Well, That Was Easy

Maybe Isaiah Thomas should have kept pleading to play Ohio State. Honestly, though it didn’t matter who they played, they were going to lose. This game turned out like a lot of us thought it would, with the Heels blowing out FIU, Deon Thompson doing a lot of the heavy lifting, and some careless turnovers by the team.

If this game were mid-season, I might be upset, but I’d like to think that I’m a little more mature than that. 26 turnovers are very unlikeable, but 4 were from the end of the bench in the last few minutes. Not to say that 22 is all that much better, but first, this team has only had 16 practices together, with an apparently new offense; 5 of these players are freshman, playing in their first college game on the grandest stage in college basketball.

I think there are a lot of positives to this game: first, it was a win, which is always a good thing. Secondly, I thought the defense played very well. 10 Steals and 8 blocks are pretty good, even against a weaker team. Half of those blocks came from Ed Davis and opponents will definitely be wary when they drive the lane with him in the game. Although there were no major scoring threats on the other team, I thought the perimeter defense was solid as well, especially considering the fact that the big guys had to shuffle their feet a bit guarding some smaller, quicker players.

Things I liked:

1. Deon Thompson. I thought he had a great game and if he can a consistent force for this year’s team, then we are talking All-ACC first team and possibly player of the year because I’m still not sold on Kyle Singler winning it. Roy said he didn’t need to be Tyler Hansbrough, but it didn’t look too much different. I’d like to see him finish with contact a bit more, but we’ll see. I am also pleased with his free throws because that has been a weak point for him in the past. Isaiah Thomas said that Thompson was as good as any big man in the NBA right now. I wouldn’t go that far, but he looked sharp and I hope it continues.

2. Larry Drew II. Pretty good game from the Ty Lawson clone. Actually, he wasn’t even close to Lawson and that’s fine because he doesn’t need to be. I think a good statement game for him to show that he can fill the point guard shoes. He hit a three pointer to prove that he can and had some nice dishes and only 2 turnovers. I especially liked his little drive and dish to Thompson in the second half and the little scoop layup he had. Pretty snazzy stuff.

3. Throw backs uniforms. I can’t say that they looked that good in the 50’s, but I think they look pretty nice in the modern day style. Really wouldn’t mind seeing them again in the future.

4. Bench play. Specifically, the 2 sophomores off the bench, Justin Watts and Tyler Zeller. I was blown away by how well Watts played and he looked as if he had improved quite a bit from his first year. His dunk in garbage time was pretty sick too, but he played very well and hope he can continue and give the backcourt a little boost every once in awhile.

Things I didn’t like:

1. Turnovers. As I said earlier, if this were mid-season, I would be a bit more upset, but I’m not. I would like to see the Heels limit the turnovers more, but it could have been worse – somehow.

2. 3 point shooting. I know, the two biggest question marks coming into this season, but this was the number of three pointers taken. The Heels were really sinking them at the beginning, but then cooled off quite a bit. Let’s not fall in love with the 3 ball early because nobody has proven they can deliver.

Overall, not bad for the Heels. Lots of room for potential improvement, especially with some big games looming in the next 2 months. Welcome back Marcus Ginyard. You did a fine David Noel impression.