The Charlotte Hornets are 15-10 and tied for 4th place in the East; they’ve gone 5-3 in the month of December — all of those games sans Al Jefferson, who was out with a calf injury, and will now begin serving a five-game suspension. I love Al, and he’s been the heart and soul of this team the last three years, but it’s no mystery why they’ve been so good without him: more shooting, faster, and better defensively. Good stuff here from Rick Bonnell, who examines what could happen next with Big Al and the Hornets.
Cam Newton is basically running Charlotte right now: When he’s not busy leading a 13-0 football team, Cam found time — on Tuesday — to run around Charlotte, surprising students and teachers at various schools with Christmas joy. Friend of the program Jonathan Jones was able to tag along for the festivities. Oh, also, Ice Cube and Kevin Hart were there, too, which produced this amazing Tweet:
For Our State magazine: Shane Ryan penned a cool piece on the beginnings of the Carolina Hurricanes in the state of North Carolina, including those first two years spent splaying in the ACC’s headquarters, and how the franchise carved out their own corner in the sports universe.
Sticking with the Hurricanes — they’ve been playing better as of late, which is great to see. However, as Brett Finger writes over at Cardiac Cane, despite the newfound success, especially on the offensive end, the franchise needs to remain committed to a rebuild.
Cat Barber is having a really good season for NC State – but he has one glaring hole in his game, which is having an ugly impact on an important aspect of the Wolfpack’s offense, writes Steven Murma at Backing the Pack.
From earlier this week, over at Duke Basketball Report, JD King on the sudden retirement of Wisconsin basketball coach Bo Ryan.
