News-Record.com

Okay, I've been taking an informal poll around here and nobody - I mean nobody - has any idea what happened during the on-court contest during a t.v. timeout.

I'll set the stage: First half of the UNC-Miami game.They bring on three kids onto the floor, along with the mascots for Miami and UNC and the NCAA mascot, J.J. Jumper. The PA announcer tells us it's going to be the ACC tournament version of Survivor.

I wasn't sure exactly how they were going to carry this out - and apparently neither was anyone running the contests. They started out by having the mascots run down the floor with each of the three contestants and pantomine a layup. The three kids looked at the mascots like they were from another planet, and then everyone returned to halfcourt. I think - this is my theory - they realized belatedly that they didn't have a basketball to use for the contest. So then they had a sprint down to the baseline and back to halfcourt, which they used to eliminate the last place kid.

Running out of time now - again, I'm just trying to theorize on what actually happened, since the mascots aren't talking, or can't talk - they then huddled around half-court and emerged holding the hand of one of the two remaining kids. Apparently, that kid one, although no one - including the kid - is sure why.

Here's hoping the rest of the tournament runs a tad more smoothly. Although there was a striking resemblance between the confusion during that contest and Carolina's offensive approach against Miami's 2-3 zone.