Bob Holliday
Veteran reporter Bob Holliday joined WRAL-TV in 1981. He anchors the weekend news and covers a variety of topics for WRAL.
By Bob Holliday
Apr 24, 2009
Tuesday after losing game four, Martin Brodeur got mad. Thursday night he got even. As he promised he would, Brodeur quickly put aside the New Jersey Devils’ bitter last second loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh. That night Brodeur was victimized by the latest game winning goal in NHL playoff history. But in game five, Brodeur made his own history, tying the league’s record for career playoff shutouts.
The Hurricanes made Brodeur earn every inch of his lofty standing in the hierarchy of NHL goaltenders. They fired 44 shots-one of which Brodeur literally stopped an inch (or less) before it crossed the line. The Canes shot pucks at Brodeur from point blank range. They mixed in some silent lethal wristers along with loud hard slap shots. They shot the puck while driving the net. They attacked from the corners. And a few times, the Canes were even able to put traffic in front of the Devils’ goalie. But Brodeur saw through the screens and corralled all the rebounds. Two or three times in game four the Hurricanes capitalized when Brodeur allowed pucks to remain in play. But in game five Brodeur was so dominant he stopped every first shot and prevented second shots by keeping the puck close to his body. His performance was the stuff of legends.
And Brodeur had to be great, because Cam Ward was nearly his equal. Ward saw 42 shots and stopped 41. He denied Jay Pandolfo on a breakaway. He repeatedly gloved shots from Brendan Shanahan
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By Bob Holliday
Apr 17, 2009
One of the first phone calls to John Calipari on his Kentucky radio show last night concerned the dwindling gap the Wildcats enjoy over North Carolina. “Coach,” the caller said. “North Carolina’s within four wins of us-what are we going to do about that?” Calipari offered high praise for UNC. “I was very impressed with North Carolina at the Final Four,” Calipari told the caller. “They have at least eight future pros on their team. That’s the kind of talent we have to get here at the University of Kentucky.”
A couple of points here-Kentucky fans seem obsessed with the all-time victory count. North Carolina actually took the lead in the early 90’s when Kentucky was on probation. Several 30 win seasons under Rick Pitino put Kentucky #1 again. A friend of mine from Kentucky called me. “The stars are back in alignment with the planets,” he said. “UK is number one again.”
The Cats built a comfortable margin over UNC during the Matt Doherty years. But Roy Williams has closed the gap rapidly. First it was 38. Then it was 23. Now Carolina has now cut the margin to four. Kentucky has 1985 wins. North Carolina 1981.
Personally, I think there are other factors that should be looked at, in addition to the all-time victory total. Graduation rate is pretty important, I think. But if wins are the measure of which program is better, let’s look at a couple of other
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By Bob Holliday
Mar 26, 2009
Roy Williams says Gonzaga’s numbers scare him to death - that the Zags are shooting 49 percent while allowing teams to shoot just 37 percent against them. That kind of differential is just about unheard of in Williams opinion. I didn’t just take Ole Roy’s word for it - I looked it up. Sure enough, Gonzaga is a statistical marvel.
Gonzaga has limited its opponents to just 10 offensive rebounds per game, one of the better figures among all teams in the Sweet 16. North Carolina by contrast allows more than 11 offensive boards per game. The Zags don’t foul a lot. Teams shoot fewer than 12 free throws a game against them. And Gonzaga does a respectable job of forcing turnovers-14.5 per game. That’s not as many as UNC and Duke create, but still good. On offense, Gonzaga shoots better than 39% from three with just eleven turnovers per game.
There are just a couple of areas where North Carolina outperforms Gonzaga. The Tar Heels average a whopping 13 offensive rebounds per game. And Carolina shoots and makes more free throws. The Tar Heels make 19 per game and shoot 76 percent - best by far of any teams in the Sweet 16. Only Villanova even comes close.
But will those areas be enough to offset Carolina’s deficiencies? The Heels allow teams to shoot 41 percent against them. More importantly, they allow opponents to shoot 35 percent from three-point range - that’s the worst showing among teams still alive in NCAA
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By Bob Holliday
Mar 26, 2009
While watching No. 1 seed Duke get whipped in front of the frenzied crowd of No. 9 seed Michigan State, I was struck by the hypocrisy of the NCAA with regard to its tournament policies. Stay with me here - this gets a little complicated.
In 1982, the former czar of the NCAA Men’s Tournament, Dave Cawood, decided to kick local TV stations out of his event. The NCAA Women’s Tournament Committee rightfully reasoned that their event would get more and better coverage if local television stations were allowed to shoot the games in their event - as these stations are allowed to do at most other major sporting events. In 1990, the NCAA pressured the Women’s Committee to adopt Cawood’s ridiculous rules. Their reasoning: The NCAA policies for the men’s and women’s tournaments must be consistent.
So in 1990, when we sent a crew to cover perhaps Kay Yow’s most talented N.C. State team in the Eastern Regional, the NCAA barred us from doing our job inside the arena, which happened to be the Palestra. To obtain video, our crew had to patch in a record deck to ESPN’s truck, on a cold night in a bad neighborhood in Philadelphia. Our station should have been rewarded for spending the money to cover and promote women’s basketball. Instead, not only were our cameras barred from the arena, but our crew and our equipment were put in harm’s way. All in the name of the NCAA maintaining policies that were consistent
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By Bob Holliday
Mar 19, 2009
Larry Drew moves the ball up court during UNC vs. Radford round one game of the NCAA tournament in Greensboro, Thursday, March 19, 2009.
Photo by Todd Melet
Fans watching the UNC-Radford game didn’t have to wait long for Tyler Hansbrough’s record breaking shot. Appropriately, it was a free throw. Without any prompting from outside sources, the knowledgeable crowd rose to its feet to salute Hansbrough. This wasn’t a great game for Hansbrough by his standards. He hit just 5 of 16 shots and secured only five rebounds. But thanks to a perfect 12-12 at the free throw line, Hansbrough still scored 22 points. More importantly, he received great support from his teammates. The biggest story of all-the North Carolina team got its personality back-the Tar Heels ran. Here are some high spots:
Wayne Ellington continues to play the best basketball of his life. Ellington poured in 25 points on 11 of 16 shooting. Ellington also grabbed eight rebounds, including three big ones at the offensive end.
Danny Green shot the basketball better against the Highlanders. Green hit 6 of 14 from the floor, including 1 of 3 beyond the arc. Green pulled down ten boards and added three assists. North Carolina really pushed the pace today, which probably suits Green’s style of play more than the slower, halfcourt-oriented games the Tar Heels played in Atlanta. Also Green, who was just 3 of 25 in Atlanta (two tip-ins), probably found the shooting background in Greensboro more to his liking.
It was apparent that North Carolina wanted to force the tempo from the opening tap. Ellington beat the Highlanders
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By Bob Holliday
Mar 14, 2009
Some shooters never adjust to the background in large domed arenas. Remember Shammond Williams in Indianapolis and San Antonio?
UNC’s Danny Green suffered a horrendous weekend in Atlanta, including a 1-12 icy spell in Saturday’s semifinal loss to Florida State. Already missing the explosive Ty Lawson, who hit the game winning shot the first time Carolina met FSU, Green’s inability to score made the Tar Heels all too predictable in the late stages against the Seminoles.
Tyler Hansbrough and Wayne Ellington were the only players to hit field goals in the final ten minutes and thirty-five seconds. So at crunch time, with UNC down one, the Tar Heels went to Hansbrough and Florida State’s defense was ready. Turnover. And on the game’s final possession with UNC down three, the Tar Heels went to Ellington. Again Florida State was ready. The heavily contested shot hit the back rim. Had Green, or obviously, Lawson, been in position to draw defenders at game’s end, the outcome might have been different.
As I said in my report Friday on WRAL-TV, Florida State is a very difficult matchup. You just don’t see teams with the kind of size the Seminoles bring in this day and age. Solomon Alabi, Uche Echefu and Chris Singleton represent the biggest front line to grace the ACC since the days before the NBA started drafting underclassmen. Carolina’s big men tried to take the ball to the basket. Hansbrough, Deon Thompson, and
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By Bob Holliday
Mar 14, 2009
Some shooters never adjust to the background in large domed arenas. Remember Shammond Williams in Indianapolis and San Antonio? UNC’s Danny Green suffered a horrendous weekend in Atlanta, including a 1-12 icy spell in Saturday’s semifinal loss to Florida State.
Already missing the explosive Ty Lawson, who hit the game-winning shot the first time Carolina met FSU, Green’s inability to score made the Tar Heels all too predictable in the late stages against the Seminoles. Tyler Hansbrough and Wayne Ellington were the only players to hit field goals in the final ten minutes and thirty-five seconds. So at crunch time, with UNC down one, the Tar Heels went to Hansbrough and Florida State’s defense was ready. Turnover. And on the game’s final possession with UNC down three, the Tar Heels went to Ellington. Again Florida State was ready. The heavily contested shot hit the back rim. Had Green, or obviously, Lawson, been in position to draw defenders at game’s end, the outcome might have been different.
As I said in my report Friday on WRAL-TV, Florida State is a very difficult matchup. You just don’t see teams with the kind of size the Seminoles bring in this day and age. Solomon Alabi, Uche Echefu and Chris Singleton represent the biggest front line to grace the ACC since the days before the NBA started drafting underclassmen. Carolina’s big men tried to take the ball to the basket. Hansbrough, Deon Thompson, and Ed Davis
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By Bob Holliday
Mar 5, 2009
I count 15 players who deserve to make the all Atlantic Coast Conference first team. There are just five slots. With Sunday night’s deadline fast approaching, ACC media face some of the most difficult decisions in the history of all-ACC voting.
Fans, players, and coaches (and definitely school sports information directors) probably wonder what factors members of the media weigh when filling out their all-conference ballots. In the interest of transparency (which is becoming trendy in case you hadn’t noticed) here are the things that matter most to me-one voter among about 100 in the selection of this year’s all-ACC group.
1 Conference games are all important. The ACC keeps a separate set of numbers called “conference only statistics.” For me, this is the bible of player evaluation in the ACC-at least where stats are concerned. I do not care what a player did against lower echelon opposition in December. What matters are the stats compiled in the big conference rivalries of the ACC.
2 Wins and losses are a major consideration. I can only remember putting on my all-conference team, one player whose team did not finish in the first division. That was Tom Gugliotta of NC State in 1992. To me, the purpose of the all ACC team is not to recognize the most prolific players-it’s to recognize the most successful players. I vote for players that win.
3 Scoring is somewhat overrated. The ACC will no doubt
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By Bob Holliday
Feb 24, 2009
Perhaps it’s his military background. Capt. Mike Krzyzewski has shown once again that it’s never too late to change tactics or redeploy personnel in an attempt to alter the course of a campaign.
Coach K’s decision to start Elliot Williams in the back court, shifting Jon Scheyer to point guard, just may transform Duke from a squad vulnerable to an early round NCAA ambush to a special unit with the firepower to launch an all-out assault on places like Atlanta (the ACC Tournament) and Detroit (the Final Four).
There are several layers to Duke’s new strategy, but it all begins with Elliot Williams. There is just one “t” in Elliot, but everything else about this guy comes in bunches. He plays taller and faster than his 6-foot-4, 180-pound listing. His long arms move quickly into passing lanes, making Duke a team that can force turnovers in multiples. He also gives the Blue Devils another offensive player who can elude defenses and slash his way to the basket, a quality you can’t have too much of when you’re a team without a major post presence. In two games as a starter, Williams has hit 10 of 14 shots. His four steals against Wake Forest, not to mention his dunks, helped set the tone when Duke took a 41-19 lead.
The second and equally important part of the Blue Devils’ new thrust puts Scheyer at point guard. For most of this season, Scheyer has played shooting guard, opposite Nolan Smith and Greg
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By Bob Holliday
Feb 17, 2009
All year long fans and some members of the media have been giving NC State Coach Sidney Lowe the business about the way he rotates his point guards. Their message for the coach: “pick a point guard and stick with him.”
Sidney Lowe has made the judgment that none of his point guards brings the consistency he’s looking for in all phases of the game. But each has skill in certain areas and can be a difference maker, depending on the opponent and style of the game.
Javi Gonzalez brings quick hands and quick feet. Farnold Degand is a more physical presence, a guy who can bull his way to the basket and also add defensive toughness in the half court. Julius Mays is still learning the offense, but he has demonstrated an ability to shoot the ball. Each has demonstrated an ability to get the ball to State's shooters, and each of these three point guards has made at least one critical play in the late stages of NC State’s four ACC victories.
Fans and many in the media like conventional solutions. Sidney Lowe in fact would prefer to play primarily one point guard. But he believes this season rotating Gonzalez, Degand, and sometimes Mays gives the Wolfpack a better chance to win. Sidney Lowe carries impeccable credentials when it comes to judging point guards. He remains the ACC’s all time leader in assist/turnover ratio. During Lowe’s four years running the show as State’s point guard, he averaged nearly three
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