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Congrats to LaToya and Erlana! Also my still-favorite player Ivory Latta moved from the Detroit Shock to the Atlanta Dream this year which is great for everybody (especially her, with family in South Carolina).

North Carolina seniors LaToya Pringle and Erlana Larkins became the 13th and 14th players in school history to be selected in the WNBA Draft Wednesday afternoon. Pringle was chosen 13th overall by the Phoenix Mercury and Larkins was the picked 14th by the New York Liberty.

- University of North Carolina Tar Heels Official Athletic Site

Can you smell it? Carolina Basketball season is almost here!

I have done my annual slogging through the schedule to create a calendar that I can put into iCal and my phone, and I did it in Google so that you can use it too. There are a few other UNC basketball calendars out there, but none of them have the women’s team. Mine is the only one with both the men and women’s calendars. I add each season to the same calendar, so you only have to subscribe once and will get the dates automatically year after year.

Here are some ways you can subscribe (or you can browse the schedule below): XML, ICAL, HTML, or Google.

Keep reading Perpetual basketball calendar »

I am seriously considering the Friday morning event, but I can’t do Sunday night. Given how hard it is for me to just stay awake for these evening games, I’m safer watching them at home.

Women’s Basketball Send-Off from Carmichael! - Friday, March 30th

* Send the UNC Women’s Basketball team off to the Final Four in Cleveland!
* Fans should gather @ 7:30 AM Carmichael Auditorium, Team will be leaving at 8:00am.
* Parking Available in Hwy 54 Lot and Rams Head Deck$1.25 per hour
* Parking available in Cobb Deck and South Road for FREE.

Game Viewing Party! - Sunday, April 1

* Carmichael Auditorium Sunday @ 9:00pm vs. Tennessee
* Doors open @ 8:00pm-FREE admission
* Concessions will be available.
* FREE Parking available at the Cobb Deck, Hwy 54 Lot, Boshamer, and Bell Tower Lots
* Parking in the Rams Head Deck for $1.25/hr
* Disability parking: South Road meters, School of Govt. deck
* Media Parking-School of Govt. Deck
* Enter through the Front Doors of Carmichael
* First 100 fans get a Camille Little Growth Chart!

Both events have been added to Ruby’s Unofficial Basketball Calendar.

(Cross-posted from OrangePolitics.)

Hours after the men’s basketball team fell to Georgetown in the NCAA tournament, a student who cheers the team as Rameses passed away after being hit by an SUV on Friday. My heart goes out to the family and friends of Jason Ray.

Also, consolations to seniors Rayshawn Terry, Wes Miller, and Biscuits of the men’s basketball team that had a very frustrating end to an exciting season. Fortunately, the women’s team marches on. Don’t miss the last games for super-talented seniors Ivory Latta and Camille Little. Next game is against Purdue in the Elite 8 on Tuesday at 9:30 on ESPN and WCHL.

Carolina is now out of the NCAA tournament after losing to Georgetown 96-84. I believe UNC has had 7 losses this season, but this was by far the most inexplicable. After leading throughout most of the game, Georgetown started to make a scoring run while UNC started to shoot nothing but high-risk 3-point shots, missing every single one until the final seconds of the game.

By the end when they were down by 10 points with a minute left, I could understand putting up 3-pointers. But we were ahead until we started using that strategy. Then the game went into overtime in which we scored no points until last 8 seconds. Roy Williams is a great coach, but I can’t understand what they were thinking with this strategy. Someone needs to explain.

Fortunately, the season is not over for the women, who play in the Sweet 16 against George Washington tonight at 9:30. I expect them to stay in this tournament until the bitter (or sweet) end!

March Madness is in full swing, and after suffering through someone else’s not-very-well updated men’s calendar (which didn’t include tournament games!) and making my own schedule to publish the UNC women’s basketball schedule, I have finally got it all together in one place.

Introducing Ruby’s Unofficial Basketball Calendar. Never miss a game again!

This includes both the men’s and women’s teams and includes the regular season, general tournament dates, and specific times for tournament games (when they become available). You can view it on the web, subscribe to via RSS, put in your Outlook or iCal, or add it directly to your Google calendar.

Each game title is preceded by a “[M]” or “[W]” depending on which team is playing, and the TV broadcast info is included in the event description. Please try it out and let me know what you think.

And please watch the women’s games - the very last that seniors Ivory Latta and Camille Little will be playing as students at Carolina. You don’t want to miss it when we go all the way to the NCAA Championship!

It’s unusual for me to root for NC State, they’re Carolina’s #2 rival. But our chief rival and bogeyman is Duke. In today’s ACC semi-final, NC State (#4) beat the undefeated Duke. I love this for so many reasons:

1. As a true Carolina fan, it’s always nice to see Duke lose. (The Waner sisters and their ponytails are especially bile-inducing for me.)
2. State played really well in spite of several injuries and three bad foul calls against Gillian Goring who fouled out. And it’s great to see the success of NC State coach Kay Yow who fought back breast cancer to re-take the helm of her team mid-way through this season.
3. If Carolina wins the other semi-final (starting right now) I’d rather have us play State, with whom we are one and one this year, than Duke, who beat us twice and who was undefeated this year until today.

Woo hoo. Go Wolfpack and GO HEELS!

Wow. This might be enough to tear me away from the televised UNC women’s basketball game against FSU.

Hollywood screenwriter and producer Norman Steinberg, who co-wrote the screenplay for Mel Brooks’ landmark 1974 Western comedy “Blazing Saddles,” will show and discuss the movie at 7 p.m. Monday in 116 Murphey Hall on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus. Admission is free.
- newsobserver.com | ‘Blazing Saddles’ to be topic of talk

I love Blazing Saddles. It had a huge impact on the development of my sense of humor when I was in high school. (Other key comedic influences included Monty Python and The Young Ones.) So much so that I already own it on DVD. According to IMdB, Norman Steinberg hasn’t done to much else to make me get off the couch. Heels it is!

W00t! Go Tarheels. I was there…

I was actually really impressed by State. They players were garceful, and made a lot of great plays. Carolina’s defense simply shut them down in the second half.

Matt Doherty (UNC basketball player 1980-84 and coach 2000-03) has a new job coaching at Southern Methodist University and a new blog!

Watching three games is too much. Can’t do it. Therefore, I will try to get a chair between both courts and look at the “A” court first and during dead balls, study the “B” court. One time I was in LA looking at a 7 footer named Chad Bell on my “A” court. During dead balls I looked at court “B”. As I was looking at court “B” I saw this kid flying all over the court. He would steal the ball and lay it up, time and time again. At half time I learned that the team on court “B” was from South Carolina. I then turned my chair and flipped courts, making court “B” my “A” court and “A” my “B”. After the game I found out that the little jet on court”B” was Raymond Felton! Eight months later Raymond commited to me at UNC and three years later he lead the Tar Heels to the NCAA Championship!
- SMUMUSTANGS.COM

I love it. Um… go you Mustangs?

Thanks to Ed Cone for the link.