Lucas: UNC Basketball Mailbag
April 1, 2008
By Adam Lucas First, a quick health update. A couple eagle-eyed viewers noticed something in the waning moments of Saturday's win over Louisville--Ty Lawson seemed to favor his ankle in the closing seconds. In the first of this week's many media sessions on Monday, Roy Williams said, "The very last play of the game, Tywon tweaked his ankle a little bit. But he came for treatment (Sunday) and said it felt fine." He went on to reaffirm that statement at the final installment of his radio show with Woody Durham on Monday night. "We did a run-and-shoot period and a weightlifting session today and he said it felt fine," the head coach said yesterday evening. "I've gotten past the fright of it and I think he'll be fine by the end of the week." Now, on with the questions... My family and I are headed to San Antonio on Friday for the tournament. Do you guys release any type of itinerary for the weekend, like the player send-offs, etc? Also, I know when they Heels were there in '98 there was a party for them at the Hard Rock Café on the Riverwalk. Will that kind of party happen again? How do we get tickets this time around? When Carolina went to the Final Four in 1998, I remember thinking, "Why in the world would they ever want to have the Final Four in San Antonio?" But once you've experienced the Final Four there--as Ellen probably remembers--it's a great site. There's lots to do within walking distance of the Riverwalk. Kentucky was in that '98 event, and boats would float down the river at all hours of the day filled with Wildcat fans shouting, "C-A-T-S, Cats, Cats, Cats!" Other than New Orleans, San Antonio is my favorite Final Four site, and it's a significant improvement over the NCAA-favored host of Indianapolis. Ellen's question is the perfect opportunity to provide a mini-Tar Heel fan's travel guide to San Antonio. This is in no way a UNC-approved travel guide, so don't blame James Moeser and/or Dick Baddour if you get a bad meal at one of the below restaurants.
For all team sendoff/welcome/fan info updates, bookmark this site and check back periodically for more updates. As you can see, there's a pregame event at Pat O'Brien's on Saturday at noon. Carolina's open practice session on Friday will be at 3:10 San Antonio time (which is one hour behind Eastern time). As a reminder, game tickets are not required for the open practice. After the open practice, consider stopping by Pat O'Brien's for a UNC welcome event. By the way, if you're looking for a San Antonio dinner recommendation, try Bohanan's if you're into steak and Aldo's (no website but the number is 210-696-2536 and the address is 8539 Fredericksburg Rd.) if you prefer Italian. Le Reve is generally considered one of the best restaurants in Texas--and fans of French food would tell you it's one of the best restaurants anywhere. You're in San Antonio, of course, so you might want to sample some Mexican. The city's best is supposedly El Jarro de Arturo (be warned if you're clicking: obnoxious music ahead). If you're looking for something a little more lively, try Mi Tierra, which is open 24 hours. Of course, you'll also be close enough to physically go to Mexico to get your Mexican food if you have some time to spare. You might want to read through this page first. Those in search of a restaurant near the Riverwalk with a bit of San Antonio flair should try Boudrou's. The most fan flavor of the Final Four can usually be found on the River Walk. That also means you will usually find the most people on the River Walk, so don't go there expecting a quiet stroll. But it's free to walk around, and of course you'll probably want to take a boat ride at some point. The boat rides are 35 minutes. You can also use those boats on the river as a river taxi, which can be a handy--if slower--way to avoid the walking crowds. Be advised that Friday is San Antonio's regular First Friday event (think Alive After Five if you're familiar with Raleigh) so crowds will be large. First Friday is for locals, not tourists, so it might be a way to escape (take the Blue Trolley to King William) the tourists and find more of the city's flavor. If you're looking for the NCAA's fan info site, try here. If you've never been, then you should probably stop by Hoop City. One tip: crowds there are much bigger on Saturday, so go on Friday if you get into town early enough. If you just can't get enough basketball, the college all-star game, which is open only to seniors, is on Friday night. There are no Tar Heels in that game, of course, because they're otherwise engaged. I hear there are some other ACC players who might be free, though. If you're going to San Antonio but don't have tickets yet, you'll want to print this seating chart as a reference. Parking is average to below average at the Alamodome, but if you're planning to spend some time on the Riverwalk and/or attend the team sendoff, the dome is just a mile from the team hotel, so it's walkable if the weather is nice. And, yes, the weather is supposed to be nice, maybe even a little on the hot side. If you're looking for non-basketball things to do, everyone who visits San Antonio is legally required to at least stop by The Alamo. I guarantee your first thought will be, "It's a lot smaller than I thought it would be." Of course, if you're pulling the kids out of school but don't have time to stop by and they still need some culture in order to get school credit, just rent the movie (there's also an IMAX movie on The Alamo at the local IMAX. If you need culture, which is something I would know nothing about, try the McNay Art Museum or the King William District of historic homes. Most aren't open to the public, but the Guenther House is, and it also is a great place to grab breakfast. The website for the local newspaper, the San Antonio Express-News, is here. See you there and hope everyone has a great time. In the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament the Heels made the RBC Center in Raleigh our home-away-from-home. I'm wondering what is Carolina's all-time record at the RBC Center? And is it better than State's all-time record there, percentage-wise? Do I remember correctly that we won our first game there and that game was also State's first loss in the RBC Center (featuring a sweet Cota between-the-legs assist to Haywood for the dunk)? Fascinating question, Dave. You're indeed correct that the Tar Heels handed State the first loss in the then-Entertainment and Sports Arena by virtue of a 70-62 win on Feb. 9, 2000. That victory broke State's building-opening 14-game win streak. Overall, Carolina's record in the RBC Center is 8-3 for a winning percentage of .727. That narrowly trails State's all-time winning percentage in the building of .743 (113-39). The stats switch when you compare only games against ACC foes. Against league competition, State's winning percentage is .569 (41-31), while Carolina's is .667 (6-3). The Wolfpack has company, though. The following are Carolina's records (including NCAA Tournament play) in the buildings of their ACC foes: 2-0 at Boston College's Conte Forum Those numbers are all the more impressive when you consider that you're not supposed to have a winning record on the road--much less almost everywhere that you play. Brownlow's Down Low Lauren writes: Obviously, this season Carolina defeated Louisville in both the men's and women's tournaments. It has never before happened on the same day. It has happened before that both teams faced the same team in the NCAA Tournament just one other time. On March 19, 1983 the women were defeated by Georgia in the Mideast Regional Semifinal, 72-70. Then, on March 27, the men lost in the East Regional Semifinal to Georgia, 82-77. The last time the men and women had a common opponent in a season was Tennessee in the 2006-07 season when the men defeated Tennessee 101-87 in the third-place game of the Preseason NIT. The women defeated Tennessee at home on December 3rd 70-57 but lost in the Final Four to the Lady Vols, 56-50. Both teams also faced Gonzaga last season with a similar split, except for this time it was the men that lost (again the Preseason NIT), 82-74. The women defeated Gonzaga 101-63 on November 25th, just three days after the men's loss. The last time the women faced a Carolina men's NCAA opponent in the same season (though in the regular season) was 2005, when Carolina beat Villanova, 63-56, on November 27th. The men's game was also close as Carolina squeaked by in the Sweet 16 to reach the Elite 8, 67-66. Both teams also played Connecticut in 2005 and got wins; the women's team won 71-65 and the men won 77-70. Both teams won at Connecticut. The men and women's teams have had at least one common non-conference opponent from 1995 until this season. The women have played UCLA six times and the men have played UCLA each of those seasons as well. Both teams faced UCLA on the same day in Chapel Hill and both defeated them on December 19, 1988; the women won 95-71 and the men won 104-78. The men also defeated UCLA in the NCAA Tournament that season, 88-81. In 1998, both the men's team (109-68) and the women's team (82-78) beat UCLA. Then in 2000, both teams dropped their matchups with UCLA; the women losing 69-65 in November of 1999 and the men losing 71-68 in January of 2000. The women and men have both faced Louisville in 1997 as well, although the men played Louisville in the East Regional Final and the women played Louisville in the regular season. Both teams won. The two teams have faced Connecticut in the same season (a power in both men's and women's basketball) just twice, and once was in 2002 when both teams dropped their games against Connecticut, even though the men would go on to beat them three years in a row. Interestingly enough, the ACC rival both teams have been struggling against has been Maryland in recent years. The men have not won a game against Maryland since 2006 (though getting just one crack at the Terrapins each year). The women's team went 1-2 against Maryland in 2006 (including a Final Four loss) but has gone 3-0 against the Terrapins in the last two seasons. Last season, both teams lost to NC State once, both times at NC State. Both teams took care of business against NC State at home and beat the Wolfpack a third time in their respective ACC Tournaments. Both the men's and women's teams swept NC State in 2005, 2006 and this season. The same year that Carolina started struggling with Duke, so did the women's team. From 1993 until 1998, the women's team went a combined 11-4 against Duke and the men went 10-3. Then from 1999 until 2004, the women's team went 1-15 against Duke. The men's team didn't fare much better, going 2-14 in that same span. But both teams have turned things around. The women's team has gone 8-2 against Duke since 2005. The men's team has gone 5-3 against Duke since 2005. In 2007, the first year that the men's team had been able to sweep Duke since 1996, the women's team dropped both games against the Blue Devils. This season, it was the women's team who took care of business with 3-0 sweep and the men went 1-1. In 1996, the last time the men's team swept the women's team, the women went 0-2. The men also swept Duke in 1995 but the women split with Duke, 1-1. The last time both teams swept Duke in their season series was in 1994 when both teams went 2-0. It has also happened in 1987, 1983 and 1982. Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of four books on Carolina basketball. |
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