seeing as how this whole thing would have crumbled if Lawson didn’t return, isn’t there at least a chance that Roy Williams had something to do with this.

Roy – “So, Ty, thanks for coming over to the house for dinner. You must be really thirsty. Why don’t I get you a Coke, or four?”
Ty – “Gee, thanks coach.”
Ty – “Wow, coach, what’s in these Cokes. That tastes different.”
Roy – “Oh, it’s nothing Ty, just a special house ingredient. By the way, before you drive home, there is a cop waiting outside to give you a breathalyzer. You know, school policy.”

Does this open the floodgates for future scandals to keep these big time players in school. Next year, will Ellington mysteriously find a pound of reefer in his trunk? Does Gerald Henderson “accidentally” stumble across a stash of illegal porn planted in his room by coach K?

Minute 8: Back to Heather Catlin, and she notes that the team got a bit of extra motivation this summer as former Carolina players Jerry Stackhouse, Sean May, and Marvin Williams, came back to campus to play some pick-up games with the current players. Now, Ellington is more motivated to be a ballhog. Hansbrough is more motivated to see if he can still be effective at 40 pounds over his playing weight, and the freshman are motivated to leave two years too early.
(By the way, Minute 8 just broke the record for the most information filled minute of a Fox Sports Atlantic 2008 ACC preview show.)

Minute 13: In Roy Williams’ obligatory coaches’ interview, he comments that when it comes to leaving for the NBA, “…as long as [the kids] are doing [what makes them happy], then I’m happy.” He also added, “as long as they understand that what makes me happy WILL make them happy, then we’re good.”

Minute 15: More talk about Hansbrough. Isn’t Hansbrough coming back for his senior year kind of like O’Bannon in Dazed and Confused, coming back for a second senior year just to get in the extra licks on the freshman?

Minute 18: It’s the all ACC preview team again, and this year’s team includes, Lawson, Rice, McClinton…Wait a second… This is the exact same segment on Clemson’s preview show. I feel cheated. You know who else should feel cheated, you, the reader, who is missing out on 6 quality minutes of diary updates for each show. You know who else should feel cheated… Jeep. They are the sponsors of this segment, and they have to endorse the fact that Kyle Singler is seen as the sixth best player in the league for every preview show.

Minute 24: I had to fit in something from the G-Man and Tom Werme segment. Werme notes that UNC’s loss to Kansas last year was “…really a blowout by UNC standards.” Uh, Tom, UNC was down by 28 in the first half! Kansas went five minutes without a point and still lead by 18. That was a blowout by Oakland Raiders’ standards.

Minute 28: Werme asks Gminski, “Is this team going back to the Final Four?” Way to ask the tough questions Tom.

That wraps up our Carolina preview show and Hansbrough only received 37 out of a possible 30 minutes of airtime.