Behind the scenes as blue blood UNC plays true road game at Wofford
canada goose factory sale The standing room only crowd has reached a fever pitch, with tipoff of the season opening basketball game canada goose outlet canada goose outlet nyc between No. 8 North Carolina and Wofford a scant 13 canada goose outlet ontario minutes away. The canada goose outlet florida baby blue clad Tar Heels fans have traveled canada goose vest outlet well, but they’re drowned out by the Wofford faithful inside the university’s state of the art second year facility. canada goose factory sale
uk canada goose The Terriers’ new home can’t match the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill in size or scope. Coach Mike Young has the floor, and he has their attention. Young runs down, for the hundredth time, the key points of the game plan, and finishes by tapping emphatically on the whiteboard by plays he wants fresh in their minds. uk canada goose
Canada Goose Outlet “Side out of bounds,” Young barks. “Daffodil. Elon. Providence. Good?” Canada Goose Outlet
He stops, and his expression softens.
Canada Goose sale “Look around,” he says, making eye contact across the room. “This is a great night for you, for our team, this program, this college. Class. Play with class.” Canada Goose sale
His words pick up intensity and tempo.
“This one is not for the timid,” he says. “Never is. Not this game. Not the game of basketball. Go fight, fellas. All right? Go fight! Let’s go. Whaddya say?”
The players spring out of their chairs, and the noise inside the locker room briefly matches the decibel level in the rest of the arena.
Carolina’s team huddles before tipoff against Wofford while coach Roy Williams looks on (Ryan Fagan/Sporting News).
canada goose uk shop This game, this event in the town of Spartanburg, is as much about the circumstances as the endresult. canada goose uk shop
canada goose clearance Wofford, with an enrollment of 1,650 students, is one of the premier programs in the Southern Conference, with four NCAA Tournament bids out of a one bid league since 2010. North Carolina (enrollment 18,814) is college basketball royalty, though, an ACC heavyweight that regularly competes for and wins national championships. canada goose clearance
Programs like UNC aren’t obligated to play road games against teams in leagues like the SoCon, so they don’t. To that point: The Tar Heels are the only power conference team in the AP preseason Top 25 canada goose outlet jackets poll to schedule even a single road game against a low/mid major program and they’re doing it twice this year. After Wofford, the Heels’ next game is at Colonial Athletic Association team Elon on Friday.
But these games matter. North Carolina at Wofford is a day the smaller school players, the university and even canada goose outlet uk sale the communitynever forgets.
“It’s a dream come true, man,” senior Cam Jackson told me after practice in mid October. “Having my dream lived out at Wofford, and having a team like North Carolina blue bloods coming to Spartanburg is just more than I ever thought would happen while I was in school. I always wanted to play the big schools and knock ‘em off, that hotcanadagoose.com was the goal. But having them come to us like Georgia Tech did last year, South Carolina did last year it’s more than you expect, coming to canada goose jacket outlet uk a small school like this. on game day. The Wofford players arriveearly for the morning shootaround, to nobody’s surprise. Punctuality always, attention to detail is the Wofford way.
Canada Goose Jackets “It’s kind of taken on a life of its own around here,” Will Murphy, a first year assistant coach who was promoted from director of basketball operations in October, says with a wry smile before the work officially begins. Canada Goose Jackets
Young walks onto the court, dressed like the tipoff is eight minutes away, not eight hours down the road. The only thing Young’s to the nines jacket and slacks ensemble is missing is a tie, and trusted assistant Kevin Giltner admits with a grin that he feels a bit underdressed in a Wofford T shirt, shorts and basketball shoes.
The head coach is ready for this game, but for now he’ll have to settle for running his team through a detailed but not exhausting mid morning workout. First, a team circle everyone in the program, from the coaches to the fifth year seniors to the freshmen to the team managers around the giant Wofford “W” in the middle of the court for a chat.
Wofford coach Mike Young addresses his team the morning before the against UNC (Ryan Fagan/Sporting News).
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As practice starts, Jay McAuley, the associate head coach, takes the team through sets Carolina loves to run. The scout team is imitating UNC, at least until McAuley stops it with a “Freeze!” for a teaching moment.
“What canada goose outlet 80 off do they want more than any part of the floor?” he asks his squad.
Several players shout the answer: “Paint!”
“Paint, that’s right. The slips, the ball screen, the motion. They feed the post. Do what we do, and do not deviate from it. Keep them out of the paint.”
This task will be easier said than done. North Carolina is really, really good, and Luke Maye isn’t the only Tar Heel who loves to work inside. The Heels have a decided size advantage.
canada goose uk black friday LaPhonso Ellis is the color man for the evening’s ESPN2 broadcast. He’s watching the shootaround with play by play partner Rich Hollenberg. He’s probably as excited for this contest as canada goose jacket outlet toronto anyone who didn’t graduate from Wofford or is notliving in Spartanburg canada goose uk black friday.
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