Wear Twins are Out

So, David and Travis Wear decided they didn’t want to be Tar Heels anymore. Looking at the big picture for their two roles, I can’t say that they were going to be more than role players anyway, but they could have done some shocking. I feel the ceiling had already peaked with them and they weren’t going to get much better, but they did surprise me with how much playing time they actually received throughout the year.

They are heading back west, which I’m sure is hard on twins being away from their family, but where they go doesn’t really matter to me because now we have no frontcourt depth. We’re looking at Tyler Zeller and John Henson as the bigs and Will Graves playing the 4 occasionally. With Harrison Barnes coming in, I feel he could play the 4 occasionally, but the need for another big man is very pressing right now.

Coach Williams has been on the recruiting trail a bit, trying to find some unsigned big man, who can fit the system. The hard part is though you don’t want to just throw a scholarship to a player who has the ability of Byron Sanders. North Carolina actually had a player named Justin Knox visit recently and according to Knox’s uncle, was offered a scholarship by UNC. This is a potentially good situation we could be in if Knox does sign because he only had one year of eligibility left. He played 3 years for Alabama and finished his degree in 3, so he can transfer and still play in the 2010-2011 season because of being a graduate transfer. If he does sign, you don’t lose a potential scholarship player in the future because he’s only a one year rental. It looks like a win-win for everybody. Knox is also visiting Georgia Tech.

Knox isn’t going to wow anyone, but he does seem to fit the system and could really be a big help because we have no frontcourt depth and can’t afford a timely Tyler Zeller injury again. Knox was interested in going to another SEC school, but Alabama said no way, Jose’. We’ll see how this situation plays out.

Bye Bye Ed Davis

Ed Davis is heading pro, which I thought would happen anyway, but now it's official. He is projected to be a first round pick Terry Davis said the potential NBA lockout weighed heavily on his son's decision. Davis did say that he would finish out his degree in the future, but gave no indication as to when that would happen.

Here's what Roy Williams said about Davis's leaving early:

"Ed is a wonderful young man who I am proud to have coached. He was having a very productive season before suffering a broken wrist. He helped us win a national championship as a freshman and his injuries this past year were certainly an obstacle in us returning to the NCAA Tournament. We wish him great success and look forward to supporting him and following his professional career."

The old injury bug popping in again. Most fans know that Davis missed the final 13 games on the season with a broken wrist, but also, he missed some time earlier (I believe against Wake Forest), with a hamstring injury.

I would have been nice to see Davis develop more as an offensive threat. One could consider him the defensive Brandon Wright, as Wright was more developed on the offensive end and Davis the defensive side.

Chemistry wise, I think the departure will improve the team. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but Davis does not seem like a team player that Carolina needs. One example that comes to mind is when UNC won the 09 Championship, Davis was in his warm-ups with a towel created to be a hood. During postgame celebrations, he was rather non-expressive. Maybe he was upset about not playing as much, but that was something I noticed about Davis. Next year, you might as well pencil Tyler Zeller and John Henson as the starters with Travis and David Wear playing back up. David is still out until at least June with his hip injury and may not even be able to play next year. Stay tuned on that one.

This is Truely Depressing

Not only can UNC not win any games that we have grown accustomed to them winning, but we can't even stay remotely healthy even while losing. Tyler Zeller returned from injury to play 16 minutes and chip in 9 points and 7 boards, so I hope he is ready to up his play because it looks like David Wear is not going to play against Florida State. Travis Wear might return, but it is uncertain.

Either way, are you surprised? This season has not gone well and I know players are already talking about what they are going to improve on this summer. A little disheartening, but it is reality because this team will not make the NCAA tournament. It's bubble popped and we will not have a chance to add more banners this year (barring a miraculous run in the ACC tournament, which I have no faith in because of the team I have seen since the beginning of January).

I would just like to point out that every opposing team, especially in the ACC is loving this Tar Heels team because they can return the favor that UNC has done to them for the past 3 years, but even the last 5 years. To all of them, I can only say, enjoy while you can. This team is not dead forever and they should check out this piece from ESPN. It talks about how losing won't break Roy Williams and will drive him farther and I agree completely. He may be tearing his gray hair out coaching this year, but if you think this season won't burn a fire under him to bring in better players, coach harder, recruit harder, then you better watch and learn. We'll be back, so foes - enjoy it while you can.

Point Guard of the Future?

In watching the Duke/UNC game, I couldn't help notice how many unforced errors there were in the game (shocking, I know). But it seemed a good majority of the turnovers came from the point guard, Larry Drew II.



I like Larry Drew II and think he has done a serviceable job as the point guard for this year's team, but I'm not sure if he isn't just the second coming of Quentin Thomas. Many times this season, we have seen Drew drive the lane and try to have an amazing pass, but only for the rock to end up in the hands of the opposing team, which is why I question him as the point guard of next year's team.



I'll be honest, I don't pay close attention to recruits until they arrive on campus, but with the struggles this year's team has had, it's hard not to focus on next year's class a bit more than in the past. UNC is bringing in Kendall Marshall, a 6'3" PG, who is rated a 4 star recruit and is the 32nd ranked player in his class, but the the 9th overall PG.

For comparison's sake, Larry Drew II was the 71st rated player, and the 10th overall PG in his class.



In reading about Marshall, he is said to be the best passer in the class, according to ESPNU. Here is what rivals says about Marshall:


With a superb basketball IQ, Marshall plays with surprising poise and at a deceptive pace. He sets up for a burst that is just fast enough to beat his man and controlled enough for him to read the situation with precision. The leftly also has a more-than-reliable jumper and has a knack for delivering the pass with timing whether it is off his penetration in the half court or a
pass up the court in transition. Improving his explosiveness and improving on the defensive side of the ball are his next challenges.


Here's what Rivals said about Drew during his senior year of high school:

With a good mind for the game, Drew has a knack for running a team and finding an open man. Perhaps the best thing he does, however is shoot the ball from behind the arc. His foot speed and overall athleticism is an area for concern as a high-major prospect although.

Now, on paper it appears that Drew is the better shooter, which is most likely accurate and Marshall is faster and a better passer. But next year, Drew will have 2 years under Roy Williams' system, but the turnovers can be such a team-killer, especially when you are a team that's built for making runs.

I don't know who will start next year, but I posted this to pose the question of what could possibly happen next year. Personally, I like a pass-first point guard and while Drew has shown that at times, I'm not sure it translates as well as Marshall's game could in the UNC system. We'll see what happens. It could be worth noting that this situation could play out similar to Bobby Frasor and Ty Lawson during Lawson's freshman year. That year Frasor started the first 6 games and then Coach Williams took the reigns off of Lawson and the rest is ACC Player of the Year history.

Well, at Least They Tried Hard

Imagine what our record could be if we had the same kind of intensity all season, as we did against Duke. I don't think it would be 13-11 and 2-7 in the ACC. But what the game came down to in my mind was a lack of a go-to scorer/leader in the last few minutes. It was an ugly game throughout, with both teams putting their noses close to the grindstone and digging in on defense, but Duke stopped being ugly with around 5 minutes left, when Jon Scheyer, Kyler Singler, and Nolan Smith took over the game. UNC does not have that luxury. Even if they did, they would probably be injured on the bench because that's how the season has gone.

The last few minutes were chaos for North Carolina, as they would dribble down the court, down by 8 and jack up a 3 pointer. Yes, they needed to score, but they could at least work the ball around for an open shot. And we should have tried to go with our go-to scorer, who is still MIA because we don't have one. We probably won't until next season, and even then, I'm not totally sure who is is going to be.

In reading postgame comments, it's obvious the players felt focused, but they all said the same thing: that it dropped in the last 8 minutes of the game. A few of the players also brought up the fact that if they played like this all season, they wouldn't be sitting close to the cellar of the ACC standings.

I thought John Henson played well and is giving up glimpses of what he will be like in the future. When he first showed up on campus, I thought he would be a one-and-done player, but I see that as highly unlikely. The defense was there and the effort was there, just not the execution tonight.

So where do we go from here? Well, we might be 3 or 4 more victories in the ACC, but I'm starting to look ahead to next year. I still support the team and will continue to watch and blog, but the NIT is calling and UNC is looking like they are on the guest list, which I never thought would happen under Roy Williams. Next year's class will help with depth on the wings and in the backcourt and should be special (but a lot of people said that about this year's class).

On a side note, Tyler Hansbrough had his #50 retired last night. I almost felt like the awe of Psycho-T would bring us to victory and perhaps Coach K would die of a heart attack when he saw him, but not last night. Anyway, Hansbrough certainly deserved the honor and I can't wait to go see his jersey up in the rafters someday.

About That

If Roy Williams doesn't have anything to say, how can I? What can I say that hasn't already been said on this blog, other blogs, message boards, and every national sports media outlet? The Tar Heels aren't doing so hot and no one is really sure why. Turnovers, defense, Marcus Ginyard, no guards, outside shots aren't falling, injuries, weak post players, intensity are all reasons that have been thrown around and no doubt, all of them have played a part in UNC's struggles this year.

We're on the bubble and in need of some big wins in the next few games to avoid NIT talk. I never thought we would see the NIT again with Williams at the helm, but I guess crazier things have happened in the college basketball world.

I don't know what it boils down too. And I don't think it's precisely one problem, but several problems. I do know that the problem is not the coach because Williams has taken the blame for his team's performance for awhile, but they players have to take up and take responsibility for their play. They keep talking about wanting it more and intensity, but talk is cheap at this point. We have seen Williams play zone, which I can only remember him doing in the 05 title game to keep Raymond Felton out of foul trouble. He has called timeouts to try to stop runs, but nothing has worked. I don't play Ol' Roy at all for this year's lack of success. Injuries haven't helped, as a healthy Tyler Zeller would have helped when Ed Davis was out, but it happens. We can only hope as fans, that something clicks soon in the player's heads and the W's start acomin'.

Oh How the Mighty Have Fallen

I'm having a hard time coping with this team right now because I thought they would be better. I expected the team to be competitive and at times they have been, but not for a while 40 minutes. Yes, we've been hit with some injuries, but that comes with any team.

3 losses in a row is new territory for we the fans because we have been absolutely spoiled by Roy Williams and his staff and the players he has brought in. There are still quite a number of teams who would love to have our problems.

There is some talk that our team is NIT bound and I can't say I quite agree yet. There is still a lot of basketball to play and our Strength of Schedule has been pretty solid this year with the top 35 teams in the nation. Yes, the Heels do need to take care of some business to avoid bubble talk, but I'm confident they will rebound here. They have to, right?

Eye of the Tigers

I didn't know if we were up to Clemson this time around. Something felt off to me and low and behold, we have a blow-out loss to Clemson. I didn't get to watch the game and that makes me glad because I think I would have been pretty upset watching the turnover machine that is North Carolina.

I thought of an analogy today about this year's team. I would consider them to be Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde this year. Dr. Jekyll would be the North Carolina team that was present against Michigan State and the second half versus Va Tech. The Mr. Hyde version is the one we have seen a good portion of the season and unfortunately, seems to be taking over Jekyll's play.

Coach Williams blamed the loss on himself in his postgame quotes, saying he did a poor job of coaching. Sure, he could have done things better, but he's not the one out there who can't pass the ball inbounds or throws it over somebody's head. 26 Turnovers. 26! 17 from the starters - the experienced players! I think it's getting inexcusable now and something has to change.

Adam Lucas wrote in his postgame article about the team lacking focus. If you read the post-game comments, the message is similar from the players. I think this statement from a freshman, Dexter Strickland, stood out to me the most:

"It's thinking too much. It's being scared to make a mistake. When you play cautious you're more likely to make a mistake."

I played soccer in college and I remember when I started worrying about making mistakes, that's when I made the most mistakes or played the most cautious. When I didn't think about everything that I could be doing and just tried to make a play is when I had the most success. I'm not saying that Williams should throw caution out the door and let the horses loose, but somebody needs to step up and bit and take some leadership. We have seen a bit of this factor or just going out and making something out of nothing from Dexter Strickland some, but he does still make freshman mistakes and cause turnovers. I think this could be the perfect situation to throw John Henson into so that he can become a better player.

In doing this, North Carolina might establish itself a go-to scorer, someone who gets the last shot because as of right now, the guy who gets the last shot on the team for me is probably Larry Drew II or Strickland, but only because of their ability to break people down off the dribble. I'm not saying this should turn into chaos, but it is something to think about. Make the players stop thinking and start doing. If I had an answer for this situation, I'm sure a lot of coaches would ask me how, but I don't. This season that was filled with potential and hype is suddenly shrinking and becoming a harsh reality. Boo reality, boo!

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!

Put Me in Coach

Because I am ready to play. Albany should not have been allowed to end the game on a 23-2 run. Yes, we did have some walks-ons in there, but that's no excuse for the rotation players to want to try and throw alley-oops and no look passes for 4 straight possessions. I don't have much to say, but I don't think we can keep coming up with excuses for this team. First it was youth, then turnovers, then not manning up, then it was not finishing teams off.

Adam Lucas brought up this point in his post-game article and I think it has some merit. He compares this team to the 2003-2004 team, which had to buy into Roy Williams' system and figure out what was expected of them and I can see it. This team seems to be struggling with following orders and focusing based on Williams comments, but I'm not sure. I'm not there and I can only get so much from print media.

Leslie McDonald played well in the absence of Marcus Ginyard and Justin Watts. It would be great if he could use this game as a spring board and produce more when he is on the court, but time will tell. Until next time...

Well, I've Seen Better

I watched most of this game, but in the second half, with North Carolina up by 13 and me struggling to stay awake, I went to bed because I was for sure they were on the verge of pushing the Scarlet Knights over the edge. Well, the Heels still won, but the Knights really never went over the edge and I think it's safe to say this team lacks a killer instinct.

I say this because, Rutgers - thought they are a good team, should not have gotten the lead down to 4. I would probably accept 10 or 12, but not 4. This year's squad cannot stay with their foot on the gas pedal and that's because they get out of control and throw turnovers away like they are t-shirts for the fans. I remember a few minutes before halftime that we had three straight turnovers, which led to easy buckets. There was no real pressure on these turnovers, just careless, lazy plays. If these kind of plays keep happening, it could be a long ACC season.

Now, we do have some good things from this game. And we have to fact facts about this game. Good things are that it was a balanced scoring effort, Ed Davis is a double-double machine, and Dexter Strickland is going to be really good. Facts are that they won without senior leader Marcus Ginyard, and that they are disappointed with themselves and Roy is pretty ticked off too.

If you read, the postgame comments, it's obvious that the previous sentence is resounding in the North Carolina locker room, but perhaps, from Twitter is one of the best quotes of this day:

@eddavis32 Bout to get something to eat and head to this 2nd practice. They say college is the best years of your life.

I'm confident things will change in the very near future.

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.

Decade Dominance

Boom! Decade of Dominance is over. Sports Illustrated is doing their decade recap of different sports and in the process, they named Tyler Hansbrough player of the decade and Coach Williams coach of the decade.

I can't say this is a huge surprise as no other player put together quite a storied career or stay in school for four years, or won a national player of the year, or set the ACC scoring record, or won a national championship. Hansbrough is absolutely deserving and I can think of no other player in the running, let alone deserving to win.

Williams is a bit of different story because it depends on how you want to base this on; whether it is on national titles, final four appearances, NCAA tournament appearances, program success. I do think Williams is deserving because he did go to 5 final fours, won 2 national titles, and has been a recruiting genius. Sure, Billy Donavon won 2 titles with Florida, but fell on the national stage for a year or two after the titles. I'm not in anyway saying that Williams is not deserving, but I can see critics arguing this more than the player of the decade.

Interesting enough, Michigan State was voted team of the decade because they made the tournament every year and won a national title as well as a number of Final Fours.

And another piece of information from this is biggest bust of the decade and it goes to Shavlik Randolph, shocking that we have another Duke failure.

Slow week again, but it should pick up again soon. Go Heels!

Ho Hum

Well, at least UNC got a tougher practice out of the way. Seriously, Presbyterian had no business being on the floor with North Carolina and Coach Williams said in his post-game comments that they had had some bad practices and challenged the players to get more out of this game then in practice the last few days.

Not a lot can be said about this game. With Marcus Ginyard out, as well as Dexter Strickland, the backcourt was even smaller, but players who normally don't play much stepped into some bigger shoes and was able to get the job done. I was pleased with John Henson's effort in the box score and hope this is a sign of things to come.

With Texas looming on Saturday, I hope the Heels come to play and that Ginyard and Strickland are good to go. Strickland apparently felt better last night then he did yesterday morning, so I would expect him to go at Dallas Cowboys Stadium. Ginyard's foot problem is supposedly unreleated to last year's injury, but only time will tell.

UNChallenged

That's a nice picture and it's hard to believe that it was nearly 8 months ago, but it has been and tonight is the rematch in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge against the National runner-up, Michigan State Spartans and your North Carolina Tar Heels.

To be honest, this doesn't seem like a rematch to me. North Carolina's roster has undergone an overhaul because of the departures. MSU has lost some too, but not as much.

But before we dive into too much pre-game babble, lets be sure to congratulate Coach Williams on win #600. I wish him many more because I like him around. It seemed like his 500th win was just 2 seasons ago, when it was probably more like 3 and that's quite an accomplishment for the old guy. I only say old because he looks funny with his sling on out there in his defensive stance.

Back to the game at hand and I'm just not feeling too good about this game. Quite a number of ranked opponents in the next few games and I don't think this young Heels squad are up to the task just yet, but they could surprise me because they have before.

Two obvious advantages that the Heels do have is that the game is in Chapel Thrill, so the crowd will be behind them and be cranking at tip-off time. The other advantage is our front court, as will almost always be the advantage for this year's team. UNC, if able to establish themselves in the paint and on the boards, may be able to run away with this game.

So we'll see. As I write this, I starting to feel better about the Tar Heels chances. We haven't lost as ACC/Big Ten Challenge since 06 and the ACC has never lost, so we'll look to keep the streak alive.

Overrated

Maybe. A little bit. That's what North Carolina is.

That is not to say they don't have the potential to be a top 5 team, but the panel was wrong giving it to them this early in the season. I was wrong for getting to caught up in the hype. This team will have some learning experiences and I know the Syracuse game will be one of them.

I live in the Syracuse area and have never truly liked the Orange, even a little bit. I was cheering for Kansas in the 2003 championship game and I was about the only one in my school, church, and probably in New York. I have been dreaming of playing Syracuse for years now and it almost happened last year, until the 'Cuse ran into a good Oklahoma team in the Sweet Sixteen. Well, the SU-UNC matchup finally happened and I didn't like the result. I only watched the second half and that was the wrong half to watch. This game brought up bad memories of the Kansas game because the collapse at the beginning of the second half was really, really bad.

North Carolina couldn't hit a shot, turned the ball over carelessly, and SU hit everything like they were throwing rocks in the ocean, which led to a 20 point lead for the Orange. I wasn't panicing at this point because there was still a lot of time left and I really thought we had it after one of the Wear's hit a three pointer to bring it within 8, but SU answered with Wesley Johnson, who played really well, and North Carolina had no answer for him.

Is all lost? No, but we will probably drop to #8 in the polls, which is fine because we should be ranked somewhere in the 10-20 range right now because we are not a top 5 team. The pollsters looked at the success that the 05-06 team had and judged them on that and that's not fair to these current edition of the Heels because John Henson, the high profile freshman who has been less than impressive to me, who is our high recruit, is not Tyler Hansbrough, who was the high recruit that could compare to him.

Things I didn't like:
1. To start the first half, we shot 2 airball three pointers, which really summarized how the next 10 minutes went - south. SU will sit in their 2-3 zone until Jim Boeheim dies. UNC needed to work the ball around more and take better shots because we can't outshoot teams.

2. John Henson has been a big disappointment to me. Maybe he's just getting used to playing on the perimeter, but he has not had that "wow" factor that Marcus Ginyard talked about. He's had some nice dunks, but I think that's where all of his points have come from. If I was 6'10" I could dunk too.

Things I liked:
1. Tough early season loss. I don't like losing, but with the way the schedule is set-up. I would rather lose the first game of the ranked set of opponents and then fix the mistakes and play better against Michigan State, Kentucky, and Texas. Earlier this week, I read that Roy said he might have over-scheduled his young team and I agree wholeheartedly now. It looked good on paper, but so did the Heels.

2. Wear Twins. They are easily my favorites on this year's team. Maybe it's because of the Tyler Hansbrough-like work ethic, or maybe it's because they are smart players. I really doubted these guys coming into the season because all the experts said they would be lucky if they saw any court time, so I took that as a possibility of a red shirt for them, but I am ever so thankful that didn't happen because it wouldn't be good. They provide a nice shot in the arm off the bench and it's a treat watching them play. Hopefully, I'll be able to tell them apart before the season is over.

Ol' Roy Has Done It Again

The man is simply on fire. Harrison Barnes has committed to North Carolina and God said that it was good! Roy Williams did not really start recruiting this young man until after the national championship. And he snagged him - mostly by showing off his championship rings and saying "we get these at North Carolina, so can you." Barnes, along with fellow letter-of-intent signers, Reggie Bullock and Kendall Marshall, are ranked #1, #11, and #21 in this year's class and that's really good news for North Carolina fans. It's even going to be more exciting, watching this year's team grow, and then throw in these three exceptional athletes. It's a good day to be a Tar Heel.

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.

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.

Williams: Best Ever?

Recruiter? Yes. Coach? Possibly. Hersey you cry! Ah, but what if Ol' Roy comes through with another title? That would make it Dean Smith -2; Roy Williams - 3. At the rate that Williams keeps bringing in top 5 classes, it seems a good possibility that Coach Williams will be able to one-up his mentor in the next few years (maybe even this one).

I bring this up because Any Katz had a sit-down interview with the current Tar Heel coach to discuss the possibility of winning another championship. Roy being his typical humble self said that he doesn't like to think in those type of scenarios, and that he and Smith don't belong in the same sentence, but the fact is that this will probably become a reality in the next five years.

Now, please do not think that I am disrespecting Coach Smith in any way shape or form. I have great respect for the man, but probably not the same amount that older fans have for him. That's only because I didn't truly follow until after he was gone, unfortunately. But I think he is a great coach; one of the all-time greats. I love that he put Carolina basketball on the map. I love that he took the Duke/UNC rivalry to another level. I love the fact that he had players thank the passer. Coach Smith did a lot of great things on and off the court and certainly deserves to have his name attached to the home of the Tar Heels, but Ol' Roy is cementing his own legacy as Katz put it.

Coach Williams has said that he will coach as long as his health holds up. Knowing he doesn't have too many pains, besides a bad back (we all know it's because of the stance in the picture above) and suffering from vertigo occasionally, it's reasonable to expect him to coach for 10 more years. Let's say that for those 10 years, he averages a modest 25 wins per year. My multiplication skills tell me that is 250 wins. Add that to his already 594 (Yeah, seems like he just got his 500th a year ago) and that puts him at 844 while Smith sits at 879. Only 35 wins between the two. Since returning to North Carolina, Williams has averaged 29 wins for 6 years. So if he stays on that pace, that puts him at 290 for 10 years and that puts him at 884. Granted, Smith did this all in one school, but one must give credit where credit is due. Credit goes to Williams.

I'm not saying he is better or will be better that Dean Smith because for all we know, he could have a scandal tomorrow and be out of coaching, but I am saying that he is certainly building his resume to rival Smith. I know that he is not trying to out-due his mentor, but he is certainly keeping pace with him. The only question is what will they name after Williams when it's all said and done? Roy's Roof? Williams Court? Hansbrough Indoor Stadium? Oh, sorry!

I'm very thankful for the job Roy Williams has done and will continue to do. He is a real character coach and has made a big impact on lots of players out there.