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gunslingerdick

gunslingerdick

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Feb 16, 2006
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This is the time of year when I start to pay attention to other spring sports - mainly lacrosse and baseball. I went to The Dugout and did some looking around to get a little info on the Heels baseball team. But it's just a bunch of game threads. I also checked the rankings and see that we're pretty much a consensus top 10 team right now so that's awesome. But I don't know squat about this year's team. Can someone here (calling @Raising Heel ) fill me in on what kind of team we have this season? Are we an offensive club or defensive? What's our pitching like? If I remember correctly from last year, wasn't our bullpen supposed to be a strength? TIA.

I also checked out the lacrosse rankings/standings. We're ranked 14th in the country but already have 3 losses. Granted, two of those losses were really close and were to an undefeated Hofstra team and a 7-1 Richmond team (the third loss being to traditional power Johns Hopkins). But that's a bit concerning because we haven't even played ND, UVa, Syracuse, duke and Maryland yet. That could be 5 more losses right there because every one of those teams except UVa is ranked ahead of us (and UVa is ranked right behind us). So I'm looking for someone to give me the low down here too (paging @UNC71-00). Are we a threat for another run or did we lose too much from last year's championship team? Also, how's the women's team?
 
Would also like to know how we look in these two sports. The back-to-back UNC lax championships against Maryland last season was extremely satisfying to watch. Even if it does mean we won't see another @UNC71-00 - keyser (not gonna tag him) argument about Coach Breschi.

For baseball, I attended the Atlanta United game last weekend (they're currently playing their games at GT's football stadium) and while walking to the game, I passed Tech's baseball field and saw our boys playing them.
 
TarHeelNation11 said:
For baseball, I attended the Atlanta United game last weekend (they're currently playing their games at GT's football stadium) and while walking to the game, I passed Tech's baseball field and saw our boys playing them.
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And we took 2 of 3 from them there. That's been a tough thing for us to do at GT. They kind of have our number. Our baseball team looks pretty decent so far. Took down nationally ranked ECU last night, another tough team. And we have Miami this weekend at the Bosh.
 
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UNC '92 said:
And we took 2 of 3 from them there. That's been a tough thing for us to do at GT. They kind of have our number. Our baseball team looks pretty decent so far. Took down nationally ranked ECU last night, another tough team. And we have Miami this weekend at the Bosh.
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Also took 2 of 3 from Virginia, our only other conference series to date besides GT. Those plus ECU are all quality wins. Oh, and we stuck our finger in Maryland's eye in a mid-week game so that was nice. We currently sit atop the standings in the ACC Coastal Division at 4-2 (the ACC's website has us incorrectly listed at 3-2 for some reason).

I honestly haven't watched as much UNC baseball (yet) this season but I've followed our progress. Our offense is relatively unremarkable, although freshman Ashton McGee has given us a nice shot in the arm. The strength of the team is the defense. We're second in the conference in ERA (2.21) and third in fielding % (0.976). Our Friday starter J.B. Bukauskas leads the ACC in strikeouts.

This is a fairly experienced team that I think can make some noise this year. That's why I've started bugging @UNC71-00 about going to Louisville for the tournament. Probably too late to make plans for Omaha, though.
 
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Raising Heel said:
Our offense is relatively unremarkable, although freshman Ashton McGee has given us a nice shot in the arm
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The biggest issue with our offense this year has been leaving people on base. If we can ever figure that out then we should easily make it to the CWS.

Raising Heel said:
Our Friday starter J.B. Bukauskas leads the ACC in strikeouts.
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I'm going to go ahead and say right now that he is going to be first team AA this year. He's been crazy good so far.
 
Raising Heel said:
Also took 2 of 3 from Virginia, our only other conference series to date besides GT. Those plus ECU are all quality wins. Oh, and we stuck our finger in Maryland's eye in a mid-week game so that was nice. We currently sit atop the standings in the ACC Coastal Division at 4-2 (the ACC's website has us incorrectly listed at 3-2 for some reason).

I honestly haven't watched as much UNC baseball (yet) this season but I've followed our progress. Our offense is relatively unremarkable, although freshman Ashton McGee has given us a nice shot in the arm. The strength of the team is the defense. We're second in the conference in ERA (2.21) and third in fielding % (0.976). Our Friday starter J.B. Bukauskas leads the ACC in strikeouts.

This is a fairly experienced team that I think can make some noise this year. That's why I've started bugging @UNC71-00 about going to Louisville for the tournament. Probably too late to make plans for Omaha, though.
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Can't go to Louisville- new job and all of that.

I am going with my dad to the UNC - Maryland lacrosse game on Saturday though.
 
gunslingerdick said:
This is the time of year when I start to pay attention to other spring sports - mainly lacrosse and baseball. I went to The Dugout and did some looking around to get a little info on the Heels baseball team. But it's just a bunch of game threads. I also checked the rankings and see that we're pretty much a consensus top 10 team right now so that's awesome. But I don't know squat about this year's team. Can someone here (calling @Raising Heel ) fill me in on what kind of team we have this season? Are we an offensive club or defensive? What's our pitching like? If I remember correctly from last year, wasn't our bullpen supposed to be a strength? TIA.

I also checked out the lacrosse rankings/standings. We're ranked 14th in the country but already have 3 losses. Granted, two of those losses were really close and were to an undefeated Hofstra team and a 7-1 Richmond team (the third loss being to traditional power Johns Hopkins). But that's a bit concerning because we haven't even played ND, UVa, Syracuse, duke and Maryland yet. That could be 5 more losses right there because every one of those teams except UVa is ranked ahead of us (and UVa is ranked right behind us). So I'm looking for someone to give me the low down here too (paging @UNC71-00). Are we a threat for another run or did we lose too much from last year's championship team? Also, how's the women's team?
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Lacrosse- tough to say at the moment. We did lose to Hopkins at Fetzer and looked poor doing so, then we turned around and beat #1 ranked Denver in Denver. Richmond loss was pretty surprising too- that never should have happened. We need to come out strong against Md on Saturday.

We returned a good number of starters so we should be ok once the ACC starts. If you want me to tell you the players to watch for I will, but if you don't care then I won't bother.

Also, the "official" NCAA rankings are screwed up so far. Penn State is ranked 3rd hasn't played a team currently ranked top 20. Ohio State routed Denver last week (in Columbus) but other than that hasn't played a team in the top 20 and are ranked 4th.
I'm pretty sure we will be seeded in the top 8 for the NCAA tournament when the time comes and get a 1st round home game- that's about the only thing that matters as far as rankings go.
 
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Women's Lacrosse- rolling along just as always- we beat #3 Florida on the road and then lost to #1 Maryland in College Park, which I don't think surprised anyone. We have beaten 4 teams currently ranked in top 20 and play BC (#19) on Saturday after the men's game. We will probably stick around and watch some of that too, because why not?
 
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What are y'alls thoughts on more ACC schools getting their shit together and forming lacrosse teams? I understand why a school with limited athletic budget like GT can't form one, but there's no reason a huge school like FSU can't field a men's lax team. I'd bet Louisville gets one soon because they're pouring money into facilities (they have an extremely nice field hockey stadium). And there's no reason State shouldn't bring their team out of purgatory.

Would you lax guys be in favor of that? Or do you like it how it is now with just UVA, Duke, Cuse, ND, and Carolina
 
TarHeelNation11 said:
What are y'alls thoughts on more ACC schools getting their shit together and forming lacrosse teams? I understand why a school with limited athletic budget like GT can't form one, but there's no reason a huge school like FSU can't field a men's lax team. I'd bet Louisville gets one soon because they're pouring money into facilities (they have an extremely nice field hockey stadium). And there's no reason State shouldn't bring their team out of purgatory.

Would you lax guys be in favor of that? Or do you like it how it is now with just UVA, Duke, Cuse, ND, and Carolina
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I would be ok with most schools doing it. Not sure about state. It would be fun to see them suck at another sport, but it's also fun to laugh about how a bunch of farmers are too stupid to play a sport like lax.
 
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TarHeelNation11 said:
What are y'alls thoughts on more ACC schools getting their shit together and forming lacrosse teams? I understand why a school with limited athletic budget like GT can't form one, but there's no reason a huge school like FSU can't field a men's lax team. I'd bet Louisville gets one soon because they're pouring money into facilities (they have an extremely nice field hockey stadium). And there's no reason State shouldn't bring their team out of purgatory.

Would you lax guys be in favor of that? Or do you like it how it is now with just UVA, Duke, Cuse, ND, and Carolina
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Title 9 is your answer.

There's also the problem of lack of competitive talent coming out of high school, although that is getting better and better. We need more former players to become coaches, which will better develop players.
 
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UNC71-00 said:
Title 9 is your answer.

There's also the problem of lack of competitive talent coming out of high school, although that is getting better and better. We need more former players to become coaches, which will better develop players.
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Sorry, forgot to mention Title 9. I realize it's a sticking point. But wouldn't the easiest solution be for schools like FSU who don't have either a men's or a women's team to just get both? That way you have the numbers balance.

Atlanta suburbs is an explosion of high school lax, and I'm sure Charlotte (and Orlando) is probably similar. I'm sure those kids would rather go to FSU, UNC, State, Clemson, etc., instead of Loyola blahblahblah

(it's entirely possible that I don't realize Title 9 is more complex than just making numbers balance)
 
UNC71-00 said:
We returned a good number of starters so we should be ok once the ACC starts. If you want me to tell you the players to watch for I will, but if you don't care then I won't bother.
.
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Yeah, let me know because when I go up to C-ville on the 9th, I'd like to know what to look for. Thanks.

UNC71-00 said:
Also, the "official" NCAA rankings are screwed up so far. Penn State is ranked 3rd hasn't played a team currently ranked top 20. Ohio State routed Denver last week (in Columbus) but other than that hasn't played a team in the top 20 and are ranked 4th.
I'm pretty sure we will be seeded in the top 8 for the NCAA tournament when the time comes and get a 1st round home game- that's about the only thing that matters as far as rankings go.
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Yeah but that's assuming we win the majority of the rest of our games and that's a tall order. ND, duke, UVa, MD and Syracuse. Ouch. That's like a who's who of college lacrosse.
 
gunslingerdick said:
Yeah, let me know because when I go up to C-ville on the 9th, I'd like to know what to look for. Thanks.
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#1- Luke Goldstock, Sr. A- Tall attackman with a cannon- usually works up high as opposed to behind crease. Been starting since his freshman year.
#45- Chris Cloutier Jr A- not as tall as Goldstock but heavier. He was the hero of last year's final 4. All lefty, former box lacrosse who works in tight and gets his shot off very quickly

#24 Stephen "Bones" Kelly Sr, M - faceoff expert and is a huge advantage for Heels. He also is not afraid to shoot if he wins a quick draw.
# 6 Justin Anderson Fr, M- freshman from Las Vegas is leading midfield goal scorer

#17- Austin Pifani Sr, D- best defenseman on team and maybe the best in the country. Rarely gets beat and is always on their best goal scorer.
#18- Jack Rowlett, So- D Middie. Dude likes to hit people. He's shorter and heavier than most D middies but effective.

#30- Brian Balkam Jr G- He's been really good this year.

gunslingerdick said:
Yeah but that's assuming we win the majority of the rest of our games and that's a tall order. ND, duke, UVa, MD and Syracuse. Ouch. That's like a who's who of college lacrosse.
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Yes but we are in the top 3 of who's who in college lacrosse- both recently and historically. We have better tradition than any program you listed other than Syracuse.
 
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UNC71-00 said:
#1- Luke Goldstock, Sr. A- Tall attackman with a cannon- usually works up high as opposed to behind crease. Been starting since his freshman year.
#45- Chris Cloutier Jr A- not as tall as Goldstock but heavier. He was the hero of last year's final 4. All lefty, former box lacrosse who works in tight and gets his shot off very quickly

#24 Stephen "Bones" Kelly Sr, M - faceoff expert and is a huge advantage for Heels. He also is not afraid to shoot if he wins a quick draw.
# 6 Justin Anderson Fr, M- freshman from Las Vegas is leading midfield goal scorer

#17- Austin Pifani Sr, D- best defenseman on team and maybe the best in the country. Rarely gets beat and is always on their best goal scorer.
#18- Jack Rowlett, So- D Middie. Dude likes to hit people. He's shorter and heavier than most D middies but effective.

#30- Brian Balkam Jr G- He's been really good this year.
Click to expand...

I knew the first two from last year but thanks for the info.

UNC71-00 said:
Yes but we are in the top 3 of who's who in college lacrosse- both recently and historically. We have better tradition than any program you listed other than Syracuse.
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Yeah, but that ND game and the UVa game are both on the road. I would imagine that means something.
 
gunslingerdick said:
Yeah, but that ND game and the UVa game are both on the road. I would imagine that means something.
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We win one of those 2.

The question is how do we fare at home against UMD, Dook and Cuse? Syracuse is at Kenan, which I actually think is a disadvantage.
 
Both of the tennis teams continue to kick ass. The men's team is currently ranked #9. One player in the top 25 in singles and the doubles pair is top 25 as well. The women's team is currently ranked #4 in the nation. Three players ranked in the top 25 for singles and the #1 ranked doubles pair.
 
tarheel0910 said:
Both of the tennis teams continue to kick ass. The men's team is currently ranked #9. One player in the top 25 in singles and the doubles pair is top 25 as well. The women's team is currently ranked #4 in the nation. Three players ranked in the top 25 for singles and the #1 ranked doubles pair.
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Yeah, the women's team has been legit for awhile. I covered them while at UNC (a few *woulds* in the mix for sure)
 
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The ignorance of some people on radar never ceases to amaze me. Some guy over there is trying to say there would only be about 10k people who would watch a lax game on the ACC network. The title game from last year had 476k people watching from home.
 
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It drives me crazy that we're playing in a game to go to the Elite 8 in 3 hours and there's pretty much no talk at all about the game over there. They'd rather accuse every other program in the country of being dirty, talk about Duke, and recruits we're probably never going to get but if we do they'll be committing weeks/months from now.

Would a thread discussing keys to the game, strengths/weaknesses of both teams, etc. really kill them?! If I had a clue what I'd be talking about I'd start one - but unfortunately I'd be better in a supporting role on that type of thread.
 
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Hark_The_Sound_2010 said:
It drives me crazy that we're playing in a game to go to the Elite 8 in 3 hours and there's pretty much no talk at all about the game over there. They'd rather accuse every other program in the country of being dirty, talk about Duke, and recruits we're probably never going to get but if we do they'll be committing weeks/months from now.

Would a thread discussing keys to the game, strengths/weaknesses of both teams, etc. really kill them?! If I had a clue what I'd be talking about I'd start one - but unfortunately I'd be better in a supporting role on that type of thread.
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Three incredible action-packed games that came down to the wire last night and not ONE WORD was poasted about it on Radar. The only thing on there about last night is a "nanner nanner boo boo" thread about Sean Miller losing. Yet, you have about 15 of us who have carried a 13+ page thread about the NCAAT.

Like....do they watch basketball when UNC isn't playing? I'm seriously asking.

And yeah, I'm with you hark.... not one thread about matchups, keys to the game, etc? I've admitted freely on here that basketball is the sport I know the least about when it comes to Xs and Os, so I sure as heck can't do it. But some folks over there certainly could.
 
Carolina's national ranking in current spring sports:

Baseball #10
Men's Lax #14
Women's Lax #2
Softball --receiving votes--
Men's Tennis #9
Women's Tennis #4
Golf --receiving votes--*



*This has always baffled me. Can someone tell me why the hell we don't have a perennial Top 25 golf team, much less a Top 10 golf team? Carolina is the ultimate country club school and the state of North Carolina is chock full of prestigious golf courses. What. The. Heck. Guys? Get on it Bubba.
 
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^ It'd be sweet if there were some PGA guys from UNC. I have my guys that I like and dislike, but it'd make majors more interesting if there were some Heels in the running. DL3 isn't going to be winning much anymore. Need to get some new blood in there.
 
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TarHeelNation11 said:
*This has always baffled me. Can someone tell me why the hell we don't have a perennial Top 25 golf team, much less a Top 10 golf team? Carolina is the ultimate country club school and the state of North Carolina is chock full of prestigious golf courses. What. The. Heck. Guys? Get on it Bubba.
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Funny you should mention this. I was thinking the exact same thing earlier today. Do they have recruiting rankings for golf players? Usually the non revenue sports recruiting is mostly state/regional. Maybe NC just isn't a hot bed for talent.
 
tarheel0910 said:
Funny you should mention this. I was thinking the exact same thing earlier today. Do they have recruiting rankings for golf players? Usually the non revenue sports recruiting is mostly state/regional. Maybe NC just isn't a hot bed for talent.
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Carolina could recruit its whole team from metro Charlotte and metro Atlanta and be fine.

Kennesaw State's golf team is a fringe Top 25 program.
 
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