College Basketball: Kentucky and North Carolina Hoops

[JohnBM01]

This thread isn't necessarily about the University of Kentucky and the University of North Carolina. It is about all participating colleges and universities based in Kentucky and North Carolina. They represent two states with great basketball talent with perhaps North Carolina with more diversity. For Kentucky's side, this can mean anyone from Kentucky, Louisville, Bowling Green (of Kentucky), Murray State. North Carolina schools can mean anyone from (and not limited to) Duke, East Carolina, High Point, North Carolina-Asheville, North Carolina-Greensboro, North Carolina-Wilmington, North Carolina-Charlotte (or just Charlotte), North Carolina State, Elizabeth City State, and things of that nature. If you wish to talk about college basketball from these two states, college hoop personalities from Kentucky and/or North Carolina, classic basketball moments, or whatever... this is your general interest thread on Kentucky and North Carolina. I may come up with more general interest threads for specific states or regions in America in the future.

Meanwhile, let's do hoops, Kentucky-style, or North Carolina-style!

Thanks to North Carolina-Asheville, here's a nice website to view the UNC campuses:
http://www.northcarolina.edu/content.php/campus/campusmap.htm

 

[FoolKiller]

Wait, how have I missed this for a week?

I'm not sure what you are looking for here. Like a comparison kind of thing for styles or something or just a general discussion. I mean you have brought up the two biggest rivalry states in basketball.

I'll sum up my thoughts on the two states.

If you are in Kentucky you are pretty cool, unless you are Louisville. If you happen to be the University of Kentucky then you are the greatest there has ever been. All the smaller schools, Murray, WKU, EKU, etc., are great in their own right but can't compare to the talent at UK and UL.

UL is lame though because they struggled for years and the only way they could find to bring themselves back to a decent national standing is by getting UK's old coach (Pitino). Try something original for once guys.


On to North Carolina. All of North Carolina is great for basketball, with one exception. I'd rather rant about that one exception than go into how North Carolina hoops are excelling above all other states right now, with the exception of UK of course). Here goes:

DUKE IS THE DEVIL!!! I despise Duke and everything about them. Coach K is pompous and gets away with way to much in the media. He creates problems and harasses referees just as much as anyone else but the announcers make him out to be a highly professional angel. If I had to pick between UL and DUke going bankrupt and shuttong down I would pick Duke. UL is a rival that is fun to play every year. Duke on the otherhand is a puyre veil that is only dealt with occasionally. UK has tried repeatedly to arrange an annual exhibition with Duke but they turn us down repeatedly. Playing a top-notch team early on must scare them. In teh end every UK fan has a deep-seeded hatred for DUke that was sealed with a single stomp by one Christian Laettner. That anger will never go away because every NCAA basketball highlight reel shows his last second shot in a game he shouldn't have been in.

In that same game, UK player Aminu Timberlake was whistled for a foul against Laettner. Timberlake went down, and as he was lying prone on the floor, Laettner stepped on his chest. It's likely Laettner did this because he thought Timberlake had committed a foul against him earlier that was not called, when in reality the offending player was UK's Daron Feldhaus who was pushed into Laettner by Duke's Brian Davis. Laettner to this day denies that there was any malice in his actions, but teammate Cherokee Parks was later quoted in the Philadelphia Inquirer as saying, "It's so Laettner. He's supposed to be like this all-America, this glamour boy, Mr. GQ. If you know Laettner, it's such a Laettner move to do something like that." Laettner was not ejected for the offense, much to the disgust of the crowd and especially to Kentucky fans. "The Stomp", as it has become known, has long overshadowed Laettner's scoring performance in the game.

Called out by his own teammate!!!

 

[JohnBM01]

FoolKiller, thank you for your input. This is just a general thread about college basketball in Kentucky and North Carolina. I'm not asking any questions or suggesting anything. I just want to give people a chance to share some thoughts on college hoops in Kentucky and North Carolina.

Just a general thread on these two states and all the different NCAA and non-NCAA schools in Kentucky and North Carolina. But again, thank you for your input.


UPDATE: To add to the general aspect of this thread, I'd like to congratulate Murray State for making it into the 2006 March Madness. The Racers are a solid unit, even if not as glamourous in Kentucky as Louisville or [the University of] Kentucky. I haven't gathered all of my Tuesday scores yet, but Western Kentucky challenged South Alabama for the Sun Belt championship and an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. I'll update my regular thread when I get the updates complete.

LATE BREAKING UPDATE: Western Kentucky lost the Sun Belt Championship to the South Alabama Jaguars in a 95-70 blowout. Usually, Western Kentucky is a solid basketball team... and perhaps I've underrated the Mobile, AL-based University of South Alabama. I'll reflect these scores in my most recent weekly thread when I get a chance.

 

[FoolKiller]

LATE BREAKING UPDATE: Western Kentucky lost the Sun Belt Championship to the South Alabama Jaguars in a 95-70 blowout. Usually, Western Kentucky is a solid basketball team... and perhaps I've underrated the Mobile, AL-based University of South Alabama. I'll reflect these scores in my most recent weekly thread when I get a chance.

You may have underrated South Alabama because you didn't check out who their coach is. Kentucky's own John Pelphrey. He played under Pitino and was an assistant for Billy Donovan (who was a Pitino assistant at UK). The buzz around here was that it would be a hard game for WKU to win. However, the bets were on WKU.

I was cheering for WKU (I attended the school before transferring to UK Patrick Sparks style) but could think of a better coach to lose to. Both outcomes would have made me smile.