Jeff Gravley
WRAL anchor Jeff Gravley is from Oxford and has covered sports in the Triangle since 1985.
By Jeff Gravley
Jun 9, 2009
This is not a blog about which teams made draft mistakes or about players who never reached their potential.
This is a blog about the rotten timing of the amateur baseball draft and some of the rules that are clouded at best.
There are 8 teams still playing college baseball and their rosters are littered with potential draft picks. North Carolina has two top 15 picks in Dustin Ackley, selected 2nd by Seattle and Alex White, picked 15th by Cleveland.
Is it fair to the players or the teams that days before heading to the College World Series, the major league amateur draft takes place? Heck no it isn't.
Where will they get drafted? Is it high enough to think about leaving early? Where would the player start out in the minors? Do I have any negotiating power with the team? And oh yeah, I'm trying to get ready to play on the biggest stage in college baseball, the college world series in Omaha.
There is another murky rule in place.
The NCAA allows baseball
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By Jeff Gravley
Jun 3, 2009
The Ohio State baseball team gave up 71 runs in the four games they played in the NCAA baseball regionals.
71 runs!
17.75 runs per game!
Georgia beat Ohio State 24-8 in the opening round and Florida State sent the Bucks packing with a 37-6 whuppin' on Sunday. What would the church lady think?
Have mercy please!
The college baseball playoffs need a mercy rule which is the politically correct way to define the slaughter rule ... same meaning but one is softer than the other.
The ACC had the mercy rule in place for the ACC baseball tournament. If a team is up by 10 runs after the seventh inning the game is called. Virginia beat North Carolina 11-1 in a game shortened by the mercy rule.
When there are multiple teams playing at one site, games can take forever. Sprinkle in the usual weather delay and you have yourself a marathon day.
I'm all for giving a team a fair chance for a comeback but I also know that there comes a time when
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By Jeff Gravley
Apr 23, 2009
Ty Lawson made the right decision to leave early. His stock may be a little higher than last year which should get him drafted within his goal of top 15.
Wayne Ellington may have made the right decision. No player played better in March and early April than Ellington. His shot was money but he showed improvement in areas that NBA folks felt he needed to improve in - defense and rebounding.
But the buzz for Ellington isn't the same as it is for Lawson. And neither has created the stir that Davidson's Stephen Curry has.
I actually heard one media person say he would think about taking Curry No. 1 overall instead of Oklahoma's Blake Griffin. Now that's the definition of a man crush.
Curry over Griffin? Really? I couldn't pull the trigger on that one.
As for Tyler Hansbrough, his stock was higher after his freshman/sophomore season than it is now. Which leads me to what you already know - the NBA will take potential over proven in the lottery
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By Jeff Gravley
Apr 8, 2009
My Final Four journey began with me showing up at the airport all packed and ready to go. The only problem was I misread my ticket and was a day early. Instead of a Tuesday flight, I wasn’t supposed to hit the skies until Wednesday.
I’m an idiot…I know it.
When I got to Detroit on Wednesday, I was greeted with a slap of cold air across my face. Yes it was April….but April in the midwest hasn’t yielded the blooms and warm air like the south.
Spacious Ford Field was our next challenge. It’s a football facility disguised as a basketball arena ready for 72-thousand fans to fill it. Oh did they come. One of the new NCAA ideas was to have students fill part of the lower portions of the arena-- at 10 bucks a pop! It surely adds flavor to the sometimes stale, corporate event.
Saturday night, I had as much fun watching a few liquid enhanced UCONN students talk smack to Michigan State fans. That was early--until the
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By Jeff Gravley
Mar 27, 2009
I’ll go ahead and put this on the table. I am a BIG fan of Oklahoma basketball coach Jeff Capel III.
In the fall of 1992, Bob Holliday and I went to South View High School near Fayetteville to do a story on Capel.
He was a star on the Tigers team.
He was well-spoken beyond his high school age.
He was an engaging person who was easy to like.
Jeff Capel continued to be that way in his playing days at Duke through the good and the bad. Capel was the one who launched the 3-point shot against Carolina to send the game into overtime. It has gotten to the point now that people believe it was the game winning shot and Capel doesn’t correct them all of the time.
He played in the 1994 Final Four in Charlotte his freshman year, just like a long lineage of players in the Duke program had done.
A year later, Capel was also on the team that went 2-14 in the ACC while Mike Krzyzewski stepped away for back surgery.
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By Jeff Gravley
Mar 16, 2009
For the past two years, Duke has entered the NCAA Tournament without an ACC Tournament title and facing questions of fatigue.
Their bench play did solve the first part of the dilemma and could benefit the Devils in the dance.
Nolan Smith's return provided on-ball defensive pressure and an offensive threat. Just look at his sick dunk in the first half against Florida State.
The experience of Greg Paulus is a nice option to have in tournament time.
Fellow senior David McClure played three strong games in the ACC Tournamentt, bot on the stat sheet but with intangible plays. A key blocked shot against Maryland ... a couple of tie-ups against FSU. He used his senior savvy to just make plays.
Brian Zoubek is a walking punch line who only played one minute against Maryland. The Duke coaches told him before the meeting with FSU to be ready: "We're going to need you."
Zoubek stayed in front of the Noles' Solomon Alabi and forced him into mistakes.
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By Jeff Gravley
Mar 6, 2009
Could we ask for more drama in the final weekend of the ACC regular season? So much is at stake--the regular season title, final standings, all-conference votes and post season awards for player, rookie and coach of the year.
On Saturday, NC State visits Miami which you can see on WRAL-TV at noon. The loser falls to the 10th seed in the ACC tournament. A Wolfpack win and losses by Maryland (at Virginia) and Virginia Tech (at FSU) leaves that trio with 7-9 league marks. Unfortunately for the Pack, they lost to the Terps and Hokies the only time they played.
Sunday the top 5 slots in the standings are up for grabs. Let's start at the top with Duke at North Carolina. WRAL-TV will carry that game at 4pm with extended post game coverage until 7pm.
It will be an emotional senior day as the Tar Heels wave goodbye to Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green, Bobby Frasor, Mike Copeland, J.B. Tanner, Jack Wooten and Patrick Moody. You never know how seniors will react in their final
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By Jeff Gravley
Feb 27, 2009
Tyler Hansbrough and Ben McCauley go head to head in the second half.
There has never been a 4-time selection on the All-ACC first team in basketball. Tyler Hansbrough could be the first.
But there is concern in Chapel Hill that Hansbrough won't get enough votes to be a first teamer.
This is an incredibly challenging year to whittle down to a 5-man first team. I don't have my final 5 yet because there are too many important basketball games to be played.
One thing I do know. Tyler Hansbrough is on my first team.
Yes, his ACC numbers are down from a year ago. (2007-2008: 23.6 points, 11.5 rebounds. 2008-2009: 19.3 points, 8.2 rebounds.) But he's not the first scoring option for the Tar Heels.
Ty Lawson is averaging 4 more points per game than a year ago. Danny Green is up 3 points while Wayne Ellington has added a couple of digits to his scoring average.
There are 3 major reasons Hansbrough is on my first team.
1) He hasn't fallen off the face of the earth this year.
2) There has NEVER been an All-ACC
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By Jeff Gravley
Feb 12, 2009
From 1970 through 1980, the Big Four basketball tournament was held featuring Duke, North Carolina, N.C. State and Wake Forest. The teams would play on back-to-back nights in the Greensboro Coliseum in December or January before the ACC season tipped off.
Wake Forest won the title four times, N.C. State three with Duke and Carolina collecting a couple of titles. Fans loved being able to see all four teams under one roof on the same night.
The final game of the Big Four tournament was December 6, 1980.
Unless they are going to resurrect the tournament, Wednesday should be the last time that Duke, North Carolina, N.C. State and Wake Forest play each other on the same night. The 2009 edition of the “Big Four tournament” was played in Raleigh and Durham at 7 and 9 p.m.
Why in the world was that allowed to happen??
The Hurricanes occupy the RBC Center on Thursday night so State couldn’t play then. What about Tuesday the 10th?
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By Jeff Gravley
Dec 28, 2008
Driving back from Charlotte Saturday night, I had a chance to think about what I had just seen in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
Brilliance was the first word that came to mind.
North Carolina receiver Hakeem Nicks put on a clinic on how to play wide receiver. Just send that highlight reel to any NFL team with interest. His stock will immediately go up.
He hauled in 217 yards with 3 touchdowns and added his name to the top of more UNC records.
But man doesn't succeed by talent alone. There are a couple more reasons why Nicks will be attractive to NFL teams.
A few weeks ago, I had the chance to spend some time with Nicks -- just the two of us and our photographer shooting the interview were a part of our huddle. Throughout the conversation I learned more about Hakeem Nicks.
He is humble.
He is hungry.
When I asked Nicks about the extra ingredient that makes him so good he replied, "I'm a humble guy."
Butch Davis echoed that after
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