Harrison Barnes has decided to stay for his sophomore season. Tar heel fans everywhere can take a huge sigh of relief. This will be a hungry team with one goal and one goal only on its mind: To win a National Championship. With the return of Junior F John Henson and Senior F Tyler Zeller, they can definitely get it done. They have all the right tools and finally enough experience to win it all. I'm looking forward to next season

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I'm a Tennessee Vol, first and foremost. That ain't changin'. However, given that I'm spending the next six years of my life as a Ph.D. student at UNC, I figured I ought to expand the list of teams I support to two. After all, I don't have much against y'all. You were beneficiaries of our baffling collapse in 2000 and our inability to put six healthy DBs on the field in 2010, but those certainly weren't the best Vol teams, so there's no lingering malice. Plus, despite sharing a border, we rarely play each other, so there probably won't be too much internal conflict. And Tennessee orange and Carolina blue, in addition to being my two favorite colors for pretty much ever, look awesome together. 

With that in mind, I need to learn about this new school I support. I already hate Duke (at least in basketball--in football they're harmless and cute, and Coach Cut is a good dude), so I imagine that's a good start. I don't hate them as much as I hate Kentucky, but I don't imagine a little ill-will towards Big Blue will go over too badly here. What else do I need, as far as rivalries go. Wake Forest? NC State? Do I have reason to legitimately dislike these folks, or is it just fun to watch them try to actually win a rivalry game (like Vandy and Kentucky in football)? I know there's no real series going with Tennessee or USC--are there any other border wars I'm missing? At UT, the border wars (Kentucky in hoops, Alabama in football) are the biggest rivalries we have. But I guess we have more borders than Carolina. What's left? UVA? Non-border wars? Anything else? 

Then there's the actual teams. As a grad student, I haven't paid as much attention as I would've liked to college sports as a whole. I see from the front page that Hensen and Zeller are coming back. Presumably I should root for Barnes to come back too. I have no idea who else is even on the basketball team. No idea who's coming back on the football team, or if people even care. Also don't know how serious the NCAA troubles are? Are you expecting the NCAA hammer or relatively minimal penalties that Butch should be able to work himself out of? 

I seem to recall the soccer team being good, but everyone I remember playing college in the Southeast did so in South Carolina (Dempsey, R. Clark, Holden, Onyewu). Any UNC grads I should be aware of? By the way, how Furman got Dempsey and Clark at the same time I have no idea. 

What am I missing? Tell me what I need to know. 

Also, just so we're clear, no matter how much I grow to love UNC, this is and will always remain out of bounds:

via assets.sbnation.com

Go Vols! Go Heels!

Hello,

My name is Ashwin and I recently got an offer to work in Burlington, NC. ill be turning 23 in May, however i'm still in the party scene and I don't wanna grow up. I like watching and playing sports. I'm a Detroit fan and most Michigan State fan. I was just hoping to get advice on some potential places to live. Ill be moving down around June. Any advice will help, thanks 

Go Green!

-Ashwin

For the past few months it has been known that Desmond Hubert is down to MD and UNC.  Can someone tell me who you will have returning as a scholarship player?  I would think that you had 9 scholarship players last year, with 1 graduating.  I have listed them below.

Strickland, McDonald, Marshall, Watts, Henson, Zeller, Barnes, Bullock, Knox (graduating). 


This would mean that you had 8 returning players and could take 5 players in the 2011 class.  From what I can tell you have given out 3 athletic scholarships, 1 academic scholarship, and 1 preferred walk on.  Is that the case? 

McAdoo, Hariston, White - Athletic

Simmons - preferred walk on

Cannon - Academic

This would mean that you would have room for Desmond Hubert.  Most people on the MD site seem to think that you are out of scholarships.  Can someone confirm your current status.  Appreciate it..... and F Duke

If Harrison Barnes does indeed make his return official than we could be looking at one of the best Carolina teams of the decade. With the return of Henson and Zeller and the addition of James McAdoo they will have the best front court in the nation. And with only the loss of one scholarship Senior (Knox) they will have the depth and experience to win any given game throughout the season. But how will they compare to the 2009 team that we all remember and love?

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Hey guys, things are looking good for the 2011-2012 Tar Heels so far...

If this whole thing is true then we should see #40 back in Carolina blue next year. The announcement is supposed to come tomorrow, so I guess we'll all just have to stay tuned. Hopefully we see the Big Three come back next year, if they all buy into the idea of winning a championship I think they'll be celebrating under the confetti in the Super Dome in 2012.

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Eamonn Brennan wrote an article asking if UCONN could obtain Blue blood status. I wonder how, as UNC fans you all feel about it. I wrote my reply over at ASOB, and as an unquestioned member of this club, does this suggestion offend you? It does me, but it at least made me think about why we deserve the label and why others do not.

http://www.aseaofblue.com/2011/3/31/2082754/what-is-a-blue-blood-or-royalty-reply-to-eamonn-brennan

I don't really post a lot, but this subject really made me think about why it means something to have that moniker and what it means to water it down.  Like I said before, I would definitely like input from other blue blood fan bases. 

Don't hold it against me . . . I'm a Texas fan.  I've created a weekly poll of D-1 baseball teams.  The weekly top 20 for this week is shown below (I go 30 deep in my full poll).  NC comes in at a strong #12!  Nice job.  Note that the computer rankings love you way more than the pollsters do.  I update the poll weekly and have created a site on the Internets if you wish to follow it.  Best luck on your year, hope to see you in Omaha, and visit me here at  http://tubilipoll.jigsy.com/ for a full poll description of all components used and a complete weekly poll updates!

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HELP A DIE-HARD, DISPLACED HEEL!  Brandon Sharp '97 is nominated to be the People's Best new Chef; please vote for him here--no personal info is required, just click the Brandon Sharp button, click VOTE, that's all.  It's much easier than watching King Rice or Brendan Haywood shoot free throws . . . :  

http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2011/02/15/food-wines-the-peoples-best-new-chef-2011-pacific/ 

If so elected, he plans to someday resurrect the Rathskellar!  Double Gamblers all around!  Put some meat on Henson's bones without slowing him down.  

VS.

This post is sponsored by Bud Light

POSTED THIS ON BLOGGER SO DEAR AND WANTED TO GET Y'ALLS TAKE ON IT

As we begin to wind this season up (especially for Wake Forest), really the only questions that are left to be answered are: Will Wake Forest win another game, or set an ACC record for losses in a season (24), as well as losses in the ACC in one season (15), and if Travis McKie can win ACC Freshman of the Year.

Kyrie Irving probably would have taken the honors if he had no gone down with his toe injury so early in the year. Harrison Barnes had extremely lofty expectations set for him before the season began, and just in the past month has started to live up to them. Travis McKie has gone mostly under the radar, as he came in with four other freshman, and Wake Forest has been historically bad.

Click through to check out stats for McKie and Barnes, and which player should win FOY in the ACC.

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