My main reasons for leaving MVN involve time and family. Like most of you I have a full-time job but I also have two children under age 3. Additionally, I live in Indiana and it’s been quite difficult to keep up with UNC athletics (especially baseball) while living so far away from the region. I anticipate the same problem during football season.

The Internet can only take one so far.

I have also started writing content for Bleacher Report and have made a home in the humor section there.

Thanks for reading and I plan to get involved in the dialogue come UNC basketball season.

And I’d like to thank MVN for this great opportunity.

The 6′9″ power forward has requested the transfer in order move closer to the West Coast.

We’ll miss you, Alex. Truly, you’ll be a ‘Heel forever. Best wishes to Alex and his family from Blue Heaven.

That is, if they actually get to watch it.

All three games will be televised.

Regionally.

That’s right. Regionally. As in not nationally.

Welcome to college baseball. The Rodney Dangerfield of Division I athletics.

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Carolina should sweep North Florida, but may not be able to coast to a 5-0 record this week, as Virginia enters the week with a very respectable 33-15 record, though the Cavaliers are only 13-11 in ACC play.

The big news in Blue Heaven was Tyler Hansbrough’s decision to return for his senior season. I think we live in a sad, pathetic age when college basketball’s player of the year wouldn’t project as a top 20 NBA draft pick.

There’s going to be a lot of guys picked previous to that who will be bagging groceries within two years. As a Tar Heel fan, I’m glad he’s coming back. Part of Tyler’s problem was this incredible group of freshmen. That class was deep and talented. Very talented.

That said, the NBA needs to realize that what a player has done on the court should count for something. Sure, Tyler won’t be a 20 and 10 player in the League. But seriously, how many of those guys are there, anyway?

This season there were only three. Dwight Howard, Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki. No one projects him as that. But he’s not exactly the 12th man on the bench, either. Certainly, he could be a 12 and 7 guy. You need 12 and 7 guys. That’s how you win titles. Of course, by now we all know that Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green declared but did not hire agents. Danny will be back for his senior year. Book it. Ty and Wayne are gone, in my estimation. More on that later this week.

Tyler Hansbrough has announced that he has decided not to enter the NBA Draft.

Sophomores Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington have declared but not hired agents. I’m of the opinion that with so many talented freshmen in the mix this year, both guards are unlikely to make the lottery and one player, if not both, will still likely be wearing Carolina Blue next season.

After the Kansas loss, I mentioned that I thought Tyler was probably the least likely of the three to leave. I say this not to gloat, just to note that I my instincts about the situation were actually correct; had Carolina won it all, all three were probably NBA-bound.

Of course, I also had Carolina beating Kansas 84-81 in the National Semifinal. Oops.

Yesterday, I noted that I’d read on DraftExpress that Tyler Hansbrough and Danny Green, of all ‘Heels, were leaning toward early entry. The website mentioned that Lawson would stay in school. Ellington was not even mentioned. I am now wondering if the website meant Ellington as opposed to Green.

Stay locked into Blue Heaven for more info and bloggetary over the weekend. Today Carolina begins a three-game series with Florida State in baseball and North Carolina defensive tackle Kentwan Balmer is a likely first-day selection in the NFL Draft tomorrow.

DraftExpress reported on April 22nd that North Carolina juniors Tyler Hansbrough and Danny Green may test NBA draft waters without hiring an agent.

The website also stated that Ty Lawson will stay a Tar Heel for at least one more year. However, the website was unclear about sophomore Wayne Ellington’s status.

For Hansbrough, who won virtually every major college basketball player-of-the-year award this season, it makes sense to at least declare. He’s projected as a late first rounder and he possibly could improve his draft position with predraft workouts. If things didn’t work out, we would, I suppose, welcome him back to Chapel Hill. Just maybe…

Still, a national title would be nice. Money is, too. And athletes have only a limited amount of time in which to earn it.

The report that Danny Green’s declaring but not hiring an agent is somewhat puzzling. I absolutely love Danny Green. There were periods where Danny was the team’s best player. However, he would also disappear for a game or two at a time.

That said, he’s extremely athletic at 6′6″ and actually finished second on the team in blocks (47) and rebounds (4.9 rpg).

If we can safely assume that Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington return for their junior years, Carolina is in excellent shape, as the most glaring weakness on the roster would have been the perimeter, should they have left.

Incoming freshmen Ed Davis and Tyler Zeller will greatly assist juniors-to-be Deon Thompson and Alex Stepheson in holding down the frontline. Carolina should be deeper in the frontcourt, with or without Hansbrough.

Nonetheless, you don’t easily replace 23 points and 10 boards every night. Hansbrough also led the team in steals with 59.

And you can’t match that motor.

On Tuesday, Carolina beat up on UNC-Greensboro in Greensboro, 14-3. On Wednesday, the ‘Heels kicked off a four-game homestand by outlasting UNC-Charlotte 5-4 in 12 innings and then swept conference foe Boston College over the weekend by scores of 12-3, 6-0 and 8-2.

Carolina will learn where it stands in the conference and from a national perspective this week. After non-conference games versus High Point and Charlotte, the Diamond ‘Heels face No. 3 Florida State April 25th through 27th. The Seminoles just dropped two of three to Miami over the weekend and will be looking to get back on track in the conference.

Carolina is one game back of ACC Coastal Division leader Miami, which is 16-2 in the conference and ranked No. 1 in the nation.

The matchups for the ACC/Big Ten challenge were announced on Tax Day this past week. North Carolina will travel to Motown on December 3, 2008, to play the Michigan State Spartans. Ah, there’s nothing quite like Detroit in December. The snow. The decorative lights. The hail of bullets…

The 2008 Challenge will mark the 1oth anniversary of the series.

Anniversaries can be good for a couple of wonderful but very different reasons. There’s the celebration that comes as a result of a decade’s worth of memories. You may mark the occasion with cake and flowers, perhaps a renewal of vows. However, anniversaries are also a good time for self-reflection and hard decisions.

It’s time for the ACC and Big Ten to take a trip to divorce court.

I hate the ACC/Big Ten challenge. Always have. I probably wouldn’t hate it so much if I hadn’t been born and raised in Big Ten country. I love the Big Ten. I also love the ACC.

But let’s face it folks: these conferences ain’t what they used to be.

The Carolina-Michigan State matchup has all the makings of a great game. Believe it or not, I actually like the Wisconsin-Virginia Tech pairing. Indiana and Wake could be good. Purdue and Duke? Could be interesting (by the way, I was shocked that those dirty Dukies have to travel to West Lafayette). But here’s a list of some of the other “classic” matchups we’ll be subjected to:

• Ohio State at Miami… in basketball?
• Iowa at Boston College
• Penn State at Georgia Tech
• Michigan at Maryland
• Florida State at (gulp) Northwestern

North Carolina State is probably the most fortunate party in all of this because they managed to avoid the whole affair completely.

Frankly, until these two once-powerful conferences start looking more like national superpowers, as opposed to resembling the Mid-American Conference on HGH, we should table this nonsense for at least five years.

In the meantime, Roy, for your date with the Spartans, I’d forego the jacket and tie and don a vest.

Made of Kevlar.

Please tell me which one of you sits on the couch in his mother’s basement to do your work. Seriously. Raise your hand. Or type me a shout-out.

Dude, you are so ruining it for the rest of us.

About a month ago, Bob Costas, whom I used to love, called me and every other blogger out there a “get-a-life loser.” Which kinda sorta hurt, especially considering we’d never actually met.

I generally only take these types of insults from my grandmother. Whom I don’t live with.

Then a couple of days ago, I learn that another one of my former faves, Rick Reilly, is beating up on me, too. I think he referred to me as one of the “guys holding down the couch springs in their mother’s basement.”

Okay Bobbo and Ricky, let’s get it on! (more…)