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04 Apr 2014

Why James Michael McAdoo Declared for the Draft

When news broke yesterday that junior forward James Michael McAdoo was forgoing his final season of eligibility and declaring for the NBA Draft, there was a lot of anger and confusion among North Carolina fans. Why now? Why not return for one more year? It seemed obvious on the surface. He’s not projected to be a first round pick in most mock drafts, so why leave when he could stay and improve his chances? It’s easy for fans to say that because they’re not in his shoes, but things are never that simple. Even though his decision could be viewed as impulsive and ill advised, that doesn’t mean that it actually is. Here are a few of the reasons why McAdoo might not be returning next season-

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Posted by Mr. Tar Heel in Basketball, Draft, ESPN, UNC Correspondent
25 Mar 2014
1 Comment

Season End Recap- Why North Carolina Deserved a Chance in UNC-Iowa State

Another North Carolina Basketball season has come and gone. 24 wins. A Hall of Fame Tipoff Tournament Championship. And for the first time ever, a Roy Williams coached Carolina team is back at home after the Round of 32 for two years in a row. For many fans, it’s been an interesting, yet unsatisfying, season. Summer drama led to early season losses. Disappointing outcomes led to surprising upsets. Big victories led to an almost unprecedented poor start in conference play. A wake up call led to a huge win streak. And the season ended early, yet again, in the most bizarre of circumstances. As we reflect on the 2013-2014 North Carolina basketball team and look to the future, here are a few observations from this year’s season-

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Posted by Mr. Tar Heel in ACC only, Basketball, March Madness, Opinion, UNC Correspondent
19 Mar 2014

What, No Kansas?- Analyzing the Tar Heels’ Path to the Final Four

Let’s go ahead and get the most obvious thing out of the way. No, North Carolina is not a favorite to make the Final Four. But could they get there? Absolutely. They have all the talent and tools to make a deep March run- defensive intensity, a wide rebounding margin, a star point guard, excellent bench play. Add a Hall of Fame coach to that list and you’ve got a pretty sure shot, right? The problem is, that the Tar Heels rarely exhibit all of these qualities at one time. This is the same team that lost to UAB (which finished with a losing record in lowly C-USA) and beat then #1 Michigan State (many media member’s pick to win it all) in the same WEEK. You never know what you’re going to get when they step on the court. A 12-game winning streak just became a 2-game losing streak courtesy of Duke and Pittsburgh, two teams which North Carolina had already beaten earlier in the season. So why do I think they still have a chance?

Because the Tar Heels always seem to show up when it matters most.

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Posted by Mr. Tar Heel in Basketball, March Madness, Predictions, Schedule, UNC Correspondent
07 Mar 2014

The Tar Heel Panic-o-Meter: A UNC-Duke Preview

As the final week of the regular season comes to a close, it’s time to return to our Tar Heel Panic-o-Meter one last time. When we last visited this concept back in early December, Carolina had an acceptable 4-2 record, with puzzling losses to Belmont and UAB. Inconsistency was the rule, not the exception, and wins at then #1 Michigan State and #11 Kentucky led to an 0-3 start in ACC play.

But a lot has changed since then- this isn’t the same team.

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Posted by Mr. Tar Heel in Basketball, Opinion, Poll, Predictions, UNC Correspondent
24 Feb 2014
4 Comments

Keeping the ACC Title Game in Charlotte is the Right Choice

It’s basketball season in ACC country, and things are better than ever. Four teams are ranked in the AP poll (#4 Syracuse, #6 Duke, #12 Virginia, and #19 North Carolina), and the league is coming off of one of its most exciting weeks ever. An unexpected roadblock in Syracuse’s quest for dominance has sent them reeling, while the Duke-North Carolina game was, well…Duke and North Carolina. An instant classic. So naturally, the league is doing everything it can to seize this media momentum by calling a press conference today to talk about…football.

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Posted by Mr. Tar Heel in Football, News, Opinion, Schedule, UNC Correspondent
18 Feb 2014

Roy Williams Joins the 300 Club

If you ignore the absolutely embarrassing performance by the refs, and the reality of what last night’s loss means to Florida State (likely, no NCAA Tournament, barring a run in Greensboro), the end of the UNC-FSU game was a good thing for the ACC. Sure, the game was exciting, seeing the Seminoles lead 21-6 at one point before the Tar Heels stormed back, but that’s not why it will have a significant place in history. No, last night’s game was important because Roy Williams set a major conference record, joining the 300 Club of the ACC.

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Posted by Mr. Tar Heel in Basketball, Conference News, Opinion, Results, UNC Correspondent
12 Feb 2014

UPDATE- UNC-Duke Game POSTPONED Until 2/20

The UNC-Duke game, originally scheduled for 9:10pm tonight on ESPN and the ACC Network, has been postponed. Just a few hours before tip-off, the word came out at 5:40pm that the bus that was supposed to pick up the Duke team to take them to the Chapel Hill campus was unable to make it as scheduled. And now, less than an hour after that, officials have announced that the game will be played a week from tomorrow, Thursday, February 20th. The time is still TBD.

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Posted by Mr. Tar Heel in ACC only, Basketball, Conference News, Schedule, UNC Correspondent
11 Feb 2014

Krispy Kreme Challenge 2014 Sets Fundraising Record!

2400 calories, 12 doughnuts, 5 miles, 1 hour= LIVES CHANGED

This past Saturday, almost 8,000 participants gathered at the NC State bell tower for the 10th Annual Krispy Kreme Challenge. Like last year, I was fortunate enough to compete in the event, which has challengers run 2.5 miles, eat 12 doughnuts and then run 2.5 miles again all in under an hour. And while I’m happy to say that I improved on my time and didn’t get even sick, the real reason I’m proud to have been a part of this event is because of what it accomplished.

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Posted by Mr. Tar Heel in News, UNC Correspondent
05 Feb 2014
3 Comments

ACC Winter Meetings Recap- Revisiting the Football Divisional Format and the ACC Title Game

Happy signing day, everyone! Today is one of the most exciting days of the offseason because the future of your favorite team is ceremonially handed off to a group of twenty 17-18 year olds live on ESPN. It’s an important day, because these are the players that can make or break the next four years for your program. A good class can save a coach’s job (we’re looking at you, Mike London), or propel him to a national title in just a few short years (congrats, Jimbo Fisher).

Yesterday, we talked a little bit about one of the topics of this year’s ACC Winter Meetings, the nine game schedule. Today, we’ll briefly look at an issue that’s just as important to the future of the ACC as schedule changes and even your program’s signing class- Divisional Alignment and the ACC Title Game.

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Posted by Mr. Tar Heel in ACC only, Conference News, Football, Opinion, Predictions, UNC Correspondent
04 Feb 2014
4 Comments

ACC Winter Meetings Recap- The Nine Game Conference Schedule

While everyone was caught up in the hype of the Super Bowl (or changing the channel and tuning into Downton Abbey instead), the ACC quietly had their winter meetings at the end of last week. On the agenda? A number of different things that could drastically shape the future of the league. Today, we talk about the return of the nine game conference schedule. Not a lot has been reported regarding the meetings, so this is only discussion and speculation right now.

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Posted by Mr. Tar Heel in ACC Network, ACC only, Conference News, Football, Opinion, Predictions, UNC Correspondent

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