Posts from the Carolina Category at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Lost in the dismal implosion of the Bobcats last season, which was neither a bang, nor a whimper, but a kind of depressing grunt, was the myriad of injuries they were forced to endure. The biggest of which was Sean May.

Now, May wasn't exactly lighting the world on fire before his succumbing to microfracture surgery last October on a knee that's been bothering him since he was drafted, but he is a valuable asset to the new Bobcats regime. On top of that North Carolina connection that the Cats are so fond of, May provides them with a scoring presence inside, which will help to ease the dismay held by Bobcats' fans after their selection of D.J. Augustin.

So it's good news then, that May is reported to be cleared for basketball activities, will be hanging around the team in Las Vegas for Summer League, and will "definitely be at camp in October." May may not be the key to unlocking the puzzle of the Bobcats' stagnant growth, but he could be a significant improvement for the team under new head coach Larry Brown.

One of the funny stories coming out of the retirement of former NC State basketball coach and A.D. Les Robinson is the fact that he tried to bring then-Kansas coach and former/future Tar Heel Roy Williams to Raleigh.

Ol' Roy tells this tale during Robinson's retirement press conference:

"When I was coaching at Kansas, Les was the athletic director at N.C. State. He called me one day about being the new basketball coach of the Wolfpack. I told him he had to be crazy, that the N.C. State people would run him out of town for bringing a UNC guy in to coach the Wolfpack. He just grinned and said, not as long as you win, big fella, not as long as you win."

That probably would be true, but I could never imagine any Wolfpack fan ever opening their arms to a Tar Heel alum. After all, the words "go to hell, Carolina" appears in their fight song.

Les Robinson retired from the A.D. post at The Citadel this week. Normally, this wouldn't be exciting news. However, Robinson used to be the head basketball coach, then A.D., at NC State during the controversial 1990s.

What Robinson did at NC State was quite noble ... and difficult. He took over for Jim Valvano's scandal ravaged program in 1990. Valvano ... a wildly popular coach who won the 1983 National Championship ... was forced out after players were caught selling shoes and game tickets and had some academic issues. Robinson stepped in and took over a team that had scholarships taken away and seeing emerging Duke and Wake Forest programs nearby.

Despite winning 20 games in his first year, Les' teams became also-rans in the ACC for much of his head coaching career and never again finishing with a winning record. Les accepted the athletic director position (one that Valvano also once held) and stepped down as basketball coach. He would hire Herb Sendek as his replacement.

He left Raleigh and took the A.D. job at the Citadel in 2000.

Chelsea might have a reputation among Premier League clubs for buying stars on the transfer market rather than developing them within the club -- they've already opened the silly season by signing Deco from Barcelona for £8 million -- but that doesn't mean the club's academy is lying dormant. In fact, the big London club is using its youth development program to reach out to America. Chelsea has struck up a partnership with Capital Area Soccer League, a large youth soccer club in Raleigh, North Carolina, and is already sending coaches to work with CASL youth players.

Since this is happening in my neck of the woods, I went to Raleigh to chat with some folks about this partnership.

Prior to the recent announcement that Michael Jordan would be the 2008 Citizen of the Carolinas, his greatest accomplishment in life was his minor league batting title. Well, whew. Now we don't have to worry about MJ's self confidence, as the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce awarded him the title this past weekend.

The basketball legend is this year's Citizen of the Carolinas, joining the ranks of his former Tar Heels coach, the Federal Reserve chairman and other VIPs with Carolinas ties, the Chamber announced Friday.

The award is given annually to a person from North Carolina or South Carolina who has brought positive recognition to the states.

Jordan made the cut because of his success on and off the court and his charitable contributions, Chamber officials said in a press release.

And because the Bobcats have been so freaking good since he got there! Zing! (What? It was way more appropriate than making some "Free Lexus to College Students Program" joke.)

Now, it is interesting and great and all that Jordan won this award. My issue is that the award really only seems to focus on glad-handing a famous celebrity, since it, by very definition, requires previous public recognition to actually be achieved. Plus, all charitable donations aside, it totally fails to acknowledge the recent less than stellar news about Jordan regarding his personal life that have come forward. Oh. And the Bobcats.

The NCAA has insisted that the Final Four be held in a domed stadium. The last one that wasn't held in a dome was 1996, when East Rutherford, NJ played host.

Right now, Atlanta, Detroit, Glendale/Phoenix, Houston, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, New Orleans, San Antonio and St. Louis all have domed stadiums. Not so surprisingly, they are nine if the ten cities fighting for Final Fours from 2012 through 2016.

The tenth city is Dallas ... who will open their domed Cowboys Stadium next year.

There is also Miller Park in Milwaukee, Safeco Field in Seattle and Tropicana Field in St.Petersburg. Minute Maid Park in Houston and Chase Field in Phoenix are technically possibilities... but those areas already have better domed stadiums. Of those parks, only Tropicana Field has ever hosted a Final Four (or an NCAA Tournament game, for that matter) or is likely to do so again.

Long gone are the days where Albuquerque (site of NC State's magical upset over Houston), Salt Lake City (Magic vs. Bird), Kansas City (no one has held more Final Fours ... including UNC-Kansas triple overtime thriller), Greensboro (NC State ending UCLA's championship reign), College Park, MD (Texas Western-Kentucky) or the World's Most Famous Arena ... Madison Square Garden in NYC ... can host college basketball's premiere event.

One of the biggest complaints about the announcement of USA Basketball's 12-man roster is the lack of big men. We are sending just one true center (Dwight Howard) along with two true power forwards (Chris Bosh and Carlos Boozer).

There are quite a bit of guys that excel at slashing to the basket (Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Carmelo Anthony) ... who also need the ball in their hands a lot. We also will send a gutty, defensive point guard in Jason Kidd.

Hmmm. This sounds an awful like how Mike Krzyzewski ... coach of Team USA ... constructs his usual team: the Duke Blue Devils.

Anyone who has followed Duke knows that they team has really had issues with depth and talent in the frontcourt in recent years ... while running a bunch of same-sized players on the perimeter. It works alright for a while, but them crumbles as the season wears on.

It could happen in Beijing as the group that Team USA will be in is rather weak, but they will see the big dogs in single-elimination play.

HBO is planning on doing a documentary on the Duke-North Carolina rivalry. The documentary is scheduled to air next February, maybe just in time for the two schools to meet up in their annual post-Super Bowl bonanza.

"Jim Lampley (a UNC graduate) has been telling me about the rivalry for 20 years or so," says HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg. "I was also aware of the subculture of both universities, and even though UNC was the state school, they think of themselves as the dignified force in the rivalry. They think Duke is a bunch of animals even though Duke is supposed to be the Ivy League of the South. That never meshed right with me and it was interesting. Plus, you had all these legends coming out of these two schools, the [Michael] Jordan's, the [Christian] Laettner's and the [Mike] Krzyzewski's and [Dean] Smith's. Unbelievable iconic names have floated through both places and it makes for a great documentary."

HBO was praised for their look at the Ohio State-Michigan football rivalry last year.

Greenburg also says that he wants to hold a special screening in Raleigh, NC and fill the auditorium with Blue Devils fans on one side and Tar Heels fans on the other. Most of the interviews have been finished for the documentary, with just one guy left on the wish list: former Tar Heel Michael Jordan.

Needless to say, I'm psyched about seeing this.

Wake Forest has suspended junior forward Jamie Skeen for the fall semester due to academic reasons.

"Jamie is an outstanding young man with much to contribute to Wake Forest, both on the basketball court and to the University," said Gaudio. "However, sometimes good people make poor decisions, and that is what happened here. Hopefully this will be a learning experience for the young man that will help him grow as a person."

The 2008-2009 season is shaping up to be a big one for the Deacs. Despite missing the NCAA Tournament the last three years, this team is loaded. They were on a nice upswing last season, finishing 7-9 in ACC and upsetting Duke. They also will welcome in Skip Prosser's final recruiting class, which is rated one of the best in the nation.

That's why Skeen really hurt himself with his off-court issues. Minutes were already going to be at a premium at the forward spot and, with him out for the first part of the season, the team may figure things out without him.

Carolina Panthers wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett, who was arrested and charged with DWI last March, pleaded guilty to that charge on Monday in a Mecklenberg County courtroom. He was fined $420 and will perform 24 hours of community service. He also surrendered his driver's license to the court, so hopefully he'll find someone who can drive him to film sessions.

To his credit, Jarrett said all the right things following this conviction:

"This is a thing that happened and you learn from your mistakes. ... You always have to take the right steps in everything you do. That's life in general. I took full responsibility for what happened."

Jarrett had a forgettable rookie season with the Panthers, which likely prompted the free agent signings of D.J. Hackett and Muhsin Muhammad. Is this guilty plea a sign that Jarrett is finally maturing and will own up to his mistakes on the field, too? It's a good sign, but it's just a starting point for him, really, if he wants to be the kind of receiver in the NFL that he was at USC.