Mums the word out of UNC

Thursday night was the season-ending awards banquet at North Carolina, but fans of Tyler Hansbrough will have to wait a little longer for news about what's next for the National Player of the Year.

Hansbrough and the rest of his teammates did not make an announcement concerning their status for next season at the banquet, according to the News & Observer's Web site (couldn't get my link to work):

North Carolina players Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington have not yet decided whether they will declare for the NBA or return to UNC next season, coach Roy Williams said Thursday.

"We're not finished with the process,'' he said after the team's season-ending award ceremony. "They have to make the decision the [by April] 27th, and they'll make a decision before that, but they're not finished with the process right now."

The trio declined to talk to the media.

Williams said that by Friday, he will have talked to 18 NBA teams to gather information on their behalf.

Took in my first Cardinals game today (it's become tradition that the first game I attend is always a Thursday afternoon game in April).

First off, great day for baseball -- sat in the bleachers right-center field, row 2 and got a sun burn. Didn't stay around until the end (had to cover a soccer game back in the Bluff) but here's some thoughts on the game:

Had a bad feeling at the end of the seventh after Troy Glaus grounded into that double play that a 3-0 lead wasn't going to hold up. At that time, the Cards had left seven runners on base and Kyle Lohse drove in two runs.

Brewers caught some breaks in the eighth when Ryan Franklin hit Richie Weeks with two strikes to put the tying run on with nobody out. After a sac bunt, Ryan Braun's sac fly to right made it 3-2. Randy Flores looked like he was going to get out of the jam when he got two strikes on Prince Fielder, who tied the game on a bloop double to right. Game of inches.

Ryan Ludwick looked good with a 4-for-5 day, hitting a home run in the second and scoring twice. Lohse looked good but seemed to run out of gas after 85-plus pitches (he finished with 93). I like rookie Kyle McClellan out of the bullpen -- he went right after the first hitter he faced -- and was surprised by the Brewers' pen today (6 ip, 0 runs). Somebody has got to tell Troy Glaus to relax, or move him up in the order soon -- you can't have a guy hitting .218 behind Albert Pujols, who drew two more walks Thursday.

I've been trying to nail down the 2008 Cardinals over the first couple of weeks and hope to have something for this weekend now that I've seen them play in person.