During the last game (I think) Cory Alexander confessed that he decided he needed to downgrade the ACC to the 2nd best conference in the nation, after the Big 12.

Who is he kidding?

Pomeroy rates the ACC an embarrassing SEVENTH in the nation. Here's the list. The numbers are P's ratings, so you can see how close to or far from the other conferences we are.

Obviously you can quibble with the numbers and rankings on various grounds. But we are so far off track that it hardly matters. Who wants to waste the effort explaining how we are really only 5th in the nation?

18.53 - Big 12

15.04 - Big Ten

13.32 - Big East
13.20 - Southeastern

11.48 - PAC 12

9.62 - Mountain West
9.05 - ACC

6.53 - AAC

What a win for the Lady Tarheels.

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Virginia Cavaliers​

21-5, 13-4 CONF

ESPN
2/25
6:00 PM

North Carolina Tar Heels​

17-11, 9-8 CONF




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Discussion
Playing for their tournament lives, UNC returned to the Smith Center and put on a tournament worthy showing, defeating the sliding Cavaliers by 8.

UNC scored 1.03 points per possession, keeping UVA to only 0.81. That means a positive Smith Index; only the 5th time that has happened since Christmas.

The offense was much better than we've seen, with 45% 3-point shooting leaing the way. As well, the assist/fgm ratio was back up to an acceptible number.

UNC won this game because of UNC's 3-point shooting and poor shooting from everywhere by the Cavaliers. UVA enjoyed a rebounding advantage, oddly, getting 9 more possessions than UNC, keeping it uncomfortably close. UNC only rebounded 12% of their missed shots in this one.

The game only had 147 possessions. Only 79 of the last 987 games have been slower.

Both are possible, I'll take 3 out of 4 heading homeward, and getting to the finals of the ACC tourney. But would love to win it this year. Some years I am ambivalent , think it takes too much out of the team to play that many games, then head straight to the NCAA. But this year I think we could reset our place in the conference with winning the dadgum thing. Can be done with these guys if they really want it.

CAROLINA 71, VIRGINIA 63
FEBRUARY 25, 2023
ROY WILLIAMS COURT AT THE DEAN E. SMITH CENTER
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.

UNC Scoring Leader: Pete Nance 22
UNC Rebound Leader: RJ Davis 10
UNC Assist Leader: Davis 4
Team Records: UNC 18-11, 10-8, Virginia 21-6, 13-5

• Carolina defeated a top-10 (AP) opponent at home for the first time since a 79-70 win over No. 4 Duke on 3/9/2019.
Virginia came into the game No. 6 in the AP poll.
• This was the fourth home game against a top-10 team since that 2019 win over Duke.
• This was the fourth win over a top-10 opponent in Hubert Davis’s two seasons as head coach (No. 4 Duke, No. 4 Baylor and No. 9 Duke last season).
• One game after shooting 18.5% from the floor in the first half at Notre Dame, Carolina shot 57.7% from the floor in the first half, its highest first-half percentage of the season (previous .533 vs. Portland).
• Carolina made nine three-pointers in the first half, which tied its season high for a half (nine in the second half vs. Clemson on 2/11/23).

• Carolina was 14 for 75 from three since the Clemson game and made 9 of 16 in the opening half tonight.
• Carolina held the Cavaliers to 39.7% from the floor, just the fifth time this season the Cavaliers shot under 40%.
• Virginia had more points off turnovers (8-0), more points in the paint (20), more second-chance points (4) and more fastbreak points (2-0).
• Carolina’s 20 paint points were its fewest since the Tar Heels had 20 at Virginia. The 20 points equal the second fewest this season (14 vs. Gardner-Webb).
• Carolina’s four second-chance points also equaled the second fewest this season.

• Carolina had more bench points (8-5, all eight by Puff Johnson) for just the eighth time this season and fifth time in a victory.
• The Tar Heels outscored Virginia, 30-12 on three-pointers, and 17-5 from the free throw line.
• This was the first time UNC did not score a point off a turnover since a 2/6/2016 loss at Notre Dame.
• This was the first time UNC did not score a fastbreak point since an overtime win at Louisville on 2/1/22.
• Carolina never trailed in the game and led for 37:58. It was the third time this season UNC never trailed (also vs. James Madison and Boston College).

• Carolina led by 16 at half, Virginia’s largest halftime deficit of the season.
• It was UNC’s largest halftime lead since November 20 when the Tar Heels led JMU by 19 (45-26).
• Pete Nance scored 22 points, made all four of his three-pointers and all four of his free throws, and blocked a season-high four shots. This was the fifth time Nance led UNC in scoring.
• It was the third time this season and 11th time in his career Nance scored 20 or more points. It was his first 20-point game since he had 21 at Syracuse on 1/24/23.
• Nance made all four threes in the first half, his most since he made five vs. Portland on Thanksgiving.

• Nance had made four threes in the previous nine games.
• Johnson made two threes in the first half to tie his career high for three-pointers in a game (fourth time this season and fifth in his career).
• RJ Davis led UNC with 10 rebounds and added 16 points to post his third points & rebounds double-double this season (and fourth of his career).
• This was the second game this season (also Gardner-Webb) and second in his career Davis led UNC in rebounding.
• Davis was 4 for 4 from the free throw line. He improved his season percentage to an ACC-best .880 and his career percentage to .848, which ties Shammond Williams for the best in UNC history. His season percentage is on pace for the third best by a Tar Heel.
• Leaky Black blocked a career-high four shots. He had blocked three five times, including vs. Alabama earlier this season.
• Black played in his 151st game, tying Nate Britt and Isaiah Hicks for second all-time by a Tar Heel. Deon Thompson played in 152 games in four seasons from 2006-10.

Series vs. Virginia
• Carolina is 134-61 all-time vs. the Cavaliers.
• Carolina is 68-9 in Chapel Hill, including 26-6 in the Smith Center.
• The Tar Heels have won three of the last four games in all locations.
• This was the sixth time UNC has scored 70 or more points vs. Virginia since Tony Bennett became the Cavaliers’ head coach in 2009-10. The Tar Heels are 5-1 in those six games.

Next: Monday, February 27, at Florida State (7 p.m., ESPN)

The game clock continues to run after made baskets until the 1 minute mark. UNC repeatedly let the ball lay on the court after UVA made baskets late in the 2nd half. UVA was too busy trying to match up for full court defense to go grab the ball. So we burned a bunch of time waiting for the ref to put the ball in Leaky's hands.

Thanks Pete for a great game today. We have been needing this awhile and as most know, it’s not all on you. Today I sensed you were playing with a chip on your shoulder. Those blocks were nasty! I don’t care if Coach Davis tells you to wait in the corner, if you get the pass and you can drive and draw a defender like you did today, forget what he said and do it. You can open up the court for others by playing your game. You are being used out of position anyway. If not for your assists today we lose another one. I know we aren’t playing any semblance of the old Carolina offense, but if you make noise when you catch the ball in the corner we can be a much better team.
Please tell Caleb to watch the video of todays game and you and Armando shove his head in a toilet! Wake that kid up. You guys are better than what people think it’s just the schemes being run are BAD!

In a earlier game this year played in Charlottesville these two teams played a very close game which was a big surprise for me as Bacot only was able to participate for a couple of minutes due to a early injury and Jaylen Washington played his most minutes and best game of the year but the Tar Heels fell late in the contest.

Last year at home with Bacot in the lineup he probably had his most dominating game of the season with 26 points and 22 points as the Tar Heels had no problems taking down the Wahoos and I am expecting another big game from him today because Vander Plas snd Gardner who normally start are only 6’8 apiece.

Virginia is very experienced with four seniors starting a one junior and Carolina balances that with three seniors and two juniors starting.

Kihei Clark at point runs the team and as he goes the team goes. He normally gets a ton of assists and averages about 11.6 points a contest. RJ Davis will finally be able to defend someone closer to his size.

Armaan Franklin leads the team at scoring from the shooting guard position at 12.4 and I would expect Black and Love to take turns guarding him.

The third guard is junior Reece Beekman who is contributing 9.6 points per game.

Jordan Chandler at forward has been coming on and he will also probably see a lot of Leaky Black because he can score and his 11.3 scoring average proves that. Ben Vander Plas at center with no Bacot around to deal with had a big game a month ago but he may have problems even getting to his average of 7.5 with Bacot healthy this time around.

Tiempo is the key to this ACC contest and which ever team can dictate the pace will be the winner. Carolina MUST TREASURE every possession and find Bacot early and often. It seems like every game a opponent has one person who has a career game against UNC and with so much on the line this cannot happen again today.

I am hoping a hyped up home crowd will give the team a big boost and my biggest hope is that being at home some outside shots will finally fall which should open up shots down low for Bacot…It is due or die time…

There are 4 of them.

"The first two are considered “non-controversial” and would (1) prohibit consecutive timeouts, most often used to “ice” an opposing kicker, and (2) eliminate untimed downs at the end of the 1st and 3rd quarters in the case of a defensive penalty. These two likely bring the least debate because they also happen to make the least impact on any particular game."

"The third idea is to eliminate the clock stoppage after a team gains a first down, except inside the last two minutes of a half. This is very similar to the NFL rule, which would likely make a significant impact on the length of games. Because it is so similar to the way the NFL plays, and would render marked benefits it is gaining wide support among decision makers.

The fourth proposal is considered more controversial and would mark a major change. In this proposal, after an incomplete pass, the game clock would restart once the ball was spotted by the official, rather than when the ball is snapped for the next play."

What do you think? I am not bothered by game length now. The first 2 seem like common sense changes to me. I don't care for the 3rd, but I bet it passes because of the NFL similarity. I really don;pt like the 4th.

Heinrich is planning a spring visit to UNC; one to watch.