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Heels have Hansbrough, home-court advantage Sunday, Mar 23, 2008 By Harry King RALEIGH, N.C. - One of two seniors on the team, the 7-footer led Mount St. Mary's onto the court, passing within steps of North Carolina. Jason Loughry doesn't play much for Mount, but he knows about Atlantic Coast Conference basketball and top talent. He grew up in Maryland and was on the same high school team as Memphis Grizzly Rudy Gay. Loughry refused to look directly at the legendary team in light blue - "Carolina Blue," fans call it - cutting his eyes to sneak a peek. He saw Tyler Hansbrough, back to the basket, take a bounce pass from a teammate and turn for a little push hook. Loughry continued to the other end of the court. If he had lingered, he would have seen Hansbrough go through his repertoire, turning first to the baseline and then away from it, after accepting a pass. With the exception of the clump of always-standing fans in Section 105 and the small pep band, many with hair dyed blue, everybody in the place knew North Carolina was tons better than Mount St. Mary's. That discrepancy in talent is one of the reasons that watching Hansbrough was such a delight. In a game where cruise control was available, he busted his rump. For instance, with about five minutes left in the half, he muscled up between two defenders for an in-close basket, blocked a shot at the other end, and then got on the floor for the ball. Already named College Player of the Year by Sports Illustrated and ESPN and certain to add to his trophy collection, Hansbrough plays like someone trying to prove himself rather than somebody who has already met the criteria to become the eighth North Carolina player to have his jersey retired. Before leaving Raleigh for dyed eggs and CBS' view of the Razorbacks, I penciled in Pelphrey for a quote about Hansbrough and beat writer Ryan Malashock obliged. Pelphrey prefaced his compliment by detailing the lack of speed, spring, and smooth. "But I tell you one thing," he said. "He has got unbelievable heart, a passion for it, it means a lot to him. I can remember watching him play in high school and just being blown away with the disrespect he had for his body." The 6-fooot-9 junior is only part of the package that Arkansas must deal with in the second round of the NCAA. There is the slew of other talented Tar Heels and the mystique of a truly storied program - a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for a record 12th time, the ninth time since 1990. With pride and in parentheses, Carolina points out that Duke is second with 10. As much as anything, there is the home-court advantage. The NCAA Selection Committee gives regional priority to the top 16 seeds, but placing the Tar Heels 30 minutes from their campus is a little much - sort of like Arkansas playing at Bentonville. For the record, North Carolina is 22-1 in NCAA games played in state, including 6-1 in Raleigh. The Tar Heels' fans are bloodthirsty. When the lead over Mount St. Mary's reached 20, they were hungry for 30, and when it climbed to 30, they screamed for 40. They are also elitists. On the cover of the media guide prepared for the NCAA Tournament, the Final Four logo is in the lower right hand corner. From top to bottom, North Carolina expects to be in San Antonio next month. Saturday morning, the five-column picture on the front of The News & Observer sports page showed coach Roy Williams, arms crossed and smiling, in front of the bench and in the middle of his players celebrating some play by a reserve. No matter the margin, It is difficult to imagine Pelphrey smiling like that while there is time on the clock. The opposition, or lack of it, had something to do with the fact that the ball never seemed to touch the floor when North Carolina was in possession and the fact that the Tar Heels' defense appeared lax at times. Arkansas will not score 41 in the first half like The Mount did. Not everybody in North Carolina is big on basketball. Chuck, who works some behind the front desk at the hotel and some behind the wheel of the courtesy van, grew up in Tulsa and moved to Raleigh a couple of years ago. Sooner or later, he's going to pick a team, he said. "Everything here is about tobacco and basketball and I don't smoke," he said. ---- Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media's Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com. |
