Rashad McCants ... kicking ass!

Game Stats

Tonight in New York City the Heels made a statement that I could not deny.  And though I haven't written up hoops for a couple of years, these guys that call themselves Tar Heels are tearin' a new one against some damn good competition.  Whew!  Are the Hoop Heels back?

After tonight I'd have to say an unqualified YES!  This team, arguably the youngest in America, has not wavered.  I've received e-mails after the Penn State game proclaiming that the Heels are back.  My response was to the effect that it's too early to know.

But then we fight back to beat a very good Rutgers team.  And after that we travel away to ODU and fight with upper classmen in a hostile environment.  Bam!  And just like that we're 3 and 0.

Coming into tonight's game, I was telling people that a loss by less than 10 points would be a good indication that we were indeed back. That we were very competitive.  And to beat us the opponent would have to bring their A game.

Did Kansas bring their A game tonight?  Or did our young Tar Heels just bring a greater A game?  Well, I will go on record now and predict that these guys will be playing in the Great Eight come March.  Now I'm on my knees praying for no injuries or loss of confidence.

Wow Ram Man, such a bold statement.  It may resemble the comment that Matt's Mom told him at the end of the half tonight.  Something like congratulations!  Get real!  And the good son reminded Mom we still had 20 minutes to play.  But did you notice him grinning when he said that?  I did.  The hand-writing was on the wall.

Raymond Rules! the real deal

Rashad plays a position that can get the most notice.  And he's delivering.  But Raymond Felton is a great quarterback that guides this team like a legend of old, my buddy Phil Ford.  Raymond is the comsumate point.  But we ain't seen nothing yet.  Yo Raymond, will you please stay 4 years?  Come on man, get a degree and win some championships!  Nuf' said.

Oh yeah?  How about this?  Without Sean May, we'd probably be 1 - 3.  Not a thought I care to have.  Have you ever seen a big man that is so cool on tha court?  Sweet hands and sweet feet.  Call it genes from Dad, or just a tremendous gift from God, but I don't ever remember seeing a player over 6' 8" that could bring the heat in their first year like Sean does.  That's usually a project.  But this guy is just un-freakin-believable!  And he's establishing himself as the team leader.  Very cool.

Oops, without the defense of Jackie Manuel where would we be tonight?  Or the early offense of Jawad Williams and Melvin Scott?  It's a simple equation... 3-1 instead of 4-0, period.  This was a total team effort.  This team did the job.

Other than the 9 points down with 17 seconds left victory over Dook, this ranks as the best Tar Heel victory ever in my mind!  And I was in Birmingham in '95 to watch our Heels beat very good Georgetown and Kentucky teams to advance to the Final Four in Seattle.  Yes, I was in Seattle too.

Matt is doing the job.  He was a player who could play... think 1982.  He's a coach who can coach.  He's a coach who can recruit.  He's a head coach who can hire assistant coaches to support and complement his agenda and game plan.  And talk about game plan, he blew Roy the Jay Hawk away tonight.

Speaking of Roy-Boy, I have a funny memory of talking with Matt after a Georgia Tech football game 3 years ago.  I was walking around behind the old field house when I spotted Matt.  Immediately I ran up to him to offer a hearty welcome back to Carolina.

My in-your-face statement was, "Thank God Roy said no."  Then Matt started to say, "Well, Coach Williams would... ." But I interrupted Matt by saying, "Forget Roy.  You'll be the next legend at Carolina!"  He was looking at me like who's this crazy muther.  Little did he know that he'd just met the Ram Man, a 24x7x365 Carolina fan!

Yes, it's still early.  Yes, we are young and dumb.  Why dumb?  Cause our Heels don't know that they shouldn't be kicking some serious ass this year.  But the swagger is there.  And the grins were there with 5 minutes to play, even with Kansas making a small run.  Our guys just knew they were the better players and they had the Jay Hawk's number, period.  And that kind of confidence will win games on the hardwood.

At least tonight we had no injuries.  Tonight being out-rebounded didn't put a fly in the soup.  Tonight we witnessed a Carolina basketball team that helped to heal some broken hearts left over from last season.  And we have something to enjoy to get us to the Spring Game... football that is.  This winter will not be so cold.

Go Heels!