PAGE 1B
TOMORROW’S DTH:
BRANDON STATON
BOTTOM ROWS GOLD
UNC has
titles on
its radar
The past year was a memo
rable one for Thr Heel
faithful and fearful alike.
Last August the football team
was about to finish next to last in
the Coastal Division of the ACC.
And while they didn’t take the
country by storm, the Tar Heels
Were an overtime field goal
from posting a winning record
against a suicidal schedule.
It was NTT time for the men’s
basketball team, left with a cast
of chumps after hearing its num
ber called four times in the first
round of the NBA draft lottery.
But by the time March rolled
around, the chumps left the
ACC champs feeling blue on
their own floor.
And the clock didn’t strike
midnight on the Tar Heels until
the second round of the NCAA
tournament when another
Cinderella, George Mason,
rolled on to the Final Four in
Indianapolis.
And die baseball team surely
wouldn’t be able to shake loose
from South Carolina’s strangle
hold and make it through the
NCAA Super Regional.
Fifty-four wins later they
were one run away from captur
ing their first-ever national title.
As impressive a year as it was
for North Carolina, the story
line read the same from start to
finish maybe next year.
Well, next year is here. And
North Carolina is buzzing about
its potential.
With football’s new offensive
coordinator, Frank Cignetti, at
the helm of UNC’s offense, the
Tar Heels appear to be lurking
in the grass waiting maybe
not for a BCS bid but surely
for an opportunity to ruin the
chance of others.
The women’s basketball team
that finished its 33-2 campaign
with a loss to Maryland (the
only team to beat the Tar Heels
last season) graduated three
seniors.
And with most of the pieces
of their Final Four puzzle still in
tact, they’ll have their sights set
on Atlanta, poised to prevent a
repeat of last season.
On the men’s side there hasn’t
been this much excitement
since, well, 2005.
, Publications everywhere are
on-board with Roy Williams
and the No. 1 recruiting class in
America. It’s hard to imagine
that the Tar Heels’ roster won’t
equate to a trip deep into the
NCAA Tournament.
And, after losing two first
round starting pitchers, its power
threat in left field and anchor in
the bullpen, how could the base
ball team possibly get any better?
Simple. Don’t lose in the
championship series.
While that’s easier said than
done, keep this in mind:
Right-hander Luke Putkonen,
coupled with senior Robert
Woodard, equates to a combined
record of 2JM- in five seasons—
and Daniel Bard isn’t a Red
Sox yet
The men’s soccer team is No.
1 in the country.
And the women are well below
their standard at No. 3 after
soccer deity Anson Dorrance lost
10 of his players to graduation.
Sally Austin, coach of the
women’s golf team, said her
team just needs a little confi
dence to see how good it can be.
Members of the team have
been playing well in tourna
ments all summer long, and
they’ll boast an incoming fresh
man who is heralded as one of
the top juniors in Australia.
Last year North Carolina
asserted its athletic prowess by
defying expectation.
This year it’ll probably do the
same thing.
But instead of defying expec
tations, they’ll have to live up to
them.
Contact Brandon Staton
at bkstaton@email.unc.edu.
Sports Tuesday
i VOLLEYBALL PREVIEW: A preseason look at the defending ACC champions
Tar Heels on the offensive
ilif' ' ’ vHE. I mm ’ W|r ‘ i
DTH/JULIA BARKER
Quarterback Cam Sexton (left) is in a battle with Joe Dailey (12) for the starting quarterback spot. Both are mobile quarterbacks who also offer a downfield threat.
BY BRANDON STATON
SPORTS EDITOR
In case you’ve been in a dense jungle
enclosed deep within the borders of a
third-world country all summer, the
North Carolina football team finally has
found some offensive pop.
“I think that it’s been exciting to watch
this offense every single day in practice
very exciting,” Coach John Bunting said.
“And to see the quarterbacks compete,
the receivers make plays and the runners
make plays, it’s been really exciting all
through camp.”
Junior Joe Dailey, who started 11 games
for Nebraska in 2004 before transferring
to UNC, and redshirt freshman Cam
Ashe to power UNC soccer
BY DAVID ELY
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
In order for the North Carolina
men’s soccer team to have a suc
cessful season, senior forward
Corey Ashe will need to put the
ball in the back of the net —and
do it often.
If you ask him though, he
would not have it any other way.
“Its awesome, especially being
a senior; I want to go out in style,”
Ashe said.
“I want the rest of my team, the
rest of my classmates to go out in
style and win a championship. The
fact that that role has been placed
on my shoulders, I love it, and I’m
really looking forward to it”
Asa junior, Ashe finished the
2005 season third on the team with
16 points six goals combined
with a career high four assists.
A large reason for AShe’s success
is his superior speed something
that he is not shy to boast about.
“Growing up I’ve always been
the fastest kid on the field its
definitely one of my weapons,” he
said.
Head Coach Elmar Bolowich is
well aware of Ashe’s track-quality
speed, but he wants his senior to
develop other ways to beat his
NBA Heels set for exhibition
BY KRISTIN PRATT
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
Who said you could never go
home again?
This October, five former Tar
Heel standouts will be hustling
over the hardwood in the Dean
Smith Center once more in NBA
preseason action.
Raymond Felton, Sean May
and Marvin Williams, three
members of the 2005 men’s bas
ketball national championship
team, along with the Washington
Wizards’ Brendan Haywood and
Antawn Jamison, return to cam-
www.dailytarheel.com
Sexton have gone punch for punch on the
gridiron in an effort to land the starting
role come September.
For the first time in a while, the Tar
Heels look to be in a win-win situation at
the offensive helm.
The dfio should Ibe able to focus their
sights downfield more so than in seasons
past thanks to a revamped offense under
new offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti,
even though they haven’t really had the
chance to open it up too much in practice.
“You’ve gotta really run the ball more
when you get those (live) situations,”
Cignetti said. “There are very few times
in practice when it’s live.”
Still, the team has put its faith in the
DTH/BETH ELY
High expectations will be shoul
dered by Corey Ashe and his
teammates on the top-ranked
North Carolina men's soccer team.
defenders.
“He has to come up with other
solutions to not only rely on his
speed deceptiveness, cleverness,
combinations to spring himself
free out of a double-team.”
Ashe joined by veteran
group
Fortunately for Ashe, UNC
returns 10 of 11 starters on a team
that reached the NCAA quarter
finals last year, so double-teams
should be few and far between.
He will be paired with senior
forward Ben Hunter, who led the
pus to take the cojirt in two pre- .
season Charlotte Bobcats games.
Felton, May and the Bobcats
will compete Oct. 17 in the Smith
Center against the Wizards and
Oct. 27 against Williams and the
Atlanta Hawks.
How much are tickets?
Students will be able to get
reduced ticket prices for the games.
Tickets for the Oct. 17 game, some
of which will be for lower-level
seats, will cost sls. Students also
can purchase $lO upper-level tick
MEN'S GOLF PREVIEW: Tar Heels ready to tee off the season
coaching staff.
“We think the players have done a great
job of buying into what we ask them to
do.”
Filling the hole
With the loss of defensive standout
Trimane Goddard, who broke the filth
metatarsal in his left foot on Aug. 5, the
Tar Heels’ defensive staff have been look
ing for a replacement at safety.
And though the loss dealt the D a devas
tating blow, the coaches like what they see.
“I’m excited about the way Cooter
Arnold has played,” Bunting said. “D. J.
Walker, of course, is an experienced player,
GAMES YOU
CAN'T MISS
Sept. 15 at Clemson
Sept. 22 at Virginia
* Oct. 6 vs. Maryland
Oct. 20 at Duke
Tar Heels in 2005 with 31 points
on 13 goals and five assists, giving
UNC one of the most electric back
fields in the nation.
“Its just great to have him
around,” Ashe said. “He pushes me,
I push him we bring the best out
of each other.”
Any number of goals the duo
musters should be enough to win,
as the Tar Heels’ offense is support
ed by a defensive group that could
prove to be as fearsome as that of
the 2000 Baltimore Ravens.
In 2005, opponents only man
aged to score 17 goals in 24 games
against UNC, including 15 outings
in which the Tar Heels held them
scoreless.
Contact the Sports Editor
at sports@unc.edu.
ets for the Oct. 27 game.
For the Bobcats-Wizards game,
floor-level seats cost S9O, while
lower-level seats are $35 to $55 and
upper-level seats are S2O to $25.
The Bobcats-Hawks game tickets
on the 27th are more expensive, as
floor-level seats cost $125, lower
level seats cost $45 to $55, and
upper-level seats cost $25 to $45.
Where to sit?
Student seating in the riser area
SEE BOBCATS. PAGE 4B
GAMES YOU
CAN'T MISS
* Sept. 23 at Clemson
■ Oct. 7 at Miami
* Nov. 4 at Notre Dame
* Nov. 11 vs. Georgia Tech
■ Nov. 18 vs. N.C. State
we know a lot of things that he can do.
“It’s a matter of surviving the big hit.”
Contact the Sports Editor
at sports@unc.edu.
Detroit saves a
spot for Miller
Miller headed for
MLB in September
BY BRANDON STATON
SPORTS EDITOR
Until May, former North
Carolina pitcher Andrew Miller
couldn’t even buy a beer.
Now, fewer than four months
later, the 21-year-old phenom
can buy just about whatever he
wants.
That’s because the Detroit
Tigers, who drafted Miller with the
No. 6 pick of the 2006 First-Year
Player Draft, agreed to pay him
$5.4 million, according to an Aug.
4 article by John Manuel, editor
in-chief of Baseball America
What’s more striking than the
monetary value of Miller’s contract
is what the Tigers think the lefty is
worth on the field. -
Manuel said the deal specifi
cally calls for the Roger Clemens
Award winner to begin pitching in
the Big Show in September —and
the Tigers have the best record in
baseball.
There have been few players
in the history of Major League
Baseball to receive such a guar
antee, Manuel said. And some
of those occurrences were in the
19705, when teams were trying to
find new ways to attract fans.
North Carolina pitching coach
Scott Forbes, who oversaw Miller
and the rest of the staff during the
Ihr Heels’ run to the College World
Series Championship Series,
said that after resting for about a
month and a half, Miller is excited
to be heading to the big leagues.
“He’s not too nervous I think
he knew that he’d become a Tiger
eventually,” Forbes said. “It could
not have worked out better for
Ufyp Saily (Ear
TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2006
DTH FILE/EDYTHE MCNAMEE
Former Tar Heel standout pitcher
Andrew Miller got a guaranteed
September call-up in his contract
with the Detroit Tigers.
him.”
And though Miller won’t toe the
rubber for the Tar Heels again, that
doesn’t mean that he’s severed his
ties.
Forbes said his phone rang not
long after Miller signed his deal,
and he wasn’t surprised to find the
coveted lefty on the other end.
“He loved it here and was a big
supporter of ours,” Forbes said. “He’S
come back and get his degree.
“He called us and thanked us for
everything, which is kinda neat.”
There aren’t any guarantees
that there will be Miller sight
ings in Chapel Hill anytime soon,
but Forbes did say he wouldn’t be
surprised if Miller headed back to
campus at some point to work on
finishing his business degree, which
still has about a year remaining.
With an athletic r£sum4 that
reads like his, it’s no wonder that
the Tigers are taking a leap into
such a big, and some would say
risky, investment.
Miller is North Carolina’s all-
SEE MILLER, PAGE 4B