Off the cuff: Saturday's game vs. Virginia was another of those games where I yearn for CD Chesley or even Rick Ray. By that I mean that ESPN treats the game like any other in the country. Specifically, they didn't show the halftime ceremonies honoring Brice Johnson and Marcus Paige (after all, they had to discuss something like Connecticut women's basketball instead). The old ACC Networks covered the game from beginning to end, and then interviewed coaches and/or players after the game. ESPN rushes away to Sportscenter. On top of all that, ESPN missed the first four minutes of game action because the Kentucky-Georgia game ran long. They ran across the bottom of the screen that the start of the game could be seen on the ESPN App or WatchESPN. Neither was true. It wasn't there. Instead, the start of the UNC-UVA game was on ESPN News, which they didn't alert the viewer to until the game had already started. If the ACC wants the big bucks from ESPN, I guess those things are going to happen but why not also have the ACC Network available for ACC-area viewers? It seems to happen with the UNC-Duke game but why not others? As for the game, Virginia got some open shots but Carolina played well enough to win regardless. Unfortunately, Joel Berry continues to struggle as he had only five points and three assists. As the guard, if you're not going to score a lot, you need to at least lead the team in assists. Justin Jackson led the team with 20 points and led the team with six assists. |
|