Ty Lawson's Toe Is North Carolina's Achilles Heel

ATLANTA—North Carolina has a big problem, and it’s located on Ty Lawson’s right foot.

Lawson’s swollen big toe kept him from playing for the second consecutive game as the No. 22 Florida State Seminoles defeated the No. 1 Tar Heels 73-70 in the semifinals of the ACC tournament.

Stupid toe.

If not for that toe, Friday’s game would have been a clash of ACC Player of the Year Lawson and ACC Player of the Year runner-up Toney Douglas.

It would have been a battle between two of the best point guards to play in the ACC in a long time.

But Lawson’s swollen big toe kept that from happening.

Stupid, stupid toe.

“I had more mobility in it today than yesterday,” Lawson said.  “But even if this was an NCAA tournament game, I wouldn’t have been able to play on it.”

North Carolina is still hoping Lawson will be ready for the NCAAs, but his status is still unclear according to the Tar Heels’ coach Roy Williams.

“The swelling has gone down, but he hasn’t practiced or done anything with live contact since last Sunday when we played Duke," Williams said.  “It’s hard to tell, but I would hope that he will be able to go."

The Tar Heels better hope that Lawson is healthy soon, because their offense without him is not the exciting, fast-paced, high-scoring blitzkrieg of points that has dismantled teams in the ACC all season long.  They scored 20 fewer points than their season average in their loss to the Seminoles, and that was with Tyler Hansbrough and Wayne Ellington combining for 46 points.

They just aren’t as fast without the nation’s fastest guard, and that missing speed is a bad thing for the Tar Heels. 

It was a good thing for Florida State, as the Seminoles took full advantage of Lawson’s absence, pushing the ball at the Tar Heels every chance they got and practically begging Bobby Frasor to keep up with Toney Douglas.

Douglas let the heavily North Carolina-favoring crowd know that he doesn’t see himself as the second best player in the conference, torching the Tar Heels with 27 points on a 10-for-18 shooting performance.

After Saturday’s upset, one thing is clear about Toney Douglas—he is one of the best scoring point guards the ACC has seen in a long time, maybe since Jason Williams of Duke. 

He doesn’t just hit shots, he hits big shots.

Those big shots will mean big things for Florida State in the upcoming weeks, as they have put the Seminoles in the ACC championship game and in contention for a No. 3 seed in the Big Dance.  Considering that Florida State has never played in the ACC tournament championship game (they joined the conference in the 1991-92 season) and hasn’t been in the NCAA tournament since 1998, Toney Douglas’ on-target shots are the best thing that has happened to Florida State basketball in years.

Florida State is playing their best basketball of the season at just the right time, winning four of their last five games.

North Carolina is hoping that their performance in the ACC tournament isn’t a sign of things to come.

Lawson was absent all together, but third team All-ACC player Danny Green might as well have been.

Green was averaging 13.9 points prior to the ACC tournament, but he only averaged 4.5 points in North Carolina’s two games in the Georgia Dome.  He shot 3-for-25 from the field and 1-for-12 from long range in the tournament.

“I’m a shooter, and shooter’s shoot,” said Green.  “I couldn’t find my touch.”

Danny Green’s touch and Ty Lawson’s toe need to get better if the Heels’ hopes of a national championship run are to stay alive—and they better do it soon.