UNC vs FSU at the Dean Dome

FSU vs UNC

When you have nothing left to play for you can do one of two things: pack it in or play for pride. The pride that is the name in front of your jersey, the pride that is part of a team, the pride of wanting to show your team, your coaches, your fans, yourself that it might be over in the W/L columns but it’s not over where it counts, inside of you. That is what I think the road has brought this Heels team to, it’s time to play for the pride of it. So, when North Carolina (14-13 & 3-9 in the ACC) hosts Florida State (19-7 & 7-5 in the ACC) at the Dean Dome tonight at 7:00 p.m. EST, televised on ESPN, this game has to be about that pride factor that might just show what the fan base has to look forward for next season.

For people like freshman John Henson progress is still about this season, which I have to admit shows the fact that this has not given up on the year/season:

“We’ve got to win the ACC tournament,” said Henson. “That’s pretty much it, point-blank. It’s life or death a couple weeks from now, and I hope as a team we treat it like that. We’ve just got to respond.”

It’s become a small season, one that basically lasts one game at a time, where the coaching staff (in their way) and the fan base (in their way) are going to measure how this squad is doing from here until the end of the year. No one truly knows how this season got to be how it got to be, we just got here and now the pieces will be picked up and looked at like evidence is by “CSI” on CBS. But will all of that give us an answer, or better yet, will all of that give us the answer we all want to hear? Too many of the fans have wanted to pin this year on the two seniors, Marcus Ginyard and Deon Thompson, and while they might have been part of the problem, they certainly weren’t the only ones.

We now that this team had problems gelling, will that also be a problem come next year with the next batch of McDonald’s All-Americans come along? The thoughts would say no, but, after this year, will you put your hand on the fire and say that with certainty? You might if you see that in the last weeks of this season these young men show improvement in working with one another. Again, as I said in the post yesterday this has not been the season anyone wanted, but on the other hand this is also the beginning of what is yet to come, and that means that while this year might not give you anything as a fan, it has to give something positive for the team and the staff. And all of that begins tonight, with the game against FSU, where I am not looking for a win, I am looking for pride on the court.

I truly believe that in this one we are going to see the two seniors step it up once again, with Deon Thompson having a double double, 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Marcus Ginyard scores anywhere from 10-12 points, while adding 5 rebounds and does well on the defensive side of things. Another player that needs to have a big game is Tyler Zeller. Just like his counterpart on the front court, the seven footer needs to score in the mid teens while grabbing double figures rebounds. And let’s not forget the third member of this group, John Henson, maybe the most improved player in the last half of the season, who has to work hard on the glass and even harder at the charity stripe if he wants to contribute in this one. In the back court the tandem of Larry Drew and Dexter Strickland has to have a 20 points and 10 assist game versue the `Noles, while holding the turnovers to under 5. All of this sounds like a pipe dream? Nope, it sounds like stepping it up, or as we been talking about, it sounds like playing for pride.

In a year like this things achievements need to be set up to be much lower. Winning this game, and one more after that, would give the Heels a .500 record on the season. Yes, as I just said, this season the standards have to be lowered. But if you look at the quote from Henson (of winning the ACC Tournament), add to it the 16 wins during the season, that would give UNC 20 wins. Not saying, just saying! The Vegas insiders believe that Florida State are a 1.5 points favorite in this one, I say the crowd, the “backed against a corner”, and the pride factor make it so that North Carolina wins this one by a few, with the final score being 73 to 69.

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