Hit up TarheelDaily....Check it out this article about three things that I would like to see instituted back into the UNC Basketball program. I appear weekly as a guest columnist along with my appearances on WXYC FM 89.3 Chapel Hill for Sunday Night SportsRap, Sundays 9-10PM, and for SoulGrooves on Wednesdays 6-8AM. Scroll on down to the article, and email me if you want to discuss my opinions.....BD

Live @ 160 Blue

December 1, 2003

With the season in full check now, I'm forced to step into one of my favorite haunts in Chicago to see what smoke is billowing around town and the rest of the country.

It's bone chilling cold tonight, so I don't think I'll have an encounter with the minority owner named Mike, who was a major donor to UNC's Davis Library, and who has been rolling around town 'rough-rider' style with a Carolina Blue motorcycle that has a Jumpman logo emblazoned on the tank. However, I do have access to "the" television in the private room, so let's run through a few thoughts...

*** With the Cleveland State game in the rear-view mirror, I can't tell you enough about how much I'm looking forward to Tuesday's match-up against Illinois. I mentioned this before, and I'm going to throw it back up on the wall again. Tuesday will be a real test for the light heavyweight out of Latta, SC... I really want to see how quick Illinois's Dee Brown and Carolina's Raymond Felton get up and down over forty minutes of play.

Brown is probably not going to spot and shoot over Felton, but he is probably the first guy who can match Felton's speed. The footwork in the open court and in the lane is going to be mesmerizing.

Carolina fans in Chicago were hoping that the Illini wouldn't reinstate Luther Head. Well, Head's back, and he played well in the Temple game on Saturday night. Watch out for the Illini's Roger Powell. Powell may be Chicago's finest leaper since Farragut H.S. legend, Ronnie Fields. Tuesday night's match-up is a good one. Buckle up...

***The buzz around town is over the changes that were executed this past week by Bulls GM John Paxson. He made a great trade with Toronto after he hired Scott Skiles as new head coach on Friday. Looking at that trade from a Carolina fan's stand-point, with the loss of height, can someone please get Vince out of Toronto?

With Rose taking some of the heat off of Vince, maybe Vince won't get beat up as much. This year is probably shot, maybe next year? At least Vince will look good, the new Nike VC III's were released on Friday. They're pretty tight...Check them out.

***Speaking of kicks, I caught some old-school highlights of the 1972 Final Four on Friday Night ESPN Classic. Those solid Carolina Blue Converse Chuck Taylors were on another level ...Karl, McAdoo, Jones...Talk about team cohesion...Damn...

***Rasheed?.why??why??why? Rasheed must really want out of Portland badly, and the only thing that may be left of his Carolina Basketball education is that he still holds the ball over his head.

He had 3 Points and a rebound against the Wizards last week, and then he missed a "shootaround" before a game with the Nets, which cost him a fine and a start. He responded the absence with only 11 points. The word is that there's trade talk with Dallas for Antawn Jamison and Michael Finley?..Not a bad trade for both sides??

Ric Bucher from ESPN had a great article on Rasheed last week...My belief is that Rasheed is doing anything to get back to the East Coast. It's just a shame that this is the way he's going about it. My call is that no one is able to make a move on him, and he lands as a free agent in Detroit or Philly. That wouldn't be too bad, but to do this in a final contract year?

When you look at Rasheed's development, there's two words that may help his describe his development..No Dad...He's a classic case of what happens when inner-city guys grow up with no male presence in a household. The fact that Rasheed never received a technical foul at Simon Gratz High School in Philadelphia shows the incredible job Coach Ben Ellerbee performed by controlling Rasheed in his youth.

I also believe that one of the greatest coaching feats that Coach Smith ever performed was his relationship he formed with Rasheed at Carolina. It's just a shame that Rasheed can't take those Gratz and Carolina lessons to bring it all together.

With love from W. Randolph St.,

BD

Bret Dougherty is a UNC-Chapel Hill alum and current graduate student at UNC-Chapel Hill. Bret is a co-host of WXYC SportsRap (9 PM Sundays on FM 89.3 & www.wxyc.org). He also has a SoulGroove music show on Wednesday mornings from 6-8 AM on WXYC. His area of study is "The Revitalization of Public Spaces".

Resume