Hello from Los Angeles!
It was another early morning for The Daily Tar Heel's NCAA crew. This week we've still got Sports Editor Grace Raynor and Senior Writer Aaron Dodson holding down the fort on the writing side, but photo editor Katie Williams has joined us on the photo side. What up Katie.
We left RDU at 6:00 a.m. this morning which means none of us went to bed last night! This whole time difference thing has thrown us for a bit of a loop, but we're adjusting. Luckily despite a huge lack of sleep, we weren't as cranky as this little guy at RDU.
When his mom came over, he ran and hid ... We feel you. We don't like mornings either. All three of us bought matching neck pillows so we could sleep on the plane. It was a great $10 investment.
As soon as we got to Los Angeles, we took an Uber straight to our hotel and then changed quickly to leave for the STAPLES Center. We landed at 10:30 a.m. and UNC held open practice at noon, so we had to hustle.
Luckily, we made it.
And naturally we started Snapchatting.
The first thing the media flocked to when we all got here was to the corner to see what was up with Kennedy Meeks. On Saturday night in Florida it was announced that he had sprained his left knee against Arkansas. Meeks was wearing this black knee brace while he shot around Wednesday, and did end up participating in some contact in practice. Monday he didn't practice at all and Tuesday he did no contact. It's looking like it'll be game-time decision Thursday. You can read all about in our Thursday paper.
Here are some more pictures from practice. Reggie Miller was there and of course there was a dunk showcase at the end, per usual. Also per usual, everyone's eyes were on J.P. Tokoto, who will face a lot of his old friends when UNC takes on Wisconsin Thursday. We also have a story all about that on the website.
At one point, the Tar Heels were shooting pretty well from the field.
Be sure to head over to our website where you can read stories about Meeks, Tokoto and the active walk-on duo of Spenser Dalton and Justin Coleman. The two of them spoke about why the Sweet 16 is extra special for them in particular.
UNC tips at 7:47 Eastern Time on Thursday. Follow @DTHSports for all your updates!
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