Friday, March 13, 2009

Hansbrough beats Va Tech -- again

The Tar Heels were prime for picking in their ACC opener against Virginia Tech Friday afternoon. Without point guard Ty Lawson, the 2009 ACC Player of the Year who was sitting out due to injury, UNC's offense is much less formidable. And its defense is average at best whether Lawson is in there or not.

But Tyler Hansbrough beat the Hokies again. Last year, in Charlotte, it was on a pretty 12-footer from the baseline -- followed by Hansbrough's scary, Frankenstein-runs-down-the-court-full-speed celebration.

This time, it was on a flailing, off-balance, in-traffic 3-footer -- in other words, a vintage Hansbrough bucket.

That put UNC ahead by 1, and then Hansbrough helped cause a jump ball while Virginia Tech worked for the final shot in the last 10 seconds. This could have been called a foul, too, which is why Va Tech coach Seth Greenberg was so incensed. I thought the TV replays shown were inconclusive and was disappointed not to see a better angle -- if my feet were held to the fire, though, I would guess it was a foul.

If a foul, though, Virginia Tech would only have gotten the ball out of bounds, still down 1 (no free throws), because UNC had one foul still left to give.

And then Hansbrough hit 2 free throws after being fouled to cinch the Tar Heels' 79-76 win.

I still don't think UNC is going to win this ACC tournament -- not without Lawson. But with No.50, you can never be sure. For four years, he's been something else.

6 comments:

Sporty said...

Admit it Fowler.. you never want to see UNC win anything. Your pro-duke and nuthing UNC ever does will please you. So glad to know they have such non-biased reporters working for our non-biased Charlotte Observer

The Huz said...

sporty- no. just...no. bad sporty. bad. i mean...wow. no.

Unknown said...

that's sorensen dumbas*...at least get it right...fowler is a big heels fan

JayBird said...

ENOUGH with the jump ball/foul crap!!! Who cares?? It would have been VT ball in-bounding with 6 seconds. left. They didn't even hit the rim when they had 4 seconds so why should it be that different???

Enough already!!

TRMojowammy said...

More like the refs beat UNC! What a "BS" call at the end. I feel Seth Greenberg's pain. I probably would have thrown my jacket at that ref. A jump ball!! Give me a break. Doesn't at least one of thhose UNC players that werre hacking him have to have their hand on the ball in order for it to be a jump ball?! Typical "UNC magic."

CHillyDoggy said...

Love how when Tyler does something that is close to a foul, everyone is up in arms when he gets practically gang tackled on about every shot and they call a lot of them but let a ton go too and everyone is ok with that. I don't know how many times I've backed up my DVR and watched someone rake his face and pull his head backwards on a shot and it's not a foul or maybe that game at Maryland where they knocked him out of bounds in the last minute and blocked the shot out of bounds and it was neither a foul or at least UNC's ball.... Maryland ball! The fix was in! Gimme a break!