That's what John Henson said after the NIT Championship lost. Meaning, never again will the Tar Heels be back in the NIT because that's not where they belong. They should be playing on Thursdays or Fridays, not Tuesdays.
At the beginning of March, I didn't know if I wanted the Heels in the NIT. I was hoping they would just to keep playing. But after the play that we saw the second half of the season, I was less excited about the possibilities of playing in the NIT because I did not want to get embarrassed, but the NIT was beneficial for a few reasons.
1. It gave young players more game experience as well as a post-season atmosphere, even though it was the NIT. 2. We get to see John Henson play more because to me, he was the lone bright spot for this team.
Dayton played well and were a tough team. One of the more defensive minded teams. They kept stepping up when UNC would narrow the lead down to 2, and nail a back breaking 3 pointer. Boo Dayton Flyers. Oh well.
This team certainly exceeded my expectations in the NIT and made the record more respectable, but one must ask, where was this all year? This year's team did beat Ohio State, who had the amazing Evan Turner. They also beat Michigan State who is currently playing in the Final Four. They lost by 1 to one of the top teams all year in Kentucky. Injuries played a part with a number of players missing time, but the turnovers never helped and once the losses started coming, the confidence is dwindled, if there at all.
Next year, should be brighter, but I don't want to say we'll be back in the Final Four. I think next year's team can, but I thought the same about this year's team as well. There are a number of other pieces that will need to fall in before we can truly speculate. One big question is whether Ed Davis will be back next year or not. Another is whether John Henson can actually gain some weight. We'll see soon enough.
It will be sad to see Deon Thompson and Marcus Ginyard go out the way they did, but I believe they should have stepped up more. Maybe they were just role players who were forced to be stars, similar to Kris Lang and Jason Capel. It is hard to image that a chunky freshman named Deon Thompson would become the NCAA leader in games played, but it can just be added to his pretty good player, just not a superstar. I wish them the best as they continue in life.
Showing posts with label Deon Thompson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deon Thompson. Show all posts
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
That One Stung
I thought they were going to win. I had my title all picked out. It was going to read "That's what I'm talking about." It just felt like they were going to win, despite the Mr. Hyde first half, the Dr. Jekyll second half comeback seemed like it was made for this team.
The team played with a sense of urgency in the second half. If they could play like that for a whole game, instead of one half, we could be sitting at 14-4 instead of 12-6. So far this season, every chance to become optimistic is resulted with another poor performance and another reason to remain down in the dumps about this team. I still believe that this team can turn things around, but sometimes I need to see it in order to believe it too. I'm not seeing it. I see glimpses, but not enough to put it together. Not enough ownership; not enough leadership; not enough urgency.
Will Graves played the game of his life and we finally see the shooting that we have heard about for a number of years. I hope it can continue.
If it's any consolation, last year's team was 1-2 in the ACC, beginning with 2 opening losses, so it's possible. But reality is that last year's team won the NCAA Tournament, which is highly unlikely at this point. Ed Davis, Deon Thompson, and Marcus Ginyard said they wanted to have their own championship ring, but most of their actions suggest otherwise.
The team played with a sense of urgency in the second half. If they could play like that for a whole game, instead of one half, we could be sitting at 14-4 instead of 12-6. So far this season, every chance to become optimistic is resulted with another poor performance and another reason to remain down in the dumps about this team. I still believe that this team can turn things around, but sometimes I need to see it in order to believe it too. I'm not seeing it. I see glimpses, but not enough to put it together. Not enough ownership; not enough leadership; not enough urgency.
Will Graves played the game of his life and we finally see the shooting that we have heard about for a number of years. I hope it can continue.
If it's any consolation, last year's team was 1-2 in the ACC, beginning with 2 opening losses, so it's possible. But reality is that last year's team won the NCAA Tournament, which is highly unlikely at this point. Ed Davis, Deon Thompson, and Marcus Ginyard said they wanted to have their own championship ring, but most of their actions suggest otherwise.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Execution
We lack it. Hardcore. Very hardcore. Marcus Ginyard and Will Graves certainly would have helped in the C of C game, but they were held out and though the hill was a little steeper to climb, North Carolina should not have lost this game. But they did and there is no use crying over it now. It's a loss and we can get over it and move on. It is however a little tough because we exepcted so much more from this team by now.
We thought Ed Davis would be awesome and he has been. That dunk he threw down after the little pump fake was pretty nasty. Marcus Ginyard was supposed to be David Noel II and he hasn't been quite that good. He has been better than the Marcus of old, at least on the offensive end, but I'm not quite sold on defense. But I would have rather taken his defense on Goudelock than Deon Thompson, but obviously that's not how the basketball world wanted it. Larry Drew II has been better than most expected, but still has mental lapses and bad judgement and John, Henson, who was supposed to be Kevin Durant, has done nothing but block shots. We were over-hyped to begin with, and it's coming into play now. I wouldn't say we were losing to College of Charlestown over-hyped, but that's why they play the game.
What this loss comes down to is a lack of leadership and execution. Coach Williams pinned the leadership aspect on himself and maybe part of that is true, but the team was down two upperclassman starters. Logic dictates that someone else speaks up or steps up. From the execution side of the argument, they are a young team and are trying to worry about the right plays and defensive sets, let alone late game clock management. They simply haven't practiced it much and when looking at this game on the schedule, the coaches probably figured they wouldn't need to worry about practicing these types of situations right now against this caliber of a team. Well, lesson learned.
I'm not blaming this on any one individual, but the team and I'm just not sure what to think anymore. The lofty expectations seemed achievable and some of these goals are still out there, but I hope these young players know that in ACC play, you have to bring it every night or you're going to walk out of the gym with the C of C loss feeling a lot. Go Heels! Please!
We thought Ed Davis would be awesome and he has been. That dunk he threw down after the little pump fake was pretty nasty. Marcus Ginyard was supposed to be David Noel II and he hasn't been quite that good. He has been better than the Marcus of old, at least on the offensive end, but I'm not quite sold on defense. But I would have rather taken his defense on Goudelock than Deon Thompson, but obviously that's not how the basketball world wanted it. Larry Drew II has been better than most expected, but still has mental lapses and bad judgement and John, Henson, who was supposed to be Kevin Durant, has done nothing but block shots. We were over-hyped to begin with, and it's coming into play now. I wouldn't say we were losing to College of Charlestown over-hyped, but that's why they play the game.
What this loss comes down to is a lack of leadership and execution. Coach Williams pinned the leadership aspect on himself and maybe part of that is true, but the team was down two upperclassman starters. Logic dictates that someone else speaks up or steps up. From the execution side of the argument, they are a young team and are trying to worry about the right plays and defensive sets, let alone late game clock management. They simply haven't practiced it much and when looking at this game on the schedule, the coaches probably figured they wouldn't need to worry about practicing these types of situations right now against this caliber of a team. Well, lesson learned.
I'm not blaming this on any one individual, but the team and I'm just not sure what to think anymore. The lofty expectations seemed achievable and some of these goals are still out there, but I hope these young players know that in ACC play, you have to bring it every night or you're going to walk out of the gym with the C of C loss feeling a lot. Go Heels! Please!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Hooked by the Horns
Golly. Gee. Whiz. I waited awhile to let this one set in and talk about it on here because I was greatly disappointed, but now that emotions have settled down, I can better rationalize this game.
Let's look at some of the positives from this game. UNC was down by 17 before battling back to get it to 4. Once again, we have battled back after putting ourselves in a whole, which they also did against Kentucky. So, it's nice to see this team not give up, even against a mostly burnt-orange crowd.
Second positive is the fact that Ed Davis is such a beast. I was very impressed with his ability to control his body while in the air and then finish the play with a bucket, with some contact sometimes. The same could be said about Tyler Zeller, as combined, the two sophomores were 16-21 from the field. It's nice to see them be effective when they get the ball. This will be a good front court next year if Davis stays and while Zeller may not be a super strong defender, I believe he will get better and you might be surprised that he is averaging just under a block per game.
A final positive is that Dexter Strickland knows when the team needs someone to just make something happen. Yes, he did force a shot before the end of the first half and that caused Texas to get two baskets in the last 15 seconds, but he sometimes just lowers his head and barrels his way to the hoop. He had a few nice drives where he just drove hard and finished. I also really liked him in the backcourt with Larry Drew II. I thought that was a very effective backcourt while they were in the game together.
Now for some negatives. I know the argument has been made that our big men have the tendency to be soft and sometimes I think that argument is valid. For the life of me, I'm not sure why Deon Thompson thought he was Michael Jordan circa 1998, trying all these fade aways and runner-like shots in the lane, but he's 6'9," 245. He should not be fading away from contact, but rather going into the contact. Ed Davis did well for his weight, but seemed like his hands lacked a bit.
Another negative is Marcus Ginyard. Early in the second half, I was really questioning him as the 5th year senior leader. Then he did hit a few shots to help widdle away at the lead, but his lack of defense is what amazed me. This is Marcus, the shutdown man, who seemed to struggle greatly. His lateral movement seemed slow. Part of this could be his foot is causing him pain, because he was probably going into the game, but I must say I was disappointed with his effort. He had a number of careless turnovers and I just hope that if some of this is related to his foot, that he can take a few of these easier holiday games off and rest his foot up.
A final negative is the defense and I'm going to include the rebounding on this section too. I have never seen a team score so many points against UNC in the manner that Texas did. They scored 103 points and only shot 41% and that's because they had 26 offensive rebounds and I have no idea how many second chance points, but I thought it was just ridiculous how often Texas ended up with the ball down in the paint after a missed shot. I know Dexter Pittman is a big boy, but there is no excuse for not putting a body on him. I was always taught that if you can get your butt on a guy, you do it and it seemed like North Carolina was content to try and outjump Texas on the boards. I hope Tyler Hansbrough comes back to Chapel Hill this summer and teaches the Heels how to box out because if they continue to do what they did against Texas, it will be a long season.
Now Texas is #2 in the land for a reason and they are a good team. They showed that yesterday, but I think if North Carolina can correct some of these mistakes, they could easily be a good team. Roy said that this Texas team could be the best Texas team Rick Barnes has had, so obviously, this team is good because Texas has had Final Four teams under Rick Barnes. The schedule has been tough, Coach Williams himself has said he was a little over ambitious in scheduling all these games with this young team, but hopefully in the long run, it makes the Heels better. At least we can say that we have played people, which is usually what some of these experts say when UNC rattles off 15 games in a row at the beginning of the season.
A final thought and I will leave you. This is North Carolina's 3rd loss on the year. Last year, the Heels' third loss did not come until February 21nd against Maryland. The year before was against Kansas on April 5th. In 2006-2007, the third loss was on February 3rd against North Carolina State. and in 2005-2006 was on January 14th, versus Miami. I would say this year's Heels have more talent that the 05-06 Heels, but they didn't have the schedule that this year's squad has. The season is far from over and it could be possible that the worse of the schedule is over. Yes, ACC play is tough, but there aren't 5 teams in the ACC ranked in the top 18 in the country. Anyone can admit, we have been pretty spoiled over the last few years and this year is just a bit frustrating because of the success that the past Heels teams have had. We'll be ok, I promise.
Let's look at some of the positives from this game. UNC was down by 17 before battling back to get it to 4. Once again, we have battled back after putting ourselves in a whole, which they also did against Kentucky. So, it's nice to see this team not give up, even against a mostly burnt-orange crowd.
Second positive is the fact that Ed Davis is such a beast. I was very impressed with his ability to control his body while in the air and then finish the play with a bucket, with some contact sometimes. The same could be said about Tyler Zeller, as combined, the two sophomores were 16-21 from the field. It's nice to see them be effective when they get the ball. This will be a good front court next year if Davis stays and while Zeller may not be a super strong defender, I believe he will get better and you might be surprised that he is averaging just under a block per game.
A final positive is that Dexter Strickland knows when the team needs someone to just make something happen. Yes, he did force a shot before the end of the first half and that caused Texas to get two baskets in the last 15 seconds, but he sometimes just lowers his head and barrels his way to the hoop. He had a few nice drives where he just drove hard and finished. I also really liked him in the backcourt with Larry Drew II. I thought that was a very effective backcourt while they were in the game together.
Now for some negatives. I know the argument has been made that our big men have the tendency to be soft and sometimes I think that argument is valid. For the life of me, I'm not sure why Deon Thompson thought he was Michael Jordan circa 1998, trying all these fade aways and runner-like shots in the lane, but he's 6'9," 245. He should not be fading away from contact, but rather going into the contact. Ed Davis did well for his weight, but seemed like his hands lacked a bit.
Another negative is Marcus Ginyard. Early in the second half, I was really questioning him as the 5th year senior leader. Then he did hit a few shots to help widdle away at the lead, but his lack of defense is what amazed me. This is Marcus, the shutdown man, who seemed to struggle greatly. His lateral movement seemed slow. Part of this could be his foot is causing him pain, because he was probably going into the game, but I must say I was disappointed with his effort. He had a number of careless turnovers and I just hope that if some of this is related to his foot, that he can take a few of these easier holiday games off and rest his foot up.
A final negative is the defense and I'm going to include the rebounding on this section too. I have never seen a team score so many points against UNC in the manner that Texas did. They scored 103 points and only shot 41% and that's because they had 26 offensive rebounds and I have no idea how many second chance points, but I thought it was just ridiculous how often Texas ended up with the ball down in the paint after a missed shot. I know Dexter Pittman is a big boy, but there is no excuse for not putting a body on him. I was always taught that if you can get your butt on a guy, you do it and it seemed like North Carolina was content to try and outjump Texas on the boards. I hope Tyler Hansbrough comes back to Chapel Hill this summer and teaches the Heels how to box out because if they continue to do what they did against Texas, it will be a long season.
Now Texas is #2 in the land for a reason and they are a good team. They showed that yesterday, but I think if North Carolina can correct some of these mistakes, they could easily be a good team. Roy said that this Texas team could be the best Texas team Rick Barnes has had, so obviously, this team is good because Texas has had Final Four teams under Rick Barnes. The schedule has been tough, Coach Williams himself has said he was a little over ambitious in scheduling all these games with this young team, but hopefully in the long run, it makes the Heels better. At least we can say that we have played people, which is usually what some of these experts say when UNC rattles off 15 games in a row at the beginning of the season.
A final thought and I will leave you. This is North Carolina's 3rd loss on the year. Last year, the Heels' third loss did not come until February 21nd against Maryland. The year before was against Kansas on April 5th. In 2006-2007, the third loss was on February 3rd against North Carolina State. and in 2005-2006 was on January 14th, versus Miami. I would say this year's Heels have more talent that the 05-06 Heels, but they didn't have the schedule that this year's squad has. The season is far from over and it could be possible that the worse of the schedule is over. Yes, ACC play is tough, but there aren't 5 teams in the ACC ranked in the top 18 in the country. Anyone can admit, we have been pretty spoiled over the last few years and this year is just a bit frustrating because of the success that the past Heels teams have had. We'll be ok, I promise.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Challenge Answered
Well, I was proven wrong and boy, am I happy to be wrong! This was easily the statement game of the young season.
I look at this game as a tale of two halves and two teams: potential team vs inexperienced team. The first half was amazing and proves that this team can hang with anyone in the country. Michigan State was picked to win the Big Ten and was supposed to be one of the front runners for the national title in April. But after a Dexter Strickland dagger at the end of the half, there stood the young Heels up 16 points, proving that North Carolina has the potential and ability to play with anyone. This game was especially encouraging with some big games looming against Kentucky and Texas. Neither one of these is a guaranteed win, because we have the second half to talk about.
The second half represented the inexperienced team. I say inexperienced because of the silly mistakes like not getting back on transition defense, missing free throws, and Deon Thompson for three?!?! Part of this inexperienced is the fact that MUS is a good team as noted above and you knew they would make a run at some point and North Carolina could not shoot 64% for the whole game. The whole half wasn't awful, just a little sloppy because UNC started off strong, pushing the lead up to 19 points before the sloppiness began.
Things I didn't like:
1. Transition defense. I can't recall a team beating North Carolina down the court for easy buckets. Sure, a team will get an occasional basket, but MSU was doing more times in this game than I can recall all last year.
2. Turnovers. Yes, shocking, but it wasn't the number of turnovers, but it was the fact that of the 17 turnovers, 14 were from the starters, the more experienced of the team, but also Michigan State had 15 steals off of those 17 turnovers. I can handle the turnovers, but lets not give up the ball off steals.
Things I liked:
1. Freshman domination. If the freshman were waiting to show up, they picked a good time. I was very pleased with all of them. Even if Dexter Strickland was the only one who scored over two points, they all contributed in some way, with John Henson blocking 4 shots - all coming out of nowhere, and The Wear Twins chipping in with solid defense. Dexter Strickland was awesome. He was aggressive, poised, and played some solid defense.
2. Super Sophomores. The freshman were good, but the sophomores were outstanding. Larry Drew II, in his last two games has almost made me forget about Ty Lawson. Ok, not quite, but he has been pretty Ty Lawson-like. He is shooting the ball with confidence and finding open teammates for easy buckets. Ed Davis played how every major broadcaster thought he would and showed more of his potential and why he was projected as a top 5 pick in the draft. I still think Deon Thompson is the man for this team, but Ed Davis is a pretty good sidekick.
Overall, great game for the Heels and we see what they can be. Hopefully, they can keep up the pace.
I look at this game as a tale of two halves and two teams: potential team vs inexperienced team. The first half was amazing and proves that this team can hang with anyone in the country. Michigan State was picked to win the Big Ten and was supposed to be one of the front runners for the national title in April. But after a Dexter Strickland dagger at the end of the half, there stood the young Heels up 16 points, proving that North Carolina has the potential and ability to play with anyone. This game was especially encouraging with some big games looming against Kentucky and Texas. Neither one of these is a guaranteed win, because we have the second half to talk about.
The second half represented the inexperienced team. I say inexperienced because of the silly mistakes like not getting back on transition defense, missing free throws, and Deon Thompson for three?!?! Part of this inexperienced is the fact that MUS is a good team as noted above and you knew they would make a run at some point and North Carolina could not shoot 64% for the whole game. The whole half wasn't awful, just a little sloppy because UNC started off strong, pushing the lead up to 19 points before the sloppiness began.
Things I didn't like:
1. Transition defense. I can't recall a team beating North Carolina down the court for easy buckets. Sure, a team will get an occasional basket, but MSU was doing more times in this game than I can recall all last year.
2. Turnovers. Yes, shocking, but it wasn't the number of turnovers, but it was the fact that of the 17 turnovers, 14 were from the starters, the more experienced of the team, but also Michigan State had 15 steals off of those 17 turnovers. I can handle the turnovers, but lets not give up the ball off steals.
Things I liked:
1. Freshman domination. If the freshman were waiting to show up, they picked a good time. I was very pleased with all of them. Even if Dexter Strickland was the only one who scored over two points, they all contributed in some way, with John Henson blocking 4 shots - all coming out of nowhere, and The Wear Twins chipping in with solid defense. Dexter Strickland was awesome. He was aggressive, poised, and played some solid defense.
2. Super Sophomores. The freshman were good, but the sophomores were outstanding. Larry Drew II, in his last two games has almost made me forget about Ty Lawson. Ok, not quite, but he has been pretty Ty Lawson-like. He is shooting the ball with confidence and finding open teammates for easy buckets. Ed Davis played how every major broadcaster thought he would and showed more of his potential and why he was projected as a top 5 pick in the draft. I still think Deon Thompson is the man for this team, but Ed Davis is a pretty good sidekick.
Overall, great game for the Heels and we see what they can be. Hopefully, they can keep up the pace.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
So Was That One
Easy. Maybe too easy, but it's not like the Heels can't use this extra practices out there to get used to each other. I didn't watch much of the game, so I don't have too many observations to relay to you readers out there. I think the defense was pretty good again, especially during that run towards the end of the first half.
Turnovers were lower, but still could be better. The whole team did a nice job working the ball around with a jaw-dropping 29 total assists. Will Graves was the only regular rotation player to not register an assist. One assist I was particularly impressed with was when one of the Wear twins was double-teamed in the post and he made a nice little dump pass to Tyler Zeller for the two handed flush. Those Wear twins are impressive to me so far this year.
Defensively, the blocked shots are awesome. If an opposing frontcourt ever dominates this team, then they all need to eat their Wheaties or something because they are so big. Same thing with the rebounds, but I expect the rebounding margin to lessen with better competition.
Free throw shooting has been solid for 2 games, which is great, especially from Deon Thompson and Ed Davis because they are weak from the line, but so far so good.
It's hard to know this team very well yet with all the sporadic minutes so far this season. Marcus Ginyard led the team with 23 minutes played and all the rotational players logged at least 10 minutes. Dexter Strickland also had a nice bounce back game after Monday's disaster.
I am very impressed with Tyler Zeller's play, as well as Justin Watts. I know Zeller will play quite a bit this year and will probably be the first Heel off the bench, so I expect his play to stay steady. Watts is a question mark to me. I'm not sure if Coach Williams is playing him as much because he expects him to be a regular player, or if he's trying to build confidence in Watts, or if he is just trying to throw different line-ups out there and seeing what happens. I know last year, Watts usually only played at the end of routs, and there was a reason for that. I was very nervous watching him play in tight games, but if he can continue to keep up his energy play, I will feel more relaxed watching him play, but one must understand as the competition improves, the pressure may get to him. We'll see, but hopefully he can be a nice surprise.
Turnovers were lower, but still could be better. The whole team did a nice job working the ball around with a jaw-dropping 29 total assists. Will Graves was the only regular rotation player to not register an assist. One assist I was particularly impressed with was when one of the Wear twins was double-teamed in the post and he made a nice little dump pass to Tyler Zeller for the two handed flush. Those Wear twins are impressive to me so far this year.
Defensively, the blocked shots are awesome. If an opposing frontcourt ever dominates this team, then they all need to eat their Wheaties or something because they are so big. Same thing with the rebounds, but I expect the rebounding margin to lessen with better competition.
Free throw shooting has been solid for 2 games, which is great, especially from Deon Thompson and Ed Davis because they are weak from the line, but so far so good.
It's hard to know this team very well yet with all the sporadic minutes so far this season. Marcus Ginyard led the team with 23 minutes played and all the rotational players logged at least 10 minutes. Dexter Strickland also had a nice bounce back game after Monday's disaster.
I am very impressed with Tyler Zeller's play, as well as Justin Watts. I know Zeller will play quite a bit this year and will probably be the first Heel off the bench, so I expect his play to stay steady. Watts is a question mark to me. I'm not sure if Coach Williams is playing him as much because he expects him to be a regular player, or if he's trying to build confidence in Watts, or if he is just trying to throw different line-ups out there and seeing what happens. I know last year, Watts usually only played at the end of routs, and there was a reason for that. I was very nervous watching him play in tight games, but if he can continue to keep up his energy play, I will feel more relaxed watching him play, but one must understand as the competition improves, the pressure may get to him. We'll see, but hopefully he can be a nice surprise.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
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.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Carolina Catch-Up
Sorry, wanted to do some posts last week, but other responsibilities limited me to do this and now I'm paying the price because I can't find something I wanted to comment on. It was from Tar Heel Blue and one thought from the article that stuck out to me was the fact that North Carolina will be searching for a go-to-guy this year.
Last year's team had 3 players, who we knew could take over the game at any time. Tyler Hansbrough was the returning scorer; we knew Wayne Ellington could get hot from 3 land and start filling up the box score; and there was Ty Lawson, who was faster than a lighting bug. This year, we have Marcus Ginyard, a fifth year senior, but has never been called to carry a team. Deon Thompson returns after averaging a respectable 10.6 points per game last, but never really showed the ability to take over a game. Ed Davis had a few double digit games, but nothing that makes you think that he is going to throw down 20 and 12 every night. Tyler Zeller scored 17 points in his debut, but was never the same after missing so many games. And Will Graves is Will Graves. I have been relying on the fact that this year's team will probably be very balanced in scoring, but the fact of the matter is that we will need someone who can take over games in crunch time. My feeling is that it will be one of the seniors, who is asked to put on their big-boy shoes in late game situations. Remember in the 06-07 season, that team was also very young with a few upperclassman and that team struggled to close out games, which often ended up costing them in the end. Hopefully a repeat will not happen this year.
North Carolina has played in two exhibition games this year, but the first one was a secret one, which is some NCAA rule that I don't quite understand. The first was against Vanderbilt and was described as ugly. The second was against Belmont Abbey and you can read the recap here. If you look at the box score, you'll see that Thompson had 23 points, so he could be considered the go-to guy, right? Well, UNC had a superior height advantage with no one from Belmont over 6'8", but I highly doubt that Thompson will always go 11-12 from the field. I don't want to take a lot of things from this scrimmage because it is just a glorified practice as Roy Williams said about the Vandy game, but a few things stick out. The Wear twins looked good in their minutes. The rebounding margin was great, but it should be for as tall as we are. The block shots are amazing, particularly John Henson. Marcus Ginyard didn't have a great game, but filled up the box score, so it appears he is ready to be a do-all. Larry Drew had 8 assists, which I like, but the three turnovers need to be eliminated. Hopefully they were just lazy passes that can easily be corrected, because once the competitions kicks up, Drew must handle the ball with great poise.
The good news is that the defense is there and that should improve all year, we just might not see as many games in the 100's as we have grown accustomed to seeing.
Season starts tomorrow!!
Last year's team had 3 players, who we knew could take over the game at any time. Tyler Hansbrough was the returning scorer; we knew Wayne Ellington could get hot from 3 land and start filling up the box score; and there was Ty Lawson, who was faster than a lighting bug. This year, we have Marcus Ginyard, a fifth year senior, but has never been called to carry a team. Deon Thompson returns after averaging a respectable 10.6 points per game last, but never really showed the ability to take over a game. Ed Davis had a few double digit games, but nothing that makes you think that he is going to throw down 20 and 12 every night. Tyler Zeller scored 17 points in his debut, but was never the same after missing so many games. And Will Graves is Will Graves. I have been relying on the fact that this year's team will probably be very balanced in scoring, but the fact of the matter is that we will need someone who can take over games in crunch time. My feeling is that it will be one of the seniors, who is asked to put on their big-boy shoes in late game situations. Remember in the 06-07 season, that team was also very young with a few upperclassman and that team struggled to close out games, which often ended up costing them in the end. Hopefully a repeat will not happen this year.
North Carolina has played in two exhibition games this year, but the first one was a secret one, which is some NCAA rule that I don't quite understand. The first was against Vanderbilt and was described as ugly. The second was against Belmont Abbey and you can read the recap here. If you look at the box score, you'll see that Thompson had 23 points, so he could be considered the go-to guy, right? Well, UNC had a superior height advantage with no one from Belmont over 6'8", but I highly doubt that Thompson will always go 11-12 from the field. I don't want to take a lot of things from this scrimmage because it is just a glorified practice as Roy Williams said about the Vandy game, but a few things stick out. The Wear twins looked good in their minutes. The rebounding margin was great, but it should be for as tall as we are. The block shots are amazing, particularly John Henson. Marcus Ginyard didn't have a great game, but filled up the box score, so it appears he is ready to be a do-all. Larry Drew had 8 assists, which I like, but the three turnovers need to be eliminated. Hopefully they were just lazy passes that can easily be corrected, because once the competitions kicks up, Drew must handle the ball with great poise.
The good news is that the defense is there and that should improve all year, we just might not see as many games in the 100's as we have grown accustomed to seeing.
Season starts tomorrow!!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Check This
Holy lots of information. I was checking out some of the Tar Heel sites today and came across this one from Tar Heel Fan Blog. It's from some observers who watch practice after Roy's Coaching Clinic and there is a ton of analysis about the current Tar Heel team. I'll post the whole piece below and then have some comments about it.
A work in progress.
Those are the words from Roy Williams himself. After spending two practices watching the Tar Heels, I would agree. Let’s just say that it’s a good thing the Final Four isn’t any time soon. This team has a chance to be very, very good. Up front, they’re huge. And they all run. And they all handle the ball extremely well. And…….you get the picture. I’ll elaborate more on the personnel in a bit, but the strength of this year’s team will be the 6 guys in the front court. If those six play well, UNC could have a terrific year.
Going in to this season, there are some assumptions I think we’re all making. First, shooting the ball will be a problem. Second, it’s unclear how effective Larry Drew will be as the starting point guard. Third, while Deon Thompson has shown nice promise as a low post threat, the Tar Heels will have to develop a true replacement for Tyler Hansbrough on offense. Fourth, despite their youth the Heels look to be a good defensive team.
Before going in to specifics, here a few overall observations. Marcus Ginyard looks good. Defensively, he’s everywhere. He’s tone, he’s lost a little weight, and he can really guard the ball. The five rookies are all no-nonsense guys. They all take basketball seriously and it shows. Roy Williams is catering to Will Graves (I’ll elaborate in a bit). Larry Drew has the tools to be a top-flight point guard, but his experience level is so low that his maturation may take a while (like, the whole season).
So, after a sort of pessimistic start to this email let’s talk about some things UNC will be good at this year. Rebounding should be a major plus for the Heels. The Big 6 and Ginyard will be a formidable board group (these six consist of Deon Thompson, Ed Davis, Tyler Zeller, and freshmen John Henson, David Wear, and Travis Wear). More importantly, the Tar Heel coaching staff is emphasizing crashing the glass. During the sessions of the clinic on Saturday, both Roy and C.B. McGrath talked about how critical rebounding will be to UNC’s success. The other clear advantage Carolina will have over virtually every team it plays this year may come as a surprise. The Heels should be the best ball-handling team on the floor every night. Typically a young team will kick the ball all over the gym for a while. In 2005, I was almost depressed leaving the clinic weekend after watching Bobby Frasor, Danny Green, Hansbrough, and Ginyard throw the ball in to the third row for two days. Thankfully I didn’t have to suffer through the same thing this year.
Ok, let’s dive in to some specifics. The best place to start is with the new offense that Roy is installing. Let me say that again. The University of North Carolina Men ’s basketball team is going to use an offense it has never used in my lifetime (or before, I imagine). The genesis of this new offense came a few weeks ago during the staff’s annual retreat. Each year the basketball staff gets out of the office just before practice starts to discuss the upcoming season. This year’s retreat focused on trying to figure out what to do with all the new bodies. Answer: They have no idea (this is almost the exact quote from Roy ). But, one thing that came out of the retreat was the realization that there are no proven low post scorers on this team. Sure, Ed Davis could be awesome. And Deon Thompson could come on big-time. Tyler Zeller may be improved too. But none of those guys is Hansbrough. It was the most glaring issue I saw in the two practices – a slew of big guys who can’t finish in traffic. Hansbrough made his living carrying people to the bucket, and then to the foul line. To paraphrase a line from Rick Pitino, Tyler Hansbrough ain’t walking through that door. Somehow, some way, Carolina is going to have to get consistent production from it’s stable of big guys.
Roy and his staff figure the best way to do that is to play to the strength of its post players. Without question, the greatest strength of this group is their ability to handle the basketball. So, when you have good ball-handling post guys what do you do? You let them handle the ball. And that’s exactly what Roy is going to do with the new offense. Instead of trying to slam the ball in to the post to players that aren’t able to finish with defenders draped all over them, he’s going to bring those big guys out away from the basket. In the new offense – which is still driven by Carolina ’s age-old motion offense principles – the post guys will start at the foul line extended. The three perimeter players will be in roughly the same places they have been. The goal is to open up the lane to allow cutters and drivers. This should create fantastic passing opportunities for UNC’s big folks. In particular, the Wears, Zeller and Henson are superb passers. Henson and the Wears are equally as good off the dribble too. Frankly, it was stunning to see the Wears handle the ball like guards. Those are two big dudes, but they can really handle the rock. They aren’t going to blow past any guards or win any Cousy awards, but I doubt there are any big guys in the country who pass and dribble as effectively as they do.
A hidden benefit of the new “open” offense (that’s its name) is the offensive rebounding advantage it should give the Heels. It’s one thing for the defense to check out a guy in limited space near or under the goal. It’s an entirely different thing for a defensive big to have to guard away from the bucket and then turn to box out 15 feet from where the ball will end up. Most big guys will just turn and follow the ball, giving no thought to putting a body on Carolina ’s bigs. For Davis , Henson, and the Wears (especially the Wears) that will be trouble for the opposition.
Another plus for the new offense centers on the ability of UNC’s big guys to knock down the mid-range jumper. Henson, Zeller, and David Wear are extremely good shooters near the foul line. In fact, David Wear could be a huge threat from 3 if he’s left alone. That big boy can really shoot. If he’s open, he’s gonna knock down a slew of 3’s. As you can probably tell, I’m a big fan of this type of offense. Larry Drew should thrive. He won’t have to be depended on to feed the post. Instead, he can concentrate on what he does best – drive and dish. If Drew had to run a set play each time down it would be a long year for all of us. Clearly, Roy has figured that out too.
It’s not a definite (according to Roy ) that the Heels will stick with this new offense. But, my gut is that he likes it enough already to keep it. They worked on it both days in practice and the players very much like being able to operate with increased space through the lane. So what wonderful things will this offense bring? I would get used to seeing lots of face-up jumpers by post guys, lots of drive-and-dish buckets, and (hopefully) lots of follow slams. What you aren’t likely to see too much of is what we’ve been used to during Roy’s tenure in Chapel Hill – traditional post baskets from a traditional post feed, and early three-point shots created by the secondary break.
The elephant in the room, of course, is the whole “can they shoot?” question. The answer to that depends on who’s shooting and where they’re shooting from. Just to eliminate the suspense – this is a poor perimeter shooting squad. There is no way to candy-coat it – they just can’t shoot. The Heels went about 30 minutes of practice time – both days – without making a jump shot of any kind. Ugly is a word that comes to mind. I guess the best way to say it is that this team is, and will continue to be, offensively challenged at times. The one guy who can shoot is a bit of a head-case – Will Graves. But as with Rasheed Wallace, Vince Carter, Rashad McCants, and Danny Green, the Heels have managed to win a lot of games with head-cases. Unfortunately, Graves is no where near the player those guys were. Yet, amazingly, Roy has him in the starting lineup right now. I have to be honest – I don’t get it. Graves looks improved, but not that much improved. But Roy talked at some length about not giving up on players. He said that while most days he feels like “punching Will Graves in the face with his ring”, he isn’t going to give up on him. Roy even went as far as to say he’s trying to give Graves more confidence. Well, I would think making Graves a starter would accomplish that in spades. The reality, though, is that Graves is not a starter. He just doesn’t bring enough to the table. Defensively, he’s a liability. He doesn’t rebound well (and he should given his size and strength), he doesn’t handle the ball well, and he lacks the savvy of most of the other players. The one thing he can do, and do well at times, is shoot the 3. But he’s no Danny or Wayne. He’s a good reserve to have, but a starter? I don’t think so.
Aside from watching the new offense, two other things were fantastic to watch. First, this could be a special team defensively. To be fair, some of the poor shooting I saw was the result of some good defense. Guys are there on every catch, there were very few blow-bys, and most of the rotations were sound. Given the fact that these were practices 7 and 8, it was remarkable that they would be so sound defensively. Sure, there is a ton of teaching going on and they don’t do everything perfectly on every pass or drive. But, they get after it. After what we’ve seen the last three years, it was refreshing to see a team really go hard on defense. Even Roy had to comment on the lack of defense in previous seasons, specifically last year. When asked by a high school coach how you motivate players, Roy used last year’s gang as an example of needing the players to believe in the importance of what you’re teaching in order for the motivation to kick in. According to Roy , he could sense that his guys just didn’t think they needed to play much D last year. No matter how much he talked about it, they just “stunk”…..until the NCAA tournament. Then, the motivation kicked in and defense mattered. Consequently, Carolina obliterated the field. This year I doubt Roy will have to cajole his team in to playing defense. Last year’s team was the most efficient offensive group I’ve seen in more than 30 years of watching Carolina basketball. This year’s team? Not so much. So…I bet Roy has their attention when he preaches defense. Given what I saw this weekend, I know he does.
Second, I was blown away by just how smart the rookies are. All five of them possess well above average basketball IQ. The best example of this is the lack of making the same mistake repeatedly. I’ll reference the ’05-‘06 group again. That year, they all made the same mistake time after time (after time after time….and they was a fairly smart bunch). This year, all Roy had to do was make the correction and keep moving. There is no way to overstate just how valuable this will be to the Heels as the year progresses. I watched the rookies get on the floor as a group and run through six options of the secondary break, and do it flawlessly. To be able to do this during the FIRST week of practice is incredible. To underscore this a bit more, after the first practice of the year Dexter Strickland came up to Roy and asked how he did and what he needed to work on. Roy was caught off guard, “I’m worried about whether he’ll have his pants on the right way, and he’s asking me what he needs to work on”. I promise you, Ty Lawson and Danny Green weren’t thinking about what they needed to work on after their first practices.
With that, here are player break-downs (beginning with the starters):
Larry Drew – He’s improved, that much is clear. But he’s not a good shooter. He’ll make a few 3’s, but he won’t make many. I think his biggest issue right now is his need to show that he’s the man. If he’ll just blend in he’ll be fine. He showed good ability to get in the lane, and he can finish. As I mentioned above, his best asset is his knack for getting in to the lane and finding the right guy at the right time. I was pleased with one thing: He didn’t turn it over much, and never above the key (where it almost always leads to a layup on the other end). Larry’s real value will come with the pressure he can put on the other team’s guards. He still struggles a bit off the ball, but on the ball he can be a menace.
Marcus Ginyard – Marcus is the same old Marcus. This is both good and bad. Defensively, he’s a beast. He’s good off the ball, he’s a terror when he’s guarding you, and he crashes the glass with authority. I’d be shocked if he isn’t the defensive player of the year in the ACC. Offensively he’s got a ways to go, sadly. He really has no jumper. You can tell he’s worked on it, but you can also tell he’s not all that confident in it. He is, however, a much improved ball-handler. Not that he was ever bad, but he is much more comfortable with the ball in his hands than he ever has been. Technically, he’s the third point guard. But I would not be shocked to see him at PG in late game situations.
Will Graves – (Shaking my head). Part of me understands what Roy is doing here. The Heels need a three point threat, they need an experienced perimeter player, and Graves is one of the few Tar Heels that can score with a defender hanging on him. But..but..but….Graves is just not the answer. Henson or Leslie McDonald are much better options. What scares me is that historically Roy doesn’t change his lineup once the season begins. If Graves starts the first game there is a better than 50-50 chance he’ll be there all year. That worries me.
Deon Thompson – Two good practices. Deon has picked it up a great deal on the glass. And that is no small feat given who he’s competing against for every rebound. He’s in fantastic shape, and his hands have improved too. He still has trouble scoring in traffic, but he has no trouble operating one-on-one away from the basket. The new offense suits him.
Tyler Zeller – You’re reading this correctly – Zeller instead of Davis .. I think this one is temporary. Davis is not in great shape right now, and he had two lackluster practices. Zeller was equally unimpressive too. He is bigger and stronger though, which is a big plus for him. And he can shoot (one of the few Heels that can). But Davis is better, and the whole world knows it. From what I could tell, Roy is sending Ed a subtle message.
Ed Davis – So, how do you follow-up a stellar NCAA tournament that culminated in a clutch title performance? By being demoted. Again, this is going to be temporary. Davis has a better face-up game now, and he’s just as imposing as a shot-blocker as he was last year. By all accounts, Ed has never been a great practice guy. But when the lights come on he’s a monster. Still, he’ll need to pick it up a bit over the next week or so.
John Henson – Big-time player. I could go through a bunch of “Wow” moments with Henson, but there are two that stand out. On two separate occasions he was matched up with a true guard and had to defend them on the perimeter (Ginyard and Graves ). Each time, Henson stripped them both. Stunning, very stunning. Henson is a playmaker, pure and simple. He’ll block a shot, make a steal, attack the glass, or make a fantastic hi-lo feed to create and easy basket. His skill set is wide. If he doesn’t start over Will Graves I’ll be disappointed. Based on what I saw, he’s already earned it. If he does, no one will be able to handle him – he’s a 6’9 guy with the reach of a 7’1 guy, and the skills of a 6’3 guy. Big-time player indeed.
Dexter Strickland – Dex was moving slow. And that’s to be expected. He’s the back-up point guard and he’s trying to learn a lot. Still, he’s a big-time player too. The thing with Strickland – and I noticed this last year when I saw him play in high school – is that he just doesn’t screw up. He doesn’t turn it over, he doesn’t take bad shots, and he doesn’t get beat on defense. And athletically he’s in the near-freak range. His speed, quickness, and “want to” make him a superior defender even as a freshman. His shot can be good, but I’m not sure he’ll be ready to fire until he can get a little more comfortable mentally. Given how smart he is, though, my money says he gets comfortable pretty quick.
Leslie McDonald – Along with the Wears, McDonald was the nicest surprise. Leslie is Marcus Ginyard with solid offensive skills. He can shoot it decently, he can slash with effectiveness, and does a nice job of finishing in traffic. Defensively he can play too. He’s built like Jackie Manuel, and at times I thought Jackie was running around out on the floor. He’s going to get minutes at the 2 and 3. I like this guy a lot.
David and Travis Wear – I debated on whether to separate these guys in this section. No need – they play almost exactly alike. Which is to say, they’re both really good. I can’t get over how skilled they are with the ball in their hands. At 6’9, you’d think they would not be comfortable on the perimeter. Not so. They are going create a bunch of matchup problems for just about every team UNC plays. David is the better shooter, Travis is the better defender. Both of them are willing to bang. If a team wants to press the Heels, there is no doubt these guys will be in the game.
Justin Watts – Justin has really improved. He has a decent shot and he’s not afraid to stick his nose in on defense and on the glass. For a 12th man, Watts is fantastic.
Normally I wouldn’t mention the walk-ons too much. But I have to say, this year’s group is exceptional. Marc Campbell is now a senior and he’s not bad. He has good quickness and knows exactly what to do. The star of this group is a guy they call T.P. (settle down…it’s not that funny). This dude is fast, fast, fast. He had several moments where you had to check his number to make sure it wasn’t Strickland or Drew. If he’s in at the end of some blow-outs he’s going to get some steals and run-outs. With Campbell , Watts , and T.P, the last 2-3 minutes of the run-away wins are going to be fun. Those three guys can flat-out play, and there are two other guys who are pretty good too. I’d say that this is the best group of walk-ons I’ve ever seen at UNC in all my years of going to this clinic.
Time to sum up. This year’s team thinks it can be good. In fact, Roy was all over them during the two days. He wouldn’t be that way if he wasn’t convinced that they could be good too. The Heels must find a way to create offense from defense. The good news is that this shouldn’t be a problem. The perimeter defenders are awfully good. More importantly, with Zeller, Henson, and Davis protecting the basket, the opposition will have a hard time getting easy baskets in the half-court. Some teams may think this is the year to run with the Carolina . That would be a mistake.
Ultimately, UNC is going to see a bunch of zone. Both practices included zone offense segments, which is early for Roy . The Heels don’t need to knock down a bunch of 3’s, but they need one or two a half to go down. Otherwise, the lane will be full of defenders. “Open” will help, but not as much as a timely 3 here and there.
The schedule is not kind to UNC early. There are a ton of tough games right out of the gate. If the Heels can survive and get to January, they’ll be very difficult to beat. As long as Larry Drew is not exposed, and assuming they figure out how to make a jump shot, it’s not far-fetched to believe the Tar Heels could wind up in Indy. Again, the post players will carry this team. If that group will rebound and defend, things will be fine. Best case, 27-4 in the regular season. Worst case, 23-8. Somewhere in between is likely. If you really want to be an optimist, if the Heels manage to make four or five 3’s a game (they averaged just under 7 a game last year, Kenny I had this one wrong), they’ll lose very rarely.
Settle in quick. The season starts two weeks from Monday. Hallelujah.
Yeah, like I said a lot of information. First thought is why is Graves starting over Henson? When I come across situations where I think Roy does not know what he is doing, I remind myself that the guy has won nearly 600 games and has two championship rings. I have won ZERO games and ZERO championships. I really would like Henson to start, but what I like and what Roy likes are obviously different things and I know Williams has his reason for doing so. One fact to keep in mind is that this was early on in the practice schedule, so maybe Williams wanted experience (be it little). Another thought is that Graves would do better over starting rather than coming off the bench. I feel this is just an excuse for players. I know Rashad McCants used it before when playing for North Carolina, but that's my opinion. Even one more thought is the fact that Graves could theoretically stretch the defense farther out and open up more space for the bigs down low, but with the new offense that seems to be in place, I'm not sure if that matters as much.
Secondly, the offense may struggle finding shooters, but isn't one of the traits of a Roy Williams-coached team is the fast break? Plus, if the defense is better, they should be able to force more turnovers, thus leading to easy buckets, right?
Thirdly, if the rookies have as smart of an IQ as the writer stated they did, then hopefully the learning curve throughout the season will be slimmer. I am especially impressed with the Wear twins because I didn't think they would see a lot of minutes - not to say that they are going to get 15 minutes per game, but I really didn't think they would see the floor much at all, and figured one of them could possibly red-shirt because of the plethera of bigs, but it seems they can contribute, so please, let the contributions come forth.
Fourthly, hallelujiah, the season starts Monday and we will see what happens.
A work in progress.
Those are the words from Roy Williams himself. After spending two practices watching the Tar Heels, I would agree. Let’s just say that it’s a good thing the Final Four isn’t any time soon. This team has a chance to be very, very good. Up front, they’re huge. And they all run. And they all handle the ball extremely well. And…….you get the picture. I’ll elaborate more on the personnel in a bit, but the strength of this year’s team will be the 6 guys in the front court. If those six play well, UNC could have a terrific year.
Going in to this season, there are some assumptions I think we’re all making. First, shooting the ball will be a problem. Second, it’s unclear how effective Larry Drew will be as the starting point guard. Third, while Deon Thompson has shown nice promise as a low post threat, the Tar Heels will have to develop a true replacement for Tyler Hansbrough on offense. Fourth, despite their youth the Heels look to be a good defensive team.
Before going in to specifics, here a few overall observations. Marcus Ginyard looks good. Defensively, he’s everywhere. He’s tone, he’s lost a little weight, and he can really guard the ball. The five rookies are all no-nonsense guys. They all take basketball seriously and it shows. Roy Williams is catering to Will Graves (I’ll elaborate in a bit). Larry Drew has the tools to be a top-flight point guard, but his experience level is so low that his maturation may take a while (like, the whole season).
So, after a sort of pessimistic start to this email let’s talk about some things UNC will be good at this year. Rebounding should be a major plus for the Heels. The Big 6 and Ginyard will be a formidable board group (these six consist of Deon Thompson, Ed Davis, Tyler Zeller, and freshmen John Henson, David Wear, and Travis Wear). More importantly, the Tar Heel coaching staff is emphasizing crashing the glass. During the sessions of the clinic on Saturday, both Roy and C.B. McGrath talked about how critical rebounding will be to UNC’s success. The other clear advantage Carolina will have over virtually every team it plays this year may come as a surprise. The Heels should be the best ball-handling team on the floor every night. Typically a young team will kick the ball all over the gym for a while. In 2005, I was almost depressed leaving the clinic weekend after watching Bobby Frasor, Danny Green, Hansbrough, and Ginyard throw the ball in to the third row for two days. Thankfully I didn’t have to suffer through the same thing this year.
Ok, let’s dive in to some specifics. The best place to start is with the new offense that Roy is installing. Let me say that again. The University of North Carolina Men ’s basketball team is going to use an offense it has never used in my lifetime (or before, I imagine). The genesis of this new offense came a few weeks ago during the staff’s annual retreat. Each year the basketball staff gets out of the office just before practice starts to discuss the upcoming season. This year’s retreat focused on trying to figure out what to do with all the new bodies. Answer: They have no idea (this is almost the exact quote from Roy ). But, one thing that came out of the retreat was the realization that there are no proven low post scorers on this team. Sure, Ed Davis could be awesome. And Deon Thompson could come on big-time. Tyler Zeller may be improved too. But none of those guys is Hansbrough. It was the most glaring issue I saw in the two practices – a slew of big guys who can’t finish in traffic. Hansbrough made his living carrying people to the bucket, and then to the foul line. To paraphrase a line from Rick Pitino, Tyler Hansbrough ain’t walking through that door. Somehow, some way, Carolina is going to have to get consistent production from it’s stable of big guys.
Roy and his staff figure the best way to do that is to play to the strength of its post players. Without question, the greatest strength of this group is their ability to handle the basketball. So, when you have good ball-handling post guys what do you do? You let them handle the ball. And that’s exactly what Roy is going to do with the new offense. Instead of trying to slam the ball in to the post to players that aren’t able to finish with defenders draped all over them, he’s going to bring those big guys out away from the basket. In the new offense – which is still driven by Carolina ’s age-old motion offense principles – the post guys will start at the foul line extended. The three perimeter players will be in roughly the same places they have been. The goal is to open up the lane to allow cutters and drivers. This should create fantastic passing opportunities for UNC’s big folks. In particular, the Wears, Zeller and Henson are superb passers. Henson and the Wears are equally as good off the dribble too. Frankly, it was stunning to see the Wears handle the ball like guards. Those are two big dudes, but they can really handle the rock. They aren’t going to blow past any guards or win any Cousy awards, but I doubt there are any big guys in the country who pass and dribble as effectively as they do.
A hidden benefit of the new “open” offense (that’s its name) is the offensive rebounding advantage it should give the Heels. It’s one thing for the defense to check out a guy in limited space near or under the goal. It’s an entirely different thing for a defensive big to have to guard away from the bucket and then turn to box out 15 feet from where the ball will end up. Most big guys will just turn and follow the ball, giving no thought to putting a body on Carolina ’s bigs. For Davis , Henson, and the Wears (especially the Wears) that will be trouble for the opposition.
Another plus for the new offense centers on the ability of UNC’s big guys to knock down the mid-range jumper. Henson, Zeller, and David Wear are extremely good shooters near the foul line. In fact, David Wear could be a huge threat from 3 if he’s left alone. That big boy can really shoot. If he’s open, he’s gonna knock down a slew of 3’s. As you can probably tell, I’m a big fan of this type of offense. Larry Drew should thrive. He won’t have to be depended on to feed the post. Instead, he can concentrate on what he does best – drive and dish. If Drew had to run a set play each time down it would be a long year for all of us. Clearly, Roy has figured that out too.
It’s not a definite (according to Roy ) that the Heels will stick with this new offense. But, my gut is that he likes it enough already to keep it. They worked on it both days in practice and the players very much like being able to operate with increased space through the lane. So what wonderful things will this offense bring? I would get used to seeing lots of face-up jumpers by post guys, lots of drive-and-dish buckets, and (hopefully) lots of follow slams. What you aren’t likely to see too much of is what we’ve been used to during Roy’s tenure in Chapel Hill – traditional post baskets from a traditional post feed, and early three-point shots created by the secondary break.
The elephant in the room, of course, is the whole “can they shoot?” question. The answer to that depends on who’s shooting and where they’re shooting from. Just to eliminate the suspense – this is a poor perimeter shooting squad. There is no way to candy-coat it – they just can’t shoot. The Heels went about 30 minutes of practice time – both days – without making a jump shot of any kind. Ugly is a word that comes to mind. I guess the best way to say it is that this team is, and will continue to be, offensively challenged at times. The one guy who can shoot is a bit of a head-case – Will Graves. But as with Rasheed Wallace, Vince Carter, Rashad McCants, and Danny Green, the Heels have managed to win a lot of games with head-cases. Unfortunately, Graves is no where near the player those guys were. Yet, amazingly, Roy has him in the starting lineup right now. I have to be honest – I don’t get it. Graves looks improved, but not that much improved. But Roy talked at some length about not giving up on players. He said that while most days he feels like “punching Will Graves in the face with his ring”, he isn’t going to give up on him. Roy even went as far as to say he’s trying to give Graves more confidence. Well, I would think making Graves a starter would accomplish that in spades. The reality, though, is that Graves is not a starter. He just doesn’t bring enough to the table. Defensively, he’s a liability. He doesn’t rebound well (and he should given his size and strength), he doesn’t handle the ball well, and he lacks the savvy of most of the other players. The one thing he can do, and do well at times, is shoot the 3. But he’s no Danny or Wayne. He’s a good reserve to have, but a starter? I don’t think so.
Aside from watching the new offense, two other things were fantastic to watch. First, this could be a special team defensively. To be fair, some of the poor shooting I saw was the result of some good defense. Guys are there on every catch, there were very few blow-bys, and most of the rotations were sound. Given the fact that these were practices 7 and 8, it was remarkable that they would be so sound defensively. Sure, there is a ton of teaching going on and they don’t do everything perfectly on every pass or drive. But, they get after it. After what we’ve seen the last three years, it was refreshing to see a team really go hard on defense. Even Roy had to comment on the lack of defense in previous seasons, specifically last year. When asked by a high school coach how you motivate players, Roy used last year’s gang as an example of needing the players to believe in the importance of what you’re teaching in order for the motivation to kick in. According to Roy , he could sense that his guys just didn’t think they needed to play much D last year. No matter how much he talked about it, they just “stunk”…..until the NCAA tournament. Then, the motivation kicked in and defense mattered. Consequently, Carolina obliterated the field. This year I doubt Roy will have to cajole his team in to playing defense. Last year’s team was the most efficient offensive group I’ve seen in more than 30 years of watching Carolina basketball. This year’s team? Not so much. So…I bet Roy has their attention when he preaches defense. Given what I saw this weekend, I know he does.
Second, I was blown away by just how smart the rookies are. All five of them possess well above average basketball IQ. The best example of this is the lack of making the same mistake repeatedly. I’ll reference the ’05-‘06 group again. That year, they all made the same mistake time after time (after time after time….and they was a fairly smart bunch). This year, all Roy had to do was make the correction and keep moving. There is no way to overstate just how valuable this will be to the Heels as the year progresses. I watched the rookies get on the floor as a group and run through six options of the secondary break, and do it flawlessly. To be able to do this during the FIRST week of practice is incredible. To underscore this a bit more, after the first practice of the year Dexter Strickland came up to Roy and asked how he did and what he needed to work on. Roy was caught off guard, “I’m worried about whether he’ll have his pants on the right way, and he’s asking me what he needs to work on”. I promise you, Ty Lawson and Danny Green weren’t thinking about what they needed to work on after their first practices.
With that, here are player break-downs (beginning with the starters):
Larry Drew – He’s improved, that much is clear. But he’s not a good shooter. He’ll make a few 3’s, but he won’t make many. I think his biggest issue right now is his need to show that he’s the man. If he’ll just blend in he’ll be fine. He showed good ability to get in the lane, and he can finish. As I mentioned above, his best asset is his knack for getting in to the lane and finding the right guy at the right time. I was pleased with one thing: He didn’t turn it over much, and never above the key (where it almost always leads to a layup on the other end). Larry’s real value will come with the pressure he can put on the other team’s guards. He still struggles a bit off the ball, but on the ball he can be a menace.
Marcus Ginyard – Marcus is the same old Marcus. This is both good and bad. Defensively, he’s a beast. He’s good off the ball, he’s a terror when he’s guarding you, and he crashes the glass with authority. I’d be shocked if he isn’t the defensive player of the year in the ACC. Offensively he’s got a ways to go, sadly. He really has no jumper. You can tell he’s worked on it, but you can also tell he’s not all that confident in it. He is, however, a much improved ball-handler. Not that he was ever bad, but he is much more comfortable with the ball in his hands than he ever has been. Technically, he’s the third point guard. But I would not be shocked to see him at PG in late game situations.
Will Graves – (Shaking my head). Part of me understands what Roy is doing here. The Heels need a three point threat, they need an experienced perimeter player, and Graves is one of the few Tar Heels that can score with a defender hanging on him. But..but..but….Graves is just not the answer. Henson or Leslie McDonald are much better options. What scares me is that historically Roy doesn’t change his lineup once the season begins. If Graves starts the first game there is a better than 50-50 chance he’ll be there all year. That worries me.
Deon Thompson – Two good practices. Deon has picked it up a great deal on the glass. And that is no small feat given who he’s competing against for every rebound. He’s in fantastic shape, and his hands have improved too. He still has trouble scoring in traffic, but he has no trouble operating one-on-one away from the basket. The new offense suits him.
Tyler Zeller – You’re reading this correctly – Zeller instead of Davis .. I think this one is temporary. Davis is not in great shape right now, and he had two lackluster practices. Zeller was equally unimpressive too. He is bigger and stronger though, which is a big plus for him. And he can shoot (one of the few Heels that can). But Davis is better, and the whole world knows it. From what I could tell, Roy is sending Ed a subtle message.
Ed Davis – So, how do you follow-up a stellar NCAA tournament that culminated in a clutch title performance? By being demoted. Again, this is going to be temporary. Davis has a better face-up game now, and he’s just as imposing as a shot-blocker as he was last year. By all accounts, Ed has never been a great practice guy. But when the lights come on he’s a monster. Still, he’ll need to pick it up a bit over the next week or so.
John Henson – Big-time player. I could go through a bunch of “Wow” moments with Henson, but there are two that stand out. On two separate occasions he was matched up with a true guard and had to defend them on the perimeter (Ginyard and Graves ). Each time, Henson stripped them both. Stunning, very stunning. Henson is a playmaker, pure and simple. He’ll block a shot, make a steal, attack the glass, or make a fantastic hi-lo feed to create and easy basket. His skill set is wide. If he doesn’t start over Will Graves I’ll be disappointed. Based on what I saw, he’s already earned it. If he does, no one will be able to handle him – he’s a 6’9 guy with the reach of a 7’1 guy, and the skills of a 6’3 guy. Big-time player indeed.
Dexter Strickland – Dex was moving slow. And that’s to be expected. He’s the back-up point guard and he’s trying to learn a lot. Still, he’s a big-time player too. The thing with Strickland – and I noticed this last year when I saw him play in high school – is that he just doesn’t screw up. He doesn’t turn it over, he doesn’t take bad shots, and he doesn’t get beat on defense. And athletically he’s in the near-freak range. His speed, quickness, and “want to” make him a superior defender even as a freshman. His shot can be good, but I’m not sure he’ll be ready to fire until he can get a little more comfortable mentally. Given how smart he is, though, my money says he gets comfortable pretty quick.
Leslie McDonald – Along with the Wears, McDonald was the nicest surprise. Leslie is Marcus Ginyard with solid offensive skills. He can shoot it decently, he can slash with effectiveness, and does a nice job of finishing in traffic. Defensively he can play too. He’s built like Jackie Manuel, and at times I thought Jackie was running around out on the floor. He’s going to get minutes at the 2 and 3. I like this guy a lot.
David and Travis Wear – I debated on whether to separate these guys in this section. No need – they play almost exactly alike. Which is to say, they’re both really good. I can’t get over how skilled they are with the ball in their hands. At 6’9, you’d think they would not be comfortable on the perimeter. Not so. They are going create a bunch of matchup problems for just about every team UNC plays. David is the better shooter, Travis is the better defender. Both of them are willing to bang. If a team wants to press the Heels, there is no doubt these guys will be in the game.
Justin Watts – Justin has really improved. He has a decent shot and he’s not afraid to stick his nose in on defense and on the glass. For a 12th man, Watts is fantastic.
Normally I wouldn’t mention the walk-ons too much. But I have to say, this year’s group is exceptional. Marc Campbell is now a senior and he’s not bad. He has good quickness and knows exactly what to do. The star of this group is a guy they call T.P. (settle down…it’s not that funny). This dude is fast, fast, fast. He had several moments where you had to check his number to make sure it wasn’t Strickland or Drew. If he’s in at the end of some blow-outs he’s going to get some steals and run-outs. With Campbell , Watts , and T.P, the last 2-3 minutes of the run-away wins are going to be fun. Those three guys can flat-out play, and there are two other guys who are pretty good too. I’d say that this is the best group of walk-ons I’ve ever seen at UNC in all my years of going to this clinic.
Time to sum up. This year’s team thinks it can be good. In fact, Roy was all over them during the two days. He wouldn’t be that way if he wasn’t convinced that they could be good too. The Heels must find a way to create offense from defense. The good news is that this shouldn’t be a problem. The perimeter defenders are awfully good. More importantly, with Zeller, Henson, and Davis protecting the basket, the opposition will have a hard time getting easy baskets in the half-court. Some teams may think this is the year to run with the Carolina . That would be a mistake.
Ultimately, UNC is going to see a bunch of zone. Both practices included zone offense segments, which is early for Roy . The Heels don’t need to knock down a bunch of 3’s, but they need one or two a half to go down. Otherwise, the lane will be full of defenders. “Open” will help, but not as much as a timely 3 here and there.
The schedule is not kind to UNC early. There are a ton of tough games right out of the gate. If the Heels can survive and get to January, they’ll be very difficult to beat. As long as Larry Drew is not exposed, and assuming they figure out how to make a jump shot, it’s not far-fetched to believe the Tar Heels could wind up in Indy. Again, the post players will carry this team. If that group will rebound and defend, things will be fine. Best case, 27-4 in the regular season. Worst case, 23-8. Somewhere in between is likely. If you really want to be an optimist, if the Heels manage to make four or five 3’s a game (they averaged just under 7 a game last year, Kenny I had this one wrong), they’ll lose very rarely.
Settle in quick. The season starts two weeks from Monday. Hallelujah.
Yeah, like I said a lot of information. First thought is why is Graves starting over Henson? When I come across situations where I think Roy does not know what he is doing, I remind myself that the guy has won nearly 600 games and has two championship rings. I have won ZERO games and ZERO championships. I really would like Henson to start, but what I like and what Roy likes are obviously different things and I know Williams has his reason for doing so. One fact to keep in mind is that this was early on in the practice schedule, so maybe Williams wanted experience (be it little). Another thought is that Graves would do better over starting rather than coming off the bench. I feel this is just an excuse for players. I know Rashad McCants used it before when playing for North Carolina, but that's my opinion. Even one more thought is the fact that Graves could theoretically stretch the defense farther out and open up more space for the bigs down low, but with the new offense that seems to be in place, I'm not sure if that matters as much.
Secondly, the offense may struggle finding shooters, but isn't one of the traits of a Roy Williams-coached team is the fast break? Plus, if the defense is better, they should be able to force more turnovers, thus leading to easy buckets, right?
Thirdly, if the rookies have as smart of an IQ as the writer stated they did, then hopefully the learning curve throughout the season will be slimmer. I am especially impressed with the Wear twins because I didn't think they would see a lot of minutes - not to say that they are going to get 15 minutes per game, but I really didn't think they would see the floor much at all, and figured one of them could possibly red-shirt because of the plethera of bigs, but it seems they can contribute, so please, let the contributions come forth.
Fourthly, hallelujiah, the season starts Monday and we will see what happens.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
John Henson Better Be as Good as Advertised
Because he just sounds scary with the way everyone is talking about him. At the ACC Operations over the past weekend, Deon Thompson and Marcus Ginyard were asked about the freshman and both gave great reviews for the freshman, but here's what Ginyard said about Henson:“It’s impossible to watch John Henson play for more than five minutes and not say, ‘Whoa. Wow. Look at that,’ just with his size and athleticism. I continue to say that there are just a number of things that he will do out there on the court that I really don’t know that any other player on the court can do.”
I just can't wait to see this guy on the court. Come on Florida International game-day! But I just hope he is as good as people are talking him up to be.
Also, Scout ran an article about Ginyard, and something I didn't know about him last year was that he was up to 230 in the old weight department. This year, he is down to 205 and has the explosiveness back in his step that was lacking last year. From the article, it sounds like he is progressing into the leadership role nicely and Roy Williams said he is more pleased with Ginyard than anyone else on this year's team.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Duke and UNC Tie?
Unfortunately, though it is just a preseason poll, it happened at the ACC media conference, where all the coaches from their respective teams, as well as a handful of players attend. During this meeting, the preseason picks are made as far as order of finish, Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and ACC First team.
This year, Duke and UNC were both picked to win the ACC; Duke had more first place votes, but they both had the same number total points. This is the first time in the 41 year history, but it is the fourth year in a row that UNC has been picked to win, so that's a good sign.
When I first read that there was a tie, I couldn't believe. I really still can't believe. I know that UNC has some question marks - the backcourt, the perimeter scoring, and probably defense will be mentioned at time point during the season - but it seems like Duke has many more question marks, but that's why they play the games instead of picking the order.
Kyle Singler was picked as Player of the Year and I know that's the trendy pick among many of the talking heads, but I'm just not 100% sold on him. I do know that Marcus Ginyard will lock him down for 2 games. ROY was nominated to Derrick Favors from Georgia Tech, with John Henson coming in at a distant second.
ACC First-Team consisted of Singler, Trevor Booker from Clemson, Greivis Vasquez from Maryland, Virginia Tech's Malcolm Delaney, and Ed Davis because somebody from UNC had to be on the list - right?
One more thing. Tar Heel Blue has some pictures from the event. If you look through it, you'll see Deon Thompson in a suit and tie. Marcus Ginyard also went to the event, but is not seen in any photos. The rest of the players there are wearing polos from their respective schools. My point comes down to classiness. UNC has it, others don't.
This year, Duke and UNC were both picked to win the ACC; Duke had more first place votes, but they both had the same number total points. This is the first time in the 41 year history, but it is the fourth year in a row that UNC has been picked to win, so that's a good sign.
When I first read that there was a tie, I couldn't believe. I really still can't believe. I know that UNC has some question marks - the backcourt, the perimeter scoring, and probably defense will be mentioned at time point during the season - but it seems like Duke has many more question marks, but that's why they play the games instead of picking the order.
Kyle Singler was picked as Player of the Year and I know that's the trendy pick among many of the talking heads, but I'm just not 100% sold on him. I do know that Marcus Ginyard will lock him down for 2 games. ROY was nominated to Derrick Favors from Georgia Tech, with John Henson coming in at a distant second.
ACC First-Team consisted of Singler, Trevor Booker from Clemson, Greivis Vasquez from Maryland, Virginia Tech's Malcolm Delaney, and Ed Davis because somebody from UNC had to be on the list - right?
One more thing. Tar Heel Blue has some pictures from the event. If you look through it, you'll see Deon Thompson in a suit and tie. Marcus Ginyard also went to the event, but is not seen in any photos. The rest of the players there are wearing polos from their respective schools. My point comes down to classiness. UNC has it, others don't.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Zeller Doin' Work
Sean May had a Twitter post before the alumni game about how the ACC better watch out for Tyler Zeller this year and here's why: he's put on 30 pounds of muscle since arriving in 2008. Imagine if he didn't break his wrist last year and was able to lift for the whole season. Adam Lucas does his pre-season player preview and fills us in on what Zeller has been up to this off season.
Zeller could be a huge wild card this season because we never really saw any of his potential during the year. Yes, we had some flashes but nothing straight-up, jaw-dropping like we did with Ed Davis. But that's what happens when you miss half the season. When Big Z came back, he was a step slow and had to fight for minutes behind Hansbrough, Thompson, and Ed Davis. Minutes were few and far between. It reminded me of the 06-07 season when it was Hansbrough, Brandon Wright, Thompson, and Stepheson. Stepheson usually was the odd man out and this year it was Zeller. Things would have been different if he had not been injured, but such is sports, so we move on.
Lucas also talks about how Zeller has improved his shot, which is splendid because if I remember correctly, he was supposed to extend the defense to take pressure off the low-post guys and maybe even shoot the three ball. If he can do that and make some room for Ed Davis and Deon Thompson, we're looking at possibly the best front court in the country. Then throw in John Henson and then I start getting giddy with thoughts of domination. Then throw in the fact that Zeller is a running big-man and then goosebumps overtake me.
Like I said, wild card. Zeller could come in and give 13 and 8 and we would think he's amazing, but he could come in and put up 6 and 5 and we think, "Well, at least Ed Davis is doing his thing." My guess is we'll see the first Zeller. Maybe not those exact numbers, but Zeller has obviously put some time in this off season and has done and will continue to do work.
Zeller could be a huge wild card this season because we never really saw any of his potential during the year. Yes, we had some flashes but nothing straight-up, jaw-dropping like we did with Ed Davis. But that's what happens when you miss half the season. When Big Z came back, he was a step slow and had to fight for minutes behind Hansbrough, Thompson, and Ed Davis. Minutes were few and far between. It reminded me of the 06-07 season when it was Hansbrough, Brandon Wright, Thompson, and Stepheson. Stepheson usually was the odd man out and this year it was Zeller. Things would have been different if he had not been injured, but such is sports, so we move on.
Lucas also talks about how Zeller has improved his shot, which is splendid because if I remember correctly, he was supposed to extend the defense to take pressure off the low-post guys and maybe even shoot the three ball. If he can do that and make some room for Ed Davis and Deon Thompson, we're looking at possibly the best front court in the country. Then throw in John Henson and then I start getting giddy with thoughts of domination. Then throw in the fact that Zeller is a running big-man and then goosebumps overtake me.
Like I said, wild card. Zeller could come in and give 13 and 8 and we would think he's amazing, but he could come in and put up 6 and 5 and we think, "Well, at least Ed Davis is doing his thing." My guess is we'll see the first Zeller. Maybe not those exact numbers, but Zeller has obviously put some time in this off season and has done and will continue to do work.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Health Update for Marcus Ginyard
In case you didn't know, Marcus Ginyard has been pain free since April, but Adam Lucas gives us a health update anyway. But it seems in the article that it is more of a shot update for the defensive-minded wingman than anything else.
Now if you follow Marcus Ginyard on Twitter, you might know his health is not the greatest because he just had his wisdom teeth removed last week and now has dry socket. But all signs point that he'll be ok for the start of the season and possibly even Late Night. I have included a picture of him post-operation from his Twitter account below:
Yeah, I remember that feeling. But, back to the article where Ginyard had this quote about his shot (probably before the drugs kicked in).
"My shot feels great right now. I spent a lot of time working on it. In previous summers I've spent time working on it, but there's no question that I've been after it harder this summer than in the past. I've been in the gym every day, and tried to put in enough work that I feel comfortable with it. I don't want to think about it, I just want to let it go. That's what the best shooters do. I want to get confident in it and let it fly."
That sounds good to Heel's fans that have wanted him to improve his outside shot. We all know he was good for layups an putbacks, but an outside shot will certainly take the pressure of Ed Davis, Deon Thompson and Tyler Zeller.
Now considering where Ginyard will play this year, he had this to say:
"I'm just a player. Wing guard, forward, whatever. I just have to play and perform. I know I'm going to guard a tough perimeter player and I'm going to play on the wing. That's my job."
Again, typically the answer we would expect from the new David Noel. He's just going to play and play hard, wherever that is. He's going to be big-time for us this year, I just know it. Go Heels!
Monday, August 10, 2009
Tar Heel Tid-Bits
Just some random articles and my thoughts on them.*Dick Vitale put out his top 40 for the 09-10 season. UNC comes in at #8 and Vitale says that they will reload. Yes, UNC will most likely only have to reload now because they are in good shape. I know people have always said that Roy Williams is a great recruiter and a good coach, but I think he is an excellent recruiter and an excellent coach.
*Andy Katz put out his top 25 and has North Carolina at #5. He says this might be too high, but that a Roy Williams coached team doesn't often disappoint. I agree and think that this will be a good year.
*NBA Draft.net is an interesting website. I read it because it does a lot of scouting for me, but I find some of their material ridiculous. Nevertheless, they also produced a top 25 list and they included a projected starting line-up for next year's team. Interesting to note that they do not have Larry Drew II in the starting line-up, but rather, Leslie McDonald and Dexter Strickland, at SG and PG respectively. The only way I see that happening is if Drew gets injured or gets suspended for some very odd reason. I know Williams started Ty Lawson as a freshman for most of that season, but Lawson was a speed demon and I think Ol' Roy was looking at the big picture that Lawson would be better than Bobby Frasor in the future.
This time though, I think Roy will go with experience. I'm not saying that Strickland won't see some time at point, but I do not see him starting unless something crazy happens.
*That NBA Draft.net article got me thinking more about the starting lineup for the upcoming season. I have thought about this before, but I'm just not sure what is going to happen. Maybe there won't be a solid 34 game lineup all the time; maybe Coach Williams will mix it up somewhat. Maybe the 6 starters makes a comeback? I'm not really sure, but here is the lineup that I think will happen:
C - Ed Davis
PF - Deon Thompson
SF - Marcus Ginyard
SG - Leslie McDonald
PG - Larry Drew II
Here's a line-up that I would like to see at some point in the season:
C - Ed Davis
PF - Deon Thompson
SF - John Henson
SG - Marcus Ginyard
PG - Larry Drew II
Not a huge change, but it definitely makes the Heels talllllllll, with 3 players at 6'8" or taller. I'm really excited about Henson's potential this year. Rumor on the streets is that he is one of the three best players Williams has every recruited. That just sounds amazing for fans and awful for foes! Henson was a shooting guard as a junior because he was only 6'4" and then he grew 6 more inches, so he's got the height of a big man and the handles of a guard. I've heard people compare him to Kevin Durant. If he is anything like Kevin Durant was as a freshman then that would be stupendous! I'm going to like Henson; I just hope he sticks around for a while.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Top 5 Most Important Players Continued
So here are the rest of the top 5:
3. Deon Thompson is who I think is the third most important player for this upcoming season. In the first 12 games of this past season, Deon averaged 14.6 points per game. Now some games were with Tyler Hansbrough and some where not, but that's still a good amount for him to put up. In all 12 games, he scored in double figures, whereas in the last half of the season, he only averaged 8.8 points per game and only scored in double figures in 10 out of the last 26 games. Now a few things to consider here. 1. Deon Thompson was the fifth option on the floor as a starter. 2. Thompson also had the last 2 ACC players of the year on his team. 3. Deon is Deon and sometimes gets down on himself. This year, Deon needs to be the man for this team. I'm not sure if he would be the leading scorer or not on this team, but he needs to be up there because he has two years of starting experience and we all know what he is capable of this. Those first 12 games of last season were awesome to watch; Thompson was abusing people (Remember that dunk he had on Harongody in Maui?). Simple put, Deon Thompson needs to do the things he has shown he can do all season. He cannot be up and down; it is his turn to shine. I strongly believe that Deon can average 15 and 8 for this team, but he has to show it.
2. Larry Drew II is not Raymond Felton or Ty Lawson and right now, he doesn't need to be. He needs to be Larry Drew II. If he can play in his role and not force the issue, but play Roy Williams style and be the floor leader, not necessarily, the team leader, UNC will be successful. What I like about Drew is that he is a pass first guy and I always appreciate that as a fan. Ed Cota was one of my favorite players because he was a pass first (and often pass second) point guard. Now Lawson and Felton are more scorers, but they have had plenty of assists as well. Drew did not shoot well this past year, but from what Roy Williams has said, Drew has improved. But again, he does not have to be a scorer for this team to be successful. If he can limit turnovers and run the offense, he will be fine for us this year. I would also like to see Drew on the defensive end this year because from what I have heard, he's a good defender, but it's hard to see that in 2-3 minute spurts like he received this past year. That won't be an issue this year.
I'll reveal #1 later. It probably won't be a huge shocker, but you still keep reading, right?
3. Deon Thompson is who I think is the third most important player for this upcoming season. In the first 12 games of this past season, Deon averaged 14.6 points per game. Now some games were with Tyler Hansbrough and some where not, but that's still a good amount for him to put up. In all 12 games, he scored in double figures, whereas in the last half of the season, he only averaged 8.8 points per game and only scored in double figures in 10 out of the last 26 games. Now a few things to consider here. 1. Deon Thompson was the fifth option on the floor as a starter. 2. Thompson also had the last 2 ACC players of the year on his team. 3. Deon is Deon and sometimes gets down on himself. This year, Deon needs to be the man for this team. I'm not sure if he would be the leading scorer or not on this team, but he needs to be up there because he has two years of starting experience and we all know what he is capable of this. Those first 12 games of last season were awesome to watch; Thompson was abusing people (Remember that dunk he had on Harongody in Maui?). Simple put, Deon Thompson needs to do the things he has shown he can do all season. He cannot be up and down; it is his turn to shine. I strongly believe that Deon can average 15 and 8 for this team, but he has to show it.
2. Larry Drew II is not Raymond Felton or Ty Lawson and right now, he doesn't need to be. He needs to be Larry Drew II. If he can play in his role and not force the issue, but play Roy Williams style and be the floor leader, not necessarily, the team leader, UNC will be successful. What I like about Drew is that he is a pass first guy and I always appreciate that as a fan. Ed Cota was one of my favorite players because he was a pass first (and often pass second) point guard. Now Lawson and Felton are more scorers, but they have had plenty of assists as well. Drew did not shoot well this past year, but from what Roy Williams has said, Drew has improved. But again, he does not have to be a scorer for this team to be successful. If he can limit turnovers and run the offense, he will be fine for us this year. I would also like to see Drew on the defensive end this year because from what I have heard, he's a good defender, but it's hard to see that in 2-3 minute spurts like he received this past year. That won't be an issue this year.
I'll reveal #1 later. It probably won't be a huge shocker, but you still keep reading, right?
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Some More Hype
I still haven't decided on the most important players for the upcoming year, but I do have more that relates to yesterday's post.
ESPN's Dickie V and Andy Katz put out some hype articles, with Vitales' Rolls Royce team and Katz with his talk of all the returning talent.
First on Dick Vitale's piece, who by the way, I don't think he is pro-Duke or pro-Carolina. I think he gives both equal praise and he's just a really intense person. But he a bazillion players on his teams, with 7 different teams, plus honorable mentions. I see that Kyle Singler is on the first team and Ed Davis is on the sixth team. I also notice that Ed Davis is the only returning player not to average double digits in points, so obviously that's saying something, like believe the hype. I do love how experts always have such varying opinions. Yesterday, Ed Davis was 11th, today he is around the 30th. Hopefully his draft stock doesn't plummet this much. Deon Thompson also made the list, but as an honorable mention, which means he's probably ranked in the 50's on Vitale's system.
Katz, who is probably my favorite analysis, hit the nail right on the head, in my opinion anyway. Here's what he said:
Davis had buzz after his Final Four performance this spring. In this draft, he would have gone in the top five, but how will he handle being the go-to guy in the post? Will he even get that tag with Deon Thompson? Davis needs to show he can deliver for the Tar Heels on a consistent basis. He didn't have the chance this past season because of Tyler Hansbrough. Now he does. Let's see how he handles the pressure.
I think he's right on. He's top five pick because of his projected talent. But it's not like he's going to be handed the post area because Tyler Hansbrough is gone. He has to deal with Deon Thompson, who both have similar offensive games, with Deon extending his range a bit this past season. What if Deon is the man this year? We don't know how it will go down. Also, Davis will be under a lot of pressure. Two mock drafts I have seen for next year have him at #2 and #6. That's a lot of potential money for a 19-20 year old. Hopefully fan, pro scouts, and probably even teammate talk of his game won't weigh him down.
One other note, not related to UNC, but kinda is. Luke Harangody returned for his senior year and it looks like he will have a Tyler Hansbrough-like year in terms of setting all these records for Notre Dame. But I highly doubt he will ride off in the same fashion that Hansbrough did.
ESPN's Dickie V and Andy Katz put out some hype articles, with Vitales' Rolls Royce team and Katz with his talk of all the returning talent.
First on Dick Vitale's piece, who by the way, I don't think he is pro-Duke or pro-Carolina. I think he gives both equal praise and he's just a really intense person. But he a bazillion players on his teams, with 7 different teams, plus honorable mentions. I see that Kyle Singler is on the first team and Ed Davis is on the sixth team. I also notice that Ed Davis is the only returning player not to average double digits in points, so obviously that's saying something, like believe the hype. I do love how experts always have such varying opinions. Yesterday, Ed Davis was 11th, today he is around the 30th. Hopefully his draft stock doesn't plummet this much. Deon Thompson also made the list, but as an honorable mention, which means he's probably ranked in the 50's on Vitale's system.
Katz, who is probably my favorite analysis, hit the nail right on the head, in my opinion anyway. Here's what he said:
Davis had buzz after his Final Four performance this spring. In this draft, he would have gone in the top five, but how will he handle being the go-to guy in the post? Will he even get that tag with Deon Thompson? Davis needs to show he can deliver for the Tar Heels on a consistent basis. He didn't have the chance this past season because of Tyler Hansbrough. Now he does. Let's see how he handles the pressure.
I think he's right on. He's top five pick because of his projected talent. But it's not like he's going to be handed the post area because Tyler Hansbrough is gone. He has to deal with Deon Thompson, who both have similar offensive games, with Deon extending his range a bit this past season. What if Deon is the man this year? We don't know how it will go down. Also, Davis will be under a lot of pressure. Two mock drafts I have seen for next year have him at #2 and #6. That's a lot of potential money for a 19-20 year old. Hopefully fan, pro scouts, and probably even teammate talk of his game won't weigh him down.
One other note, not related to UNC, but kinda is. Luke Harangody returned for his senior year and it looks like he will have a Tyler Hansbrough-like year in terms of setting all these records for Notre Dame. But I highly doubt he will ride off in the same fashion that Hansbrough did.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Video Tour of the White House
Bobby Frasor was given a camera by ESPN to film the Tar Heels recent trip to the White House. It is actually pretty funny, so check it out.
I'll be giving draft updates soon. It helps with the lottery being tonight as we will see more talk of the draft.
I'll be giving draft updates soon. It helps with the lottery being tonight as we will see more talk of the draft.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Season in Review: Deon Thompson
I know, I did it out of order. I was supposed to go numerically and I blew it by jumping from Ty Lawson to Wayne Ellington. Maybe it's ironic because Deon Thompson can be overlooked. Deon Thompson is a special player, but you really never knew what you were going to get out of him. Would it be the Thompson who was so dominate at the beginning of the year, or was it the barely-show up Thompson? Now people get down on Thompson a bit, but I don’t like to. He can get down on himself quite a bit and lose confidence, but when he’s on, he’s on. If you think of the game at Duke, he carried us in the first half. If you think about the championship game against MSU, he contributed quite a bit.Things I didn’t like:
1. Lack on confidence. Obviously that hurts Deon quite a bit, but it also hurts our team. I don’t think we want to run the offense through a player that doesn’t have any confidence, but maybe that’s how you get him over the hump, by running some plays for him. But then again, Coach Williams doesn’t really like to run set plays very often. I don’t know.
2. Free throw shooting. Deon is somewhere in the 50% range, which to me, makes him a liability. We have been spoiled with Hansbrough’s good shooting, but Deon makes up for it. I would like to see him improve into the 60% range.
Things I liked:
1. Knew his role. If you watched Thompson, he plays pretty hard and doesn’t demand the ball. He knew that he was the fifth option on the team. Sure, he forced some shots, but who didn’t on the team? He never tried to do more than the team needed him to do.
2. Expanded range. Thompson has worked on his range a bit and is not hitting the 10-12 foot jumper regularly. If he could get it consistently to 15 feet, that would free things up for Davis next year. His jump shot looks pretty good too.
3. Improvement on defense. With college basketball seemingly getting more perimeter-oriented (in my mind anyway), the power forward position will need to guard more Kyle Singler-like players. Like, Ed Davis, I thought Deon improved quite a bit on perimeter defense. He also proved he can bang with the big boys by guarding Blake Griffin quite a bit.
We have seen what Deon can be like, when he was the man at the beginning of the year. It would be nice if that could transcend into a full season. My feeling is that he will be better scorer and probably get 14 points and 8 boards per game, but we’ll see. It really depends on how good John Henson and Leslie McDonald are. We’ll see.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Destiny is Calling
I can’t describe the joy I felt when Hansbrough hugged his coach. That big grin on Roy’s face was priceless and the big man’s excitement was equally priceless. He was running around like a fool out there when the final horn sounded and it was funny. Four years of hard work for this year’s class culminated last night with a National Championship and it was special. Unfortunately, the game wasn’t close, but that may have been a good thing with the anxiety and nervousness I was feeling before tip-off. But when the score was 12-5, I didn’t think we would have a chance to lose. Too much will and determination. That first half was special, I hope you realize: 55 points, 21 point lead. Michigan State was lucky to not be down by 30 with as many turnovers as they had. They did shoot 44% in the 1st half, but those turnovers did pile up.
They piled up to the tune of 9 steals. 8 of them by Lawson – an NCAA championship game record. I don’t know how many points they scored off them, but it was one-sided. The effort was amazing, even if the shots weren’t fall in the second half. The defense was great. I have said on this blog that good offensive and average defense will win us games, but it turned out the last 3 games that good defense and average offense won us the championship.
And that Championship takes the monkey of the back of so many people:
1. Roy Williams for winning a championship with his own recruits and being a "game" coach instead of a recruiting coach (a lot was made of Izzo being a great coach on strategy and quick turn arounds)
2. Tyler Hansbrough for going down as the greatest player in UNC history and one of the top 10 in college basketball history and a National Champion.
3. Wayne Ellington, silencing his tournament critics, when they related the past tournament failures to his own shooting woes.
4. Ty Lawson, proving again how tough he is and how important he is.
5. Bobby Frasor for being able to survive the whole year and win.
6. Deon Thompson proving he can produce in games that matter.
7. The North Carolina team, saying that talent doesn’t win championships, and that a good offense beats a good defense.
Destiny was in the house, but it was on UNC’s side. If I could pick a theme for the year, and I think Roy Williams would agree with me, mostly because we're golfing buddies (I wish), would be overcoming adversity It's unfortunate that we never saw this team at full strength. Ginyard missed most of the season; same for Zeller, Graves was suspended. Bobby was never really Bobby. Ty Lawson was hurt towards the end of the year. Hansbrough missed some time. Ellington struggled early on. But as Wayne Ellington said at his post game interview, they all came back for this moment and all the hard work has paid off.
They piled up to the tune of 9 steals. 8 of them by Lawson – an NCAA championship game record. I don’t know how many points they scored off them, but it was one-sided. The effort was amazing, even if the shots weren’t fall in the second half. The defense was great. I have said on this blog that good offensive and average defense will win us games, but it turned out the last 3 games that good defense and average offense won us the championship.
And that Championship takes the monkey of the back of so many people:
1. Roy Williams for winning a championship with his own recruits and being a "game" coach instead of a recruiting coach (a lot was made of Izzo being a great coach on strategy and quick turn arounds)
2. Tyler Hansbrough for going down as the greatest player in UNC history and one of the top 10 in college basketball history and a National Champion.
3. Wayne Ellington, silencing his tournament critics, when they related the past tournament failures to his own shooting woes.
4. Ty Lawson, proving again how tough he is and how important he is.
5. Bobby Frasor for being able to survive the whole year and win.
6. Deon Thompson proving he can produce in games that matter.
7. The North Carolina team, saying that talent doesn’t win championships, and that a good offense beats a good defense.
Destiny was in the house, but it was on UNC’s side. If I could pick a theme for the year, and I think Roy Williams would agree with me, mostly because we're golfing buddies (I wish), would be overcoming adversity It's unfortunate that we never saw this team at full strength. Ginyard missed most of the season; same for Zeller, Graves was suspended. Bobby was never really Bobby. Ty Lawson was hurt towards the end of the year. Hansbrough missed some time. Ellington struggled early on. But as Wayne Ellington said at his post game interview, they all came back for this moment and all the hard work has paid off.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
UNC 83 - Nova 69
You should go check out the box score right now, because it's pretty ugly. Probably the only 3 good stats in the box score are the 3 point percentage, the free throw attempts, and the final score. Everything else is very non-North Carolina-like numbers. This was a very ugly game, mostly the second half because we were playing very well in the first, except that lapse there at the end of the half to let Nova be within 9. Oh well. You have to be happy with the results.
Things I didn't like:
1. Rebounds. I think we forgot how to box out as Nova had 19 offensive boards, but you must understand that, despite the lack of size that Villanova has, they play tough and actually out-rebound their opponents by 4 or 5 per game. Case in point is this game 50-46.
2. Shots. Yes, we did shoot 50% from 3 land, but we did shoot 22 times. I don't like it when we fall in love with the longball. I feel we should have taken the game in the paint, but they might not have gotten a lot of the calls because they weren't getting them to begin with (there should have been a few loose ball fouls or away from the ball fouls. This went both ways). I think there was a lot of excessive hitting going on, which may have attributed to the low shooting percentage, but some of the shots were forced. I also hope we don't fall in love with the 3 on Monday.
3. Free Throws. Mostly Hansbrough and Lawson, but as I have said before, they will bounce back.
4. Turnovers. We looked pretty careless out there, especially at the beginning. Lawson had 4 turnovers, which was very shocking. We need to do a better job protecting the ball on Monday.
Things I liked:
1. Defense. Last 2 opponents have attempted a bazillion 3's and only made 7 of them. UNC is playing great defense and as I have said, average defense and good shooting (45-50% area) should win us most of our games. Even though North Carolina did give up way to many offensive rebounds, I though Hansbrough, Thompson, Ellington, Lawson, Davis, and Frasor all had strong rebounds throughout the game. Villanova is a scrappy team, and UNC was able to hold them off.
2. Ty Lawson. You probably saw the sign during halftime - "He laid down the LAW, SON" or something close to that. Well, we had another excellent game, minus the 4 turnovers and poor free throw shooting. He's pretty special to watch and I love watching his emotion and him beating his chest. Thankfully he did get his number 5 back as well. I was worried #25 would doom us for awhile.
3. Hustle. Bobby Frasor had 5 offensive rebounds. Only Dante Cunningham had more with 7, but he is a long and active big man. I think on just about all of his offensive rebounds, Bobby was running the ball down and then pulled it back out. How about the play where Ty Lawson somehow picked up the ball near half court, without going out of bounds, and raced down court, dumping off to Hansbrough who was fouled. Or with Ed Davis shooting some free throws, he missed them both, but Danny Green tipped the ball up, it hit the rim, and then he pinned it against the cushion on the bottom of the backboard until he could grab it, and kick it back out. All of these were big plays and shows that this team is competitive, determined, and focused. They have the fire in their eyes. Just look at Lawson when he makes a big shot or gets an and 1. Look at Ellington when he is stroking it. Look at the bench, cheering on the team.
This game was not pretty and there are several fundamental things that can be fixed. I can't find the link (there has only been a 100 UNC stories to read since last night's game), but Danny Green, when he looked at the box score said that these things can be fixed and I have no doubt that they will be fixed by Monday.
Monday's game is the rematch of a brutal slaughter earlier in the year, but both teams have changed since then. Yes, MSU has a home court advantage, but remember in 05, Illinois was playing in their backyard in St. Louis. UNC is a very good road team, case in point the earlier game against MSU. No, MSU was not at full strength, but neither was Hansbrough (still playing through shin and ankle problems), Ellington (wasn't really the Ellington we knew until the ACC season), Davis was still learning, Zeller was out, and Lawson was still playing second fiddle to Hansbrough. I know the game will be a lot closer; we will see who wants to more.
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