ACC Fan Blog All Conference Teams

As promised, we have waited until the conclusion of the post season to announce the ACC Fan Blog All Conference Teams. Many of you may be thinking that it is a bit late to announce our selections, but keep this in mind; the deadline for The Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association (ACC Sportswriters) All Conference ballots was 9:00 pm on the final Sunday of the regular season… less than 2 hours after the conclusion of the UNC-Duke game. To us, it just didn’t make sense to honor the ACC’s best until the best part of the season was over. This season, eight of Carolina’s 38 games were played after the conclusion of the regular season. Would any of you make a key business decision while missing 21% of the facts?

Today we are announcing our all conference and all freshman teams. Tomorrow we will follow up with our individual awards.

First Team
Jared Dudley, Sr., Boston College
Al Thornton, Sr., Florida State
Zabian Dowdell, Sr., Virginia Tech
Tyler Hansbrough, So., UNC
Sean Singletary, Jr., Virginia

OK, so we selected the same first team as the ACC Sportswriters. Simply put, these five players dominated league play by scoring 10.4% of the leagues points and pulling down 7.3% of the league’s rebounds. All five led their teams in scoring and on average scored 24.1% of their teams’ points. All of our first team selections were among the league’s top seven scorers with Thornton leading the way with 19.7 points per game. Dudley, Hansbrough and Thornton were also in the top six in field goal percentage and the top eight in rebounding. Singletary, who tied with Dudley for second in scoring, also finished second in three-pointers and fifth in assists. Dowdell finished second in steals and 11th in assist to turnover ratio.

Second Team
Brandon Costner, Fr., NC State
Tyrese Rice, So., Boston College
Brandan Wright, Fr., UNC
J.R. Reynolds, Sr., Virginia
Josh McRoberts, So., Duke


Our second team would make a pretty good first team in most years. Brandan Wright led the league in field goal percentage at 64.6%. Rice and Reynolds were both in the top six in scoring. McRoberts who was second in blocked shots, third in rebounding and in the top 20 in assists and assist to turnover ratio, was hurt by Duke’s 8-8 ACC regular season and 0-2 post season. The only departure we had from the ACC Sportswriters’ second team was to replace D.J. Strawberry with Brandon Costner. In comparing the stats, we felt that Costner had a slight edge on Strawberry, but when comparing post season performance, there was no question that Costner deserved a spot on the second team.

Third Team
Kyle Visser, Sr., Wake Forest
Ben McCauley, So., NC State
Sean Marshall, Sr.,Boston College
D.J. Strawberry, Sr., Maryland
Ty Lawson, Fr., UNC


With our third team we really departed from the ACC Sportswriters. For starters, Ty Lawson was selected of over Georgia Tech’s Javaris Crittenton. The two were evenly matched statistically with Crittenton holding an edge in scoring assists while Lawson was slightly better in field goal percentage and assist to turnover ratio. We felt that Lawson deserved the spot based on Carolina’s first place regular season and ACC Tournament Championship. We also felt that McCauley who finished second in field goal percentage, was in the top ten in rebounding and in the top twenty in scoring, assists and assist to turnover ratio was a no-brainier selection for the third team. Marshall was selected based on his top twenty finishes in scoring, field goal percentage and three-pointers. Visser, who was the only Wake Forest player to score in double figures, finished second in field goal percentage, fifth in rebounding, seventh in blocked shots and eighth in scoring. Strawberry, who was fourth in the league in steals, also finished in the top 11 in scoring and field goal percentage.

Honorable Mention
Engin Atsur, Sr. NC State
Ekene Ibekwe, Sr., Maryland
Javaris Crittenton, Fr., Georgia Tech
James Mays, Jr., Clemson
James Gist, Jr., Maryland
K.C. Rivers, So., Clemson


All Freshman Team
Brandon Costner, NC State
Brandan Wright, UNC
Ty Lawson, UNC
Javaris Crittenton, Georgia Tech
Thadeus Young, Georgia Tech


Honorable Mention
Trevor Booker, Clemson

Costner led all freshmen in scoring at 16.8 points per game, placing ninth overall in league scoring. Additionally, he finished in the top ten in field goal percentage. Crittenton and Young both led Georgia Tech in scoring at 14.4 points per game. Crittenton placed in the league’s top three in steals and assists, while Young was seventh in field goal percentage. Lawson, who had the leagues best assist to turnover ratio at 2.57, also finished in the top ten in assists and steals. Wright, who led the league in field goal percentage, was also sixth in blocked shots.

Damn! Heels Lose

They had this game won. All you can really point to is shot selection as how they lost it. Danny Green had 2 terrible 3's that should have never been shot, and that seemed to trigger an abandonment of the inside game completely. 2 of 21 from the field to end the game.

Roy was very emotional in the press conference. He really loves this team. Tyler had clearly been crying and was having trouble keeping his composure through the entire process. I think for a lot of fans it is hard to imagin and understand why people could be so emotional over a loss, but if you think about the hours and work they've put into it, it kind of makes sense. I honestly doubt I've ever worked as hard at anything as the average college basketball player does during the year, and for a team to be so close to getting serious dreams coming true, it has to be hard.

You can watch the press conference at
http://all-access.cstv.com/cstv/player/player.html?code=ncaa&sport=m-baskbl&category=Press%20Conference%20%28MediaType%29
but have to register (free).

Blood Rivals

We'll have a couple of days to talk about this. I don't think it was intentional, it was stupid. He went in with reckless abandon, too much force for the situation, and I agree that when someone goes in a way that he doesn't care if someone gets hurt, and where logically someone could, there needs to be punishment for it. BUT, missing another game for a play like that probably isn't the right decision.

Why is it Carolina players are always the ones that end up bleeding?

Reporters will continue to try to stir this up, and I guess this all plays into the rivalry so maybe it is good. Reporters told Williams that Coach K suggested none of these players should have still been in the game anyway, much to the irritation of Roy Williams.

UNC-Duke: Mike Krzyzewski Quotes (w/audio)
		By Andy Britt Inside Carolina Posted Mar 4, 2007 CHAPEL HILL, N.C. --- Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski addressed the media immediately following the game. Read and listen to what he had to say…

Opening statement –

Well they played a hell of a game. They’re fast and deep. I thought our kids played their hearts out. And I had a chance to watch the play. We’ll take all responsibility, but if there’s anyway Gerald Henderson did that intentionally, it’s crazy. He’s moving away from him, he’s going up to block, he’s not even seeing how he hit him. He should be fouled, but that’s not the way he plays and that’s not the way we play. He didn’t extend anything, and it’s unfortunate. The officials have to call what they do, and I’m sorry that Tyler got hit. That’s not what he wanted to happen. But also the intent was not to do that. There was nothing extended, and he was hit somewhere on the forearm as [Gerald Henderson] was turning. I feel badly for Tyler and we apologize for that, but I know there was no intent to do that. Otherwise you would push your hand out. Again you go with what was called and I feel badly that that was happened.

On suspending Henderson for the next game -

I don’t know why they do that. Whatever happens happens. Somebody should look at it. If they see it different, then we accept it. I know there was not the intent to do that. And the game was over before that. I mean the outcome of the game, let’s put it that way. That’s unfortunate, too, that those people were in the game in that play.

On closing the deficit in the second half -

We got that kick to [David McClure], and we just weren’t able to handle that. [Marcus] Ginyard’s three was big when it was 53-50. And [Josh McRoberts] missed a layup. So we had some opportunities, and our kids fought the whole game. They played hard, and they do have adaptive shot-blocking. Another time Brandan Wright really made a great block on [David McClure] also. We knew that they would play really well to that.

On Tyler Hansbrough’s performance -

He’s a great player. Numbers like that don’t surprise me about him because he’s done it before and will do it again. He’s one of the best players in the country. Those kind of players put up those numbers.

On the decision to go small -

I thought it helped us really. We thought that to take advantage of that or the fact that they had been playing that way might give us a boost. Obviously you’re going to get hurt defensively. Again we got it to two doing that, and whether it was the right one, what are you going to do. You have to make adjustments to try to win a ball game. I thought our kids did a good job of that, and then they did a good job in attacking that.

On the foul called on Gerald Henderson -

Whenever you’re in those situations, it may be the right judgment. [Gerald Henderson’s] a great kid. You don’t want to make a rash judgment, and it may be the right one and we’ll go with it. I don’t know why you’d make it right then, unless they have to do it and then it’s reviewed.

On if closing the point difference took a lot out of his team -

That’s why we called some timeouts. With their height, they were able to take away two of those plays. We have to convert on those plays if we’re going to win this game as we would in most games where we’re playing against the caliber of opponent we did this afternoon.

On what he wants to see from his team in the postseason -

Well just keep getting better. We played a hell of a schedule, especially in February. Sometime you can’t see as much improvement because the team you’re playing against is better. Carolina is better than we are. That doesn’t mean we can’t win. By playing these people you should get better. And I think we have, it’s not reflected in the final conference record.

On what he wants to see this week -

Just us getting better and we have to get refreshed before Thursday because we’ve played on Sundays every Sunday for the last two months. We have to get refreshed and try to be at our best when we go down to Tampa.

More on Scouts.com

By Andy Britt Inside Carolina Posted Mar 4, 2007 CHAPEL HILL, N.C. --- North Carolina coach Roy Williams spoke to reporters following the Tar Heels’ 86-72 win over Duke on Sunday. Read and listen to what they had to say…

Opening remarks –

It was a great afternoon for us. It was a very fitting way, in my opinion, for Wes Miller and Dewey Burke and Reyshawn Terry to play their last game in the Smith Center. It was a big time game. It’s a very aggressive, physical, demanding game on both ends of the floor. Tyler Hansbrough, I told him - I guess its about as big a compliment as I would give him - that was a Sean May-like - 26 points, 17 rebounds in 30 minutes of action. He was impressive. I thought Marcus coming off the bench, giving us 13 was something. Defensively - in the first half I thought we were pretty good, in the second half I didn’t think we were nearly as good. But again, we were playing a very, very good basketball team.

I liked our defense, as I said, for the first part of the game. Early in the game, we were extremely active and got a big lead - I don’t know how big - but we basically kept that almost the whole first half.

You hate that it ended like it did - with the stuff going on but, at the same time, we were very, very pleased and we also realize that we’re very happy and very lucky. We got a lot of help down the last week of the season. We did set a goal of winning the regular season. We didn’t think we would part of it at 11 and 5 but we’re very thankful for that and now we’ve got to play.

On the incident at the end of the game -

I thought that Tyler was hit. The referees said that they would look at it. They did say immediately it was going to be an intentional foul but they wanted to look at it on the monitor. They looked at it on the monitor and then made their decisions.

On the extent of Tyler’s injury -

It’s not like a prize fight where you ask what the other guy looks like - he looks pretty bad. They say that it is not broken.

On the inside game plan today -

With Tyler and Brandan I think we should. I’m still mystified cause I thought we were maybe going to be the best shooting team I’ve ever seen and we haven’t shot it consistently all year. We make some, but don’t make some. I felt all year that we were going to be a great shooting team and we haven’t been, but those guys inside have really done a nice job. Georgia Tech, the other night, we lost. To Maryland, we lost. But if you look our big guy stats are still pretty good. We are at least sensible - we’re not the brightest guys all the time but I do feel like we have to go inside with the basketball.

On whether the team was made aware that a win would give them first place in the ACC -

I went to the baseball game and somebody came down and told me that Wake Forest had beaten Virginia and I said it makes no difference - we still have to play. If the team knew that it was first place or fifth place - I didn’t say anything about that.

On the foul on Tyler Hansbrough that led to Gerald Henderson’s ejection -

I have not seen the replays - I told you my impression. I thought Tyler got hit.

On Coach Krzyzewski suggesting that the team’s starters should not have been in the game when Tyler Hansbrough was fouled -

I don’t understand that - I mean both teams had `em in. I was sitting in the stands my first - the only game I saw when I was first here as a high school coach - we win and beat Duke and we were down by eight with 17 seconds to play. I don’t even know how much time was left when it happened. And in fact we had a substitute up at the free throw line - if you want to go back and look at that. If you go back and look Michael Copeland was sitting up at the free throw line cause I was trying to Tyler out of the game. It’s not my fault that Tyler got the offensive rebound and somebody else missed the sucker. But that is enough said about that junk.

More on Scouts.com


As with any incident, especially one like this where there is a lot of gray area, fans of each team see it completely different.

A Dukie friend of the blog says:

Hansbrough should have had a foul, possibly flagrant when he elbowed Thomas at the end of the game when Carolina couldn’t get it to half court.

From NCAA Hoops Blog

What is wrong with Billy Packer?

If you didn't see the end of the Duke-North Carolina game, you should know that Duke's Gerald Henderson committed a vicious foul against UNC's Tyler Hansbrough that left Hansbrough's face covered in a streak of blood and sent him to the locker room.

With 14 seconds left in the game and UNC leading by 12, Henderson jumped to block Hansbrough's shot near the basket. He violently swung his arm to block the shot. Instead of achieving that result, Henderson's elbow made what appeared to be not-so-inadvertant contact with Hansbrough's nose. Hansbourgh was furious, and rightly so. He had to be held back before team officials escorted him to the locker room because it simply wasn't necessary for him to still be out there on the court. Officials appropriatly ejected Henderson who by rule will have to miss Duke's next game (First round of ACC Tournament Thursday against NC State).

But CBS color analyst Billy Packer for some reason felt it necessary to act as Henderson's apologist, saying repeatedly that Henderson's violent, intentional swing motion was simply a means to go after the ball and that he didn't intend to foul or harm Hansbrough.

From Delightful Yank

The fans were understandably upset, but Coach Roy Williams did the right thing and sent his player to the locker room before things got out of hand. That's when the incompetent, idiot referees decided that they were going to manipulate the ACC Tournament. Obviously letting the UNC home crowd influence their already poor decision making skills, the refs not only ejected Henderson, they also suspended him for one game. An ACC Tournament game.
The replay is more than clear. Henderson was going for the ball, his body was shifted away from Hansbrough. There is no possible way to interpret the incident as intentional. He was charged with a flagrant, "combative" foul. Go ahead and Google combative foul. It doesn't exist. Here is the definition of a flagrant foul, including the penalty according to Wikipedia:

The penalty for a flagrant foul in NCAA and NFHS rules is immediate ejection of the offending player, plus two free-throws and a throw-in for the opposing team.

So the ejection was warranted, based on the excessive contact, regardless of intent. But the suspension is just wide-eyed pandering by the dim witted zebras. Absolutely pathetic. This will mar the ACC Tournament and make any Duke losses questionable. I prefer Duke to lose full strength, not because some dickhead UNC fans booed loud enough for the refs to react. I hope Hansborough is okay, but I also hope UNC loses badly during the tournament so that those angry, sour-faced Tarheel fans get what they deserve.

From GunSlingers

Last year on Selection Sunday Billy Packer's performance was horrible. His personal ties to power broker coaches in major conferences were on display for everyone to see, and a perfect case study for anyone wanting to discuss ethics and conflicts of interest for pundits in the media. His rants about how undeserved the at-large berth for George Mason proved to be an extremely poetic finish when the green and gold advanced to the final four. One would think that his performance last year couldn't be topped.

It was today.

With 14.5 seconds left in the UNC-Duke game, with a 12 point lead for the Tar Heels, Tyler Hansbrough took the ball to the rim, was fouled by two Blue Devils, had the ball knocked away after a foul, and was clearly, unambiguously clocked with a forearm to the face by Duke's Gerald Henderson. The foul was among the most vicious that I've ever seen. It could be considered a punch (though I'm not exactly sure - see update below). It could be considered an elbow. Henderson led with the forearm and the target was Hansbrough's face. The ball, long since cast aside, was nowhere near the direction of Henderson's thrust.

I don't typically like to presume to read the minds of others. I'll make an exception this time.

Gerald Henderson's forearm/elbow/punch to Hansbrough was 100% intentional. The facts and circumstances regarding the foul make this a clear inference. Henderson's left arm is by his side, not in the air, trying to block a shot. His right arm is cocked back and follows through after he strikes Hansbrough. His reaction after the strike is not one of "my bad, it was an accident."

Consider these facts: Duke-North Carolina is the most tense rivalry in college basketball, if not all of American sport. Duke was in the midst of suffering its worse loss of the season. The result of this game affected seeding in the ACC tournament (and NCAA seeding). Hansbrough dominated the game. 26 points, 18 rebounds.

Everything about the punch/elbow/forearm leads to one interpretation: that Henderson was frustrated with his team's performance and the result, and in order to protect whatever sense of self worth, he had to do something violent and outside the bounds of the rules of the game. This was a vicious, violent assault.

What do you think?