North Carolina 85, Boston College 61

Q. I was just wondering if you had an update on Armando's ankle or what Doug told you or as much as you knew?

HUBERT DAVIS: Yeah, they were able to loosen it up at halftime, and that's why he felt like he could go out there and play.

He was hobbling a little bit in the second half, and then I asked him, I said, are you okay, and he said, no, I feel really good. Once I took him out, then it was done. I didn't want it to stiffen up or get cold, and so once we took him out, I tried to keep him there as long as possible, and then took him out so he could be done for the night.

Q. After the shots didn't fall on Saturday from three, Caleb, how satisfying was it to see it go down tonight? And how confident do you feel you're going to be able to sustain it as the week goes on, for both of you?

CALEB LOVE: I just feel like if we take the right shots and we make the right plays as far as creating shots for all of us, I think you do have the confidence or you do have an open shot to make the shot at. We just created a lot of shots for our guys, and getting in the paint, kicking it out for our shooters, and Coach instills in us confidence to make the shot.

HUBERT DAVIS: Yeah, the thing that I'm focusing on was the 16 assists. When we're sharing the basketball and it's good to great, it doesn't surprise me that the ball goes in.

Yeah, we were able to shoot the ball well, especially for the entire game but also from three-point range. But I really felt like the passing was really good tonight. We were just going good to great the entire night, and that led us to shooting high-percentage shots.

I went to the game vs B.C. back on 17th of January and it became a war in the second half as B.C. lead by Quinten Post their 7 footer from the Netherlands (who did not play yesterday due to a ankle injury) got within one point late in the contest. Bacot had a big game with 20 points and 16 rebounds and the team hit ten from downtown but Boston College kept coming and coming until the final buzzer.

North Carolina normally plays good in Greensboro and I expect to see a large wave of Carolina blue in attendance cheering the team but the team needs to focus on what is at hand and play the bench so that the starters are not completely drained before (hopefully) playing a fully rested Virginia team tomorrow.

The Tar Heels are a solid 10 point favorite to move on but to me that is way too many points especially if Post is able to play tonight after resting his bad ankle yesterday. I say it is a 5-7 point win but I hope it is more so that the bench can give the starters a solid rest. Either way give ‘em Hell Heels..

Since the portal became big, it strikes me that a TOY award or even an All-Transfer team would make sense.

Until the ACC and other Powers That Be get their act together, it's up to us.

I'm thinking last year it would have come down to these guys

Brady Manek (UNC)
Alondes Williams (Wake)

This year a few guys who come to mind are

Tyree Appleby (Wake)
Norchad Omier (Miami)
Grant Basile (Va Tech)
DJ Burns (NC State) (and they have a couple more worth considering)
Ja'von Franklin (Ga Tech)
Ben Vander Plas (Virginia)
Ryan Young (Duke)
Daren Green (FSU)

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OK you THR prognosticators, here's your chance to shine.

Yes, you will be able to change your vote as the post-season plays out.

Right here:

...as it's time for some perspective.

While the game in durham was a jobbing by the zebras (remember the 3 FT attempts?), this one (although not perfect) was not. We had a fair enough chance to win this dook game at home and we didn't. So look, very succinctly. here's the bottom line on the outcome:

- Yes, we (um... Caleb) took our requisite batch o' bad shots, and instead of making a couple, we made none of those this time...

- BUT (and this is an important note for many of you here to heed), we had MYRIAD good looks. yet we simply MADE FAR TOO FEW OF THOSE to win. It sucks... and I still feel like crap today over it, but it was what it was.

WITH THAT SAID... here's some much-needed perspective for the board:
As the old saying goes: A coach can get you good shots, but he can't make em for you.
Fact is, an objective watching tells you that the staff did an excellent game-planning job.

- On offense we created MORE than enough open looks, via both set plays and slight adjustments to action in freelance. And many of those were WIDE-SLAP-OPEN. Nonetheless, we shot like 30% from the floor and 5/22 from 3. You're just not gonna beat a decent opponent with that.

- And on defense, I realize not everyone will catch the nuance, we made some nice adjustments for this game that, combined with good effort, anticipated and thwarted dook's preferred offensive actions over and over. With maybe 2 exceptions and lucky rebound bounces, they had to work for every shot.

FINAL MESSAGE: There's nothing out of line about critiquing. For example, I too was hollering at the TV for Hubert to call timeout. If you remember, Sheyer had called his next-to-last one right BEFORE the under-8, so I'm sure Hubert expected a quick return to the bench thereafter, but the refs swallowed their whistles and Mando languished past the under-4. So yes, 100%, Hubert should've called one.

WITH THAT SAID... wanna critique Hubert for the timeout thing? Fair enough. Dean should've called one vs Marquette in 77. Would either have changed the outcome of the respective games? No one knows... but still, fair enough. BUT in sum total. COACHING DID NOT LOSE THIS GAME. Our staff easily won the X-and-O battle Saturday night, and had the players made even a respectable pct of those aforementioned wide-open looks, we take this one wire-to-wire.

There's a difference between critiquing and hysterical bashing, and frankly there's far too much of the latter going on here. I was literally the first one on this board to call for Matt Doherty to be fired, but he had WELL earned it by that time. But starting firing threads in a coach's second season, after the first ended in a Natty game??? GMAB and grow some damned perspective. Sure, we're all pissed off and/or anxious right now, but that sort of bashing does no one any good. I can tell you that it's already caused a very valuable poster to step away (and he soon may not be alone). And make no mistake, recruits and families read these boards.

Anyway... coaching can be a rollercoaster and is an ongoing learning experience. No doubt, this has been a rough sophomore campaign for ours, and yes, hopefully next season will provide a reset and fresh air for Hubert and his guys. However, the current reality is we're playing for the Dance next week, and I, for one, will be pulling for the team (and the staff) as hard as I can...

Kenny Payne could be a UNC alum and current head coach.

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Count North Carolina Tar Heels athletic director Bubba Cunningham among the ACC leaders who want to change the way the conference distributes revenue. The ADs at Florida State and Clemson have in recent weeks called for unequal revenue distribution among the ACC's 14 football-playing schools, claiming their schools deserve a larger percentage. (WRAL Sports Fan)