And just like that, she was gone. Like a thief in the night, stealing your heart away, college basketball can be a cruel mistress. Does she return the love you so willingly give? Not usually, but that’s what keeps us coming back for more. Considering the way things work in sports, about the only college basketball lovers who left this year’s affair in a happy mood were the Carolina Tar Heels faithful, who had Danny Green to help celebrate. During the team’s campus National Champions pep rally, Green ended his segment with his little jump around dance that’s become a staple during the aftermath of big Carolina wins.
Green’s dance also signals the official end of college basketball for another summer. Sure, there’s still some recruiting business to sort out, but that’s not quite the same as playing. No, college basketball is finished for the time being and Danny Green was last seen dancing at its funeral.
Something should be said for finishing the season the way you started, especially if that consists of starting and finishing in first place in the rankings. The team that started as the preseason number one finished the regular season back at the top of the ranking pile and as you can see in the above video, Danny Green couldn’t be happier about it. Of course, if Carolina loses in the upcoming ACC Tournament, they will yield the regained spot to a team like Pittsburgh, but that hasn’t happened yet.
With that in mind, the Tar Heels, a team Rick Pitino feels is the most talented in the land, should be commended on their consistency, because, as the following graph shows, the Heels were consistently better than their opponents, says the Master of the Obvious.
Back to the video: Danny Green is, in fact, dancing because it was Senior Day for the Tar Heels yesterday, and after beating Duke to close their regular season, I’m sure Green wanted to give the Carolina faithful a little something to remember him by. The dance he does should work just fine.
Remember him? Of course you do because ESPN made sure to remind you. The fact that I’m writing about this cat can only mean one thing — it’s time for another round of the “bestest, most stupendously incredible rivalry in the free world.” That’s right, North Carolina invades the confines of Cameron Indoor Gym Stadium tonight, where I’m sure Speedo Guy, or some derivative thereof, will almost certainly be seen when UNC shoots its free throws.
When you are watching the game tonight, it’s important to remember you are witnessing history. Anytime the “greatest rivalry in the history of the earth, ever” is on television, it’s even more historical than that Obama Inauguration business that went down in Washington D.C. last month. With that in mind, who ya got? I’m thinking Carolina because of their superior interior (Rhyme Master Cee in the house), although, we all know how well the Dukies feed off of their crowd.
Apparently, last night was a bad night to be a Cavalier. We’ve already mentioned LeBron’s struggles, but he wasn’t the only playing for the mascot having the horrible night. The Virginia Cavaliers got caught in the UNC buzzsaw last night as the Tar Heels try and erase any bad tastes leftover from their 0-2 start in the ACC. The highlight of the game–besides Tyler Hansbrough passing Christian Laettner on the all-time ACC scoring list–was a putback slam by Danny Green.
Are the Heels getting ready to roll again, now that they’ve got that first ACC win out of the way? There’s almost a month until they travel to Cameron Indoor for the first of their yearly, bi-annual game of the century of the year of the season against Duke (February 11). They also have Clemson at home and two away games at NC State and Florida State.
All three of these contests present potential pitfalls for the Heels.
