The IronDog Chronicles

On to ‘The D’ this weekend, peoples….

What more can I say? It’s Ford Field, topped with a visit to Henry the Hatter for a new Borcelino…Oh snap! What a hustler weekend!

I’ve done a ton of bantering tonight and this week with emails and notes being passed along with the amps that are driving from the Final Four run of the Heels.

One of the things that people have been pestering me with is that expectations were set too high with this year’s team. Let’s put this one out to you…

Please tell me any team in the history of college basketball that not only returned the Tyler Hansbrough, the 2007-08 College Player of the Year, has 7 McDonald’s AAs of which contain three top five rated high school players from back-to-back years and who are now in their junior and senior years, two top 75 players to add, and on this same team, added three McDonald’s All-Americans in their freshman class…This is all combined with a very weak ACC this year…Sorry, the expectations were realistic and the Heels are doing what the job was meant to be…Dominating their way through the NCAA for a Championship.

The talent is just as high as the ‘91 UNLV team, the ‘92 Duke team, and even the ‘05 UNC team…And nothing less than a strong run should have been expected from this year’s team.

Yes, this team still has issues. This blogga is still stupefied by how poorly this team plays when in a half-court game, and thankfully to the draw, they really haven’t played a team that has exposed this achilles heel.

Yet, how can you not be mesermized at the stunning and masterful levels of play that this team displays when they’re allowed
to run. I don’t think a lot of people are giving credit to how Coach Williams is able to run teams into the ground without turning the ball over…Even the casual observer of basketball should find the fact that Tywon Lawson average turnover rate is below 1 for the NCAA. With the amount of running that this team does, their low turnover rates are stunning.

Say what you will about how Coach Williams is a Carolina protegee. I believe he is tremedously influenced by Billy Tubbs, Jerry Tarkanian, and Nolan Richardson.  A fast-breaking style with control and discipline is unparalleled in today’s game, and I think with the talent that he has amassed this year, this team should have been held to the high standards that the ‘best ever’ teams have held. That’s not a stretch there…

The games against Michigan State in December and against the ‘Zags and Oklahoma last week were not only amazing in terms of ball control and speed, but also great examples of how deep levels talent overcome all blemishes. This team can and should dominate. There is not a guy within the first seven players that 98% of college coaches wouldn’t have cut his I-teeth out with glass for one of them to come to play for them.

If the wood and gold aren’t brought home to RDU, then the season would be considered an utter heartbreaker in the same view that Heel fans look at ‘77, ‘84, and ‘98.

Whichever way the outcome falls, this team regardless of whatever outcome is going to be remembered forevah’…

Tough expectations but true….

** NBA Front for the Heels - Several people emailed here asking what they thought of the Heels’s NBA prospects. This blogga feels that last week’s game against the ‘Zags was a good test. Here says that Josh Heytvelt is a long-run pro. The others such as Jeremy Pargo, Matt Bouldin, Micah Downs, and Austin Daye could be pros. However, other than Bouldin, can you see the toughness or much less the saavy for either one of them other than Daye, which is because of his youth, to become long-term pros.

As for the current Heels, I think you’ll enjoy this note. I was blessed by the Gods above to have talked with a NBA GM in the
Detroit airport after the December, Michigan State game, and I asked him straight-up who impressed him…He said ‘Hansbrough…And Lawson.’ When I asked him about the others…Dead silence.

With Lawson, I think his issue will be his short arms and his height. Yet, with the no-hand check rule in the league, I think he’ll find a great role for himself. I’m still using former Oregon Duck,  Aaron Brooks, who is now playing hard in Houston to be his Lawson’s benchmark.  Unfortunately, for Heel fans, I still don’t think he’s at Brooks’s level.

Yet, Brooks will be a 10-12 year pro…With that speed, no hand-check rule, and a even better jumper evolving over the next few years, Lawson should be at that level as well.

Note: By the way, What I think is the missing piece of commentary is how Gonzaga Coach, Mark Few, gets a free hall pass for his coaching in that game. His reputation for coaching is impeccable and always commended.  Yet, how any one would not only want to run against the Heels, but also to actually dare and promote them to run before the game is beyond my belief. The ‘Zags just looked lost in cohesion and were plain dumbfounded into launching long jumpers…Is it just this blogga’s thoughts.

** Tip-In - I’m off to Detroit in the AM…I’m still amazed that mankind could produce a wonder like Ford Field. I’m also looking forward to two things…One, the coaches lobby on Sunday afternoon. Two, going to Henry the Hatter for a Borcelino. I’ve always wanted one, and I’m getting one in Detroit, peoples…Listening to Shelia E., Prince, Jesse Johnson, The Time, and Appolonia 6 tonight on WeFunk…Check it on iTunes…Everybody walk your body…Everybody walk!

Let’s do this…Run, run, run!

On to ‘The D’…Ring or Bust!
BD