UNC vs. Boston College: Three things to watch

Boston College 7-0 center Dennis Clifford.

CHAPEL HILL - And Happy Friday from Chapel Hill. Tomorrow, some of you from the farther reaches of the state will undoubtedly be on your way to the Smith Center, where North Carolina hosts Boston College in the ACC opener for both teams.

That said, today’s edition of the daily three: Three things to pay close attention to in UNC's ACC basketball opener:

First …

How North Carolina starts the game. Leading into the start of ACC play, Tar Heels coach Roy Williams and his players have spent a lot of time talking about the need to raise their intensity level entering conference play. And now it’s time to make that talk a reality.

UNC has looked good recently in dominant victories against overmatched non-conference opponents. And, really, this freshman-laden Boston College team – the Eagles have 12 players in their first year with the program and nine freshmen – isn’t much better than the likes of Monmouth or Nicholls.

Still, it’s the ACC opener. That should be enough for UNC to play with inspiration. The Tar Heels need a fast start tomorrow not because they might lose if they don’t have one. But more because such a start could help set the right attitude for conference play.

Second …

UNC’s defense. Ask North Carolina players the one area where they want to improve the most and the answer will come quickly: Defense. And it’s not like the Tar Heels have struggled defensively.

As of Jan. 1, the Heels ranked 17th nationally in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to 37.6 percent shooting. The Heels also ranked 17th nationally in blocked shots, with an average of 5.8 per game.
The one area where North Carolina can improve, though, is on the perimeter. UNC ranks 59th in 3-point field goal percentage defense. That’s not terrible given that UNC is 59th out of 338 Division I teams.

Still, when UNC has found itself in close games this season, it’s usually because the opposing team is shooting well from the outside. Boston College is shooting 33.9 percent from 3-point range, which ranks 9th in the ACC. But the Tar Heels can’t rely on the fact that the Eagles are likely to miss shots from the outside. UNC must effectively guard the perimeter.

Third …

The Eagles’ Dennis Clifford down low vs. UNC’s Tyler Zeller and John Henson. Boston College doesn’t have the personnel to compete with North Carolina. Not even close.

But when the Eagles’ 7-foot center Clifford is in the game, it will be worth watching what goes on on the interior. The Tar Heels haven’t had to face a lot of size recently but Clifford, a freshman, at least presents some physical challenges.

Zeller and Henson are far more skilled than Clifford but Clifford still gives the Eagles some defensive options. They’re likely to use him to help double team Zeller, and make things uncomfortable for him. And how will UNC’s perimeter players – especially guys like Harrison Barnes, Dexter Strickland and P.J. Hairston – attack the rim with a 7-footer looming in the paint?

Even though Clifford is inexperienced and raw, going against him could serve UNC well down the road.

-- Andrew Carter

C.J. Leslie's dunk highlights Wolfpack fun and games vs. Delaware State

Three things to note from N.C. State's game against Delaware State: 

C.J. Leslie bounces the ball ...

1. Fun and games

N.C. State hasn't had many chances, in the first 15 basketball games, to have a little fun. The Wolfpack did just that Wednesday in the 78-44 win over Delaware State.

A 22-0 run to close the first half took any suspense out of the outcome and C.J. Leslie's alley-oop to himself during that run signaled the beginning of the fun and games.

then leaps to retrieve it ...

Rich Howell, who had his fourth straight double-double (12 points, 12 boards) and Scott Wood (14 points) got into the act in the second half.

"I hope his ankle is bothering him," Leslie joked. "For his sake, I hope so."

Wood's near-dunk was the cause of discussion among his teammates, and some good-natured ribbing when he couldn't quite get high enough up to flush the ball.

Howell got off a two-handed dunk on the break but his relatively modest vertical leap is also a topic of conversation in the locker room.

"I'm just trying to dunk like C.J. Leslie," Howell said after the game, with Leslie standing five feet in front of him.

Leslie was actually taken out of the game after his dunk near the end of the first half but it was because he had two fouls. Coach Mark Gottfried talked to Leslie briefly when he took him out of the game.

Leslie said Gottfried wasn't talking to him about the dunk.

"He did say I better make it," Leslie said.

2. Progress, against Delaware State at least

finds the target ..

N.C. State needed a last-second shot by Wood to beat the Hornets last season. Wednesday's game was a blowout. State gave up 70 points to the Hornets last season and only 44 on Wednesday.

N.C. State also showed rebounding improvement against the Hornets, an undersized MEAC team. The Pack had a 49-32 advantage on the glass on Wednesday, compared to 35-31 in last year's game.

3. Another slow start

As lopsided as the final score was, State led just 20-18 after 13 minutes. The Pack was sloppy early on in the first half with seven turnovers contributing to its problems on offense.

The Pack started slow against Western Carolina, too, last Saturday. Some of that can be chalked up to the opponent but good teams are self-motivated and if State is going to make noise in the ACC, to nine or 10 conference wins, it can't let such outside factors influence its effort.

and dunks it home.

-- J.P. Giglio

Duke's Austin Rivers: Temple played harder

Temple's Khalif Wyatt drives past Duke's Austin Rivers.

PHILADELPHIA – One of the refreshing things about Duke freshman Austin Rivers is the fact he’s unafraid to speak honestly. Sometimes that means Rivers might come across as brash.

Other times it means Rivers will offer assessments that are critical of himself and, if one conceives them broadly, his teammates.

But with Rivers, one always gets the sense he is speaking from the heart. In the aftermath of Duke’s 78-73 somewhat unexpected loss to Temple, Rivers’ emotion seemed especially raw. It appeared he was trying to process how the Blue Devils turned in such a tepid performance.

Among his observations:

* “We have to fight. When we fight, we’re a really tough team to beat. When we don’t, we’re very beatable.”

* “We have to come out strong. At halftime, we’re only down two. We come out like we’re down 30 or something and our heads are down for no reason. It was a two-point game. It’s a one-possession game, and we came out and we were slow. They just kept extending the lead and they were excited. They played harder.”

* “It’s frustrating because these are things we have been working on. These have been our main focuses. We’ve been working on this in practice about coming out strong, and being strong and physical and getting our rebounds and playing great defense. That’s a staple of Duke basketball. It’s frustrating that we go hours and hours and hours in the gym working on that every day, and then we fly out here to Philly, and we lose. And we don’t do those things. You wish you could do things over, but that’s not how it works.”

Rivers did not have an especially strong outing. He had trouble getting to the rim effectively, and just about all of his points came from the perimeter.

After one ill-advised drive, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski yelled at Rivers to settle down. As the Blue Devils begin their ACC season Saturday against Georgia Tech, it will be interesting to see how the team and Rivers respond.

-- Jack Daly

ACC play could cure Tar Heels' boredom

Some early-season opponents haven't measured up.

 Not to give too much away about what I’ve been working on lately, but I had the chance yesterday to visit the Smith Center, where I spent some time talking to UNC basketball players John Henson, P.J. Hairston and Kendall Marshall.

The common theme of the conversation? All agreed that this is the time of year when the intensity level goes up. A good thing, considering that at times during the non-conference portion of the season, North Carolina appeared a bit bored.

During this extended home stand that lasted most of December, UNC coach Roy Williams emphasized the need for his team to play with more intensity. We saw that emphasis manifest itself against in dominant victories against Texas, Elon and Monmouth – games in which the Heels wasted little time establishing tempo and energy.

And now we’ll see how that translates into the start of 2012 ACC play. The weird thing is, though Boston College represents the start of the ACC schedule for UNC, the Eagles don’t represent that much of an upgrade over the Heels’ recent competition.

Boston College is 270th in the RPI – this according to realtimerip.com (there are other versions of the RPI out there) – and Monmouth is only 19 spots below the Eagles. In fact, Nicholls (No. 242) ranks higher than the Eagles. And Appalachian State (No. 275) is in the neighborhood.

Second … 

Kind of a weird scheduling quirk, but you can argue that UNC’s ACC schedule progressively becomes more difficult in each of the Tar Heels’ first five games. They open up with Boston College, which has been by far the worst team in the league. Then UNC plays Miami at home. Then on the road at Florida State. Then on the road at Virginia Tech. Then at home against N.C. State.

So what does this all mean? Not sure, exactly, other than the fact that the opponents become more difficult as the games wear on. But I found it interesting, nonetheless.

It’s the kind of thing, though, that could be helpful come the postseason, when the competition level – in theory – increases from game to game. That’s what will happen through the Tar Heels early ACC schedule.

Of course, the most difficult portion of the schedule probably comes in late February and early March. Over their final four conference games, the Heels will play N.C. State, Virginia and Duke on the road. The lone home game in that stretch comes against Maryland, which should be significantly better then than it is now.

Third … 

Did you happen to catch Duke’s 78-73 defeat against Temple last night? You probably did. And, if you’re a UNC fan, you probably took some satisfaction in the Blue Devils' loss. But I’d argue that, for once, UNC fans shouldn’t be happy that Duke lost.

A defeat at Temple is nothing to be ashamed about, of course. Surely, the Owls were motivated and played well. Duke didn’t play all that well (16 turnovers for the Blue Devils, who allowed Temple to shoot 56.4 percent). The loss isn’t all that embarrassing.

Still, it’s another black mark for the ACC during the non-conference portion of the schedule. Last year was considered a down year for the conference, at least until the ACC sent three teams into the Sweet 16. But right now, 2012 is shaping up to be even more of a down year.

Look at SEC football. It’s always more fun – more interesting, too – when the power teams in a conference are playing to their potential. UNC-Duke will still be intense, of course, when the teams meet twice later this season. But with each misstep that both teams take, the games this season between them lose a bit of luster and importance.

-- Andrew Carter

Ranking ACC after UNC, Duke (Hint: Not great)

After a disappointing – more on this in a second – non-conference portion of the season, the ACC basketball season begins this week.

North Carolina, of course, hosts Boston College on Saturday. So now’s as a good time as any to look ahead at the Tar Heels’ conference schedule which, really, doesn’t look all that formidable.

That’s the case for two reasons: One, UNC is very good. And, two, the ACC, as a whole, appears to be significantly down compared to its normal standard.

Two ACC teams – Duke (No. 2) and UNC (No. 13) – rank among the top 15 teams in the RPI, according to realtimerpi.com. The rest of the league? You’ve got Virginia Tech at No. 37. N.C. State at No. 43.

Virginia at No. 56. Florida State (No. 72) and Miami (No. 78) are the only other conference teams in the top 100. Five ACC teams – nearly half the conference – rank 105th or worse in the RPI.

And some teams appear to be truly abysmal.

Boston College, which ranks 262nd in the RPI, has losses against the likes of Boston University, Holy Cross and Rhode Island. Those three teams, by the way, are not good.

Clemson, meanwhile, lost to Coastal Carolina at home. And that’s not even the Tigers’ worst loss, according to the RPI. Georgia Tech lost at Tulane. And against Mercer. And at Fordham. Not good. Not good. Not good.

Florida State, meanwhile, has to be thankful it’s not in the Ivy League. The Seminoles, who were supposed to be one of the stronger teams in the ACC, would already be trying to climb out of an 0-2 hole after losses against Harvard and Princeton.

So the bottom half of the ACC – and even some of the top half – appears to be in complete disarray entering the start of league play. Most teams usually improve as the season progresses, so it figures that Boston College, Clemson and Georgia Tech won’t be as bad in February as they appear to be now.

Still, though, when the floor already so far underground, how high can the ceiling really go? My guess is that once conference play begins, more defined tiers will emerge within the ACC. Here’s how those tiers would look now, entering league play:

TOP: UNC, Duke.

NEXT: N.C. State, Virginia Tech, Virginia.

NEXT: Florida State, Miami, Maryland.

BOTTOM: Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Boston College.

How crazy is it that here on Jan. 4, UNC and Duke appear to be the ACC’s only sure-things to make the NCAA Tournament? Of course, at least a couple more conference teams will make it. Who they’ll be, though, is anybody’s guess.

So back the original point of this post, which was to rank the Tar Heels’ conference games in order of difficulty.

In order of difficulty, from easiest to most difficult. We’ll break these up into tiers:
TIER 1

• Boston College 

• Clemson 

• Georgia Tech 

• At Wake Forest 

TIER 2 

• Miami 

• At Miami 

• Virginia 

• Maryland 

TIER 3 

• N.C. State

• At Virginia 

• At Maryland

• At Virginia Tech 

TIER 4 

• At Florida State 

• At N.C. State 

• Duke 

• At Duke 

Some thoughts:

• UNC shouldn’t lose any of the four games in tier 1. Those are all basically gimmies. If any of those are even close games, it’d be surprising.

• UNC shouldn’t lose any of the four games in tier 2, either, though the level of competition increases over tier 1. Virginia has potential (we don't know how much because the Cavaliers haven't really played anybody), and the game in Charlottesville could be difficult. But UNC should win with ease at home. Right now, Miami is not good. 

• Tier 3 is where it starts to get interesting. N.C. State has talent and, it seems, coaching. At least one of those things has been missing in that program for a while now. UNC could win that game by 20 at the Smith Center, and probably should win that game comfortably. But you never know. The other three games in tier 3, all on the road, are loseable. They’d be big upsets, but all three of those places can be difficult places to play. 

• Tier 4 include what I think are UNC’s four most difficult conference games. Florida State is not playing well right now, but I covered the Seminoles for four years and I’ve seen strange, weird things happen in that building in Tallahassee.  I thought FSU had no shot – none – to beat Duke down there last year. I was wrong. Florida State is a difficult place to play for about two games per season: When Duke and UNC come to town. The other three games in tier 4 are all rivalry games, two of them on the road, two of them against Duke.

-- Andrew Carter

Duke Blue Devils face Temple, Dunphy tonight

Temple coach Fran Dunphy

At Temple tonight, the 12-1 Duke Blue Devils will continue through the Penn Quakers segment of their schedule. Having smashed Penn coach Jerome Allen’s team on Sunday, 85-55 in Durham, No. 5 Duke now faces former Penn coach Fran Dunphy, who now leads the Temple Owls (7 p.m., ESPN2).

Dunphy coached the Quakers for 17 seasons, winning 310 of 473 games, before taking over for John Chaney at Temple in 2006-07. The Owls (9-3) have a more varied defense under Dunphy than was the case with Chaney and his trademark match-up zone. Little else has changed, especially the record. Dunphy’s past two Temple teams went 29-6 and 26-8.

Like Mike Krzyzewski, Dunphy’s early coaching roots included a stop at West Point in the early 1970s. Before Krzyzewski landed the Army post in 1975-76, Dunphy was an assistant for Dan Dougherty. By the time Krzyzewski got the Army job and hired Pete Gaudet and Bob Dwyer (former Wake Forest guard), Dunphy had left to take the Malvern Prep School job in Philadelphia.

The Owls’ three losses this season have been to Texas (77-65), Bowling Green (67-64) and Purdue (78-67). The most impressive win was over Villanova (78-67). Temple stopped Penn (73-67) to begin the schedule. In a 66-63 win over Delaware on Dec. 30, Temple’s experienced perimeter - seniors Ramone Moore and Juan Fernandez and junior Khailf Wyatt - collectively had their worst shooting game of the season, going 9-for-35.

The game against Duke will be Temple’s first of the season in Philly’s 20,000-plus seat Wells Fargo Center. The majority of the home games are played in on-campus Liacouras Center (10,200).

-- Caulton Tudor

Roy Williams: Tar Heels must increase intensity

It’s the first week of January, which means that the start of the ACC basketball schedule is near. After his team’s 102-65 victory against Monmouth on Sunday, North Carolina coach Roy Williams spoke of the need for the Tar Heels to raise their intensity given the start of conference play. And that’s true. The intensity always rises when ACC games start.

Even so, UNC's first ACC opponent, Boston College, isn’t exactly an upgrade over the kind of competition UNC has faced lately. The Eagles, who have lost to the likes of Holy Cross and Boston University, rank 227th in the RPI, according to realtimerpi.com.

UNC, meanwhile, has only played three teams (Appalachian State, Nicholls and Monmouth) that rank lower in the RPI than Boston College does right now.

-- Andrew Carter

UNC's Leslie McDonald returns to practice

North Carolina coach Roy Williams said today during his weekly ACC teleconference that junior guard Leslie McDonald, who suffered a torn ACL during a summer league game in July, has been practicing with the Tar Heels on a limited basis.

The UNC medical staff last week released McDonald to practice. Williams said that McDonald participated in some five-on-five work on Friday.

The plan, Williams said, is to “gradually increase” McDonald’s work load before deciding on how much – if any – he’ll be able to play this season.

If the knee injury keeps him from playing this season, McDonald would receive an extra year of eligibility. A decision on his status would be made within the coming weeks, Williams said.

-- Andrew Carter

UNC 97, Appalachian State 82: The look back

CHAPEL HILL - No. 5 North Carolina defeated Appalachian State 97-82 here at the Smith Center on Saturday night. It was an easy win, but one that didn’t come as smoothly as Tar Heels coach Roy Williams would have preferred.

A look back at UNC’s victory against the Mountaineers:

Why the Tar Heels won: North Carolina dominated the middle portion of the game. The Heels led 34-30 with 4:32 to play in the first half. Over the next 14 minutes and 17 seconds, UNC outscored the Mountaineers 42-17. That was pretty much the game right there. The Tar Heels were sloppy when they allowed Appalachian State back in the game in the middle of the first half. And UNC was sloppy again in the final 10:15, when Appalachian outscored Carolina by 14 points. But the Tar Heels were so dominant in the middle it didn’t matter.

The good: UNC converted a high number of its chances. The Heels were just 2-for-10 from 3-point range but they still managed to shoot 54.5 percent overall. So, obviously, they converted a high rate of their shots inside the 3-point line. The Tar Heels should have dominated in the paint and they did, outscoring the Mountaineers 54-24 there. Tyler Zeller finished with 31 points - one short of tying his career high - and 10 rebounds.

The bad: Twice it appeared that UNC was going to completely blow out Appalachian State, and both times the Tar Heels failed to close the deal. They led by 12 in the first half before allowing Appalachian State to go on a 15-7 run to make it a 4-point game. Then UNC built a 29-point lead and took the foot off the gas coming down the stretch. This was an easy win - make no mistake about it - but still: Williams was frustrated by how his team played at times. The Mountaineers shot well from the perimeter, where they made 9 of their 20 3-point attempts, and they also took advantage of some of the Tar Heels’ sloppiness.

Key stat: That one’s easy this game. The Tar Heels’ dominance in the paint, where they outscored Appalachian by 30 points, was the obvious difference.

Key stat II: The Tar Heels went 6:35 without a field goal during one stretch of the second half. This was after they’d built that 29-point lead. Think Williams will be emphasizing the mistakes of that drought in an upcoming film session? Me too.

UNC player of the game: Zeller. Williams didn’t agree afterward that this was Zeller’s best game of the season. Still, he played well and finished with 31 points and 10 rebounds in 26 minutes.

Quotable: "OK, it was a W. It’s Christmas time. I’m not going to be Scrooge, by any means. We were really good for about the last four minutes of the first half and the first four or five minutes of the second half. And then we went brain dead there for a while." - UNC coach Roy Williams

-- Andrew Carter

Vanderbilt visits Davidson

The Davidson Wildcats get a visit from the SEC's Vanderbilt at 7 p.m. today in Belk Arena (ESPN3).

The Wildcats (6-1) have been getting solid play from forward Jake Cohen, who scored 26 points and had five rebounds against Wofford last week, then scored 16 and had seven rebounds against Furman. He shot 75 percent in those two Southern Conference victories and was named the league's player of the week.

The Commodores (5-3) might have star center Festus Ezeli back in the lineup for the game. Ezeli hurt his knee in the preseason and has missed all eight games so far. But he has been practicing this week and, according to the Associated Press, coach Kevin Stallings is debating about whether to give him some minutes tonight.

Vanderbilt has been ranked as high as seventh nationally, but has lost two straight and fallen out of the Top 25 with those defeats against Xavier and Louisville. -- David Scott