Tom Talks

No real stars, but ice cream galore

Most famous person I've seen in Tampa as of 2:45 p.m. is Kevin McHale, the Minnesota Timberwolves executive and former Minnesota and Boston Celtics star. Second is Mike Gminski. Third is the guy who won our fantasy football league. Been a slow day.

A combination of words I never expected to hear were uttered Thursday and probably for the first time: Florida State refs.

I can go a season without eating ice cream in a Charlotte press room. If I ignore it once, I can walk past it the rest of the season as easily as I could a store that sells golf equipment. But every media member that was not at courtside or in a locker room Thursday was hovering outside the freezer with the Haagen-Dazs in it. First they'd hover, and then they'd plunge. Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore and took the plunge myself. Man, these folks have good taste. I forgot how good that stuff is. I'll be back.

Seminoles do it the hard way

Florida State isn’t bad, but its strategy is.

Al Thorton of the Seminoles is, I think, the ACC MVP. Clemson had nobody who could check him. Yet the Tigers consistently prevented him from touching the ball. How? The Seminoles guards refused to give it to him.

Thornton, 6-foot-8, had to go outside to get the ball. Maybe the guards thought he was one of them. So they’d give it to him 20 feet from the hoop, and he would pump and penetrate, drive the baseline for a dunk or pop from the outside.

It wasn’t as if the Tigers were committing so many defenders to him that others were open. Thornton, a senior with a great mid-range NBA game, would post up, put up a hand and watch the guards shoot.

Thornton took 16 shots from the field and made nine. Had the Seminoles gone inside, he would have scored 40.

Morrow returning to form

Anthony Morrow was a star at Charlotte Latin, three times all-state and as a senior North Carolina's Mr. Basketball. He had planned to play for a state school, probably Charlotte or N.C. State. Then he took a final visit to Georgia Tech.

"It's only three hours away," says Morrow, who either knows a shortcut or has a fast car. "N.C. State is 2 1/2."

A junior, Morrow averages 9.6 points, almost 6 1/2 fewer than a season ago. He began slowly after suffering a stress fracture in his lower back and missed the first three weeks of practice.

He did score 18 last week, 12 on three-pointers, in a seven-point victory against North Carolina.

"My friends tell me I'm the only person they watched do well against Carolina," Morrow says.

A 6-5 guard-forward, Morrow plays an elegant game, collecting most of his points from the outside.

"My friends back in Charlotte are all Georgia Tech fans," he says Wednesday after the Yellow Jackets practice at the St. Pete Times Forum. "They all keep up with me and with our team and tell me what I can do better."

Even friends that grew up cheering for N.C. colleges tell Morrow they pull for Georgia Tech.

"Fans will lie," he says smiling.

His friends also tell him what every friend tells college and professional basketball players -- shoot more.

They have to choose between Georgia Tech and Wake Forest when the teams play Thursday.

Another inducement to making the three-hour drive to Charlotte is to eat the cooking of his mom, Angela. She looks at his 6-6, 215-pound frame and pumps him full of food.

"Anything I ask for," says Morrow. "Mostly a lot of pancakes and breakfast, chicken and stuff like that."

My flight to Tampa for ACC Tournament

There's a brand of poker you play at the airport. It's called who is going to the better place. I ran into a famous Carolina Panther at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport early Wednesday.

ME: Where you going?

FAMOUS PANTHER: New York. Where are going?

ME: Miami.

FP: From New York, I fly to London.

ME: From Miami, I fly to Tampa.

FP: From London, I fly to Africa.

ME: From Tampa, I go to downtown Tampa.

FP: On the way back, I might stop in Paris and buy some gifts for my family.

ME: On the way back, I might pick up the St. Petersburg Times.

Way I see it, it was a draw.

In unrelated airport news, we all complain about flights and delays. But we're as much to blame as the airlines. The activity people do most poorly is move, as our driving, running and even walking in the mall attests. But what human beings do worse than anything is get on and off airplanes.

People hover long before their row or zone is called just so they can, what -- get on the flight? It's not leaving without you, Jack, and nobody will take your seat.

The woman on the flight to Miami took more time to put her bag in the overhead bin than some women take to buy shoes. What, she was trying to coordinate the colors? The bag was not heavy and I couldn't offer to help her lift it because she was too far in front of me and because it probably would have clashed with my shirt, thus elongating the delay.

Worse was the guy who got off the flight to Tampa. He stood in the aisle and painstakingly put on his sports jacket. And it wasn't even a cool jacket. It was, like, yellow. Once properly attired, he reached up to the bin and withdrew his bag. Brad Hoover can run the length of a field in the time it took the guy to free his bag. Then he stood there before deigning to move. He was bald. I'm glad.

Lutz shouldn't be fired

College football is the great hope of Charlotte athletics. Yet there is a movement at the school, quiet and ill-informed, that wants a new basketball coach. The movement will become louder if the 49ers lose their first-round Atlantic 10 tournament game today.

This is a tough time to be basketball coach Bobby Lutz. This season is his ninth with the 49ers, and he has advanced to the NCAA tournament in five of them and the National Invitational Tournament in two.

Here’s what his detractors choose not to understand. Not many coaches are capable of winning at Charlotte. It’s one of the toughest jobs in the Carolinas and one of the tougher jobs nationally. You can’t win 21 or more games four times if you are not a superior coach.

A tough job became tougher because the Atlantic 10 is a poor fit. I respect the conference, especially its Temple, St. Joseph’s, LaSalle, Philadelphia tradition. But the core of the A-10 is so far away, it might as well be in Prague.

No Carolina kid has ever grown up wanting to play against St. Bonaventure, and Lutz has six Carolinas kids on his roster.

Recruiting has never been tougher. Lutz lost several key assistants, and one of them went to Kansas State and took next season’s prize recruit, Michael Beasley, with him. So if Lutz is not losing a coveted recruit to the land of wheat and tractors, he’s losing him to the ACC and the SEC.

Lutz has two seasons remaining after this one, and athletics director Judy Rose saidys Tuesday that they are discussing an extension.

Even if the 49ers lose today, Lutz is not going anywhere. I still believe his team will.

Sorensen on Packer

The only thing I dislike about March is that Billy Packer always becomes a cause.

Two seasons ago he said something innocuous before the NCAA basketball tournament about St. Joseph's that turned Philadelphia, fans of underdogs and portions of the Eastern Seaboard against him.

Last season, George Mason coach Jim Larranaga invoked Packer before and after every unlikely NCAA tournament victory, which was almost daily since his team went all the way to the Final Four. The coach was angry about a comment Packer made about mid-major teams such as his on Selection Sunday.

Now it's North Carolina fans that are upset because of Packer's interpretation of Gerald Henderson's foul on Tyler Hansbrough Sunday. I didn't hear Billy's call since I was in the Dean Dome.

And I don't want to hear it. But those of you who have memorized every sentence, phrase, syllable and vowel email or call to tell me that Packer said the contact was unintentional and the foul was not flagrant.

I disagree, but so what? Packer might still believe what he said, and if he doesn't, he's not going to publicly announce that he was wrong.

I think Packer is the best commentator in basketball and among the best in sports. He's the one who does not kneel in front of the coaches, the one who does not consider a tough question, "So, K, was that one cream and one sugar?"

I know Billy, and I'm not writing this because he's a better person than he is a commentator. He's not. He's also not anti-North Carolina. He's anti-George Mason.

A day to remember for 3 Tar Heels

No matter where you go, unless it’s to watch a team without seniors, Senior Day is moving. Three North Carolina seniors played their last home game Sunday.

Dewey Burke, a senior from Philadelphia who had played 26 minutes all season, went first. He was introduced, the crowd at the Dean Smith Center rewarded him with cheers for four years of hard practices, and he ran to the bench to pick up a rose to hand to his mom. But he forgot the rose. So he ran back and coach Roy Williams, laughing, handed it to Burke, who ran to his mom, Betsy, and handed it to her.

Wes Miller, the senior from Charlotte, went next, and fans responded loudly and warmly in recognition of the 3-point shots from NBA distance that helped make his reputation. He grabbed the rose and handed it to his mom, Susan. Then came Reyshawn Terry, the most accomplished player in the group, who handed the rose to his mom, Barbara.

There were enough hugs and claps, the players showing a human side, that even a cynic would be moved.

Each senior started, of course, and Burke played two minutes. When he was replaced, every played on the bench rose to greet him and slap his hand. The reserves reacted as if Burke were a star. For a few minutes, he finally was.

CIAA parties not only ones in town

Last year, I heard about the CIAA parties, but had invitations to none of them. I could see them but couldn't get to them. It was like being in New Jersey and looking at Manhattan.

So I wrote a column asking for invitations. The CIAA came through. I got invitations from heavy hitters such as Congressman Mel Watt and the attorney for Magic Johnson or the attorney for the attorney of Magic Johnson. Either way, the invitation stood. I heard from several schools, from young people and old people, and from a man who was throwing a party that featured Little Tigger.

I have the same number of invitations in 2007 I had before I wrote my column a year ago. But this year, I don't care. Because Charlotte, you see, has become party central even when the CIAA is not in town. Here I am, a regular guy who lives in the suburbs. I'm the one who doesn't drive the SUV, and my dance card is crammed with the usual array of Charlotte suburban festivities. Sorry, CIAA, but there's no time to work you in.

Here's my schedule for Wednesday night alone. Keep in mind, this is just one night.

Throw-down at Cloth World, 5-8 p.m. DJ Khaki K spun the latest Clay Aiken grooves. Although there was no dress code, Levi Dockers were mandatory.

Celebrities? We had a few. I saw a guy who looked just like Jim Utter, who covers the Charlotte 49ers and racing for the Observer.

As it turned out, we partied until 7:15 p.m., after which we all went home and, because we paced ourselves, were able to watch American Idol in its entirety. Hey, CIAA. It ain't bragging if you can back it up.