ACC Player Haterz Ball: UNC

Remember how you felt every time you were watching a Maryland road game over the past year and the fans started shouting "A-C-C! A-C-C!" in unison at the Terps? It's time for the Testudo Times crew to respond! Moving along alphabetically, it's time to take a look North Carolina. Step on up to the podium, "Tar Heels." We're still not sure what that means, but whatever.

Player we couldn't help but like:

Pete: Since I'm going first, I'm going to cop out and say Michael Jordan. Yes, the rivalry. Yes, the competition between him and Len Bias. But it's Michael Jordan -- there never was another player like him, and there never will be another.

FlaTerp: Sheed. The guy was so petulant, so unpredictable and so crazy throughout his career that he was actually fun to watch for me. Ball don't lie.

Andrew: (whispers as quietly as possible) I kinda liked Tyler Hansbrough.

Grant: Big fan of Antawn Jamison but that's my inner-Wizard fan kicking in, not my ACC blood boiling. It's also tough not to love Jordan, even though he was a mean teammate, a gambler and drafted Kwame Brown (seriously, MJ?!, you chose Kwame Brown?)

Dave: I'm also going with Jordan for most of the same reasons. He is the best and Jordan vs. Bias was amazing.

Todd: Erlana Larkins. In Maryland's championship year, North Carolina lost two games. The first came at Chapel Hill when Ashleigh Newman launched a desperation three at the buzzer that swished and sent the game to overtime where the Terps eventually won 98-95. The second came in Boston, two nights before they beat Duke. Maryland won that game 81-70. Larking fouls out on one of those extend the game fouls. Then she walks to the Maryland bench and congratulates Brenda and the coaching staff. How can you not like a kid who does that.

Alex: For whatever reason, I really liked Rashad McCants. I think I just gravitate toward good students.

Player we loved to hate:

Pete: Psycho T. Tyler Hansbrough is an incredibly gifted athlete who got the title of being some plucky underdog just because he made faces when he got fouled -- and he seemed to get fouled a lot.

FlaTerp: Vince Carter. The guy was all flash and no substance, but still had the attitude of a superstar. One of the great cases of squandered physical talent in basketball history.

Andrew: John Henson. Dunking on Alex Len as the game was ending for a meaningless two points and then celebrating afterwards was soooooooooo dumb.

Grant: Going against the man, the myth, the legend FlaTerp and saying Rasheed was my least favorite player. The man with the trademark bald spot (not as impressive as Anthony Davis' unibrow) was just an angry guy who got a tech seemingly every game.

Dave: Since Todd hasn't chimed in, I'm going to have to go with Ivory Latta. Sweet mercy did I despise her. She was good but she also had these horrible facial expressions that just drove you crazy.

Todd: You go, Dave! I'm not sure the Terps fans who follow the Mystics like her yet. I'm going to throw in a teammate of Latta's (who I really didn't hate but because I haven't written a pun in a while and the urge is overwhelming) LaToya Pringle. She could get a little chippy. (Cue the canned laughter.)

Game to remember:

Pete: February 7, 2010. One of a few "snow games" against North Carolina, this was by far my favorite. The snow was heavy enough that most non-student fans couldn't end up making it, and I, a student, was a part of an incredibly rowdy atmosphere that saw Maryland cruise to a 92-71 victory.

Andrew: Damnit Pete, that was mine. 10,000 students at the game...students that had been cooped up in their dorms for a week during Snowpocolypse and were ready to get loud. Not to mention Gary had to sleep in his office the two nights prior to the game. It was one of the best crowds I've ever seen.

FlaTerp: This one is a no-brainer. Feb. 20, 1986. Len Bias and the Terps visited the Smith Center to face a No. 1 ranked, 25-1 UNC team that was absolutely loaded with talent including Brad Daugherty, Kenny Smith, Joe Wolf and Jeff Lebo. Bias went off, scoring 35 points including this amazing score-steal-dunk progression that vaporized UNC's lead and led to overtime, where Maryland prevailed, 77-72. It was one of those games that vaulted Bias into the American mainstream as a potentially transformational talent a la Jordan, Bird, Magic, LeBron. Len Bias died almost exactly four months later, but it's in the memories of special nights like that one in Chapel Hill where the greatest Terrapin of them all will live on forever.

Grant: When Maryland ruined UNC's perfect 18-0 record in 2008 after an 82-80 win in Dean Smith Center. That Maryland team was very likeable with James Gist, Boom Osby, Greivis Vasquez and Dave Neal. Any win over UNC is one worth celebrating, but beating a number one team on their home court is worth rioting.

Dave: February 22nd, 2003. Maryland 96, UNC 56. Beating the Tar Heels by 40 is always fun. It was their largest margin of victory ever over UNC and tied UNC's worst ACC loss ever. Maryland was the defending National Champion and that game kind of marked a "we're elite now" and "we're now one of the best" in the ACC.

Todd: FlaTerp beat me to it again. I think I made it clear how I felt about that game back in February. However, there's another very very special game in my heart and it's one I've written about on several occasions. November 21, 2010. Maryland 3 North Carolina 2 in double overtime to win the field hockey National Championship. I wrote about it here and here

Game to forget:

Pete: Almost all of them. Maryland lost a lot of games against the Tar Heels.

Alex: In the two years I've attended Maryland, virtually every Terps-Heels game has been nothing short of infuriating. So I agree with Pete, and I'd be fine letting each one of them slip from the memory.

Andrew: The semifinals of the 2013 ACC tournament. A win-and-in game for the NCAA tournament that featured a pretty noble comeback, only to fall three points short. Yet another one of those many coin-toss games that have stood between the Terps and the tourny in the last few years.

FlaTerp: Staying in the Len Bias era, this one should really be a game to remember instead, but I'll stick it in this section just because it was a Maryland loss. It was January 12, 1984 and a mind-blowing UNC team that featured Jordan, Brad Daugherty, Sam Perkins, Kenny Smith and about 5 other future NBA draft picks came to Cole Field House to take on Bias, Adrian Branch and the Terps. Bias was just finding his footing as a star and he had a breakout performance, going toe to toe with Jordan before the Terps finally succumbed, 74-62. UNC was No. 1 pretty much that entire season, but was upset by Duke in the ACC Tournament semifinals. Maryland then knocked off the Blue Devils in the "Lefty's Revenge" ACC championship game in Greensboro. That home game vs. UNC was a tough loss for a young Maryland team, but it was a great game and a great year. Check out some Bias-Jordan highlights from that game here. Stick it out until the final seconds and watch Jordan's filthy windmill dunk at the buzzer. Unreal.

Dave: January 8th, 2005 - Maryland was ranked 22nd at the time and UNC ended up blowing Maryland out. It ended up being the beginning of the end for Maryland's season, as they missed the NCAA tournament for the first time in 14 years. The death blow probably happened February 27th, when Maryland lost to #2 UNC, 85-83 at Comcast. And it was my senior year.

Todd: I have two and neither really be a surprise to anyone. The first is one that Dave wiped from his memory and that's the 13-12 triple overtime loss in the 2013 national championship game that ended the Terps' bid for a perfect season. The other is November 22, 2009 a 3-2 loss in the field hockey national championship game that was played in Cary, NC and that UNC scored two goals late, including a goal on a phantom foul that set up a penalty corner with under a minute to play. (I do have to give props to Karen Shelton for being one of the few ACC coaches to schedule the Terps after July 1, 2014.)

Parting Shots:

Pete: There is actually another Carolina in the United States -- you don't get to just take the name as your own.

Andrew: Easily the most overrated fanbase in the ACC, if not the country, they only support the team when they're good, and are never, ever, ever as loud as they pretend they are. What a waste of a great stadium in the Dean Dome. Also, stop pretending like there's no way Ole Roy could have possibly been a part of your rampant, horrible academic scandals. Just accept it, the man is as bad at cover ups as he is at winning with anything less than 15 McDonald's All-Americans.

FlaTerp: Sounds kind of like the football team except when they get all those All-Americans, they still don't win. UNC has had 32 NFL draft picks including six first-rounders over the past decade but they didn't win more than eight games in any season and all they've got to show for it is a couple of fringe bowl wins. At least they didn't have to forfeit any games. Oh wait, that happened too. Butch Davis and Marvin Austin say hello.

Grant: Sure you guys had James Worthy, Michael Jordan, Jerry Stackhouse, Vince Carter, where was I going again? The Tar Heels is a stupid mascot and congrats for your very own Rashad McCants revealing your supreme academic achievement is really the result of tutors writing student-athletes' essays.

Dave: What is a Tar Heel? I'm glad you asked. According to the Wikipedia:
The exact etymology of the nickname is unknown, but most experts believe its roots come from the fact that tar, pitch, and turpentine created from the vast pine forests were some of North Carolina's most important exports early in the state's history. For a time after the Civil War, the name Tar Heel was derogatory, but it was later reappropriated by the people of North Carolina.

So who wants to start the UNC should change their nickname movement?

Two more things - no one cares about your wishing well and the tour guide that showed me your campus in 2000 was horrible and made me hate UNC even more than I did before.

Todd: What's the relationship between a ram and a tar heel and why would you name it after a brand of condoms? Oops! That answer is self-evident.