North Carolina is unanimous #1 in ESPN/USA Today coaches poll

[Da Coach]

The UNC Tarheels received all 31 votes in the first ESPN/USA Today coaches poll released today--

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3672342&campaign=rss&source=NCAAHeadlines

http://sports-ak.espn.go.com/ncb/rankings?poll=2&year=2009&week=1

44 teams received votes, but none of them are from the MVC.
Creighton did not receive any votes.


1. North Carolina (31) 0-0 775
2. Connecticut 0-0 707
3. Louisville 0-0 694
4. UCLA 0-0 650
5. Duke 0-0 578
6. Pittsburgh 0-0 576
7. Michigan State 0-0 572
8. Texas 0-0 538
9. Notre Dame 0-0 525
10. Purdue 0-0 465
11. Gonzaga 0-0 437
12. Memphis 0-0 425
13. Tennessee 0-0 408
14. Oklahoma 0-0 387
15. Arizona State 0-0 304
16. Miami (FL) 0-0 233
17. Marquette 0-0 219
18. Georgetown 0-0 175
19. Florida 0-0 161
20. Davidson 0-0 158
21. USC 0-0 153
21. Wisconsin 0-0 153
23. Kansas 0-0 130
24. Wake Forest 0-0 129
25. Villanova 0-0 122
Others Receiving Votes
UNLV 60, Saint Mary's 59, Ohio State 54, Baylor 47, Xavier 27, Syracuse 23, Texas A&M 19, LSU 19, Arizona 18, Virginia Tech 15, Brigham Young 13, West Virginia 10, Washington 8, Siena 8, Kentucky 7, Vanderbilt 7, Oklahoma State 4, Clemson 2, Washington State 1.

[BU_EMT128]

Call this wishful thinking... But I don't see any reason why we couldn't beat the preseason number 7 on their court....

[SFP]

IMHO The Florida game is doable and the timing could not be better for us to go down there and beat them.

The Mich St. game will be a tough one to win especially if we beat Florida. They will be well prepared to play us and they know our style. If our big men can play tough we have an outside chance. If they do not show up you can forget about it! We can match up against them but their one strength year in and year out is rebounding and pounding the ball inside and that has been our number one weakness to stop.

[Stryker]

IMHO The Florida game is doable and the timing could not be better for us to go down there and beat them.

The Mich St. game will be a tough one to win especially if we beat Florida. They will be well prepared to play us and they know our style. If our big men can play tough we have an outside chance. If they do not show up you can forget about it! We can match up against them but their one strength year in and year out is rebounding and pounding the ball inside and that has been our number one weakness to stop.

That is IMO why they beat us last year. Our guards out played theirs greatly in the game at Carver, but when you have Salley and Wilson going against the guys they have inside they just kept getting beat inside. If that can change this year I think we have a chance. Either way one win against Florida or Michigan State would be HUGE for this team this year. If we go 10-1 non-conference I think we will be very very close to being ranked.

[Da Coach]

21 offensive rebounds to Bradley's 10, and 48-29 overall rebounding advantage for Michigan State.

http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=19332&SPID=1498&DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=1346261

They had 24 baskets, and half of them were 2nd or 3rd chance shots.
It might have been a blowout for BU if they could have rebounded evenly.

[Da Coach]

North Carolina's All American Tyler Hansbrough is out indefinitely with a "stress-reaction" in his shin.

http://www.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/story/11072972

http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2008/oct/31/unc-ranked-no-1-hansbrough-is-out/

[SFP]

This is one team that can afford to lose an All American and keep winning. There are no tears in my eyes for them. I do hope he gets better quickly because he does play the game the way I like to see players play, with heart.

It was also going to interesting watching him play this year because they were going to try to use him more as a perimeter player to help him get ready for the NBA. I think he just loves to bang it in the paint and it would be hard for him to not play any other way.

I'm sure there are some here who do not like him but there is not a coach in college who would not love to have a player in their line up who plays with so much passion and determination as he does. Imagine POB with his mind set.