2008 Woodie Awards
Video related to this article is available below.Issue date: 11/14/08 Section: Sports
M. Hoops | One Heel of a challenge
Quakers open season in Chapel Hill against first ever unanimous preseason No. 1
Andrew Scurria
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Year before: North Carolina 102, Penn 64.
Things that have changed between then and now: not much.
As Penn heads to Chapel Hill, N.C., for a date tomorrow with the first-ever unanimous preseason No. 1, for the final game of this three-year set with the Tar Heels, is there anything left to say except yikes?
True, the Quakers have traveled this road twice before and have briefly put on a good show each time, but their problems are compounded this time. It is, after all, their first game of the season.
That means coach Glen Miller has to deal with the inevitable kinks of early-season basketball against what may be the best team he or his players have ever faced, in one of the most intimidating settings around.
And if this group of Heels is not the best team the current Quakers have seen, it's only because they'll be missing senior forward Tyler Hansbrough. In a statement from the school this week, coach Roy Williams said last year's national player of the year (and his nearly automatic double-double) was "extremely doubtful" for Saturday's game. He has a stress reaction - what could become a stress fracture - in his shin, and he has only taken free throws in practice.
Absent Hansbrough's presence - he dropped a combined 48 points in just 53 minutes in his two games against Penn - North Carolina will probably start 7-foot freshman Tyler Zeller. Another starter, defensive menace Marcus Ginyard, is also out (stress fracture), and the Tar Heels everyday sixth man, Danny Green, will likely fill in, as he did during a recent exhibition game.
Williams, though, is blessed with such depth that a two-man hole is not hard to fill. During each of the last two matchups, he has replaced all five of his players on the floor, with the game still close.
The Quakers began preparing for North Carolina heavily on Wednesday. Miller identified three broad keys to the game: limiting the Tar Heels' offensive rebounding, preventing them from running wild in transition and limiting their own turnovers.
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