Sports Monday
§
DAVE ALEXANDER
COMPOUND FRACTURE
Duke Best in
ACC History?
Not So Fast
It’s a natural debate when it comes
to athletics.
In a forum where the object is
to be the best, it stands to reason that
we want to know who is the best.
That’s why there’s a tournament for
just about every sport in the world,
from soccer to billiards (and, new for
1999, the Match Play Championship
for golf).
But every so often there’s a team or
an individual that comes along and
takes the fun out of the discussion.
Say, for instance, Michael Jordan.
Or the 1998 New York Yankees.
In those cases, there’s just not much
to be debated. MJ and the Yanks were
clearly head and shoulders above their
respective competitors (unless, of
course, one has an uncommon appre
ciation for the pure fundamental
genius of Vlade Divac, for whom a
strong case could be made).
In these instances, the scope of the
discussion expands to all of time.
Is His Aimess the greatest basket
ball player ever? Has there ever been
a team as good as last season’s Bronx
Bombers?
Now that’s a discussion worth hav
ing, one that could last for hours and
raise the ire of fans, purists and histori
ans all at once.
So let’s throw this one out just for
kicks: Are the 1998-99 Duke Blue
Devils the best team ever in ACC his
tory?
Sound ridiculously premature?
Don’t laugh. Opinions were being sub
mitted just minutes after Duke had
capped the first flawless ACC season
in 12 years with an 81-61 trouncing of
UNC.
“They’re a great team, a superb
team,” UNC forward Ademola
Okulaja said. “Probably statistic-wise,
they’re the best team ever in the ACC.
But I think our team last year was bet
ter.”
There are probably a lot of players
who have graced ACC courts and
think they played on a team that was
better than Duke is this year.
A case could be made for last sea
son’s Tar Heels. Likewise for last sea
son’s Blue Devils. And so on.
That’s the beauty of it. There’s
absolutely no way to tell, so the debate
rages on.
But Duke does have the opportuni
ty to join some pretty elite company
before the book is closed on this sea
son.
Should the Blue Devils win the rest
of their games (three in the ACC
Tournament, six in the Big Dance),
they would become the fifth team in
league history to win the regular sea
son conference crown, the conference
tournament and the national title.
The others: Duke in 1992, UNC in
1982 and 1957 and N.C. State in 1974.
Duke’s potential 38-1 record would
be surpassed, in terms of winning per
centage, by only the ’57 Tar Heels,
who finished 32-0.
But that discussion, for now, is irrel
evant. As it stands, the Blue Devils
aren’t even in a class with those afore
mentioned teams. Or, for that matter,
with the 1997-98 Tar Heels.
For everything they’ve accom
plished so far, what they achieve in the
next month will be doubly important.
“We’re good, but we’re not there
yet,” Duke forward Chris Carrawell
said. “We’re a long way off. We won
an ACC championship, we’re 16-0,
but there’s a lot more to come.”
There better be, or there’s simply
nothing to debate.
Jordan has six NBA tides to his
credit. The Yankees topped their
dream season with a four-game sweep
of San Diego in the World Series.
What has Duke done except win a
few relatively meaningless games?
Let the Devils go 9 for 9 down the
stretch.
Then let the debate begin.
Dave Alexander can be reached at
dalexand@email.unc.edu.
Tar Heels Reach ACC Final
Third-seeded North Carolina
will face No. 4 Clemson
tonight in Charlotte for the
ACC Tournament title.
By Brian Murphy
Sports Editor
CHARLOTTE - Sylvia Hatched
doesn’t like to play zone defense, and
North Carolina’s women’s basketball
coach has complained all year about
how the changing game has made zone
play necessary.
But after the Tar Heels’ 83-70 victo
ry against Virginia in the ACC
Tournament semifinals at
Independence Arena on Sunday,
Hatched just might be softening her
stance.
Watching
the Cavaliers
(20-8) blister
UNC ’ s
defense for a
36-17 first-half
advantage,
thanks in
Women’s
Basketball
UNC 83
Virginia 70
Georgia Tech 71
JUNc 87
large part to Virginia’s inside play, con
vinced Hatched that the zone might be
the way to go.
The Tar Heels (26-6) responded, clos
ing out the half with a 23-4 run, and
headed into the locker room tied at 40.
“I’m starting to like the zone,”
Hatched said with a smile after the
game. “When we played Virginia at our
place, in the second half we played zone
and it worked, so I didn’t hesitate to go
to it.”
The change in momentum crushed
the Cavs, while UNC, behind senior
forward Chanel Wright’s 20 second-half
points, held off Virginia to earn a spot in
tonight’s final against Clemson (23-5).
“It will come down to who wants it
the most,” Hatched said. “It’s always a
dogfight when we play Clemson.”
The fourth-seeded Tigers knocked
off top-seeded Duke 76-71 to advance to
their fourth-consecutive ACC
Tournament final. UNC has topped
Clemson for the last two tourney tides.
The Tar Heels advanced to the semi
finals by topping No. 6 Georgia Tech on
Saturday. All five starters scored in dou
ble figures, paced by Wright’s 18, in the
87-71 win.
Against Virginia, the Tar Heels’ bal
ance was not as apparent on the stat
sheet. Wright (27 points) and point
guard Nikki Teasley, who poured in 19
in the first half and finished with 25,
were the only Tar Heels to score more
than 11 points.
But UNC did receive contributions
from numerous sources. Five-foot-7
reserve guard Jessica Gaspar pulled
down a team-high nine rebounds in 36
minutes as Hatchell stuck with a four-
See WOMEN'S BASKETBALL, Page 9
Blue Devils' Dominance on Glass
Paves Way for Big Win Vs. UNC
Despite playing without
Shane Battier, No. 1 Duke
controlled the rebounding
war against the Tar Heels.
By Dave Alexander
Senior Writer
Forgive Jason Capel for his lack of an
explanation. It’s understandable.
What could he possibly say to
explain how North Carolina was so
thoroughly embarrassed on the boards
against Duke on Saturday night?
“I really don’t know,” Capel said.
“We were banging in there just like they
were. They just came up with loose
balls, rebounds, long rebounds - every
thing.”
That was a certain shock to the Tar
Heels, who, amidst much inconsistency
this season, have been consistendy dom
inant on the glass.
UNC entered the contest as the
nation’s best rebounding team, out
boarding its opponents by an average of
10.4 per game. Of the Tar Heels’ 10 reg
ulars, six are 6-foot-8 or taller.
Apparently someone forgot to pass
the word of UNC’s size and rebounding
prowess to the top-ranked Blue Devils.
Despite giving away inches at nearly
every position on the floor, Duke
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UNC guard Jessica Gaspar (middle) eludes Virginia point guard Renee Robinson and forward Lesley Brown
during Sunday's ACC Tournament semifinal game in Charlotte. Gaspar had nine rebounds on the day.
Teasley, Wright Provide Clutch Scoring for UNC
By T. Nolan Hayes
Assistant Sports Editor
CHARLOTTE - Last year when the
North Carolina women’s basketball
team needed offense at a key time, it
turned to forward Tracy Reid.
Reid was the go-to player, the undis
puted leader whom the team could
count on to score during tough times.
When Reid graduated, the Tar Heels
were left without their security blanket,
that one player whom everyone could
lean on in hard times.
But that potential negative has
become a positive. After playing almost
a full season without Reid, UNC now
has several players who can convert in
resolved to crash the glass with little
regard for UNC’s height. The strategy
paid off as the Tar Heels were outre
bounded for the fifth time in 30 games
this season, by a 52-36 margin.
“They didn’t have the size advantage,
but they were using their quickness,”
UNC point guard Eld Cota said. “They
just out-husded us.”
In short, Duke was clearly outsized
but undeniably undeterred.
Duke figured to take a beating on the
glass, especially with 6-8 power forward
Shane Battier and his 4.8 rebounds per
game sidelined with a sprained ankle.
Instead the Blue Devils stormed the
paint from all over the court, plucking
missed shots from the Smith Center
stratosphere. In the process, they proved
quickness and determination could
more than make up for a lack of size.
Center Elton Brand led Duke’s board
bonanza with 13 rebounds, slighdy more
than his 9.8-per-game average. His
UNC counterpart, Brendan Haywood,
the tallest player on the court at 7-feet,
had three.
“He’s a great rebounder,” Haywood
said. “I boxed him out as well as I could,
but he just got some sometimes.”
The Devils also tapped some alter
nate sources to supplement the interior
banging of Brand.
Trajan Langdon swooped in from his
perimeter guard spot to pull down six
the clutch. No fewer than five Tar Heels
can take over a game on a given night
and lead the team to victory.
Senior guard/forward Chanel Wright
and sophomore point guard Nikki
Teasley took their turns to shine on
Sunday in the semifinals of the ACC
Tournament, combining for 52 points to
lead the Tar Heels to a 83-70 comeback
win against Virginia.
“These two right here really helped
us out,” said UNC coach Sylvia
Hatchell, who was flanked by Teasley
and Wright in the postgame press con
ference. “They had great games offen
sively.”
Teasley and Wright split up the duty
of being the UNC scoring leader.
boards, nearly double his season aver
age. Small forward Chris Carrawell,
averaging 4.9 rpg, snagged eight boards.
Then there was dynamic freshman
Corey Maggette, who hopped off the
bench for a career-high 11 rebounds.
“He came in and played one of his
best games of the year,” Langdon said.
“He was everywhere on the boards. ...
He was an unbelievable spark for us.”
Maggette’s biggest contribution was
on the offensive glass, where he grabbed
five boards, repeatedly leading to sec
ond-chance opportunities for the feisty
Devils. In all, Duke tallied 22 offensive
rebounds, 15 in the second half when it
turned a close contest into a rout.
At the other end there were plenty of
boards to be had; UNC shot just 31 per
cent in the decisive second stanza.
For nearly every Tar Heel shot that
clanked off the iron, there was a Blue
Devil poised to rip down the rebound.
Overall, the Tar Heels were outre
bounded 28-16 after the break.
“We got stomped on the boards,”
UNC coach Bill Guthridge said. “I don’t
know that we’ve been outdone that
much in a long time. They just wore us
down. Seems like every rebound there
were three blue shirts and no white
shirts there.”
The Sports Editor can be reached at
sports@unc.edu.
Lacrosse
Opens With
Pair of Wins
Sophomore attackman
Jeff Sonke (left) scored
the game-winning goal
as the UNC men's
lacrosse team squeaked
past Butler in Durham.
See Page 11.
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Teasley got the Tar Heels through a dif
ficult first half, and Wright closed out the
Cavaliers with a strong second half.
Both players recorded personal
career-highs for scoring in postseason
games.
Teasley tallied 19 of her 25 points in
the first half, helping UNC rally from a
19-point deficit to tie the score 40-40 at
intermission.
Whether sticking the open jump shot
or taking defenders off the dribble with
her killer crossover and finishing in the
paint, Teasley left the Cavaliers in a
helpless position.
She provided all of UNC’s offense -
See LEADERS, Page 9
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Duke's Elton Brand (left) battles with UNC's Jason Capel for a loose ball
Saturday. The Blue Devils outrebounded UNC 52-36 on the night.
INSIDE:
■ Gymnastics stays
unbeaten. Page 11
■ Women's tennis gets
split. Page 11
■ Visit our Web site at
www.unc.edu/dth for
more tennis, lacrosse
and swimming
results.
Wins Give
Baseball
Best Start
UNC's baseball team swept:
three games from Temple
to surpass its previous best
start of 9-0, set in 1942.
By Joe Disney
Staff Writer
In the old-time style of baseball dou
ble-headers, North Carolina broke an
old record.
In the three-game series with
Temple, the Tar Heels took the game on
Friday 11-4 and both games of the rain
induced twin bill on Saturday, 18-5 and
8-1 at Boshamer Stadium.
With the sweep of Temple, the fifth-
Baseball
ranked Tar
Heels (10-0)
broke the
record for best
start to a sea
son. The pre
vious record
was a 9-0 start
in 1942.
“I’m happy
for our play-
Temple K
UNC 8
Temple 5
UNC 18
Temple 4
UNC II
ers,” UNC coach Mike Fox said. “It
says a lot about them that they came out
and started off on a good note.”
In the Owls’ first series of the year,
they were not prepared for the explo
sive offense and stifling pitching that
UNC brought to the ballpark. Temple
was outscored 37-10 in three games.
The first game of the doubleheader
exemplified the impressive combina
tion of hitting and pitching that UNC
possesses. In all, the Tar Heels produced
18 runs off 15 hits and six stolen bases.
Eight different Tar Heels tallied hits.
Through the first five innings, Corey
Richardson pitched perfectly, facing the
minimum of 15 batters. Although Owls’
first baseman Samuel Sabolchick broke
the bid for perfection in the top of the
sixth, Richardson finished the inning to
earn the win with seven strikeouts, three
hits and three runs allowed.
“It was a good outing,” Richardson
said. “I just didn’t make a couple of
pitches I needed to make. That happens
sometimes.”
At the plate, shortstop Clay Hooper
and third baseman Chris LaMarsh both
went 3 for 5 and combined for three
RBI. For the weekend, LaMarsh was 7
for 12 with two RBI to raise his team’s
leading batting average to .464.
In the second game of the double
header, lefty Ryan Snare pitched six
shutout innings to earn his first win.
Another first came in the sixth as
freshman Chris Maples lined the first
See BASEBALL, Page 11
14