CHARLOTTE – OK, I know this is a little out of the norm, but I thought it’d be fun to see some other teams that don’t play inside the crappy ACC this year. Thus, here I am at homecoming for Queens University as the Royals play host to Coker at the Grady Cole Center. I gotta admit, there is a vast difference between going to Cameron Indoor Stadium and sitting courtside here. Nonetheless, I’m here to blog during the game, make extremely fascinating points and, of course, mock people, calls and situations as much as humanly possible.

And I hope the fine people at Queens don’t get too upset. I know the administration may not be used to such intense media scrutiny from such a famous entity, but such is life is the bright spotlight.

So, without further ado, here we go:

The last time I was blogging, I was at the Duke-UNC game in Chapel Hill. And I have to admit, when I first decided to blog from a Queens game, I was looking rather forward to seeing all the hot, rich chicks for which Queens is known.

Ummm, can someone tell me where they’re at? From what I’ve seen thus far, I have to admit that it seems that nobody at Queens goes hungry.

I have to announce that this blog may be cut very, very short if the peeps here don’t get me an outlet to plug my laptop in to. They’ve promised me one and said one was on the way, but let’s just say I’m not holding my breath. I guess you could say I’m cautiously optimistic.

OK, one cool thing that I was totally down with was that when I was parking, there were a fairly decent size of people tailgating. Tailgating for a Queens game? Way cool.

My battery is getting pretty low. I would be willing to bet a six pack that my computer isn’t going to last until halftime. My kingdom for an outlet!

On to the game:

I have to get this out of my system before my computer dies — there’s this cat for Coker, a guard named Thomas Wright, who hales from Sydney, Australia, that may have the ugliest haircut in the history of college basketball. I can’t say mankind because we do live in the South, home of the mullet.

The shot clock screwed up and a delay ensued to fix it. Queens coach Wes Long suggested that they should just call the game because his team had a small lead just a couple minutes into it. The Coker coach fired back that Long should, “go look for your third wife.” The refs said everyone should just go to the Blackeye Peas concert.

If there is no outlet provided in the next few minutes, I’m done. I think the hunt for an outlet/extension cord has ceased to exist.

Such is life in Division II basketball.

OK, no I’m sitting on some folded up bleachers next to an outlet, with the laptop on my lap. Um, OK. I’m a professional and will do whatever it takes.

UPDATE: Queens 14, Coker 7, with 12:19 left in the first half

Back at the media table as an outlet was found. Woohoo!!!!! The blog can continue.

Seriously, there must be something in the water at Coker. The center for the Cobras looks completely like somebody you’d see in a psycho flick. Shaved head and stocky. Man, that is a scary looking dude.

The theme for homecoming is Jamaican. The motto on the back of the shirts say, “Feel the rhythm. Feel the rhyme.” Really? That’s what you came up with? I’d like to speak to the person in charge of the homecoming committee.

UPDATE: QUEENS 25, COKER 19, with 8:49 left in the first half

Some Queens tidbits:

Did you know that the Royals have only two seniors and one junior on their entire roster? There are a combined 12 freshmen and sophomores on the roster. WOW! This team is younger than most boy scout troops. But that shouldn’t be surprising considering that when Wes Long was hired last year, he was the youngest coach in the NCAA, regardless of division. He and team are growing together.

UPDATE: QUEENS 33, COKER 23, with 2:54 left in the first half

Every so often the internet service here at Grady Cole resets itself, which means sometimes when you try to save it that you lose everything you’ve just written because it asks you if you accept all the terms to using the net. Pain in my rear.

HALFTIME: QUEENS 33, COKER 25

They just had their homecoming court and I have to admit, I’ve never seen a homecoming court introduced at a basketball game. Then when they crowned the winner, the crown kept falling to the floor as opposed to staying on her head.

Queens shot 54.5 percent from the field and made 5-of-8 from beyond the arc. Pretty strong shooting. They Royals also played solid defense, holding Coker to just 39.3 percent shooting.

The second half has started and it is very, very apparent that the Royals are much faster and quicker than Coker. Freshman Antonio Stabler could be pretty darn special by his senior year if he develops his outside game to 15 feet or more. An outside shot will open up drives to the hole, where he can leap and is always going to be quicker than most guarding him.

Queens calls a timeout with 16:35 left to play as they seemed to have a case of UNC-itis, it’s making turnover after turnover.

UPDATE: QUEENS 37, COKER 35

Queens is clearly so much better than this team it’s not even funny. The Royals should be up by 10 or more, but they can’t hang on to the ball. They’ve turned it over more than Jake Delhomme.

Is it just me or does Coker look like a bunch of players picked up from the local playground in Gastonia?

UPDATE: QUEENS 41, COKER 41, with 13:41 left to play

OK, there’s a guy that plays for Coker whose last name is Cabbagestalk. No, seriously. Other great names are Earofcorn, Headoflettuce and Peasinapod.

It has to be said, these refs are brutal. Now I know why they’re reffing D-II games. Holy cow! Matt Smythe, Michael Reese and Quentin Williams, boys you’ve got a long ways to go and I wouldn’t plan on doing that Duke-UNC game anytime soon. In fact, I wouldn’t plan on doing that Independence-Ashbrook game anytime soon, either. (Shout out to the Green Wave!)

Queens is settling for outside shots as opposed to taking to the rim. Conversely, Coker is driving and either kicking it out for open looks or putting up shots from close by.

UPDATE: Coker 51, Queens 47 with 8:33 left to play

Seriously, I really can’t get over the hair of Thomas Wright. Here’s some Australia jokes for you:

If it takes an IQ of 60 to tie shoelaces, why do so many Australians wear thongs?

What is the difference between yogurt and Australia? Yogurt has some culture.

What do you call an Aussie with half a brain? Gifted.

What do you call an Aussie who scores well in an IQ test? A cheat.

Back to the game.

Queens can’t make a shot, no matter how wide open it is or how close it is to the basket. Meanwhile, the Royals can’t get a stop defensively as Coker seems to be making everything.

UPDATE: COKER 63, QUEENS 54, with 3:23 left to play

Queens is making a fast and furious comeback and has trimmed the lead to six with 2:14 to play. The Royals had a chance to cut it to three, but missed a 3-pointer.

Speaking of fast and furious, that reminds me of Tokyo Drift, maybe one of the worst movies ever made. Unfortunately my ex-girlfriend was a huge speed and car enthusiast and made me got to all of the movies in the series. I’m so glad we don’t date any more.

The Coker coach is a weasel, to put it rather bluntly. He’s snitching on people from Queens to the head ref. This is a true quote, “Hey Mike, he just emm effed you.” He said it four times. And this coming from the same guy that dropped eff bombs in the first half. It got so out of hand, even his own players asked him to be quiet. True story.

Dude, this isn’t the third grade. Seriously. Grow up.

This game is all but over. Turnovers and cold shooting did in the Royals. Too bad, because I was really looking forward to making fun of that Australian hump again.

FINAL: COKER 70, QUEENS 61

Well, it’s been certainly interesting, to say the least.

CHAPEL HILL — Hello from the Dean Dome here in Chapel Thrill. Anybody with any semblance of a brain will admit, whether they like the Tar Heels or not, that this is one of the best college towns in the country. I will say that it’s not as good as Athens, but that’s like saying Ketel One Vodka isn’t quite as good as Grey Goose. Both are still very good and better than most, though one just happens to be a little better than the rest.

On to the game:

Just what Carolina didn’t want to happen, Duke has come out and drilled three 3-pointers in the early going, with two of them coming from Singler. Carolina is in a running mode, for sure. The Heels are flying up and down the floor.

How’s this for a pregame story?

Prior to the game, I was fiddling with my computer bag and picked it up off the table and turned to walk while my head was pointing down. As I turned, my forehead plowed into the shoulder of Erin Andrews. I quickly apologized and prayed that the security guard that was by her side didn’t taser me.

Carolina isn’t making any outside shots and it absolutely has to if it is going to stay close.

Scheyer and Singler have all of Duke’s first 13 points.

What in the holy hell was Strickland thinking trying to dunk like that. Um, here’s a thought, lay it up for a bucket.

Tyler Hansbrough will have his number hoisted and retired at halftime. He’s wearing a gray suit and the fans were fawning all over him, as they should. What a difference a year makes.

Zoubek gets his second foul early. SHOCKER!!!!

UPDATE — Just under 12:00 left in first half, DUKE 13, UNC 8.

Just wondering, what in the world is Duke going to do without the stellar inside play of Zoubek next year, and what in the world is UNC going to do without the quality leadership of Ginyard next year?

Quick Groundhog Day joke for you: Earlier this week, Roy Williams saw his shadow, which means six more weeks of UNC sucking.

Duke has 16 points and 12 of them have come from 3s. UNC just made its first. The Heels totally need Graves to get hot.

One thing is becoming very, very clear: Duke has nothing inside for UNC and is going to have to drill a lot of 3s to win.

Once again, Graves drills another long-range shot. He is a major, major gun. Problem is he’s too streaky.

UPDATE…..DUKE 20, UNC 20 with 7:33 left in the first quarter

Some Did You Knows:

Did you know that Ginyard serves as president of UNC’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council? It’s nice to know that he’s a leader somewhere.

Did you know that Duke actually has a player on its team named Casey Peters? There’s no joke here, just the fact that he’s a junior and I’ve never heard of him.

Nolan Smith can’t throw it in the ocean right now.

What in the holy hell was that shot by Ginyard? Are you freaking serious? There are so many jokes I could use on that shot, but I’m not going to stoop to that level and say that even Frank Garcia would have at least hit the backboard.

Singler continues to be hot from the outside, drilling his third 3-pointer.

A Plumlee sighting!

UPDATE, DUKE 28, UNC 24 with 1:01 left in the first half.

Larry Drew II brings the house down with his steal and layup to cut the lead to 1 with 2.8 seconds left.

HALFTIME: DUKE 28, UNC 27

Just finished watching the whole Tyler Hansbrough retirement thing and then talking to him. I got some stuff from him on video that I’ll be posting later.

And just like that, another 3-pointer for Duke, but somehow that can’t be fully explained Ginyard drilled a 3-pointer and then made a driving layup to give the Heels the lead.

Scheyer and Singler have 25 of Duke’s 31 points.

Zoubek picks up his third three minutes into the second half.

UPDATE: UNC 34, DUKE 33 with 15:50 left in the second half.

Check this freaking stat out: Duke was 3-of-28 from 2-point distance in the first half and has started the second half 1-of-8. AND THE DEVILS ARE ONE FREAKING POINT DOWN. WOW.

Nolan Smith just made his first basket of the game. Nice of him to show up in such a big game.

Um, make that two in a row for Nolan.

Just occurred to me that the refs have totally swallowed their whistles. UNC had six fouls at half and Duke had seven. If this were Clemson, Trevor Booker would have picked up a foul just walking to the scorer’s table.

UPDATE: UNC 43, DUKE 39 with 11:46 left to play

Smith scores again and this bad boy is tied.

UPDATE: UNC 43, DUKE 43 with 10:09 left to play

Ummm, I don’t know how to explain this, but there four four guys wearing baby-blue suits with ties and hats and sun glasses banging on empty trash cans trying get the crowd alive. It was really odd, to say the least. They were beating them like drums. Glad that’s over with.

After being down by four, Duke has made a little surge and has scored four straight to tie it.

To totally put the bow on this crazy night, Scheyer just missed back-to-back free throws. Unreal. He’s a 90.7 free throw shooter. Ed Davis just missed two for good measure. Then Singler followed that up by making only one of two.

Duke has the lead by one.

So much for eating the whistles. Duke now has seven team fouls. They’re also getting rebounds. UNC keeps going for the blocks and is leaving itself vulnerable.

The teams have combined to make 2 of their last 9 free throws.

UPDATE: DUKE 45, UNC 45 with 7:50 left to play

During the timeout, the video board showed a group of former UNC stars saying things like, “I’m James Worthy and I’m a Tar Heel.” They even showed Michael Jordan. But the video also included two players that sort of stood out like sore thumbs. “I’m Pat Sullivan and I’m a Tar Heel. I’m Serge Zwikker and I’m a Tar Heel.” The funniest thing I’ve seen all day.

Duke went on a 10-2 run to take a four-point lead, before Graves buries another 3. But Scheyer answers with one of his own.

Carolina looks like it could go into a scoring funk. Graves thinks he’s a star and tried to dunk a rebound with one hand. Um, you’re down by four, how about using both hands and just making sure it’s in the basket.

UPDATE: DUKE 54, UNC 48 with 3:59 left to play

This is a very low scoring game, which you would think would play into the hands of the Heels. But when you can’t score, that’s generally going to happen. Consider that Duke shot 22.5 percent from the field, while Carolina shot 32.3 percent from the field. The percentages haven’t gotten any better this half.

This is ugly, ugly basketball!!!!

UPDATE: DUKE 56, UNC 50 with 3:26 left to play

Some stats - UNC has 9 offensive rebounds, Duke has 19….Duke is shooting 31 percent from the field and UNC is shooting 36 percent.

Scheyer just killed the Heels with a big 3 and UNC is jacking up crazy shots.

Duke up 9 with 1:54 to play and with the ball. KISS THE BABY!!

Duke will now be 3-4 on the road this year.

Don’t forget that I will have video from both coaches posted.

I’m going to had back to the press room.

Catch ya later and thanks for joining me.

Prior to the start of the season, UNC forward Marcus Ginyard sat down for an interview with Athlon Magazine and gave some very strong comments on Duke. I was stunned that very few people picked up on it and also shocked that he actually spoke his mind when asked about his thoughts on the Duke basketball team.

Click the “read more button” to see the really damning quotes from Ginyard. It’s not often you hear a UNC guy say something like this.

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With Duke and UNC playing Wednesday night, I thought I’d be a neat idea to take a look at the NBA players each team has produced and what players are better. So, here’s a little game: Take all the active NBA players from Duke and UNC in a 7-game series. Consider starters, depth, size, skill, age, etc., and tell me who would win a seven-game series.

Before you come back with witty answers, take away all of the predetermined Duke/UNC bias on either side. I think this is a great, great argument to really consider as neither team looks all that impressive.

Obviously there are a few more players from each school in the NBA, but do we really need to list Josh McRoberts or Sean May?

Thoughts?

Duke Starters
PG: Chris Duhon
SG: Shane Battier
SF: Luol Deng
PF: Elton Brand
C: Carlos Boozer

Duke Bench
Dahntay Jones
JJ Redick
Grant Hill
Mike Dunleavy
Corey Maggette
Shelden Williams

UNC Starters
PG: Raymond Felton
SG: Vince Carter
SF: Marvin Williams
PF: Antawn Jamison
C: Brandon Haywood

UNC Bench
Ty Lawson
Jerry Stackhouse
Brandan Wright
Tyler Hansbrough
Rasheed Wallace
Rashad McCants

Maryland ’s Greivis Vasquez has been named ACC Player of the Week while Georgia Tech’s Derrick Favors has earned ACC Rookie of the Week recognition.

In earning the Player of the Week Award for the second time this season and for the sixth time in his career, Vasquez averaged 24.5 points, 9.0 assists and 6.0 rebounds as the Terps moved into sole possession of second place in the ACC with a pair of conference wins.

The Caracas, Venezuela, product led the Terps in points (23), rebounds (7) and assists (7) in a 71-67 road win at Florida State on Thursday. Three days later, Vasquez turned in his 11th career double-double with 26 points and 11 assists in a 92-71 victory over visiting North Carolina. Against the Tar Heels, the 6-6, 200-pound, senior guard was 6-for-11 from 3-point range and had five rebounds and a steal in 35 minutes.

In earning the Rookie of the Week award for the third time this season, Favors averaged 12.0 points and 7.5 rebounds as the Jackets split a pair of ACC games. In Wednesday’s 86-67 loss at No. 9 Duke, Favors had eight points, seven rebounds, one blocked shot and a steal. In Saturday’s 73-71 win over NC State, the Atlanta, Ga., freshman had 16 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots. For the week, Favors made good on 10-of-12 (.833) field goal attempts.

Here are some news and notes concerning each team from the ACC. As we head into the second half of league play, it should be interesting to see if things sort of stay the way they are in terms of everybody being bunched up together. Odds are at least one or two teams will separate from the pack, while at least two will fall to the bottom. Even so, here are the notes on every team.
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The Tar Heels open the season in Atlanta and will try to do what no team from the ACC has been able to do and that’s not get waxed by the opposing SEC team, let alone actually win. UNC faces LSU in the season opener in Atlanta and has to travel to Rutgers. The Heels also have to travel to Florida State and Miami, but at least they get Clemson, Virginia Tech and ECU at home. It’s not an easy schedule, but it’s not a killer, either.

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Tom O’Brien said he doesn’t like playing North Carolina in the final game of the season because the two could meet up a week later in the ACC Championship Game. Well, Tom, you won’t have to worry about that this year, for sure. However, the Wolfpack do have a decent schedule where they seem to be catching teams just at the right time. Cincinnati, which is in flux, comes to town, and N.C. State travels to ECU, which is also in flux. Losing either one of those games will be bad, but if they lose at Central Florida in the second week of the season, you can classify this program as being below Wake and slightly ahead of Duke, but only slightly.

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How would you like it if your team’s non-conference schedule consisted of Florida, Oklahoma and BYU? Well, that’s what Florida State has on is docket for 2010. But a year removed from having a brutal schedule, it actually sets up quite nice for the Seminoles, despite the hard non-ACC games. Clemson and North Carolina travel to Tallahassee, though Florida State does have to go to Miami. This is a very workable schedule and one that could land the Noles in the ACC Championship Game.

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Yes, Clemson has two cream puffs on its schedule in North Texas and Presbyterian, but give head coach Dabo Swinney credit for not backing out of an away game at Auburn in the third game of the season. This is one of those important games for the image of the league. The Tigers have a fairly difficult ACC schedule, too, as they play Miami, North Carolina, Florida State and Georgia Tech. Of course, there’s also that season-ender against South Carolina. Should be a very interesting year in Tiger Town.

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How’s this for a stretch of games? Wake Forest has a five-game stretch that is brutal. The Deacs travel to Stanford, then to Florida State, before coming home Georgia Tech and Navy, and then finishing it up at Virginia Tech. Wake Forest will do very well not to go 0-5 in that stretch and if it should somehow manage to win two of those five games, then Wake should be bowling once again.

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It doesn’t look good for the Blue Devils to qualify for a bowl in 2010. Non-conference games against Alabama and Navy are the main reasons why. They could beat Wake, Maryland, Virginia, Boston College and Elon, but that means Duke still has to get a win against either Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Miami or Georgia Tech to qualify. The Blue Devils have to absolutely beat Navy to have a shot at a bowl. But I’m guessing it’s not going to happen this year.

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The Hokies begin the 2010 season with a bang by playing Boise State at FedEx Field, which is home of the Washington Redskins. The game is on a Monday night and the entire nation will be watching. If the ACC is going to save any kind of face this season, the Hokies have to win what is essentially a home game. But the fact that 21 starters return from the team that finished second in the nation is going to make it very hard on the Hokies. They also have games against East Carolina and have to travel to Miami. However, Va. Tech gets the Yellow Jackets in Lane Stadium.

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Two words completely describe the Miami football schedule for 2010: HOLY CRAP! The Hurricanes only have one easy game, which is the season opener against Florida A&M. But then three straight road games against Ohio State, Pitt and Clemson, followed by a home game against rival Florida State and you’ve just looked at the first five weeks of the schedule. The last three games of the season are against Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and South Florida. Hats off to coach Randy Shannon for making this schedule, but man it seems like he’s trying to lose his job.

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It’s going to be another very long year for the Cavaliers. It could very well be a season where Virginia wins only three games. They start the season against Richmond, which beat Duke last year, travel to Southern Cal, play Georgia Tech, Florida State, North Carolina, Miami and Virginia Tech. Good luck with that. Hopefully the team will still have bodies by the end of it all.

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Say this about Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson, he doesn’t shy away from playing decent non-conference games. There’s always the season-ender against Georgia, but he’s also added a game at Kansas. The Yellow Jackets also play Middle Tennessee State, which made a bowl game last season. The Yellow Jackets have three difficult games in ACC play as they try to defend their title. They have to go to Clemson, Miami and Virginia Tech. Winning two of the three could mean another trip to the league championship game.

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The Terrapins will begin the season with a very difficult game against Navy, which will be played on neutral turf in Baltimore. There are also a games at West Virginia, Clemson and Miami, as well as a home game against Florida State. It’s unlikely Maryland will make a bowl game and this very well could be head coach Ralph Friedgen’s last season at the helm. In fact, I’d say the odds are heavily in that favor.

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Boston College has a pretty decent schedule this year. Yes, there are home games against Weber State and Kent State, but there are also games against Notre Dame, Syracuse, Florida State, Virginia Tech and Clemson. It’s going to be a difficult task for the Eagles in 2010.

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