Schonhose

Today I got up early to watch the Finals of the NCAA tournament, which featured the number one seeded North Carolina against the second seeded Michigan State in Detriot. The first half was pretty exciting with UNC taking the early lead off a threepointer by Danny Green. I have to say North Carolina played a tremendous first half, with everybody scoring and being active on defense. One person that really stands out is Ed Davis, the freshman. He was really active on the boards, scored a couple of easy putbacks while showing his defensive capabilities as well on the other end by blocking a couple of shots.

Before the game it was announced that Ty Lawson has won the Bob Cousy collegiate point guard of the year award, which is only fitting seeing the way this young man has played this year.

UNC managed to break the scoring record for the first 20 minutes of a Finals game, making 55 points. In return they hold Michigan State to only 34 points. Michigan State has a difficult time scoring inside, which can be credited to UNC’s stifling defense. At the halftime Earvin “Magic” Johnson talked about the talented UNC team, with the best point guard in the US (Ty Lawson), last years best player (Tyler Hansbrough) and the best shooting combo in Wayne Ellington and Danny Green. The first half UNC played like true champions and if Michigan State wants to come back into the game they need to slow the game down and make less turnovers (13 in the first half).

A couple minutes in at the second half Ty Lawson made his eight steal, breaking the Final Four record. Carolina came into a scoring slump, shooting only 2 for 13. They need to get something going because Michigan State is coming back. Danny Green came up with the basket to end the slump. North Carolina was unable to maintain the high standard they set in the first half and allowed Michigan State to come back within 15 points at the 4 minute mark. North Carolina didn’t shoot the ball well, 8 – 24, but managed to hit the free throws. With two and a half minutes to go Michigan State replaced their starters and let the bench play it out. UNC was leading 84 – 68 at that point, looking good to win the NCAA championship, their second in the last five years. Danny Green, the senior, fouled out, after his 145 games in Tarheel blue.

The last couple of minutes featured a lot of free throws, but UNC kept the lead and won the championship. Congratulations to the Heels on finishing a wonderful season and thanks to the class of seniors that made it all happen.

University of North Carolina, the 2009 NCAA Champions!

See the photogallery or read the story over at Tarheel Blue.

After last years loss against Kansas the University of North Carolina made sure it didn’t happen again. In a classic match-up, dubbed “men vs boys” on the internet, UNC defeated Villanova 83 – 69 to secure a place in the NCAA Finals game.

Ty Lawson (yes, still with the toe problem) scored 22 points, Wayne Ellington added another 20. Tyler Hansbrough had 18 points and 11 rebounds (another double double). Tomorrow (monday) the Heels try to win their second title in five years (the last one being in 2005: Sean May and Raymond Felton among others) against Michigan State.

It will be a fitting end for the seniors if they secure the NCAA 2009 title. Read more about the accomplishments of the seniors here.

One more game, one more win, one more championship. Just one more to say goodbye to the best team in the 2008-2009 season. And to the wonderful group of seniors who made it happen. It will be a fitting end of a tremendous season. Go Heels!!

For the second straight year North Carolina has made it to the Final Four. In last nights game the Heels won from Oklahoma, 72 – 60.

Even though Tyler Hansbrough only scored 8 points and got into foul trouble early, the rest of the team picked up the slack. Ty Lawson scored 19 points and Danny Green added another 18 points for the Heels. By placing effective double-teams on Blake Griffin, the nation’s best player, the Heels were able to get Oklahoma out of rhythm. Even though Griffin scored 23 points with 16 rebounds for Oklahoma, the rest of the team was cold from the floor (2-for-19 from 3-point range).

Next game is against Villanova on the 4th of April.

UNC easily defeated Gonzaga last night, winning by a margin of 21 points. Conzaga came as close as 11 points, mostly due to the poor shot selection of North Carolina. After a time-out North Carolina went on a 12-0 run and after that it was an easy cruise to victory.

Ty Lawson scored 19 points, still playing through the toe injury. It seems it doesn’t bother him much anyways, so thats a good thing for the Heels. He also came up one assist short of a double double. Tyler Hansbrough notched a double double, scoring 24 points and grabbing 10 rebounds (leading the Heels in both rebounds and scores). Danny Green and Wayne Ellington dropped 13 and 19 points respectively.

Next up the game against Oklahoma this sunday.

Ty Lawson proved he was tough, playing in his first game after injuring his toe during practice a few weeks back. He finished the game with 23 points, scoring 21 in the second half of the game, as UNC holds off LSU for a 84 – 70 win last Saturday.

Tyler Hansbrough added 15 points, but scored only once in the second half. However, freshman Ed Davis added 9 points and 7 rebounds from the bench. Next game is against the winner of the Gonzaga-Western Kentucky game. After two games in Greensboro, N.C. the game will now shift to Memphis, Tenn. Let’s hope a lot of fans will support UNC in Memphis like they did in Greensboro.