When the camera blinks
Much was made of Greivis Vasquez’s yapping at the Cameron Crazies when Maryland visited Duke on Feb. 13. But the Terp sophomore is hardly alone in such conduct. He merely had the misfortune, if that’s what you call it, to be caught on camera.

If TV doesn’t catch something, for most observers it never happened, did not exist. So, when the cameras cut away from North Carolina’s overtime victory at Clemson on January 6, few saw – or later discussed – the spectacle of guard Ty Lawson racing to a corner of the court to trade insults with a couple of Tiger fans.

Nor did the TV cameras pick up an act that surely merited a technical foul early in the second half of N.C. State’s visit to Cameron Indoor Stadium on January 31.

Seeking to prevent as easy score inside, Duke guard Greg Paulus fouled Brandon Costner, and none too gently. The whistle with 3:56 left in the first half led to an immediate TV timeout, routinely taken as soon after the 4-minute mark as there is a break in the action.

Clearly pleased with himself, Paulus sprinted to the nearby Duke bench. Costner was comparably displeased, but before he reacted teammates ran to his side, including several who left the N.C. State bench. An assistant coach came halfway across the court too.

Leaving the bench area in such circumstances is forbidden, but no technical foul was assessed. Since TV had cut to a commercial, the incident passed with scant comment.

Then there was the timeout with 7:35 remaining in the first half of Duke’s December 17 rout of Albany, during which a frustrated Mike Krzyzewski kicked the basketball when it rolled toward his team’s bench. The ball hit an unsuspecting official in the back of the leg, but he did not see where it came from and nothing was called.

Secret friend
Media members entering the RBC Center to cover an N.C. State game have their briefcases checked before heading to elevators that take them downstairs to the press area. Colored tags are affixed to bags to indicate they have been searched.

The other day, a writer came by the security desk with a welter of tags circling the handles of his bag. Several came from Chapel Hill’s Smith Center, which has a similar procedure. “Let’s get rid of this junk,” said a security guard, proceeding to snip away the offending items.

The guard professed no love for UNC, but confided a few weeks later that he was friendly with one Tar Heel, Eric Montross, the radio color analyst who played for UNC from 1991-94. “Tell Eric I said hello,” he requested. “But don’t tell anybody else my name.”

How quickly they forget
John and Elizabeth Edwards were absent for much of the 2007-08 basketball season from their seats on an aisle behind and above the scrubs’ end of the North Carolina bench.

Seems they were traveling the country promoting John Edwards’ campaign for the Democratic nomination for U.S. President. This was a poor excuse for missing games, to be sure. But the Edwards family got its priorities straight in late January when, badly trailing Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, John Edwards withdrew from the race.

The next day, he and his wife and children were at the UNC-Boston College game in their usual seats. During that and subsequent games, Edwards was swarmed at halftime by admirers, many seeking autographs.

But, by the time Wake Forest came to the Smith Center on Feb. 24, the Edwardses drew no visitors, no attention at all. They did seem to enjoy the Tar Heel victory, however.

Meanwhile, Clemson fans had their own ideas about presidential candidates in the run-up to South Carolina’s Jan. 26 primary.

Littlejohn Coliseum sprouted signs touting “Purnell for President 2008,” a paean to the Tigers’ basketball coach. Another sign said “President” with boxes left blank beside the names of Obama and (Mike) Huckabee. A third box for Purnell had an X through it, another affirmation.

Could it be that this basketball thing is catching on at one of the ACC's most devout football bastions?

Hairy trend
Fashion has changed. Where only recently it was common to see a number of players with clean-shaven skulls, a la Michael Jordan, today such tonsorial preferences are quite rare.

In fact, the ACC may have as many (shaved) head coaches – Clemson’s Purnell, Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton, N.C. State’s Sidney Lowe, and Virginia Tech’s Seth Greenberg -- as glabrous players. (We admit it: glabrous was a fourth-grade vocabulary word that stuck like glue.)

Best hairdos among ACC performers belong to Clemson’s Raymond Sykes (long and bundled, like corn stalks in autumn); Georgia Tech’s Matt Causey (floppy curls); Maryland’s James Gist (nattily rowed) and Bambale Osby (biggest afro in 20 years); North Carolina’s Quentin Thomas (rows and dangling streamers); and N.C. State’s red-headed Trevor Ferguson (floppy).

A cure for dance fever
Danny Green leads a few North Carolina teammates in dancing by the bench prior to games. Some have questioned the propriety of Green’s display; at least one opposing head coach insists Dean Smith would never have tolerated it. He’s probably right.

Times change, and Roy Williams gives players a bit more latitude than did his mentor. Thus Green, a junior, has attracted attention with his gyrations to House of Pain’s “Jump Around,” which includes such immortal lyrics as, “I'm the cream of the crop, I rise to the top. I never eat a pig cause a pig is a cop.”

But a shift in Williams’ acceptance of dancing on the sidelines may have occurred during Clemson’s visit to the Smith Center on Feb. 10. When the Tar Heels rallied to force overtime, the PA system replayed “Jump Around” at the outset of the first extra period, sparking reserve forward Mike Copeland and a few lesser lights to succumb to dance fever.

Bad idea. Apparently there are limits. In an instant, here came Williams flying down the sidelines, screaming in the faces of Copeland and Co. to cut it out.

When UNC hosted Wake Forest on Feb. 24, Green’s pre-game gyrations seemed considerably subdued compared to previous efforts.

Spoiled
A college-aged fan behind the scorer’s table at Duke brings a small white, plastic board to games, on which he and companions write from time to time, flashing messages as the spirit moves them.

Late in Duke’s victory over Georgia Tech on Wednesday night, a woman wrote on the board, “DO THE SLUTTY DANCE PLEASE” and waved it toward Duke’s dozen female cheerleaders. There was no indication her plea was noticed, except by expectant male spectators.

During last weekend’s decisive Blue Devil victory over St. John’s, the instant writer had time to display his dissatisfaction with women’s coach Joanne P. McCallie. “Fire Coach P,” he wrote of the first-year coach, aiming the statement toward the student section across the court.

Let’s see. Here’s a league in which McCallie must contend with powerhouse programs at North Carolina and Maryland. She took over a squad recruited by someone else, one that had to replace the 2007 ACC player of the year (Lindsay Harding) and an outstanding post presence (Alison Bales) who set league records in blocks and blocks per game.

All McCallie accomplished was to clinch a third-place ACC finish, with a 10-3 league mark pending Sunday's regular season finale at Chapel Hill, and a 21-7 record overall. Her squad defeated fourth-ranked Rutgers, is ranked 12th this week, and never fell out of the top 20 all year. Five of Duke’s seven losses came against teams ranked in the top five.

No wonder an astute observer would call for her dismissal.

Roaring good time
The word was reportedly passed at Joel Coliseum that the Duke men’s coaches did not like having the Demon Deacon drive onto the court on a fume-spewing motorcycle during pregame introductions. Whether this bit of intelligence reached the mascot is unclear, although he certainly revved his engine with vigor when the time came to make an appearance.

Then, with the crowd roaring in the darkened Winston-Salem arena, Wake Forest’s starters discarded their tie-dyed, starburst warm-ups, matching shirts common in the student section, and took turns running to mid-court to bump fists with the Deacon.

After which they handed the Blue Devils their first ACC loss, which presumably the Duke coaches liked even less.