Cameron Village to Add Parking
Raleigh’s venerable Cameron Village recently announced a plan to deal with parking woes. The city’s oldest shopping center will wrap their most popular stores with elevated parking structures. “The decks will offer an abundance of parking and plenty of flexibility for shoppers,” said center manager Tim Burr.
Two decks will be built. One will be over the parking lot in front of Noodles & Company. The other will wrap the building across the street, where Cameron Bar and Grill and Blockbuster Video are.
The center began a massive renovation 18 years ago that revived the center to unprecedented popularity. Construction will begin soon.
City to Rename Western Boulevard After Mayor
The City of Raleigh has just announced that it will rename one of it’s primary corridors after Mayor Charles Meeker. Western Boulevard, known as an efficient thoroughfare for oil-burning cars, will be renamed Meeker Parkway.
A City of Raleigh traffic engineer, Stu Pedasso, reported that the city also is planning a traffic circle where Western Boulevard becomes Martin Luther King Blvd. A soft-spoken debate will take place this summer as to whom will be honored in sculpture at the circle’s center.
U2 To Headline Mule Days
There’s been a lot of talk about this next item. (Maybe a little too much talk). Benson’s annual outdoor festival, Mule Days, will be taking it to the next level this year by booking U2 as its headlining band. The concert is free, and in grand Mule Days tradition, will take place at the singing grove near downtown Benson.
U2 was previously thought to be playing at Raleigh’s Carter-Finley stadium, but U2’s tour manager Oliver Clossoff said that news was premature. “We are excited to bring U2’s message to a venue that can more adequately handle the level of technology the show brings.”
Raleigh Ranks Tops With Forbes
Forbes magazine released its survey of the
Best Places in the U.S. for Business and Careers
, and for the third straight year, Raleigh tops the list. In fact, North Carolina is home to six of the top 20 cities. The survey included Durham, Asheville, Wilmington, Charlotte, and Winston-Salem on the list.
Justin Long to Join TIP’s R&J
As previously reported, Evan Rachael Wood will be starring (as Juliet) in the upcoming Theatre In The Park production of Romeo and Juliet. Last week the theatre announced that Justin Long , the guy playing the smug Mac in the Apple ads, will be playing Romeo. The cast of Romeo and Juliet also boasts some of Raleigh’s finest performers – among them, David Henderson (who incidentally is the man ), Lynda Clark, and John McIlwee.
Tickets are on sale for five performances, May 15 – 17, at Raleigh’s Theatre In The Park. Seating is limited and tickets are going fast. Reserve seat tickets are still available for $50. Tickets may be purchased online through ETIX or through the theatre’s box office, Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm.
UNC Gets All The Calls?
I commonly hear opponents and their fans lamenting the fact that opponents of UNC are far more likely to get fouls called on them. If this were the case, UNC should have a significantly higher FTA/Possession ratio.
UNC has always been an inside-first kind of offensive team. Given that players are more likely to be fouled when shooting in traffic, it would seem that UNC’s style of play is enough to get them to the free throw line more frequently than opponents. The best way to evaluate a team’s predilection for shooting inside vs. outside is to look at the percentage of shots taken that are behind the arc. Here are a few stats showing percentage of shots taken from “3” all season: UNC 27.7%, NCSU 33.1%, VT 31.6%. So, UNC is clearly getting the ball inside more than this pair of opponents.
Looking at raw free throw attempt stats is intensely misleading. That stat doesn’t account for the number of games played, the speed of the games played, and several other factors. If a team that plays a fast pace attempts 20 shots in a game while a very slow-paced team got 20 free throws in a game, the slow paced team visited the line much more frequently given their fewer possessions. Consider these stats:
UNC got the ball 2,808 times and attempted 792 free throws. Their ratio is 0.282 . N.C. State got the ball 2,354 times this season and attempted 615 free throws, for a ratio of 0.261 . Virginia Tech got the ball 2586 times this season, and attempted 732 free throws. Their ratio is 0.283 .
So yes, UNC attempted free throws more frequently than N.C. State did, but they only got there 8% more frequently (1-282/261). Given that NCSU took almost a third of their shots from “3” this season, a significantly higher proportion than UNC, it is surprising that there is only an 8% difference.
Virginia Tech’s coach Seth Greenberg believes that there is a different standard of officiating for UNC than for the rest of the league. His team got the ball 2,586 times this season and attempted 732 free throws. That’s a ratio of 0.283, which is 0.3% more frequent than UNC’s rate of trips to the line. Given that Virginia Tech jacked 3’s on 31.6% of their possessions while UNC only did so on 27.7%, it appears that Virginia Tech is more likely to be granted a free throw trip when they get the ball inside than Carolina is.
Fans and coaches get understandably emotional. Unfortunately their hearts are overriding their brains.
Loggins & Messina Coming to DPAC
On Thursday, September 24
Loggins & Messina
will be in Durhams.
Tickets are $37, $47, and $62
. The general public tickets go on sale today at 10am thru Ticketmaster.
Heels Win From the Line
Tonight’s game at Virginia Tech was ultimately not important to the standings (UNC still in all likelihood still has to beat Duke to win the regular season), but was important to see how the UNC offense is coming along. In short:
- Heels scored 0.96 points per possession (goal is .95)
- Heels forced 0.91 pts per ****. (goal is .85) – Not great defense
- Heels turned it over on 9% of possessions. VT turned it over on 13%
- Both teams shot 41% from the field. We made 26 free throws, VT made 17.
SO… UNC scored at an efficient rate, but DID NOT PLAY GOOD DEFENSE, yet still won by 8. Point being that UNC’s OFFENSIVE EFFICIENCY has much more to do with winning than their defense.
This makes two straight games above 0.95 points per possession, the first such streak in over a month. The bad news: UNC hasn’t put a three-game streak together since the @UVA/Miami/Clemson. Odds are that the Heels are due for a sub 0.90 offensive game. The good news is that next up is a Duke team that is really hobbled by injuries and hasn’t played very well since the last meeting. While they are going with unconventional lineups, they are handling the ball well. The key is containing Henderson. He is at the top of his game and has no injuries…oh wait. I thought Duke didn’t talk about their injuries.
Snow Blankets Raleigh
Today marks the second measurable snowfall for all of Raleigh this season. Snow on March 2, just like 40 years ago…
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OK. I cheated. These shots are from the January 20 snowfall.
Belt Buckle Reopens
The ramp connecting I-440 West with I-40 West near Crossroads is now open. The ramp has been undergoing drainage improvements for most of this calendar year.
MoJoe’s Makes Repairs
No need to panic. MoJoe’s burger joint (at Glenwood and Peace) has been closed this week to redo the kitchen flooring. They hope to be back open for good later this afternoon
Hard Rock Park Plans Memorial Day Opening
The beleaguered Hard Rock Park , which cost $400 million to construct, has been purchased for $25 million by FPI MB Entertainment LLS. The park’s previous owners filed Chapter 11 after just one season of being open. They plan on opening the park by Memorial Day after injecting $15 million in improvements including more rides for children. Hopefully they will also overhaul their admission fee schedule, too.
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Magnolia Grill Named Beard Semi-Finalist
VarmintBites
has a good post today informing readers that Ben and Karen Barker’s
Magnolia Grill
has been named by the James Beard Foundation as one of 20 finalists for the nation’s Best Restaurant award.
I’m not surprised. The unassuming grill continues do wow decades into its existence. One gains a true appreciation for the restaurant when trying to cook Barker’s recipes . Many included in the Not Afraid of Flavor book literally require days in advance of preparation.
What makes Barker special is his ability to blend deep layers of flavor without overpowering a dish. All too often popular local chefs think that the way to impress is to serve the culinary equivalent of german speed metal music. (one chef who was once in Cary, then in Raleigh, and now has left the country comes chiefly to mind). Not so with Barker. Magnolia Grill is one of the few restaurants where each bite should be savored instead of serving as a backdrop for mundane conversation.
Chapel Hill chefs Bill Smith, Andrea Reusing, and Chip Smith, along with Durham’s Scott Howell were nominated for Best Chef of the Southeast award.
Best of luck to all!
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