Entertaining reader email claims UNC guard Kendall Marshall's injury is a hoax

CHAPEL HILL -- I've received a lot of email over the years. Some of it nice. Some of it mean. But I don't know if I've ever received an email quite like the one that popped into my inbox at 12:49 p.m. today.

The individual who wrote me - whose name I'm withholding to protect the guilty - claimed that North Carolina invented Kendall Marshall's injury so that the Tar Heels could remain in the news and overshadow N.C. State's appearance in the Sweet 16.

When I shared a snippet of the email earlier today on Twitter, it seemed people were interested in discussing it. So here it is - the full version - for your enjoyment:


SUBJECT: Marshall's wrist injury

Mr. Carter:


Did you actually see a doctor cut the wrist??? How many times has UNC played this card during the years??? You and I know there is no doubt Marshall will play this weekend. Roy knew that NC State was in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the Titanic sunk, and lo and behold, the Pack was in the sweet 16. Roy knew the media would be all over the Wolfpack and he was not going to let that happen. We all know it is only about the Heels. So excuse me if do not believe the story...How is Barnes ankle??? Roy cried all year about that and he was 1st team ACC. I think the league should start fining the Heels for these false reports.


thanks

No, thank you.

- Andrew Carter

Duke's Ryan Kelly has surgery on right foot

Duke's Ryan Kelly had surgery on his right foot on Tuesday to repair damage suffered when he sprained it in practice before the ACC tournament.

The junior forward will be unable to participate in training for the next 6-8 weeks.

Kelly, who played high school basketball at Ravenscroft School in Raleigh, averaged 11.8 points per game this season, hitting 40.8 percent of his 3-pointers. He scored a career-high 23 points in the Blue Devils' win over Wake Forest on Feb. 28.

After injuring his ankle in practice the Tuesday before the ACC tournament, Kelly missed Duke's final three games.

The offense wasn't the same without him.

The Blue Devils only made 38.6 percent of their shots from the floor in their final three games, and if one adds the loss to UNC to close the regular season to the mix, Duke closed the year by hitting 22 of its last 93 3-point attempts (23.6 percent).

Before the Blue Devils' NCAA tournament loss to Lehigh, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said there was a chance Kelly would play in situational situations. Kelly dressed against the Mountain Hawks, but he didn't participate in the pre-game shootaround nor the lay-up lines.

- Jack Daly

A Tar Heel surprise in NBA draft? NBA.com has a big one at No. 9

James Michael McAdoo (Getty Images)

NBA.com's Scott Howard-Cooper has an interesting 2012 NBA mock draft out today.

It has, no surprise, Kentucky freshman Anthony Davis at No. 1. At No. 2 is North Carolina's Harrison Barnes, a sophomore shooting guard.

But it gets really interesting for North Carolina fans later in the top 10. That's where Howard-Cooper lists, at No. 9, freshman forward James Michael McAdoo. He's ahead of  junior forward John Henson (No. 13), sophomore point guard Kendall Marshall (No. 18) and senior center Tyler Zeller (No. 22), despite his limited playing time.

McAdoo has played well of late in place of Henson, who missed time with a wrist injury.

Two Duke players, freshman Austin Rivers at No. 14 and junior Mason Plumlee at No. 29, are the only other ACC players he projects to go in the first round.

And don't get us started on the NBA listing players who have not announced they are leaving school  in a mock draft on its own website. Tampering much?

UNC point guard Kendall Marshall fractures wrist in win over Creighton

North Carolina point guard Kendall Marshall fractured his right wrist in the Tar Heels' NCAA tournament victory over Creighton this afternoon. UNC announced the injury following the game.

Marshall's status for the rest of the tournament is unknown, according to a release by the university. More details to follow in update reports this evening.

- Staff reports

John Henson to return today for UNC

GREENSBORO — John Henson, the North Carolina junior forward who has missed the Tar Heels’ past three games with an injured left wrist, will return today for UNC’s game against Creighton in the third round of the NCAA tournament Midwest region.

It’s unclear if Henson will start today for the Tar Heels, a UNC basketball spokesman said. James Michael McAdoo, a freshman forward, has started the past three game in place of Henson. McAdoo scored a career-high 17 points in the Heels’ 77-58 victory against Vermont here on Friday night.

-Andrew Carter

UNC's Harrison Barnes & Creighton's Doug McDermott describe relationship: In their own words

GREENSBORO - During their playing days at Ames High in Iowa, Harrison Barnes and Doug McDermott won 53 consecutive games and back-to-back state championships. They never lost.

Now they'll meet again here on Sunday - Barnes the North Carolina sophomore forward, and McDermott, the Creighton sophomore forward, reunited again. The Tar Heels, the top seed in the NCAA tournament Midwest region, and the No. 8 Bluejays play one another on Sunday afternoon in the third round.

They spent plenty of time talking on Saturday about their relationship, and their past. Here they are, in their own words:

Doug McDermott: Me and Harrison, we have talked back and forth a lot these last couple years, just checking on each other. I was his way of transportation in high school. He didn't have his driver's license, so I took him from place to place quite a bit and it's going to be cool being able to match up with him. I think once we step on the floor, it's just going to be a competitive game. I think all that stuff will be set aside and we're both competitive dudes, so I think it should be a really fun game.

Harrison Barnes: His growth has been tremendous, just having the ability to go to Creighton, go to a system where he's able to grow and develop. And now everyone's starting to see that, see his efficiency magnified, and see him get the shots he needs and the right location he needs them in, and it's been great. And as a former teammate, it's been fun to watch. Fun to watch him grow as well.

DM: I think you guys probably know it all. He just -- he's a good kid. In high school he was 4.0 all the way throughout high school, just strictly basketball, he's all about his business. So I really looked up to him and how hard he worked. I think part of the reason I'm where I'm at right now is just because the kind of role model he's been working hard and to get where he's at.

HB: I don't know if I necessarily set the example for him, but just being his teammate we all kind of fed off each other. Just the work that he put in on his shot, I wasn't necessarily the best shooter on the team, so kind of I looked at him for that. And he probably saw the way that I came in the gym and worked out did certain things like that. He definitely dedicated himself to the weight room I think during high school and that really shows now. So I think we both kind of fed off each other.

DM: I think I was pushing a Nissan Murano in those days. I remember taking him   we went and played with the Iowa State guys quite a bit after school, so we would immediately when the bell rang we'd go straight to play with those guys. And I just remember    I got something strange about Harrison is he was in the choir and the band, so every once in awhile I would take him to those places. But he usually hit us up, any of our teammates up to take him rides around the town.

HB: Oh, yeah had one of the nicest cars I think on the team at the time, so it was a luxury to be able to ride shotgun in that. But Doug was always there. Any time I needed a ride to the gym, we would always go shoot together, stuff like that, always go out to eat. So he was a great teammate and a good friend.

DM: We had a couple close games. I think the closest our senior year was a 12 point game. Actually on our senior night Des Moines Hoover came in played us really tough, so that was a little bait of a scare. But other than that we had some pretty big blow outs, but it was a bunch of fun. Just everywhere we went people were giving us their best shot and each place was packed, sold out, so it was a blast. I'll never forget those days.

HB: We were close friends. We used to hang out a lot off the court. That was kind of how our whole team worked and that's what gave us the chemistry on the court. But no, we would hang out at his house. I don't think it was NCAA violation because we were teammates, you know, with his dad and everything, but    um, that was always fun. No, we were close friends on and off the court.

DM: I just remember going to our senior year. He would be at the gym at probably 6:00 a.m. lifting and then getting shots up afterwards. So that's something our whole team kind of looked up to him, and every once in a while there would be a day where we had a day off of practice and he would send us a group text to come work out with him. So he was just a great leader all the way through, throughout high school. And it's pretty cool to see how far he's come and a lot of that has to do with the hard work he put in in high school.

- Andrew Carter

John Thompson, Chris Corchiani recall 1989 N.C. State-Georgetown game

COLUMBUS, Ohio — John Thompson III doesn't remember the last time N.C. State and Georgetown met in the NCAA tournament, but his dad does.

Georgetown, coached by John Thompson, beat N.C. State, 69-61 in the Round of 16 in the 1989 NCAA tournament. Former Wolfpack guard Chris Corchiani was called for a travel with 1:47 left in the game, which was the second game the Hoyas won in that tournament that included a controversial finish.

Georgetown, the No. 1 seed in the East, beat 16th-seeded Princeton in the first round when Alonzo Mourning blocked a shot by Princeton guard Bob Scrabis at the buzzer.

"When you were asking that question the first thing that went through my head was there are a lot of people in Princeton, New Jersey who think Alonzo Mourning fouled Bobby Scrabis on the last shot of that game, too," Thompson III said Saturday. "So that must have been a theme that year."

As soon as Thompson III finished his comments, his dad — standing behind a curtain next to where the press conference was set up at Nationwide Arena — yelled: "And both of them are wrong."

The elder Thompson, who is in Columbus doing radio for Westwood One, had little sympathy for N.C. State fans, who through the magic of YouTube, are still smarting from referee Rick Hartzell's travel call on Corchiani.

“Who won that game?” Thompson said. “If we had lost, and it had been the other way, I’d be doing the same thing they are.”

Corchiani watched N.C. State's second-round win over San Diego State and will be at the arena for Sunday's game said he didn't watch a replay of the call for 15 years.

"I remembered it well enough when happened," Corchiani said.

With 1:47 left, and the Wolfpack down three, Corchiani drove down the left side of the lane and dropped in a shot over Mourning, Georgetown's dominant center. Instead of a potential three-point play, and a fifth foul on Mourning, Hartzell called a travel on Corchiani.

"There it is!" CBS analyst Billy Packer said during the broadcast of the game, in reference to Mourning's fifth foul.

After Hartzell's call becomes clear, Packer is incredulous.

"That's nowhere near a walk," Packer said.

Corchiani made peace with the call before the start of the 1989-90 season. Hartzell worked a preseason game at Reynolds Coliseum and, according to Corchiani, apologized to him and former coach Jim Valvano for getting the call wrong.

"I have nothing but respect for (Hartzell)," Corchiani said. "It's kind of ironic that they would play Georgetown again but I'm over that game."

Corchiani and the 1989 N.C. State team was recently in the spotlight again after Corchiani and Tom Gugliotta were thrown out of the N.C. State-Florida State game on Feb. 18 in Raleigh.

Corchiani and the '89 team, which won the regular-season ACC title, were honored before the UNC game in Raleigh with the "Wolfpack Unlimited" award on Feb. 21.

-J.P. Giglio

UNC's John Henson says his wrist is improving

GREENSBORO — The latest John Henson update is that there is no update. Not really. Well, that’s not entirely true. Asked about his injured left wrist earlier today, Henson said it’s improving.

“It’s getting better and we’ll see how it feels after practice and go from there,” Henson said.

North Carolina is practicing now (at about 3 p.m. on Saturday) for its game on Sunday against Creighton in the third round of the NCAA tournament. Henson, the Tar Heels’ junior forward, has missed the team’s past three games after he suffered a sprained left wrist last week in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament.

Henson was wearing on his left wrist a special kind of tape designed to help keep his wrist more stable. Asked how happy he’d be not to answer more questions about his wrist, Henson smiled widely.

“I’ll be so happy, man,” he said. “I can play and just not have to answer the questions. I mean, we don’t have much time left in the season, anyways. So I’m just hoping I can get out there and help the team.”

UNC will not update Henson’s status after the team practices this afternoon. Which means the Henson Watch will continue another day.

-Andrew Carter

Coach K hopeful Ryan Kelly might play some vs. Lehigh

GREENSBORO – Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski is hopeful that Ryan Kelly might be healthy enough to play some “situational” minutes against Lehigh on Friday night, but he said Thursday that he won’t be a part of the regular rotation against the Mountain Hawks.

Kelly was receiving treatment and wasn’t available for interviews Thursday, but he hasn’t practiced with the team since spraining his right foot in practice last Tuesday.

“There’s steady progress,” Krzyzewski said, “but not good enough as of this morning where I would have confidence in putting him in a game except maybe to shoot the free throw or handle maybe a possession or two in an end-game situation.”

Without Kelly, Duke’s offense stagnated at the ACC tournament in Atlanta. Duke made 37.1 percent of its field-goal attempts while averaging only 59.5 points in the two games, well below its season average of 77.5.

-Jack Daly

Bullock, McAdoo hope to feed off each other

GREENSBORO – Both Reggie Bullock and James Michael McAdoo are in some ways experiencing the NCAA tournament for the first time this weekend in Greensboro.

Bullock, a sophomore guard, missed the postseason last year because of a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee. McAdoo, on the other hand, is a freshman.

McAdoo saw extended minutes in last week’s ACC tournament because of John Henson’s left wrist injury. Now, the two anticipate they will be on the court at the same time in many stretches during UNC’s second-round game against Vermont Friday night.

“This means a lot to me because I just observed last year, and I saw what that team needed,” said Bullock, who is averaging nine points and five rebounds a game. “I’m just trying to be a great defensive player who can make shots coming down the stretch.”

McAdoo and Bullock know they need to do well in their roles to help UNC reach the Final Four.
McAdoo says he knows what the biggest priority is for him and Bullock.

“I feel like we’re the best rebounding team in the nation,” McAdoo said. “That’s somewhere where we have to exploit teams.

Early in the season, Bullock and James sat on the bench together as backups.

“When we weren’t starting, we were on the bench always talking about what we were going to do on the court,” Bullock said.

But starting guard Dexter Strickland was lost for the season with a knee injury in late January. Since then, McAdoo took notice of Bullock’s improvements as a better defender.

McAdoo sees that he is just a freshman on a team full of marquee players. He sees Bullock as a friend and mentor.

Though UNC fell to Florida State in the ACC Tournament championship game, Bullock was proud of McAdoo’s toughness given the circumstances.

“I think it helped his confidence a lot just knowing that he’s playing more,” Bullock said of McAdoo. “He’s a big part to our team. With him out there with me now, we hope not to be the weak link on the team.”


-Nate Taylor