Scott Forbes had never been a pitching coach when he told North Carolina's Mike Fox, "I can do this." Three years later, UNC's pitchers are tops in the country in ERA (2.27) and strikeouts (483) because Forbes has convinced them that they can do it, too. "Mechanics are a big part of pitching, but you've got to be confident,'' said senior Rob Wooten, who credits Forbes with instilling his can-do attitude on the mound. (Raleigh News & Observer)
Sophomore Danielle Spaulding lived up to her billing as the ACC Player of the Year on Thursday as she hurled the first perfect game in ACC Tournament history en route to leading the No. 13 Tar Heels (50-9-1) to a 6-0 win over Virginia in the opening round of the ACC Tournament in College Park, Md. Spaulding struck out nine batters in the gem while also going a perfect 2 for 2 at the plate with a run scored and a pair of RBIs. (Tar Heel Blue)
The easy way for Mike Fox to evaluate his offense is to look at the statistics. That should be a pleasant undertaking, because his Tar Heels currently rank third in the ACC in batting average (.322), third in on-base percentage (.405), and third in runs (359). But Fox prefers a more nuanced way to judge the progress of his hitters: the quality at-bat chart. (Tar Heel Blue)
When the ACC spring meetings begin Sunday at Amelia Island, Fla., discussions of expanded conference scheduling will not be limited to basketball. Also under review will be the possibility of going to a nine-game league format in football. Under the current system, ACC teams play eight conference games. Each school in the two six-team divisions play the other five division members plus three from the opposite division. (ACC Now)
Holden Thorp, a chemist and current dean of UNC-Chapel Hill's College of Arts & Sciences, will be the university's next chancellor. The UNC system's Board of Governors approved Thorp's hiring this afternoon. He succeeds James Moeser, chancellor since 2000, who retires later this year. Addressing the Board of Governors after the vote, Thorp said he wanted the university to do more research and to be a place where people are not afraid to think creatively. (Raleigh News & Observer)
Just as the taste of summer heat begins to seep into the air, the last sport entering many people's minds is football. Nonetheless, as the baseball season hits its stride for college teams and second gear for the major leagues, the time is quickly arriving for college football players to start the strenuous workouts that precede August camp. (Tar Heel Daily)
It's not often that a Hall of Famer visits your place of business. But Gazette staffers hosted native son James Worthy Tuesday. Worthy, who first started gaining national attention as a ninth-grader at Gastonia's Grier Junior High and at Ashbrook High School, was in town promoting a Boys and Girls Club golf fundraiser in June and discussing plans for his return to the area. (Gaston Gazette)
When Roy Williams tested the NBA waters for his leading undergraduates, the waters evidently were just a few degrees warmer than UNC's shooting touch in the Final Four. Tyler Hansbrough stayed put. Wayne Ellington, Ty Lawson and Danny Green stuck their toes in the NBA Draft pool. Because the players refrained from hiring agents, they can work out for NBA teams, assess the feedback and withdraw without penalty by June 16. (Winston-Salem Journal)
Marc Davis has taped his last ankle. Davis, North Carolina's longtime basketball trainer, will retire in July and move to a different job elsewhere on campus. Davis, 56, was starting to feel slightly worn down after 31 seasons in the program, late-night games and in-season work weeks that sometimes hit 70 hours. He will move to North Carolina's physical-therapy athletics training clinic, which is part of the campus health-service system. (Winston-Salem Journal)
Mike Copeland, a North Carolina basketball player from Winston-Salem, will undergo surgery on June 4 to repair a slightly torn anterior-cruciate ligament in his right knee, his father said yesterday. Michael Copeland said his son suffered the injury in a pickup game last Wednesday in Chapel Hill. Because the tear is not complete, Copeland, a reserve forward, is hopeful of being able to play next season, when he will be a senior . (Winston-Salem Journal)
Dustin Ackley and Tim Fedroff each drove in three runs to lead No. 2 North Carolina to an 11-5 come-from-behind win over North Florida and its 40th victory of the season Wednesday at Cary's USA Baseball National Training Complex. At 40-8 through 48 games, this year's Tar Heels have matched the 2006 squad as the quickest in school history to 40 wins. (Tar Heel Blue)
University of North Carolina freshman swimmer Joe Kinderwater of Lancaster, Pa. took a Top 15 finish Tuesday in his first world championship appearance in Seville, Spain. The standout freshman swam in the 5th FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships Tuesday in the men's five-kilometer event. UNC assistant coach Catherine Vogt served as head coach of the United States team for the competition. (Tar Heel Blue)
The UNC baseball team has enjoyed a tremendous season so far, amassing a 38-8 record overall. UNC is ranked No. 2 in many of the national polls, and by the end of the regular season Carolina could actually be the top-ranked team in college baseball. Yet given the nature of the last two weeks on the schedule, the Tar Heels could find themselves dropping out of the nation's top eight just as easily. (Chapel Hill News)
Left fielder Kyle Shelton doubled three times and drove in two runs and third baseman Chad Flack reached the 200-RBI mark for his career to lead No. 2 North Carolina to a 9-2 win over North Florida Tuesday at Cary's USA Baseball National Training Complex. The Tar Heels (39-8) held the Ospreys (26-21) to just four hits en route to their 14th win in the last 15 games. (Tar Heel Blue)
Shalane Flanagan was pretty sure she'd run the 5,000 meters at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials this summer. After all, she holds the American record and is a two-time U.S. champion in the event. Suddenly, the 10,000 is looking pretty inviting, too. Flanagan broke the American record by 17 seconds in her first 10,000-meter race Sunday night. (Raleigh News & Observer)
Florida Marlins left-hander Andrew Miller stands 6 feet 6, and that's before he climbs the mound to throw his 95 mph fastball. Even so, the 22-year-old Miller is progressing in baby steps with the Marlins. A six-inning outing to beat Maddux and the San Diego Padres was his best of the season, reducing his ERA from 9.12 to 7.96. That number needs to come down several more runs, Miller knows. But the latest start was a start. (Raleigh News & Observer)
It’s the exceptional high school athlete who can earn a Division I scholarship. But rarest among those is one who can accept a scholarship offer during their junior year. Eden volleyball standout Heather Henry is a member of that elite class after she verbally committed to the University of North Carolina. She selected the Tar Heels over the University at Buffalo, Hawaii and South Carolina. UNC went 15-16 overall and 11-11 in the ACC in 2007. (The Buffalo News)
The final addition to North Carolina’s 2008 baseball recruiting class is Jeff May from Creedmoor (N.C.) South Granville High School. The right handed catcher earned first team all-state honors last season and is the top rated catching prospect in North Carolina according to Impact Baseball. May received scholarship offers from ACC and SEC schools, ultimately opting for North Carolina over Clemson, NC State and Duke. (Inside Carolina)
UNC swimmer Chip Peterson just missed out on a spot on the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Sunday as he finished 13th in the 2008 World Open Water Swimming Championships in Seville, Spain. The Top 10 competitors in the 10-kilometer swim event qualified for the Olympics which will be held in China in August. Peterson's time was 1 hour, 53 minutes, 41.6 seconds. He finished 2.2 seconds behind the 10th and final automatic qualifier. (Tar Heel Blue)
The ACC’s best hope for a national championship basketball contender in 2008-09 hinges on a series of heartbreaks for two or three underclassmen at North Carolina. If there is a perfect storm of pre-NBA draft disappointments for rising Carolina junior guards Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington plus senior wingman Danny Green and they all stay in school, the Tar Heels are a lock to begin the new season as the nation’s No. 1 ranked team. (Raleigh News & Observer)
The Tar Heels appear to be poised for a few steps up the conference ladder, and some even see them as the most likely challenger to Virginia Tech in the league's less powerful Coastal Division. Few teams in America will have more returning starters than the Tar Heels (17 of 24, including kickers) this fall, and that number doesn’t include up-and-coming players and projected 2008 first-teamers such as tailback Greg Little and defensive tackle Marvin Austin. (WRAL.com)
The strange goings on surrounding the North Carolina basketball program that began with the Tar Heels' blowout loss to Kansas in the Final Four haven't stopped. First, there was the flack over Carolina coach Roy Williams wearing a Kansas sticker during the Jayhawks' national championship victory over Memphis. And now for the truly puzzling, a few days ago some photos surfaced on the Internet that had to get Williams' blood boiling. (Wilmington Star News)
After failing to draft a QB in the draft, Buffalo picked up Matt Baker on Thursday. On Jan. 30 this year Baker inked a deal with Miami but was let go after the Dolphins drafted Michigan quarterback Chad Henne in the second round. Baker has a legitimate shot at cracking the 53-man roster as it stands now. The Bills haven't signed a veteran quarterback through free agency, and the market is extremely dry right now. (Bills Report)
News that Tyler Hansbrough will return to UNC for his senior season caused quite a ruckus in Chapel Hill last week. Now, photographic proof that the Tar Heels big man remains intent on enjoying his college experience has him swimming in a pool of controversy. Pictures have circulated on the Internet this week reportedly showing both Hansbrough and teammate Bobby Frasor leaping off the second story of a UNC fraternity house into an above-ground pool below. (Fayetteville Observer)
University of North Carolina women's basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell will return as the Tar Heels' head coach, Director of Athletics Dick Baddour announced on Thursday. "After several conversations with Dick Baddour, I have decided to withdraw my name from consideration for the head coaching position at the University of South Carolina," says Hatchell. (Tar Heel Blue)
UNC basketball coach Roy Williams has not endorsed Sen. Barack Obama, the team's spokesman said Wednesday. During a Tuesday pickup basketball game between Obama, the Democratic presidential hopeful, and the Tar Heels men's basketball team, Williams shouted comments that some took as an endorsement of Obama. "You've left the next president of the United States wide open," he yelled at one point. (Raleigh News & Observer)
Larry Brown and the Charlotte Bobcats need each other. Brown and Charlotte were unaffiliated just days ago. But in a matter of a few hours and a phone call by the most famous name in basketball – Bobcats part-owner Michael Jordan – the two were joined in what is going to be a happy marriage between a coach starving to perfect his craft once again and a franchise that is past the honeymoon stage with its city. (Rocky Mount Telegram)
In addition to losing multiple players to the major-league baseball draft and graduation in the last two years, the Tar Heels have had the added complication of playing their "home" games at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, because Boshamer Stadium on the UNC campus is undergoing renovation. Still, at 38-8, Carolina has the most wins of any team in college baseball. (Chapel Hill News)
When Michael Jordan, the Bobcats' part-owner, called recently, Brown listened, and yesterday the 67-year-old landed his ninth NBA/ABA coaching job, this time with the Charlotte Bobcats. In a way, Brown is going home, back to the state where he played collegiate ball, where his professional coaching career started with the old ABA Carolina Cougars, and where his mother, a few months shy of 103 years old, lives. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Say what you want about his politics or, for that matter, his bowling skills, but Barack Obama is taking advantage of the perks that come from being a national political figure. Tuesday, he played basketball with Tyler Hansbrough and other members of the UNC basketball team as a guest of Coach Roy Williams. In contrast to his unfortunate foray into bowling last month — when he rolled an embarrassing 37 — basketball is Obama’s game. (New York Times)
With South Carolina looking at Sylvia Hatchell for its vacancy, North Carolina’s athletics director said the Tar Heels are committed to keeping Hatchell as their women’s basketball coach. “She’s done a tremendous job of leading this program,” Dick Baddour said. “I hope that she’ll continue to do that.” Hatchell met with South Carolina officials late last week at Hatchell’s beach house in North Myrtle Beach, Hatchell’s agent, Jeff Meadows, confirmed. (The State)
Sylvia Crawley knew all roads - even when they traverse three continents, 15 countries and two careers - would lead back to the Atlantic Coast Conference. The journey came full circle yesterday, when the former North Carolina star was introduced as Boston College’s sixth women’s basketball coach. Crawley replaces Cathy Inglese, who retired on April 10 after 15 seasons. (Boston Herald)
The North Carolina primary only a week away, Sen. Barack Obama turned on the full-court press Tuesday morning. The Democratic presidential candidate scrimmaged with the UNC Tar Heels at the Dean E. Smith Center. In the early morning work-out, the senator dodged elbows, sprinted all out and zigged and zagged with his competition -- much like a politician on the campaign trail. (Raleigh News & Observer)
UNC athletics officials said today the school did not break an NCAA rule when Roy Williams watched informal pick-up game with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama at the Smith Center. Asked if the event had violated any NCAA rules, Erik Christianson, director of public and media relations for the NCAA, said: "This was a unique situation and not an NCAA issue. It certainly was a great opportunity for the student-athletes to interact with a presidential candidate." (ACC Now)
Larry Brown wanted to resurrect his vagabond, Hall of Fame coaching career. Michael Jordan needed a veteran teacher and a big hire to rescue his sinking reputation as an NBA executive. The two former North Carolina players teamed up Tuesday when Jordan introduced Brown as coach of the Charlotte Bobcats - his ninth NBA coaching job. Brown agreed to a four-year contract, returning to the state where his nomadic coaching journey began. (WRAL.com)
