Morning Heel: UNC Tar Heels Daily News Links

Welcome to another edition of the Morning Heel, a daily feature here at Keeping It Heel.  Along with The Hub we want to bring you not only our original content but a collection of all the best UNC news.


In Focus: Rasheed Wallace
After a two-year retirement, Rasheed Wallace is back in the NBA playing for the Knicks. Though he’s embraced his “Brian Scalabrine” role as last man off the bench, New York coach Mike Woodson inserted Wallace into the game on Monday with 5:34 left in the third quarter. Wallace scored 10 points, including a buzzer-beating three-pointer to end the third quarter. (SI)

ACC Player Of The Year Watch, Nov. 6
1. Gio Bernard: Even with the Tar Heels resting last weekend, Gio held onto his ACC rushing lead by 150 yards. And that’s with having missed two games, half of another and getting just two carries in a fourth contest. Here are a few of his season averages: 214 all purpose yards a game, 132.9 rushing yards a game, 20.8 yards per punt return, 7.4 yards per carry and 2.1 touchdowns a game. (ACC Sports Journal)

More questions than answers as basketball season starts Friday
UNC, which begins the season at the Smith Center on Friday night against Gardner-Webb, last faced as many questions as it does now in 2009-10, after losing four starters from a national championship team. Dexter Strickland was a freshman then. Yet that was then, he said. And this is now. “I think we’ve just got to prove everybody wrong,” Strickland said. (Raleigh News & Observer)

Stock Report: Bruce Carter up
Stock Up – Bruce Carter. Do the Cowboys miss Sean Lee? Of course they do, but on a national stage, Carter was fantastic. He had 10 tackles, nine solo, two tackle for loss and a pass breakup. Carter is the new signal caller with Lee out for the season and he paired up well with Ernie Sims at inside linebacker. (ESPN.com)

ACC Football Power Rankings, Nov. 6
3. UNC (6-3, 3-2): Everything’s breaking right for the Tar Heels. The Hokies are down, UNC has the tie-breaker with Miami. Now it gets a critical bye week to prepare for the Georgia Tech option attack. Yep, the Coastal Division title is there for the taking…if only UNC was allowed to seize it. Such a bittersweet time in Chapel Hill. (ACC Sports Journal)

SI Top 25 Team Previews: #12 North Carolina
The ACC isn’t as strong as it used to be. So this North Carolina team, even with the talent it lost, can contend for the league title. A deep run in the NCAA tournament seems less likely. But if UNC gets strong play at point guard, improve their outside shooting and avoid the serious injuries that have short-circuited recent seasons, they’ll find themselves in the mix just as the 2005-06 Tar Heels did. (Sports Illustrated)

UNC Football: All Four Quarters Count!
It’s been a common recurring theme so far this football season that the Tar Heels just are not there 100% mentally all game long. Most recently, note that during the NC State game. (KIH)

North Carolina Basketball: 5 Reasons the Heels Will Be Better Than Duke
The North Carolina/Duke rivalry is the best in college basketball and may be the best in all of sports. This year, both teams have a bit of a new look after losing a number of top players in the past couple years. (Bleacher Report)