Looking to outdo Ricky Rubio for overall "flare" Danilo Gallinari could be the next great thing out of Italy. He's big, he can shoot, and many are calling him the next Detlef Schrempf. NBA draft.net scouts him as being 6 foot 8" but with longer legs than his torso so he may still be growing. Personally I would rather have the NBA draft the announcers on the video posted with this article - I can just imagine what these guys would say after a Lebron jam.

Check out 30 secs in for hilarity (and a pretty good shot)

Dewey Can you PLEASE Interview this kid for the yard! I am sure it would be an awesome interview - just listen to the youtube clip starting at 1:12!

"I blocka shotz, That's just what I do"

"I play well with everyboy, I know everybody real good"

Also - great quote:

"He is understated, and so is his game. He'll get the quietest 32 points and 29 rebounds you'll ever see."

Ricky Rubio is a Spanish basketball player who has been called the next Pistol Pete, and his fans are doing everything they can to ensure that his image and street cred remain hardcore. Case in point: The music on this highlight reel. Nasty.

In this era in which placing a "timetable" on anything is exceedingly difficult - (Bad war joke there) - Roy Williams is unable to speculate on Ty Lawson's return:

"I don't know that there is a timetable" stated Coach Williams earlier today when asked about whether Lawson would play on Tuesday against the struggling Hoo's at Virginia.

More interestingly he went on to state the following:

"I think we've just got to wait until he starts feeling better with it. The kid's not been hurt very often and kids that haven't been hurt think that sometimes things have to be perfect before they come back. That could be part of Tywon's deal. But at the same time it still hurts. We're just going to have to wait until it stops hurting."

So does Good Ol' Roy think that Lawson should come back regardless of whether his ankle still hurts? That seems to me what he is implying.

Now granted - UNC sucks without Lawson (witness the miraculous escape againt Clemson at home on Sunday). But I imagine that Lawson's objective is to get to the NBA and have a good career - wouldn't one think that taking care of injuries at this stage would be a good thing?! I am not a doctor - but I work with them - and it was my colleagues contention that this sort of statement showed a general lack of concern for the players health and well being. What's the yards thought on this?

I know that I am not the first person to recognize this, Grant Wahl and the other guys who actually get paid to spend time writing about basketball (ah to be so lucky) seem to have noticed that UNC isn't the dominant force that was originally thought. But I wonder - and post this to see the thoughts of others - Why does UNC keep having to squeak out W's?

A breakdown of UNC's schedule reveals that it isn't the juggernaut of top notch teams that most 'heels fans would have you believe. They have only played 1 team that is ranked in the top 25 (then #19 Clemson) and beyond that their best competition has been several "mid-majors" including BYU, Nevada, and Valpo and the horrendously underperforming Ohio State and Kentucky.

A recent yardbarker post from a 'heel fan commented that Duke hadn't faced any tough competition and would soon get theirs against UNC on Feb. 6th. However if you look at Duke's schedule they've played three teams ranked in the top 25 (all on neutral courts) in Marquette, Wisconsin, and Pitt. Toss in the fact that Wisconsin is much better than initially thought and Pitt was fully healthy for the majority of the Duke game and that's a pretty impressive schedule. In fact take a look at ESPN.com's bracketology report and Duke has faced 2 teams pegged as 3 seeds (Marquette/Wisconsin) and rising, and one 5 seed (rising Pitt). UNC has faced only one team (Clemson) who is a 6 seed and falling.

Obscure statistical info and "speculation" aside, UNC doesn't seem to be able to defend anybody. Even lowly Georgia Tech took them down to the wire last night - with the help of a healthy free throw advantage, UNC barely won. Duke on the other hand has been completely solid on the defensive end holding most teams to below 70 points.

So how are these teams going to match up?

Duke will have obvious problems with Psycho-T underneath as they have for the past three years. I have come to live with the fact that the dude is going to get 15 free throws a game (and make 13 of them) and will bully his way to a double double. There really isn't much you can do to stop him. I predict that Duke will put McClure/L. Thomas on him throughout and run help defense from G. Henderson and D. Nelson. The crazy thing is that G. Tech showed that you don't really need to stop Hansbrough to beat the 'heels. He pulled 27/12 last night and they still shouldn't have won that game (damn you Zach Peacock).

Duke can allow him to have his 20/10 as long as they hassle T. Lawson and W. Elliington into having a bad night. In fact just taking one of these guys off their game should be enough. Now this is easier said than done but I think that D. Nelson can totally shut down Ellington (feel free to argue but I am 100% confident on this one). Lawson is more difficult as Duke has notoriously been bad at defending quick PGs but I think that Nolan Smith might be able to contain him on the drive and his outside shot isn't as much of a threat as other UNC guards of recent memory (Felton, W. Miller, B. Frasor).

At the end of the day Duke is a far better defensive team than Carolina is. And this years Duke team is a far better offensive team than last year and will certainly be the best team that UNC will have faced come Feb 6th. I'm hoping that Duke will get to end UNCs ridiculous "streak" so that I don't have to hear Mike Patrick drone on about the best start in 20 years... Come on UNC - play someone difficult already!

Grant Wahl's take on who goes longest without losing:

"I'd say either Kansas or North Carolina, two legitimate national-title contenders that have pretty tame schedules until February. Speaking of the Heels, is anyone else concerned in the wake of Tyler Hansbrough's various contact-related injuries (the broken nose vs. Duke, the concussion vs. Rutgers, etc.) that the biggest threat to his winning national Player of the Year might be the injury risk of Hansbrough's bull-in-a-China-closet playing style?"

I've been saying this for a few years now. How is it that players like Hansbrough and Love get away with playing a super aggressive, out-of-control, game and still end up at the line 10-15 times a game without fouling out all the time? People got super pissed about it, but I thought that Hansbrough's nose-blow from Gerald Henderson was most surprising for the fact that it doesn't happen more often. I watched this kid play against Rutgers this week (when he got the concussion) and there were some loose balls that I thought he was going to kill people to get at. I sincerely wonder whether this will translate to the pros where everyone is as big and strong as Love and Hansbrough.

Getting out in transition would neutralize other teams' height advantage on the block, as the Blue Devils' best lineup may be a combination of four guards with just one post player. Villanova employed a similar style two seasons ago, when the Wildcats earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament before bowing out to eventual champion Florida