Quick stuff (Miami game)...

[gary-7]

...and sometmes the percentages just don't work out.

And that's why they call them percentages, as opposed to sure things. I spent the last thread talking about getting better looks making it more likely to shoot a higher percentage... welp, while that's true in the long run, that "more likely" wasn't likely enough tonight.

- although we took more 3s than I would like ---especially early on --- they were mostly good looks. In other words, there was just no good reason to shoot that poorly, at home, no less. From deep, it was just one of those nights. We even clunked at the FT line--- that is, when we actually got there.

- meanwhile, on the other end we mostly made UM's looks difficult, but welp... it was one of those nights in the opposite direction for them.

- In summary, tonight was a hat-trick of bad trends, and ya can't afford the first two of those playing with a lazy, incompetent scrub zebra crew, who managed to "find" 4 fouls on Mando all the while he was being ridden and WWF arm-locked on every offensive possession.

- make no mistake, that stretch with Mando on the bench was a disaster and created a deficit that cost any chance of pulling this one out later, and folks, I'm gonna call it straight here --- pardon the country expression, but Pete at the 5 is tits-on-a-boar-hog, and that's as nicely as I can say it.

- and Hubert, my brother... I like that you're finally giving bad zebras a piece of your mind, but you BADLY needed to call a TIMEOUT as we were on our way to getting down double-digits. Our guys were tired and frustrated from a bad stretch and needed a reset. Some better use of the bench there would have helped as well.

- speaking of bench, it's hard to expect a kid to come in cold at the end of a half, and I feel for Seth as he ended up costing us a net 6 points in 2 possessions by blowing a layup with an unnecessary hand-switch, leading to a run-out, and then failing to protect the ball on our own run-out.

Finally, I looked up late in the second half and we were sitting at 2/22 from 3. Yikes. And yet somehow following everything i just mentioned, we were within single digits -- even eventually cutting it to 4 with blown ops to be in even better shape. So... I suppose the encouraging thing is that it did in fact take a hat-trick of badness to lose this one vs a ranked team.

Anyway, the challenge now will be to stay committed to improved ball-movement and shot-selection, even though the immediate feedback tonight wasn't what we wanted. With that said, the elephant in the room is that we've spotted the damn field way too much already this season. There's just no more time for bad outcomes...

 

[PittPoker]

I think the telling stat of the whole season is North Carolina is now 0-9 against Quad 1 teams.

I think what that pretty much shows is that UNC is not a great team or good team. They are an average to slightly above avg squad who will most likely end up in the NIT. And that's shocking when all but 1 starter from last year's runner up team came back. Something is obviously amiss. Is it coaching? I think so to a degree. Is it team chemistry? That too. Is it that Manek was so much better than Nance he was a game changing type player? Didn't think so to that degree before the season started but it's obvious Manek is surely surely missed. Should 1 player missing be the cause of UNC basketball struggling as much as it has the whole season? That's debatable but we aren't talking about LeBron here. Manek was good but imo he shouldn't be missed this much.

So bottom line, UNC can still make the NCAA Tournament which is good news. The metrics, the computer analysis still like the Tarheels but that will soon be coming to an end if UNC doesn't start winning games.

Can Hubert and his staff put together a late late season run? Sure but unfortunately from what I've seen from him this season, his in-game adjustments(or lack thereof), his poor gameplanning I just don't see it. I see UNC as a 1 or 2 seed in the NIT which I know all UNC fans don't even care about.

 

[strummingram]

Bacot cannot afford to get too many fouls and be forced to the bench for extended minutes.

 

[gauchoheel]

A regular amount of shooting luck and we'd have won this one I expect. Didn't turn out that way though and we really needed a W. Too bad. Caleb looked smarter with the ball again. A couple bad plays but he's tightened up a bit.

Can we talk about how bad the forwards are offensively? My goodness. Leaky actually had a really good game on both ends, but this flaw is ultimately why this team is not going anywhere. We got nothing from Nance and Puff. Maybe just an off shooting night from Puff, but he also got beat a couple times on D in the paint against Miller. Not making the case for starting at the 4, even though Nance is giving him every opportunity to do so. I assume maybe Nance is in his head at this point, and I definitely feel for him, but he's really struggling. We just can't put together any sort of help for Bacot, Love, and Davis offensively.

I really think we have to try Nickel more. At least give him 15 minutes a couple games and see if he can hit some shots. Nance and Puff aren't particularly good defensively anyway, and I'd take a defensive sieve if we could find someone who could shoot 40% on a decent three point volume (a la Kerwin Walton a couple years ago). This team needs it so badly.

 

[gauchoheel]

I think the telling stat of the whole season is North Carolina is now 0-9 against Quad 1 teams.

I think what that pretty much shows is that UNC is not a great team or good team. They are an average to slightly above avg squad who will most likely end up in the NIT. And that's shocking when all but 1 starter from last year's runner up team came back. Something is obviously amiss. Is it coaching? I think so to a degree. Is it team chemistry? That too. Is it that Manek was so much better than Nance he was a game changing type player? Didn't think so to that degree before the season started but it's obvious Manek is surely surely missed. Should 1 player missing be the cause of UNC basketball struggling as much as it has the whole season? That's debatable but we aren't talking about LeBron here. Manek was good but imo he shouldn't be missed this much.

So bottom line, UNC can still make the NCAA Tournament which is good news. The metrics, the computer analysis still like the Tarheels but that will soon be coming to an end if UNC doesn't start winning games.

Can Hubert and his staff put together a late late season run? Sure but unfortunately from what I've seen from him this season, his in-game adjustments(or lack thereof), his poor gameplanning I just don't see it. I see UNC as a 1 or 2 seed in the NIT which I know all UNC fans don't even care about.

You're a Pitt fan right? Looks like it by some of your comments on other threads (e.g., "You guys need a Nijel Pack, or even a Blake Hinson like we have"). If you're just going to troll and criticize Hubert, can you, ya know, go away? It's really not needed.

 

[PittPoker]

You're a Pitt fan right? Looks like it by some of your comments on other threads (e.g., "You guys need a Nijel Pack, or even a Blake Hinson like we have"). If you're just going to troll and criticize Hubert, can you, ya know, go away? It's really not needed.

Huh? Who's trolling, I'm stating an opinion that he isn't a good coach.

 

[gauchoheel]

Huh? Who's trolling, I'm stating an opinion that he isn't a good coach.

You come to a conference foe's site and pretty singularly comment by criticizing the team / coach. Many of your comments are about how sad or disappointing the team is. I don't doubt it's your opinion, but that's trolling. Why would you think we want to hear how crappy you think the team is? This is message board 101 stuff.

 

[strummingram]

Huh? Who's trolling, I'm stating an opinion that he isn't a good coach.

Jason?

 

[dtodd4475]

3 balls !!!!!

 

[Assasin3200]

Our 3's were out of rythm and cluncky as usual. We hesitated on our shot selection all night. The Clemson game found us steping into open 3's and moving the ball quickly. This game we were back to slow ball movement and hesitant guarded 3's.

 

[midline]

We don’t have a real power forward. Nance is more comfortable at 5 and Puff is a 3. But it is what it is. What bothered me was the very effective way Miami was defending the high ball screen. They sort of flattened out longer than normal and never gave the guard a chance to turn the corner, but yet there never seemed to be a chance to hit the roll. Yet we kept running the same stuff and there never seemed to be any adjustment. I saw Bacot open multiple times underneath yet once again he was sort of ignored as Puff, Nance, and Caleb danced around the 3 point line waiting on the first possibility to clank another 3 pt shot off the rim. Sometimes one has to adjust when outside shots are not falling. We got out coaches, outplayed, and until about the last 4 minutes, out hustled. Beginning to think the Clemson game was an anomaly as opposed to that game that got everything back on track

 

[heels05champs]

High ball screens. Pass around the perimeter for 25 seconds. Launch a contested 3. Rinse and repeat.

 

[MTaylor93]

High ball screens. Pass around the perimeter for 25 seconds. Launch a contested 3. Rinse and repeat.

Amen

 

[Lewis&Miller]

If you call Huberts offense a system then it is one of the most basic, limited structures with little synergy in the entire D1 field. The reason for so many 3s is that is what the system produces. Staff needs to own up to it. Just the magnitude of the poor late shot clock 3s while Hubert has been at the helm is a symptom of the problem not the cause. The immense failure of the first half of WF(down by 20+ while going exclusively inside) showed just telling the players to do this(feed the post exclusively), it will work, was no better than taking the poor quality 3s. That WF idea failed because it was a dead end one with no systematic player/ball movement. Carolina players are given dead end sets and when they are defended, expected to figure out in "live action" what to do with the ball when little is designed/orchestrated(which of course a system defines for all 5 players).

 

[39 Feet Above Sea Level]

Caleb and RJ were driving to the rack in half one with impunity. At halftime, Miami adjusted
to shut that down. What should OUR adjustment to that have been?
Other teams game plan and strategize more effectively than we do; as a team that is only
shooting 30% from three on the season, all those deep hoists aren’t getting it done.
l love Hubert and his staff, but they came up empty last night, as did our shooters.

 

[Lewis&Miller]

Hubert said after the Miami game, staff will go back and tweek the offense to adjust to what Miamis defense was taking away. The adjustments opposing staffs can apply to limited offense sets is numerous, unpredictable, and even more importantly can be held for the most critical possessions. Systems involve contingencies that involve all 5 players. Leaky should not have to play 60+ games(thousands of minutes) in Huberts system to figure out how to be effective offensively.

 

[gunslingerdick]

Huh? Who's trolling, I'm stating an opinion that he isn't a good coach.

Who asked you?

I get it, you’re all excited that your basketball team doesn’t suck for once. Hooray! You’ll be an 8 seed and lose in the first weekend. And that’s inspired you to come to a Carolina board and act like you know something about basketball.

You must be this tall (raises hand to level of multiple final fours this millennium) to comment on this board.

 

[DSouthr]

Huh? Who's trolling, I'm stating an opinion that he isn't a good coach.

As spoken by John Wilks Booth, what assassination, all I did was shoot the president...

 

[DrJaaay]

It's kind of deflating to see Coach Davis turning UNC basketball into the dook style of K's last years ... jack up tons of threes, don't develop your bench and play lazy defense. I hope that style works with his new recruits, because it ain't working right now (unless we shoot 45% from three-land). Go Heels !!!

 

[gary-7]

I really think we have to try Nickel more. At least give him 15 minutes a couple games and see if he can hit some shots. Nance and Puff aren't particularly good defensively anyway, and I'd take a defensive sieve if we could find someone who could shoot 40% on a decent three point volume (a la Kerwin Walton a couple years ago). This team needs it so badly.

I 100% agree that Nickel should be (and should have been) given a shot as more than a situational shooter,

 

[gary-7]

It's kind of deflating to see Coach Davis turning UNC basketball into the dook style of K's last years ... jack up tons of threes, don't develop your bench and play lazy defense. I hope that style works with his new recruits, because it ain't working right now (unless we shoot 45% from three-land). Go Heels !!!

I feel what you''re saying, but I would temper that a bit. Yes, we took too many 3s early, but Hubert did get the guys pounding inside more after the early flurry. We had a lot of paint points after that. And other than when the guys were tired, the defense was largely pretty good.

With that said, yes, the lack of consistent bench development contributes to said tiredness for sure. Bench development is something that should have been going on from day-one, so now we have to hope to survive it as is.

 

[gary-7]

High ball screens. Pass around the perimeter for 25 seconds. Launch a contested 3. Rinse and repeat.

Yep. That needs to stop. Good basketball is played inside-out, not 40 feet from the basket.

 

[gary-7]

Huh? Who's trolling, I'm stating an opinion that he isn't a good coach.

Your opinion on anything Carolina basketball is worth about as much as a missed FT.

 

[Bubspub88]

High ball screens. Pass around the perimeter for 25 seconds. Launch a contested 3. Rinse and repeat.

Look at the bright side. In December it was " High ball screens. Dribble around the perimeter for 25 seconds. Launch a contested 3. Rinse and repeat".

Last night was frustrating and disappointing but not unexpected. My opinion is that these players are satisfied with that runner-up from last season. They have not shown the drive and desire that other teams seeking "redemption" have shown.

 

[PittPoker]

Your opinion on anything Carolina basketball is worth about as much as a missed FT.

So rude and mean spirited. You deserve Hubert and this team of underachievers. What a jackass.

 

[DSouthr]

First, want to talk about Miami, they were without doubt the better team Monday night. For me this was the second game this season that the other team beat us rather than most of our losses being self inflicted. I think Miami may have done the best job this season of exposing the real structural flaws in this team.

Reality is with our starters we have 3 must cover scorers in Bacot, RJ, and Caleb. Our other 2 starters, Leaky and Nance are being left open for good looks, at most they see a defender flying out at them that has to run out at them from distance (because that defender was more focused on defending the paint. The numbers are easy for opposing coaches to see, neither Nance or Leaky are going to beat5 you with their offense and if they do then fine but their focus is to stop our 3 scorers. By being able to drop off coverage of Leaky and Nance they can both double and triple team Bacot, make it very hard to get those clean passes in to Bacot when he gets good position, and clogs a lot of bodies in the paint to make drives from Caleb and RJ extra hard. This is exactly what the stretch 4 style is supposed to eliminate. Problem is if your stretch 4 is not a deadly shooter, if given clean looks does not nail them consistently, then that power forward defender is able to stay in or near the paint while ours is outside the 3pt arch totally out of rebounding position, same for our 3 spot. So we attack basically 3 on 5 and the opponents get to defend us basically 5 on 3.

If you coached a team that played against, how many shots would Leaky or Nance have to hit before you would have to commit a defender to stay with them? Literally, if either of them hit 5 treys in a row on my team still may not be enough for me to change my defense.

To complicate things, we have a under sized combo guard trying to play the point that is neither exceptionally quick or fast (for the position at this level of play), plays his guts out but is just under sized. RJ IMO does not see the court really well, he isn't a PG that you can see being really adept at driving drawing and kicking to a open spot up shooter, the very tactic other teams drill us with. Even if he was solid with that who would he kick it back out to that is going to knock that down consistently when the defense is just going to stay close to Caleb? The result is a lot of long jump shots that are not going to be easy clean looks on average. Our 3 main scorers do a heck of a job in most games and on occasion we get solid contribution from the other 2 but that is not consistent game to game. Realize last season, Manek represented that 4th scorer that had to be checked, you can hide 1 weakish scorer but hiding 2 is a real problem. There are other very serious problems that limit us but for me this is the hardest hurdle they have to deal with.

It is Feb 15 and so far Nance has not fit in as a starter, is there anyone that has watched him play that thinks that changes? Maybe but not if we continue to play Nance as a stretch, his being a stretch 4 is a fairy tale told way to many times but does not appear to haver a "and they all lived happily ever after". Either go back to the Roy style of play that had his 2 bigs in the paint and commit to the running game or bring Nance off the bench and I don't see any hint that is about to happen.

 

[gary-7]

So rude and mean spirited. What a jackass.

That would be you, coming uninvited and unwanted to a board of a program, the likes of which yours can never even sniff, no matter how many mercenary players your dirty coach buys.

 

[GoNtheDistance]

Hubert's willingness to continue and ride the backs of underperforming players, while not developing a bench will be what gets him let go. In today's portal world, if you are a Tyler Nickel, I'm not staying around to hope Hubert gives me meaningful minutes while watching fill in the blank wreckless combo guard hike up 3 after 3. Hubert's success next year is directly tied to the high risk/high reward ability to get no less than 2-3 big time players in the portal, assuming a few of our regulars don't come back. That's a tough spot to be in for year 3, with the first 2 years we've had under him. The comparison somebody made that Hubert will go down as basketball's version of John Bunting is looking more and more accurate.

 

[DSouthr]

So rude and mean spirited. You deserve Hubert and this team of underachievers. What a jackass.

I would much rather be a part of a fan base like we have at UNC where we can look at a season like we have this season and know how rare it is for us. You know, as opposed to Pitt, a program that just is not relevant. Your envy of UNC is showing, that is not a good look for you.

While many UNC fans do have concerns about the direction of OUR program right now, it has been a disappointing season so far, we may critique Hubert but he is our guy. That is not and should not be considered a open invitation for fans of other programs to come here and constantly point out our short comings, we know them and do not need a troll coming here to amplify them.

 

[WoadBlue]

Hubert's willingness to continue and ride the backs of underperforming players, while not developing a bench will be what gets him let go. In today's portal world, if you are a Tyler Nickel, I'm not staying around to hope Hubert gives me meaningful minutes while watching fill in the blank wreckless combo guard hike up 3 after 3. Hubert's success next year is directly tied to the high risk/high reward ability to get no less than 2-3 big time players in the portal, assuming a few of our regulars don't come back. That's a tough spot to be in for year 3, with the first 2 years we've had under him. The comparison somebody made that Hubert will go down as basketball's version of John Bunting is looking more and more accurate.

I think you have hit something. It is now so easy to transfer, if you keep playing guys who keep failing to turn the corner, guys who think they have a future are very Lilley to look around for better opportunities to play.

 

[GoNtheDistance]

I think you have hit something. It is now so easy to transfer, if you keep playing guys who keep failing to turn the corner, guys who think they have a future are very Lilley to look around for better opportunities to play.

correct. We have been very lucky to have had some success in the portal, but this year is a perfect example of us going all in on a player, Pete Nance, who by all accounts looked like he could step in and fill the shoes of Brady Manek. Unfortunately, it hasn't been the case, not even close really and we are stuck with really poor results. High risk/high reward in the portal and sometimes players aren't as they seem once you put them in your system against a different level of talent and athleticism.

 

[TarHeelFanWV]

correct. We have been very lucky to have had some success in the portal, but this year is a perfect example of us going all in on a player, Pete Nance, who by all accounts looked like he could step in and fill the shoes of Brady Manek. Unfortunately, it hasn't been the case, not even close really and we are stuck with really poor results. High risk/high reward in the portal and sometimes players aren't as they seem once you put them in your system against a different level of talent and athleticism.

Outside of Brady Manek, our transfers in the past 3-4 years have been terrible.. Justin Pierce and Christian Keeling were awful and Pete Nance has been awful.. meanwhile other teams always seem to find good transfers. Kendrick Davis has been great and Antonio Reeves at Kentucky seems to be good and can really shoot it as well. We got lucky with Manek, but history hasn't been well to us with transfers.

 

[imajericho]

Outside of Brady Manek, our transfers in the past 3-4 years have been terrible.. Justin Pierce and Christian Keeling were awful and Pete Nance has been awful.. meanwhile other teams always seem to find good transfers. Kendrick Davis has been great and Antonio Reeves at Kentucky seems to be good and can really shoot it as well. We got lucky with Manek, but history hasn't been well to us with transfers.

Cam Johnson, but yes, transfers isn't building a player up and teaching them. I hate every time we take a transfer, even when it rarely does work out.

 

[ACokeForRoy]

Bacot cannot afford to get too many fouls and be forced to the bench for extended minutes.

That spin move with the shoulder dip and forearm push off gets a charge call on him at least once a game. When does it recognize this? Every time, I can call the offensive foul before the ref does...