Monday Morning Update March 05, 2007

Duke Analysis
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 5:27 AM

Not sure where to start on this one – but needless to say it was not a happy weekend around these parts. Of course, just going into Chapel Hill is enough to bring you down – but then added on top of it was an outstanding performance by the Tar Heels as they took away an 86-72 win in the regular season finale.

As you know, however, the only thing anyone is talking about is the final 15 seconds of the game when Tyler Hansborough left with a bloody nose. I’m very glad to hear that it was not broken and also relieved to read this morning in the paper that he was back on the court joking around with his teammates about the play and the hit.

I can tell you first hand – being in the locker room and hearing Gerald tell the team – that there is absolutely zero chance that his hit was intentional or malicious. In fact, quite the opposite as this game was played with intensity from start to finish – and you can plainly see that Gerald is turning away from him and has his eyes closed. Of course, I did myself no favor this morning by listening to two minutes of talk radio and hearing the hosts going off on how Gerald deserves to be suspended and them replaying the Tar Heel radio network where it was described as a closed fist punch. WOW!

I am still confounded on how the referees termed this a “fight” - making sure that not only Gerald was thrown out of the game but would serve an automatic one-game suspension. It is the first time I have ever seen a referee crew announce suspensions – and they did it live on television too. Amazing.


Note from Nut:

Thanks for all your reporting during year.

I do wish Coach K would play more players more minutes so starters wouldn't run out of gas as they seem to. Thomas and Zoubek were basically not used much. Henderson has come on and looks like a terrific player.

I remember back to Georgetown win and how effective team was against strong inside game with both McRoberts and Zoubek in lineup and wish we did more of that. McRoberts simply can not match up with strong inside presence like Hansbrough. He has quickness but not adequate size or strength. Zoubek can really clog up middle. Also may need to change up defenses. In both Md and Carolina games the other team looked far superior (although by lots of effort we stayed close somehow) and didn't look like we could play them straight up