Nevada at North Carolina

Yeah! We have finally caught up with "real time"! The Fazekas-less Wolfpack visited the Dean Dome with the re-arranged banners, but it wasn't the banners, the crowd or the zebras that took them out. It was a late first half Tywon Lawson epic beep-beeper effort. It was as if there were three Lawsons on the court as he was stealing, scoring, rebounding and assisting.

At the start of the game it was fairly obvious that most of the 50-50 calls were going Carolina's way. This did not deter the Wolfpack who continued to attack until the zebras started calling the fouls. Once again Carolina did not open strong, and if it wasn't for the Lawson outburst, the game might have been close throughout (eg BYU game?).

Mark Fox has an impressive (80% wins) record but part of that is scheduling and the WAC. He is clearly not playing a Mark Few type of schedule, although he is not having a dozen cupcakes eithers.

Danny Green seemed to have been taken out of rhythm as a starter, but coming off the bench did not bother Ellington who had another 20+ game. The Carolina bigs are question-marks with Cali kids, Deon Thompson and Alex Stepheson needing to deliver more. Granted there's only one ball, but I am not the only one who thinks they might be underachieving.

Despite the epic meltdown, there were two bright spots for the Wolfpacks: JaVale McGee showcased his skills and length and had an early block party in the paint. This breakout on national TV though may be bitter sweet as the NBA Siren song will probably get louder after his performance in the Dean Dome. The other good news for the Woflpack is the tough play of guard Armon Johnson. This is what the back-court doctor ordered for the Wolfpack reeling from the untimely departure of Ramon Sessions.

And on the "Bob Knight" front, Mark Fox got caught by the ESPN cameras counseling Brandon Fields "aggressively". Not quite Bob Knight, but quite close.