THBTHD #002
👋 Welcome to the second edition of our weekly newsletter. Grab a Blue Cup and settle in.
ICYMI: ESPN just dropped an epic article about how Bill Belichick was hired. To sum up: Sounds like it was an ugly process.
But let’s get to roundball…
1. The lead off: There are no moral victories, but…
Reed: It was a tough loss to Duke, Andy, but truth be told, I was bracing to get embarrassed again. And that definitely didn’t happen.
The team had such fight. This is the best I’ve felt about a loss in a while.
Andy: Totally agree. I had a glimmer of hope there in the second half but the team fought the whole game. Can’t ask for much more than that. It’s just a brutal matchup for this year’s team.
Reed: And if you look at the stats, this effort would have been enough to beat many other teams.
Only six turnovers, 90% from the line, 39% from the field, 20 points for RJ. Very respectable.
Andy: I have to admit that this Duke team is really good. Can we go ahead and start the narrative that if they don’t win the championship this year that it would an all-time failure?
Reed: Definitely. I noticed Jay Bilas didn’t tee up this game with his standard “it always delivers” catchphrase, because he — and most everyone else — knew it probably wasn’t going to deliver when UNC was basically facing an NBA team.
I just felt bad that RJ didn’t get the dub in his final Smith Center outing.
Andy: We will talk more about him in a future edition but it was really great to see him give Duke all he could in his final home game.
Reed: A true warrior. So many of his shots against Duke had that, “Noooooo—YES!” quality when he let them go, which is the mark of someone in the zone.
Andy: Not to look too far ahead, but it’s possible we could see game number three against the Devils on Friday. The last time a team had a 3-0 sweep in the same year was the infamous 8-20 season of 2001-2002. Yikes.
2. The ACC tourney changes don’t go far enough
Andy writes…
When the ACC added noted “Atlantic Coast” schools, Cal, Stanford, and SMU to the conference last year, it necessitated a change in the postseason tournament.
Only 15 teams (odd number, but OK) get a chance to play, three teams sit on the sidelines.
While there’s a part of us that likes the idea that any team in any conference can go on a run, win their tourney and make it to the Big Dance, that’s probably just not viable anymore with today’s college sports.
This year’s victims are both crazy awesome and totally expected:
Miami was in the Final Four just two years ago until Jim Larrañaga bailed in December so he could get ahead of his holiday shopping.
Boston College has pretty much sucked since the days of Paul Revere and is a perennial conference bottom feeder.
And then there’s NC State. Don’t get us wrong, we hate Duke with all our heart, but seeing the Wolfpack go from their first Final Four since the Reagan administration to missing the conference tournament is muy delicioso.
Those Pack fans were pretty full of themselves last season, but we haven’t heard a peep from West Raleigh lately. Especially now that Kevin Keatts just got fired. Ouch.
What’s next: We’d actually like to see this punishment taken a step further. When the NCAA finally collapses upon itself like a Trump-owned casino, we would be in favor of a system of relegation and promotion akin to the European Soccer Leagues.
How it would work: Boston College finishes with two wins in a weak ACC? Off to the Patriot League you go for next year! NC State, take your stupid doggy hand signals to the A10. Maybe we’ll see you here again in 2064. Let’s make it happen.
3. Ask Spenser
Each week, former UNC guard Spenser Dalton answers a reader’s question. This week’s comes from Jonathan K. in NC.
Q: Carolina may have to win four games in four days this week to make the NCAA tourney. How do players approach this kind of stretch?
A: The approach is the same this year as any other year. There’s no conservation of energy. Every game matters.
Take last year's team as a comparison. As the No. 1 seed, their mindset was: “We are winning every game because we want to be ACC Champions.”
Even though this year’s team may be playing for its NCAA Tournament bid, they’ll take the same approach. Winning is the goal.
What’s different from the regular season is total attention to nutrition and recovery. The team is in a hotel with no distractions, and the training staff will be doing everything they can to help the team recover and be ready for another game each night.
4. An open letter to ESPN
Dear ESPN,
I hope this letter finds you well, and congratulations on the millionth airing of that doomsday prepper Patriot Supply commercial. Big milestone.
A modest request, if you don’t mind:
Can you never assign Cory Alexander another of our games? Banish him to the darkest recesses of The Ocho if you have to. We are so very tired of him.
I’m not sure how he became the default Carolina analyst, but this past season, the dude was more of a fixture at UNC games than Wanda.
And now word comes that ACC tourney stalwarts Jay Bilas and Dan Shulman are moving to the SEC, handing the ACC to Dave O’Brien and…you guessed it.
I’m honestly agnostic on most color commentators. Unless you’re Dickie V, I barely notice you. But Cory?
Let me count the ways he grates:
He’s stuck in Glory Days Mode. This guy talks about the 1990s more than Jamiroquai. And there is literally no play so mundane that he won’t somehow reach and try to connect it to his pro career (5.5 pts, 1.5 TOs). Oh, this free throw reminds you of the time you played for Charlotte? You don’t say.
He makes everything about himself. After Bill Walton died, his tribute to the Big Red-Head was about how Walton once said he liked Cory’s beard. Stop, we’re choking up! And what’s with claiming to know everyone? “That’s my guy right there. I was just at Kohl’s with his grandma earlier…”
Announcerspeak. He has this put-on game-show-host-like slickness that just feels phony. If you took a drink every time he says “of course,” “absolutely” and calls his partner “OB,” you’d be dead by the time Cadeau is whistled for his second foul.
So next season, we’re begging you. Bench “our guy.”
5. This week’s reason why Duke sucks
When we used to do the podcast, we’d end every episode with that week’s reason why Duke sucked. The tradition continues here.
Watching the Duke-UNC game means having to endure a lot of annoying Blue Devil parents. It’s always been this way — a tradition almost as old as Coach K dropping F bombs.
When Duke parents aren’t being given suspiciously cushy jobs, many of them are shown endlessly on our TV screens obnoxiously rooting for their son.
Seth Curry’s mom used to get more in-game cutaways than the ESPN sideline reporter.
The latest are Kelly and Ralph Flagg, who we’re pretty sure are the first two unlikable people that Maine has ever produced.
You no doubt saw them Saturday night furiously slapping the top of their noggins and screaming, “On his fucking head!” after Cooper made a dunk.
Seem like nice folks.
Truth is, they give us the grossest kind of stage parent vibes. She played basketball herself at University of Maine and he at a community college.
And the look on their faces each time their son scores screams, “YOU WILL ACCOMPLISH WHAT WE COULDN’T TO FILL THIS VOID IN OUR HEARTS!”
The good news: After this season, they won’t be our problem anymore. They’ll probably sell all their possessions to buy a camper van in which to follow the Washington Wizards around, washing Cooper’s socks and reminding him that if he doesn’t average 20 and 10, their lives will have no meaning.
🙏 Thanks for reading and before we go, here are the poll results from last week’s edition:
80% of you thought only time will tell if Hubert’s contract extension was a good idea.
And remember: We want to hear from you. Send your comments and questions to thbthd@gmail.com. Until next week, go Heels!