The Heels have tied their best start in school history after sweeping Boston College this weekend to extend their record to 34-7. This matches the start back in 1983, when B.J. Surhoff was playing for the Heels.

The feat is even more impressive when you consider Carolina has no true home games this season, with Boshamer under construction. Their "home" games are all played at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary.

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Somehow over the last week, the fact that UNC's route through the tournament goes through Raleigh and Charlotte has really begun to irk people. Chief among them Rick Pitino, in a passive-agressive sort of way:

Look, if you don't want a team's path to the Final Four to be entirely in-state, there's a simple solution - put the different sites in different states. There are - hold on, let me count - fifty of the damn things, each with quite a few stadiums. I'm pretty sure we could swing this if we want.

But this attitude of shocked surprise coming from the media is a bit much for me. I've known for months that the East Regional was in Charlotte and the opening rounds were in Raleigh? How? Because the media wouldn't shut up about it. Every Carolina-Duke game, it was mention at least a half-dozen times as the carrot being dangled in front of both teams. Every mention of the ACC standings, Raleigh and Charlotte would come up. All through the ACC Tournament, talk about Raleigh and Charlotte. And yet through all of this, no one thought it was unfair until UNC started ripping through teams like a buzzsaw. This Carolina team could have played three road games and still put up huge margins against their opponents. And should the Heels make it to San Antonio, well, I'm pretty sure there will be a fair amount of Carolina Blue in the stands there as well.

I could also do without ever hearing this stat ever again:

How about - and this is just me tossing this out here - because UNC's been a number one seed practically every time they've played in North Carolina[*]? Because that's how they've rewarded top seeds since they instituted seeding, by playing the opening rounds at the closest site? Have you never seen one of these tournaments before?

Again, if you really don't think this is fair, it can easily be fixed long before the season starts. But since it's only bothering you now that the stands are filled with Tar Heels, well, I'll try to get the Tiny Violin Orchestra together for you.

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River Ave. Blues:

Corn Nation:

Baseball America :

CSTV:

The News & Observer (here too):

ESPN:

USA Today:

And here's a treasure trove of stats for starting pitcher Alex White and the starting lineups. They've also got pictures if you want to relive UNC-Rice.

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UNC's going to the finals; Rice is going back to Texas.

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Tar Heel Mania is liveblogging the game. I am merely watching the game, enjoying how easily my hatred for one four-letter private school transfers over to another. The Gothic font on the uniform helps. Go Heels.

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I was unaware of this fact.

The DTH has also sent a reporter to Omaha, and he's been turning in some pretty gripping reports. I guess that's the advantage to a) being there and b) knowing how to do this journalism thing I keep hearing so much about. All of his stuff on the series is here, if you want to while away the hours before tonight's rematch.

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With Oregon State defeating UC Irvine today, we're down to three teams in the College World Series: North Carolina, Oregon State and Rice.

The last three teams in last year's CWS? North Carolina, Oregon State and Rice.

Of course in 2006 it was UNC who had the easier road to the title series, winning three straight. OSU had to come out of the loser's bracket and defeat Rice on two consecutive days to make the championship. Here's hoping for a repeat performance from the Owls, and not from the Beavers.

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I could get use to this pitching strength. UNC held Rice to six hits, four of which came late after the Heels had a large lead, as Carolina beat back the Owls 6-1 to force a rematch Thursday. It was Rice's first loss of the tournament.

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This wasn't the Carolina team we've been following through the tournament. That team went through pitchers like corn chips on both ends of the ball. That team had put up an 11.22 ERA in the last seven games, and compensated for it with strong hitting and late-game heroics. That team got demolished by Rice.

The team today is the one you remember from the regular season. The pitching staff that couldn't find a toehold against the Owls turned around and shutdown the Cardinals. Three hits. One run - a solo home run in the first inning. 11 strikeouts. A starting pitcher - Luke Putkonen, who was subject to speculation that he wouldn't even get the start - going seven innings and twenty-six batters before turning the game over to the closers. All against a Louisville team that had been lighting up the scoreboards, driving in more runs than anyone else in the playoffs and evening putting up ten on the otherwise dominate Rice.

This team can beat Rice back-to-back. This team can take the NCAA title. This is the team we want to see the rest of the way out.

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So XM Radio doesn't carry the College World Series, despite three ACC channels - helpfully talking about all the football and basketball they'll be broadcasting five months from now - two different ESPNs, and a host of other things that aren't UNC Baseball. Unfortunately, I learned this an hour down the 101 on the way to an L.A. Galaxy soccer game. Even more unfortunately, I apparently didn't miss much, only a new record in the number of pitchers used (8) in futility.

(The L.A. Galaxy beat Real Salt Lake 3-2, by the way. Real Salt Lake, in addition to being a very silly name for a Utah soccer team, is the current employer of Eddie Pope, legendary UNC soccer player. Pope left after the first half.)

The Heels face Louisville in the consolation bracket Tuesday. The Cards may just happy to be there, but have some pretty potent bats, as well as better performances against MSU and Rice this week. Oregon State blog - the Beavers keep winning - Building the Dam is in Omaha, and hopefully will be able to provide pictures of a UNC victory.

And continuing the not-connecting-with-UNC theme of this weekend, leaving a restaurant tonight with some buddies tonight, I ran into a woman leaving the gym down the street. A very attractive woman, in a Carolina T-shirt. Alas, by this point our party of three had picked up two homeless guys, and I've found single women don't really want to stop on a dark street and strike up a conversation about their alma mater with a group of people that includes a rather dirty man in a "Fuck All Y'all" trucker hat.

America must end poverty as we know it, because it's really messing with my game.

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Let's see. Down 4-0, facing the cleanup hitter with men on second and third. In the second inning.

And yet the Heels manage their fifth comeback of the tournament so far, pounding out twelve hits on the way to an 8-5 victory. Adam Lucas writes a compelling account of the Heels' pitching over at Tar Heel Blue - that's starter Robert Woodard in the picture to the right.

Neext up is Rice, the low scoring, defensively minded team of the tournament that topped Louisville... 15-10? And that score includes a pretty hefty comeback of its own, as Rice was down six runs before scoring the game's final eleven. UNC meets the Owls Sunday at 7pm, and I officially have no idea how its going to turn out.

Speaking of the Cards, at least one Louisville fan is picking Carolina to win it all. He also has a preview of the Eastern half of the bracket here.

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