UNC versus Ohio State(late)
Curt Hill
UNC vs Ohio State
Tuesday, December 22, 1992
St. John Arena
Columbus, Ohio
My good friend Todd, who scored the tickets for me, and I arrived very
early for the game, after a delicious meal at the local "All in One" (that's
a combo Hot'n'Now/Taco Bell/Pizza Hut/KFC for all you non-gourmands).
St. John Arena is very pleasing to the eye. Wood seats with lots of red
everywhere. The seating is OK on the lower level, with bleachers all the
way around courtside and three additional decks. The final deck of seating
is very high and sloped. Way, way, up there.
The food selection was nice, but I only sampled the Coke. They did have the
real Ballpark Mustard, which is far superior to the dayglo yellow stuff you
usually are served at sporting events. The cups Coke was served in were
quite nice, too. Women's and men's schedules and no outside advertisements
on the cup (like the Hardees' ads on most ACC cups now).
Plus, St. John has what must be the largest scoreboard in the world. It
appears to be bigger than the court. Your standard hang-in-the-middle
board, but this one has a large monitor on each side of the board. A group
of OSU students put clever animations and such on the screens. Some nice
animations were shown plus handy up-to-the-minute stats during the game.
The crowd, while not the most knowledgeable (and mainly sarcastic for good
reason), was very, very loud. It was extremely loud during the close parts
of the game and the OSU runs. I don't know how apparent this was on
television.
However, Brutus, the Buckeye mascot (old style football player with a
Buckeye head) has to go. Makes me think UNC's angry sheep is attractive.
Arriving early also allowed me to watch Dick Vitale, who had ripped
Funderburke off-the-air during the OSU at Indiana game last year, work the
crowd. Lots of autographs and free books handed out. Talking and smiling.
There were some boos at the beginning of the game, but most of the fans at
St. John had decided to forgive Vitale for his comments.
The officials, some of the ACC's "best", had the crowd howling. Dick Paparo
only had a few clueless calls (or ones that might sort out once I see the
tape of the game), but Duke Edsall and the other were in a different world.
The crowd appeared most upset with four 5 second calls against OSU in the
first half. The first 2 were legit; the second 2 appeared to be a bit quick.
For the rest of the game, the crowd near me would be screaming for a 5 second
call whenever a UNC player was picked up by an OSU defender.
Ohio State coach Randy Ayers used the only strategy he really had, which was
to use an aggressive, pressing, trapping defense versus UNC. This worked in
the first half, as UNC really had trouble running anything that looked
like an offense most of the time. The OSU defense was intense and the
crowd noise added to the confusion. Lawrence Funderburke, Ohio State's
best player and biggest mouth, had some nice plays during turnovers in the
first half. He also had some nice moments whenever the UNC defense, which
was solid in the halfcourt, caused the OSU team into some chaotic moments
near the end of the 45 second clock.
It also appeared that Ayers and Smith had decided to run a full-court press
test during the first half, as both teams pressed and trapped on almost every
possession.
I was really impressed with OSU's defensive intensity in the first half.
UNC was reduced to a lot of one-on-one offense in the first half, which
didn't help UNC's offensive output any.
After a harsh chewing out by Dean at halftime, "Are you the same guys I
work with in Chapel Hill?", Carolina came out and jumped on the Buckeyes.
Intense halfcourt defense (the press was gone) and running offenses led
to easy Carolina buckets. UNC shot 1-6 in the first half at the charity
stripe, but hit all but 2 free throws (both put back in for buckets) in
the second. There was a nice blend of inside and outside play in the
second half and several times Montross was left in excellent position
down low. Donald Williams also picked up his game in the second half.
Reese was a major factor as well, with a brilliant spin-move on the baseline
that led to a four point play (on the missed foul shot).
Ohio State made a good run in the second half, but a couple of ill-advised
shots by Skelton (running, contested 15 footers on the baseline) led to
UNC fast breaks and easy scores.
Some of the Ohio State freshmen played well (Macon and Simpson). However,
Simpson was overmatched defensively at the point and Derrick Phelps used
him unmercifully in the second half.
I thought Phelps had an excellent game except for the 3 turnovers. He
was very animated during the game, with lots of smiling and offers to the
folks covering him to come take the ball. Often he would drive by his man,
pull back, then go by again for a shot or a dish.
Good points:
o The play of Reese - Brian played an excellent game and is beginning
to show some offensive explosiveness.
o The play of Phelps - excellent defensively and ran the team wonderfully.
Still isn't sticking the 3, which is still his only weakness.
o Montross - just HUGE in the middle. Dunked most everything,
emphatically, to show Lawrence "I just can't shut up" Funderburke who
was boss inside. It worked.
o Lynch - was everywhere, as usual. 16 very quiet rebounds and George
put in some nice buckets, too. He's finally playing consistent
basketball at Carolina.
o The defense - very, very intense. The team is playing defense at a
level that I haven't seen in a long time. Maybe 1987.
o Confidence. Even when down or in the middle of an OSU run and lots of
noise, the UNC team did not wilt or panic. They just played hard.
Bad points:
o Half court offense - if the "slow" team is in (three of Montross, Rodl,
Sullivan, Salvadori), the team suffers on the offensive end. A team
with Montross, Sal, Sullivan, Phelps, and Rodl on the floor just
struggles for shots. The defense is still good, though.
o Too much one-on-one in the first half. This led to bad shots and easy
Ohio State baskets.
o Rebounding. It appeared at times that UNC couldn't buy a rebound.
Comments:
o The team played like a top 50 team in the first half and a top 5 team
in the second.
o I was impressed, for the most part, with UNC's reaction to Funderburke's
woofing. One particularly amusing episode was late in the game as OSU
set up for a press. I could see Lawrence woofing in Montross' face.
Montross was stoic. The ref snuck up and saw Funderburke and told him
to stop. After the official returned to inbound the ball, Funderburke
started up with Montross again and tried to engage Reese as well. But
for the most part Carolina just played and let Lawrence run his mouth.
o In general, a team with [Phelps|Rodl|Williams|Reese|Lynch|Montross]
is very good. Below that 6, the substitutions must be handled
carefully in order to maintain an offensive rhythm.
Box Score:
[at home. Email if you want it.]
Next: The Kraft Rainbow Classic.
Dec 28/29 (1:15 am EDT) versus SW Louisiana
Dec 29/30 (11 pm if win, 1am if lose) versus Nebraska or Michigan
Dec 30/31 (???)
The semi-finals (winners) and finals will be shown on Home Team Sports live.
Other cable channels across the country may show games as well.
Curtis Hill
chill%st...@mcnc.org
--
The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Campus Office for Information
Technology, or the Experimental Bulletin Board Service.
internet: laUNChpad.unc.edu or 152.2.22.80
Michael Doel
Curtis Hill writes:
> My good friend Todd, who scored the tickets for me, and I arrived very
> early for the game, after a delicious meal at the local "All in One" (that's
> a combo Hot'n'Now/Taco Bell/Pizza Hut/KFC for all you non-gourmands).
we always called it Kentucky Fried Taco Hut. The Hot'n'Now part is new I
guess.
> St. John Arena is very pleasing to the eye.
and thankyou for getting it right. Contrary to popular opinion, St. John's
plays their home games in New York, not Columbus.
> The crowd, while not the most knowledgeable (and mainly sarcastic for good
> reason), was very, very loud. It was extremely loud during the close parts
> of the game and the OSU runs. I don't know how apparent this was on
> television.
very apparent. I'm not sure what it is, but St. John is acoustically great
for crowd noise. I went to a Syracuse game in the Carrier Dome a couple of
years ago and despite having almost twice as many fans, the noise level was
nowhere near as intense.
> However, Brutus, the Buckeye mascot (old style football player with a
> Buckeye head) has to go. Makes me think UNC's angry sheep is attractive.
Be careful when you start saying sheep are attractive. People may take that
the wrong way. :-)
> Arriving early also allowed me to watch Dick Vitale, who had ripped
> Funderburke off-the-air during the OSU at Indiana game last year, work the
> crowd. Lots of autographs and free books handed out. Talking and smiling.
> There were some boos at the beginning of the game, but most of the fans at
> St. John had decided to forgive Vitale for his comments.
a little sucking up never hurt anyone.
> The officials, some of the ACC's "best", had the crowd howling. Dick Paparo
> only had a few clueless calls (or ones that might sort out once I see the
> tape of the game), but Duke Edsall and the other were in a different world.
> The crowd appeared most upset with four 5 second calls against OSU in the
> first half. The first 2 were legit; the second 2 appeared to be a bit quick.
> For the rest of the game, the crowd near me would be screaming for a 5 second
> call whenever a UNC player was picked up by an OSU defender.
I thought the 5 second calls were all legit. In fact, each time I was
yelling for Etzler/Simpson to pass before they got called. These guys are
still young and can be expected to make mistakes like that. UNC's defense
in this respect was awesome.
There were a few bogus calls though. One in particular I remember was when
Skelton stole the ball, looked like he had an easy layup only to be
mercilessly hacked with no call.
> It also appeared that Ayers and Smith had decided to run a full-court press
> test during the first half, as both teams pressed and trapped on almost every
> possession.
This is OSU's normal defense. You didn't see it much against WVU because we
didn't score much.
> Ohio State made a good run in the second half, but a couple of ill-advised
> shots by Skelton (running, contested 15 footers on the baseline) led to
> UNC fast breaks and easy scores.
Actually, the thing which killed the run IMO were the put-backs on the
missed UNC free throws. OSU had cut it back to 5 before those. All of a
sudden, they got lazy on the glass and were back at a 12 point deficit.
Take out those two putbacks and it's still a manageable 8 point lead.
> Some of the Ohio State freshmen played well (Macon and Simpson). However,
> Simpson was overmatched defensively at the point and Derrick Phelps used
> him unmercifully in the second half.
Too bad Derek Anderson wasn't ready to go. There had been talk of him
suiting up for this game. I guess they decided not to rush him back. Macon
is starting to gain confidence finally. His drive-to-the-goal-jam in the
first half had me howling. Simpson will soon take over for Etzler if this
continues. I'm most impressed that he doesn't seem to be pressing too much.
I half expected him to come in an put it up every time down the floor (ala
Jamie Skelton's first year).
> I thought Phelps had an excellent game except for the 3 turnovers. He
> was very animated during the game, with lots of smiling and offers to the
> folks covering him to come take the ball. Often he would drive by his man,
> pull back, then go by again for a shot or a dish.
agreed and as Dick Vitale couldn't stop mentioning, his defense was great.
> o Montross - just HUGE in the middle. Dunked most everything,
> emphatically, to show Lawrence "I just can't shut up" Funderburke who
> was boss inside. It worked.
I thought the matchup between the two was pretty even. Funderburke
outplayed Montross in the first half. Montross outplayed Funderburke in the
second half. I too wish Funderburke would stop talking trash. One good
thing I saw out of him though was a little floor leadership. In the first
half, after Watson (I think) misfired on a play, Funderburke immediately
took him aside and schooled him on the right way to do it. He also gave
Macon a shove on the defensive end to get him in correct defensive position.
These types of things are going to have to continue.
> o Confidence. Even when down or in the middle of an OSU run and lots of
> noise, the UNC team did not wilt or panic. They just played hard.
Well, I never lost confidence that UNC would eventually prevail either.
Nonetheless, it was a good test for the Heels.
> o The team played like a top 50 team in the first half and a top 5 team
> in the second.
seems about right. OSU played like a top 20 team in the first half and a
top 50 team in the second.
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mike Doel <do...@bae.bellcore.com>
444 Hoes Lane RRC 1B-209
Piscataway, NJ 08854
"For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat
and wrong." - H.L. Mencken
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Allen Warren
>However, Brutus, the Buckeye mascot (old style football player with a
>Buckeye head) has to go. Makes me think UNC's angry sheep is attractive.
I'm a Buckeye alum and agree 100% about Brutus being given a pink slip.
But hey, what can you expect from a school that has a mascot which is the
state tree? I ALWAYS hated Brutus Buckeye, but OSU thinks he/she is
great. Oh well . . .
>Ohio State coach Randy Ayers used the only strategy he really had, which was
>to use an aggressive, pressing, trapping defense versus UNC. This worked in
>the first half, as UNC really had trouble running anything that looked
>like an offense most of the time. The OSU defense was intense and the
>crowd noise added to the confusion. Lawrence Funderburke, Ohio State's
>best player and biggest mouth, had some nice plays during turnovers in the
>first half. He also had some nice moments whenever the UNC defense, which
>was solid in the halfcourt, caused the OSU team into some chaotic moments
>near the end of the 45 second clock.
>It also appeared that Ayers and Smith had decided to run a full-court press
>test during the first half, as both teams pressed and trapped on almost every
>possession.
>I was really impressed with OSU's defensive intensity in the first half.
>UNC was reduced to a lot of one-on-one offense in the first half, which
>didn't help UNC's offensive output any.
If you've watched Ohio State basketball for the last several years, you
would notice that the full court press, stifling one-on-one defense and
general harrassment at every juncture is becoming an Ohio State tradition
under Ayers. Chris Jent, in seasons past, was very, very good at basically
being a second skin on defense and was a HUGE motivation in getting OSU
players and fans into a frenzy. So the full court press is rather common
with OSU teams.
allen
Steve Williams
>
>But hey, what can you expect from a school that has a mascot which is the
>state tree?
Is the OSU court floor actually made of wood from the state tree?
If so, that it would be skinning the mascot to provide the skin for
the team to play on. :-)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Williams swil...@oasys.dt.navy.mil
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Orin Day
writes:
> Curt...@launchpad.unc.edu (Curt Hill) writes:
>
>
> >However, Brutus, the Buckeye mascot (old style football player with a
> >Buckeye head) has to go. Makes me think UNC's angry sheep is attractive.
> I'm a Buckeye alum and agree 100% about Brutus being given a pink slip.
> But hey, what can you expect from a school that has a mascot which is the
> state tree? I ALWAYS hated Brutus Buckeye, but OSU thinks he/she is
> great. Oh well . . .
Is is the State Tree? I thought it was a nut...
--
************* "How about a little fire, Scarecrow?" **************
Orin Day, Code 664.1 od...@lobster.gsfc.nasa.gov
Hughes STX/NASA GSFC Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics
*******"Think that this is NASA's opinion? NO, NO, NO!!!" ******
Michael Doel
Orid Day writes:
> In article <1992Dec28....@tessi.com> al...@tessi.com (Allen Warren)
> writes:
> > Curt...@launchpad.unc.edu (Curt Hill) writes:
> >
> >
> > >However, Brutus, the Buckeye mascot (old style football player with a
> > >Buckeye head) has to go. Makes me think UNC's angry sheep is attractive.
>
> > I'm a Buckeye alum and agree 100% about Brutus being given a pink slip.
> > But hey, what can you expect from a school that has a mascot which is the
> > state tree? I ALWAYS hated Brutus Buckeye, but OSU thinks he/she is
> > great. Oh well . . .
>
> Is is the State Tree? I thought it was a nut...
Actually, it's both. The Buckeye nut comes from the Buckeye tree (just as
an applee comes from an apple tree). The state tree of Ohio is indeed the
Buckeye tree. I don't know if there's a state nut (references to Howard
Metzenbaum deleted), but if there is I suspect it's also the Buckeye.
Most of the time, when people wish to display that they are Ohio State
Buckeyes, they use the nut form - occasionally with the leaf from the tree
(which looks very much like a marijuana leaf from what I've been told).
Allen Warren
>Orid Day writes:
>> In article <1992Dec28....@tessi.com> al...@tessi.com (Allen Warren)
>> writes:
>> > Curt...@launchpad.unc.edu (Curt Hill) writes:
>> >
>> >
>> > >However, Brutus, the Buckeye mascot (old style football player with a
>> > >Buckeye head) has to go. Makes me think UNC's angry sheep is attractive.
>>
>> > I'm a Buckeye alum and agree 100% about Brutus being given a pink slip.
>> > But hey, what can you expect from a school that has a mascot which is the
>> > state tree? I ALWAYS hated Brutus Buckeye, but OSU thinks he/she is
>> > great. Oh well . . .
>>
>> Is is the State Tree? I thought it was a nut...
>Actually, it's both. The Buckeye nut comes from the Buckeye tree (just as
>an applee comes from an apple tree). The state tree of Ohio is indeed the
>Buckeye tree. I don't know if there's a state nut (references to Howard
>Metzenbaum deleted), but if there is I suspect it's also the Buckeye.
>Most of the time, when people wish to display that they are Ohio State
>Buckeyes, they use the nut form - occasionally with the leaf from the tree
>(which looks very much like a marijuana leaf from what I've been told).
The Buckeye leaf DOES resemble a marijuana leaf quite a bit, so much so that
whenever I wear Ohio State paraphenalia which has the Buckeye leaf on it,
people always ask me why I'm wearing a marijuana leaf. Oh well . . .
allen
Brian Lewis
al...@tessi.com (Allen Warren) writes:
>
>The Buckeye leaf DOES resemble a marijuana leaf quite a bit, so much so that
>whenever I wear Ohio State paraphenalia which has the Buckeye leaf on it,
>people always ask me why I'm wearing a marijuana leaf. Oh well . . .
>
band uniform!
Brian
Mike Dunnagan
> Most of the time, when people wish to display that they are Ohio State
> Buckeyes, they use the nut form - occasionally with the leaf from the
> tree (which looks very much like a marijuana leaf from what I've been
> told).
I would agree. I used to live in Cincinnati, and when you cross the I-75
bridge you see a sign that says "Welcome to Ohio, the Buckeye State."
There was a picture of the buckeye nut on the sign.
Mike Dunnagan ----
Orin Day
Mike.D...@launchpad.unc.edu (Mike Dunnagan) writes:
> Mike Doel:
> I would agree. I used to live in Cincinnati, and when you cross the I-75
> bridge you see a sign that says "Welcome to Ohio, the Buckeye State."
> There was a picture of the buckeye nut on the sign.
Not to mention that your arch on I-70 entering Ohio from Indiana is
Tarheel Blue! Arrrgh!
> Mike Dunnagan ----
Steven M Casburn
u (Curt Hill) writes:
> [...]
>Arriving early also allowed me to watch Dick Vitale, who had ripped
>Funderburke off-the-air during the OSU at Indiana game last year, work the
>crowd. Lots of autographs and free books handed out. Talking and smiling.
>There were some boos at the beginning of the game, but most of the fans at
>St. John had decided to forgive Vitale for his comments.
I was home in California watching the OSU-UNC game on ESPN, and I couldn't
believe that a) Vitale had the guts to return to St. John; and b) Buckeye fans
let him leave alive. Did anyone at least throw something at him?
(Anyone who thinks my wonderment is odd should have been in Columbus after
Vitale called Lawrence Funderburke a "cheap-shot motherf***er" last season.
I've rarely seen such hatred by OSU sports fans directed at someone besides
John Cooper. :-) )
Steve
|
--
Steve Casburn (scas...@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu)
They gave me differential calculus, and I said "Hit me again"
So they gave me integral calculus, and I said "Hit me again"
Now I have vector calculus, and...I'm starting to lose consciousness...
Randy Peppler
>In article <1992Dec28....@samba.oit.unc.edu> Curt...@launchpad.unc.ed
>u (Curt Hill) writes:
>> [...]
>>Arriving early also allowed me to watch Dick Vitale, who had ripped
>>Funderburke off-the-air during the OSU at Indiana game last year, work the
>>crowd. Lots of autographs and free books handed out. Talking and smiling.
>>There were some boos at the beginning of the game, but most of the fans at
>>St. John had decided to forgive Vitale for his comments.
>
> I was home in California watching the OSU-UNC game on ESPN, and I couldn't
>believe that a) Vitale had the guts to return to St. John; and b) Buckeye fans
>let him leave alive. Did anyone at least throw something at him?
> (Anyone who thinks my wonderment is odd should have been in Columbus after
>Vitale called Lawrence Funderburke a "cheap-shot motherf***er" last season.
>I've rarely seen such hatred by OSU sports fans directed at someone besides
>John Cooper. :-) )
Maybe this means that most Ohio State fans are rational-thinking
grown-ups? Vitale is a wild man - take it with a grain of salt.
As for Funderburke, I found it quite disturbing that he seemed
to be having a merry old time making several flamboyant dunks
near the end of his team's inevitable 9-point loss at West Virginia.
He certainly gives me the impression that he's in it for himself.
I'm sure few Ohio State fans found much positive out the team's
performance that night...
--
-------------------------------
| Randy Peppler |
| Illinois State Water Survey |
| pep...@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu |
Michael Doel
Randy Peppler writes:
> Maybe this means that most Ohio State fans are rational-thinking
> grown-ups? Vitale is a wild man - take it with a grain of salt.
Ohio State fans are rational-thinking grown-ups? That's a first. You may
be rethinking that statement if we are unable to beat Georgia on Friday.
> As for Funderburke, I found it quite disturbing that he seemed
> to be having a merry old time making several flamboyant dunks
> near the end of his team's inevitable 9-point loss at West Virginia.
> He certainly gives me the impression that he's in it for himself.
> I'm sure few Ohio State fans found much positive out the team's
> performance that night...
I have to agree. Funderburke has so much athletic ability, but I'm always
worried about him slipping back mentally. The two games I've seen so far
this year (WVU and UNC) have done little to alleviate my fears. Randy Ayers
is working miracles to keep this guy's attitude in check. How long can it
last?
Marek Lugowski
do...@bae.bellcore.com (Michael Doel) writes:
>
>Randy Peppler writes:
>
>> As for Funderburke, I found it quite disturbing that he seemed
>> to be having a merry old time making several flamboyant dunks
>> near the end of his team's inevitable 9-point loss at West Virginia.
>> He certainly gives me the impression that he's in it for himself.
>> I'm sure few Ohio State fans found much positive out the team's
>> performance that night...
>
>I have to agree. Funderburke has so much athletic ability, but I'm always
>worried about him slipping back mentally. The two games I've seen so far
>this year (WVU and UNC) have done little to alleviate my fears. Randy Ayers
>is working miracles to keep this guy's attitude in check. How long can it
>last?
Since Funderburke is fond of talking trash... :) Here's my own, rsbc-style:
Funderburke's exit from Indiana seems wiser and wiser for IU and less and
less wise for Funderburke. Granted, who really wants to play for a
choleric overweight coach with a demonic eye for every detail gone wrong
and have to, gasp, sacrifice playground star status for the paramilitary
(they shoot (from) uniforms without names at IU, don't they?) troop
manouvers of 100% help-out man-to-man defense and team-playing offense.
Nonetheless, it seems that Funderburke would have learned what Thomas
learned at IU and possibly go on to become an NBA player of note. I have
doubts now that his vanity and "the big easy" at OSU will make this possible.
Never mind winning an actual NCAA championship. I don't think a team with
Mr. F. on its starting five can win anything of note, given Mr. F's present
attitude and what it means in points lost in close shaves... Food for thought.
Always time to grow up...
-- Marek
Ps. What time is the Indiana/Kentucky game -- noon or 2:45 Chicago time?
Steve Chapin
}}
}} As for Funderburke, I found it quite disturbing that he seemed
}} to be having a merry old time making several flamboyant dunks
}} near the end of his team's inevitable 9-point loss at West Virginia.
}} He certainly gives me the impression that he's in it for himself.
}} I'm sure few Ohio State fans found much positive out the team's
}} performance that night...
I think that as the rest of the Buckeye squad matures, you'll see
Lawrence be more of a team player. Look at it this way: this team,
with JJ, would be a definite top-25, and be in the running for a third
big-10 title in a row. Perhaps Lawrence feels a bit abandoned and
frustrated, now that he's the only genuine star on the team, and no
matter how well he plays, they're not going to be able to compete
against really good teams (cf. UNC).
Perhaps Skelton's emergence and some seasoning of the rest of the
frontcourt will bring him around. I hope so...
s...@cs.purdue.edu Steve Chapin ...!purdue!sjc
It's a wise dog that scratches its own fleas. (William Strunk, Jr.)
"...the probability of a puttering nutcase slaving alone in his
workshop actually developing fundamentally new technology is
practically nil..." (John DeArmond)