The Cormac Ryan Game, Panthers pessimism and a kangaroo stampede in the sports moments of the week
Posted March 12, 2024 2:45 p.m. EDT
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Cormac Ryan sinks Duke
Years from now, North Carolina fans (and probably Duke fans too) will remember Saturday's Battle of the Blues with four simple words: The Cormac Ryan Game.
Notre Dame transfer Cormac Ryan cemented himself as a Tar Heel hero in Durham this weekend, pouring in a game-high 31 points as he led UNC to a sweep of its archrival and the outright ACC regular season crown.
He sank six 3-pointers in the ballgame, including a flurry to spot Carolina an early lead and a couple of daggers late. It was the most points scored by a UNC player at Cameron Indoor Stadium in more than 30 years. The last player to top it was current head coach Hubert Davis back in 1992. Davis scored 35 points that day, but it came in a loss).
Ryan seemed to enjoy himself quite a bit upon the team's return to Chapel Hill. He even climbed on top of a bus to show off the ACC trophy to an adoring crowd!
As we move forward now into tournament time, Ryan's emergence as a potential game-changer could do wonders for North Carolina.
Everybody knows about R.J. Davis, Armando Bacot and Harrison Ingram, but if opponents now have to account for the fact that Cormac Ryan might just torch them for 30, all of a sudden that becomes a lot to think about and a lot to deal with.
Ryan's ACC Player of the Week honors were well deserved this week. Now we'll see if he can stay hot and be a true X-factor for the Tar Heels to make a deep March Madness run.
Duke returns to the dark side?
There's no question, Duke is on the short list of college basketball teams that people love to hate.
But following the retirement of Mike Krzyzewski, there seemed to be a little something missing the last couple years. Opposing fans didn't seem to hate the Blue Devils with quite the same fervor as before.
After Saturday though, I think we may be all the way back.
In the first half, Duke forward Kyle Filipowski channeled his inner-Grayson Allen and tripped UNC's Harrison Ingram on his way back down the court. Flip, of course, claims it was an accident and apparently reached out to apologize to Ingram after the game... but the video is pretty hard to overlook.
Sure doesn't look like an accident to me.
And that's not all!
After the game, the Cameron Crazies took out their frustrations by throwing water bottles at UNC players (who were taunting the crowd) on their way off the court.
Obviously not what you want. A full water bottle could do some damage if it hit somebody in the head or in the eye. But hey, at least nobody stormed the court, right?
I like having Dark Side Duke back. It makes college basketball much more fun.
Panthers trade Burns, lose Luvu
NFL free agency officially (yet unofficially) started Monday as the league opened its "legal tampering period."
It was the first chance for Panther fans to get excited about the team's new direction under general manager Dan Morgan and head coach Dave Canales... but any and all positive vibes vanished by the time the sun went down.
Star edge rusher Brian Burns was traded to the New York Giants for two draft picks -- a 2nd rounder and a 5th rounder.
Not exactly a king's ransom, but understandable considering the Panthers obviously didn't want to give Burns the massive contract extension he was seeking (New York gave him a 5-year, $150 million deal).
However, given what Carolina could have gotten for Burns less than 18 months ago (reportedly two 1st round draft picks), fans like country music star Luke Combs were furious about the deal.
Others took the time to assemble a ">big-picture look at all of the Panthers' recent blockbuster trades and the results are grim to say the least.
But the Burns trade wasn't the only bad news on Monday. Linebacker Frankie Luvu, who's been a breakout star on defense over the last two seasons, decided to leave Carolina as a free agent and signed a 3-year deal with the Washington Commanders.
By any measure, Burns and Luvu were two of the top three players on the Panthers' defense last season. And in a one-hour span, the team lost both of them on Monday.
We should note that the Panthers did bring in guards Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis to help sure up the offensive line and protect Bryce Young, but those signings are doing little to pacify an irate fan base.
Here's hoping Carolina can right the ship and string a few positive moves together heading into the draft next month.
NC State WBB comes up short in ACC title game
NC State was just a few minutes away from their fourth ACC tournament championship in five years on Sunday, but a cold spell on offense came at the wrong time for the Wolfpack, who fell 55-51 against Notre Dame in the title game.
NC State finished just 3/17 from beyond the arc all game, and managed just 2 points in the final 7 minutes of the fourth quarter.
That's not going to win you many ballgames, especially when your opponent is able to shoot 8/17 from deep.
Hannah Hidalgo and Maddy Westbeld scored all of Notre Dame's fourth quarter points, and led an Irish defense that held NC State to 1/9 shooting and 3 turnovers in their final 12 possessions.
Of course, all is not lost for the Wolfpack, who will have nearly two weeks to gear up for the NCAA tournament, with their first two games likely being played at home.
As I've written before, this NC State team is balanced and tough. They will be a tough out for any opponent in a win-or-go-home format and I still like their chances to make a deep run and possibly even return to the Final Four.
What are the odds?
As some of you are likely aware, sports betting officially became legal in North Carolina on Monday.
In that spirit, let's take a moment to honor a truly remarkable basketball team that probably made people some extra coin by betting against them this season.
I'm talking about the Pacific Tigers.
Typically, teams will level out close to 50/50 against the spread, but not Pacific. They were astoundingly bad this year with a 6-24 record against the number, by far the worst in Division I hoops.
For context, if you had bet $100 against Pacific every game this season, you would have wound up with a profit of about $1600. Not bad, right?
Unfortunately, there won't be another opportunity to fade the Tigers this season. They bowed out of the WCC tournament on Thursday night with a 102-43 loss to Pepperdine.
The spread was 9.5 points so, no, they didn't cover.
The good news is that this isn't a one-year wonder for Pacific. In fact, two seasons ago, they were even worse with a 4-22-2 record against the spread!
I know most of their games are on very late for us east coasters, but spare a thought for Pacific men's basketball next season and you might make some money.
Kangaroo stampede!
No misleading or sensational headline here.
Hundreds of kangaroos went bouncing through a Melbourne, Australia golf course last week, and there's video to prove it.
I know they can be dangerous if provoked, but I gotta say that kangaroos may be number one in my personal Golf Course Stampede Power Rankings. Maybe second if a koala bear stampede ever became a thing.
I'm a firm "no thank you" on alligators, geese, or any kind of bug. Deer would be fine, I guess, but I imagine they'd destroy the greens.
Stephen Roche, who posted the original video, said that the kangaroos' feet were so soft that they only left behind footprints in the sand traps. Sounds like the ideal stampeder if you ask me!
We'll see you next week.
