It probably would have been more fun to preview the Texas Longhorns in this space. Think about it. We could have talked about how the Heels would have the chance to be the team that ends Kevin Durant’s playing career. We could have mentioned how Carolina wanted revenge from their 2004 loss to the Longhorns. We could have lavished praise on Hickory’s very own Rick Barnes. But then Southern Cal came along and beat Texas before Carolina got the chance, and suddenly this turned into a preview of the Trojans. Not that the Texas preview was already written on Saturday night or anything.

Honestly, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that the Trojans took out Texas. After all, Texas only posted a Big 12 record of 12-4. Meanwhile, Southern Cal beat almost every team in the Pac-10 while only losing to UCLA (twice), Washington State (twice), Oregon, Stanford, Washington, and Herb Sendek. The first three teams on that list are understandable, the next two forgivable…but Carolina fans aren’t going to cut anyone any slack for losing to Herb Sendek.

The Trojans also lost to the University of South Carolina, a school frequently confused with Southern Cal. Of course, this confusion really only happens in the state of South Carolina. You see, in the Palmetto State, when someone says “USC” people ask if they mean Southern Cal or South Carolina. Everywhere else in the world, when someone says “USC” no one knows South Carolina even exists. You can anticipate more discussion of how the Gamecocks try to shorten their name to a term that another school has already taken when South Carolina pays a visit to Kenan Stadium on October 13, 2007.

During the EATS, many Carolina fans took comfort in the fact that Matt Doherty’s top notch recruiting would soon bring “the twins” to Chapel Hill and all would be rectified in the basketball world (my humblest apologies for making that sentence so difficult to read by interrupting it with two links). Sadly, the twins never became Tar Heels, and Carolina fans were forced to endure three seasons of Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants, and Sean May instead. Our loss was Southern Cal’s (and Kansas’s) gain, as the Trojans landed Lodrick Stewart (the Jayhawks took Rodrick). Look for Lodrick to score 48 points Friday night as he attempts to prove to everyone in North Carolina that he could have played for the Heels.

The exact tip time for Friday’s game is contingent upon the length of the Georgetown – Vanderbilt game (or, if you’re looking at Stillman’s bracket, the BC – Oral Roberts game), but expect it to be somewhere around 9:57 p.m. This provides a decided advantage to Southern Cal, since to their Pacific Time Zone adjusted bodies it will feel like only 7 o’clock. Luckily, the Heels were able to convince CBS to give them a late tip time game simulation last Thursday in their exhibition match-up against Eastern Kentucky.

While the Trojans have the time zone advantage, the Heels have the location advantage. After all, the Continental Airlines Arena [located in the Meadowlands Sports Complex (located in East Rutherford, New Jersey)] is the home away from home for the Duke Blue Devils, a team with whom Carolina is quite familiar. Also, a team which is no longer in the tournament…just throwin’ it out there.

Though I’ve never been (it’s Duke’s home away from home, not Carolina’s), I hear that pretty much any ticket in the Continental Airlines Arena is a good one…so, pretty much the exact opposite of any ticket on a Continental Airlines flight.