Hot: Bobcats, Clemson, Petty, rivalries site

Five things you need to know while contemplating Gerald Wallace's ankle:

1. Heat Alert

There’s not a hotter team in the NBA right now than the Charlotte Bobcats, who have spent the past week getting fat on Western Conference teams that have rolled through town.

Next up – the Miami Heat and Dwyane Wade (right) on Wednesday night. (To buy tickets, click here.)




2. ACC Hoops, southern style

Clemson’s visit to Georgia Tech tonight has become a big game in league play, especially for the Tigers, who need to demonstrate they can win on the road. The Tigers squeaked past N.C. State in Raleigh last Saturday and a win in Atlanta tonight would go a long way toward establishing them as one of the league’s top teams.





3. Racing noise

It’s the second day of the NASCAR media tour meaning there will be more preseason chatter about the 2010 season. Today’s featured team: Richard Petty Motorsports and Roush Fenway Racing.

4. Tiger Woods update

He may in a clinic in Hattiesburg, Miss. Then again, he may not. The Hattiesburg story has become the hot one though no one has been found who can say definitively they have seen Tiger in Brett Favre’s neighborhood.

It’s a good bet another half-dozen rumors/stories will pop up today.

Over the weekend, Tiger’s buddy, tennis great Roger Federer was quoted saying he’s spoken to Woods recently (he didn’t say where Tiger was at the time) and expects his friend to return to golf “soon.”

What “soon” means is anyone’s guess.

5. Head to Head

That’s the name of the website devoted to the Duke-North Carolina basketball rivalry that goes live today. There’s a clock counting down to the first regular-season meeting between the college basketball bluebloods, special features each day and places where you can chime in – regardless of which shade of blue you prefer.

-- Ron Green Jr.