Quick stuff (PU game)...

[gary-7]

...and this one was about where we are.

- The verdict there is not all bad by any means. As @Indy_Heel and some of the PU visitors correctly told us, they are simply deeper and more experienced than we are, and Leaky being out just reiterated our lack of backcourt depth.

- Speaking of depth, there were critical spells in both halves in which our fatigue was apparent and caused some general team lapses. The most egregious came right before the under-8. After finally getting a lead, we short-armed WIDE open shots, while they cashed in on the resulting transition opportunities, and in blink of an eye we're down 9. But then. rested after the timeout, we go on a run, but that ran outta gas eventually as well.

- It looked at first as if they were gonna just crush us inside, I was imploring our guys to "force them higher!", and to our Bigs' credit, they did, but picked up some ticky-tack (read: crappy) foul calls --- but you hafta do it. The hard part came in the second half when they were able to get entries into Williams with Garcia on his back. That was a bad formula for us.

- The good news was our commitment to block-outs, and that was big in keeping us within reach.

- Ant Harris finally got a chance for some minutes --- and proceeded to turn it over twice (sigh), but looked better once he settled in, and he's a willing defender. But speaking of defense, Kerwin trying to guard their Euro-sniper was a wildfire waiting to happen --- and, phew, it did. I mean, #55 is a handful for anyone, but you just can't play follow-the-leader around screens --- you MUST defend with your feet and recover to spots. Once Ant and/or Caleb did that, we kept him in check.

- Also, as one of the PU visitors told us, they struggle defending Stretch Bigs, and Garcia in particular took full advantage from deep. With that said, back in the day when we were spread out in the Four Corners, Dean had a rule for his Bigs --- they were only allowed to take one dribble off a catch. Thus, if they were in a corner, that kept them from ill-advised drives (well, except for James Worthy, who could take one bounce from the corner and dunk). I'd love to see Hubert insert a similar rule with Dawson.'

- Finally, with all that said, boy oh boy, nothing like bad omens to start a game --- Leaky sick and Jamie Luckie following us to Vegas -- talk about a buzz-kill, and can't say much for the rest of that crew either. Let's get real, that's not a good formula for a Big 10 hockey game, and yep, we get no FTs in the first half, and hell, I saw more illegal screens than at a porno multiplex. But as always, we have to come in knowing that and play thru it... but I'll tell ya, In particular, those aforementioned ticky-tacks hamstrung Bacot, and with him out, our post defense went south. Mando has to be able to stay on the floor longer going forward.

Anyway, back to that "identity" thing from my last "stuff" post, Purdue definitely has theirs and played well to that. We're still a work-in-progress in that sense, but the good news is there were some things today to build on as we discover ours. Just for one example, seeing our flash of playing 44 at the end reminds us that Carolina multiple defenses are still on the horizon. More immediately, let's hope the guys approach our game with Barnes' crew tomorrow with a positive attitude of taking the next step to becoming the team we can be...

 

[gauchoheel]

Pretty fun game overall and thought we looked about what could be expected. Given the struggles against Brown/Charleston I feared we might not be ready, but that was close for 35 minutes. Would be pretty satisfied if we can beat Tenn tomorrow.

Is Bacot coming back next year? If not, I wonder if Garcia can really start at center. He got manhandled inside by some admittedly great bigs. Doesn't really bring the rim protection, post defense, or rebounding of a traditional center. I'm not sure our incoming freshmen will be ready to start either though.

 

[tarwhiz]

...and this one was about where we are.

- The verdict there is not all bad by any means. As @Indy_Heel and some of the PU visitors correctly told us, they are simply deeper and more experienced than we are, and Leaky being out just reiterated our lack of backcourt depth.

- Speaking of depth, there were critical spells in both halves in which our fatigue was apparent and caused some general team lapses. The most egregious came right before the under-8. After finally getting a lead, we short-armed WIDE open shots, while they cashed in on the resulting transition opportunities, and in blink of an eye we're down 9. But then. rested after the timeout, we go on a run, but that ran outta gas eventually as well.

- It looked at first as if they were gonna just crush us inside, I was imploring our guys to "force them higher!", and to our Bigs' credit, they did, but picked up some ticky-tack (read: crappy) foul calls --- but you hafta do it. The hard part came in the second half when they were able to get entries into Williams with Garcia on his back. That was a bad formula for us.

- The good news was our commitment to block-outs, and that was big in keeping us within reach.

- Ant Harris finally got a chance for some minutes --- and proceeded to turn it over twice (sigh), but looked better once he settled in, and he's a willing defender. But speaking of defense, Kerwin trying to guard their Euro-sniper was a wildfire waiting to happen --- and, phew, it did. I mean, #55 is a handful for anyone, but you just can't play follow-the-leader around screens --- you MUST defend with your feet and recover to spots. Once Ant and/or Caleb did that, we kept him in check.

- Also, as one of the PU visitors told us, they struggle defending Stretch Bigs, and Garcia in particular took full advantage from deep. With that said, back in the day when we were spread out in the Four Corners, Dean had a rule for his Bigs --- they were only allowed to take one dribble off a catch. Thus, is they were in a corner, that kept them from ill-advised drives (well, except for James Worthy, who could take one bounce from the corner and dunk). I'd love to see Hubert insert a similar rule with Dawson.'

- Finally, with all that said, boy oh boy, nothing like bad omens to start a game --- Leaky sick and Jamie Luckie following us to Vegas -- talk about a buzz-kill, and can't say much for the rest of that crew either. Let's get real, that's not a good formula for a Big 10 hockey game, and yep, we get no FTs in the first half, and hell, I saw more illegal screens than at a porno multiplex. But as always, we have to come in knowing that and play thru it... but I'll tell ya, In particular, those aforementioned ticky-tacks hamstrung Bacot, and with him out, our post defense went south. Mando has to be able to stay on the floor longer going forward.

Anyway, back to that "identity" thing from my last "stuff" post, Purdue definitely has theirs and played well to that. We're still a work-in-progress in that sense, but the good news is there were some things today to build on as we discover ours. Just for one example, seeing our flash of playing 44 at the end reminds us that Carolina multiple defenses are still on the horizon. More immediately, let's hope the guys approach our game with Barnes' crew tomorrow with a positive attitude of taking the next step to becoming the team we can be...

" Multyple defenses are still on the horizon" I feel this way too. I don't believe Hubert wants to show his hand completely with the multyple defenses at this time, but he played for Dean and that was a staple.
I think it starts to come out after Final exams and gives us another Month to work out some kinks in our Man to Man and rotation.

 

[dtodd4475]

Sasha isn't a

...and this one was about where we are.

- The verdict there is not all bad by any means. As @Indy_Heel and some of the PU visitors correctly told us, they are simply deeper and more experienced than we are, and Leaky being out just reiterated our lack of backcourt depth.

- Speaking of depth, there were critical spells in both halves in which our fatigue was apparent and caused some general team lapses. The most egregious came right before the under-8. After finally getting a lead, we short-armed WIDE open shots, while they cashed in on the resulting transition opportunities, and in blink of an eye we're down 9. But then. rested after the timeout, we go on a run, but that ran outta gas eventually as well.

- It looked at first as if they were gonna just crush us inside, I was imploring our guys to "force them higher!", and to our Bigs' credit, they did, but picked up some ticky-tack (read: crappy) foul calls --- but you hafta do it. The hard part came in the second half when they were able to get entries into Williams with Garcia on his back. That was a bad formula for us.

- The good news was our commitment to block-outs, and that was big in keeping us within reach.

- Ant Harris finally got a chance for some minutes --- and proceeded to turn it over twice (sigh), but looked better once he settled in, and he's a willing defender. But speaking of defense, Kerwin trying to guard their Euro-sniper was a wildfire waiting to happen --- and, phew, it did. I mean, #55 is a handful for anyone, but you just can't play follow-the-leader around screens --- you MUST defend with your feet and recover to spots. Once Ant and/or Caleb did that, we kept him in check.

- Also, as one of the PU visitors told us, they struggle defending Stretch Bigs, and Garcia in particular took full advantage from deep. With that said, back in the day when we were spread out in the Four Corners, Dean had a rule for his Bigs --- they were only allowed to take one dribble off a catch. Thus, is they were in a corner, that kept them from ill-advised drives (well, except for James Worthy, who could take one bounce from the corner and dunk). I'd love to see Hubert insert a similar rule with Dawson.'

- Finally, with all that said, boy oh boy, nothing like bad omens to start a game --- Leaky sick and Jamie Luckie following us to Vegas -- talk about a buzz-kill, and can't say much for the rest of that crew either. Let's get real, that's not a good formula for a Big 10 hockey game, and yep, we get no FTs in the first half, and hell, I saw more illegal screens than at a porno multiplex. But as always, we have to come in knowing that and play thru it... but I'll tell ya, In particular, those aforementioned ticky-tacks hamstrung Bacot, and with him out, our post defense went south. Mando has to be able to stay on the floor longer going forward.

Anyway, back to that "identity" thing from my last "stuff" post, Purdue definitely has theirs and played well to that. We're still a work-in-progress in that sense, but the good news is there were some things today to build on as we discover ours. Just for one example, seeing our flash of playing 44 at the end reminds us that Carolina multiple defenses are still on the horizon. More immediately, let's hope the guys approach our game with Barnes' crew tomorrow with a positive attitude of taking the next step to becoming the team we can be...

Sacha isn't a Euro though. He has very much a Kerwin type game. Let him catch and shoot or just pump fake a late defender to shoot in rhythm he is deadly. Very limited creating, we did an AWFUL job making him tough to defend, hence his career high, heck almost had that in the 1st half. Very rough day at the office for Kerwin.

Hey, I am a Stefo fan, great shooter, but he is what he is . Williams & Ivey are a handful though for anyone.

 

[gary-7]

Sasha isn't a

Sacha isn't a Euro though. He has very much a Kerwin type game. Let him catch and shoot or just pump fake a late defender to shoot in rhythm he is deadly. Very limited creating, we did an AWFUL job making him tough to defend, hence his career high, heck almost had that in the 1st half. Very rough day at the office for Kerwin.

Hey, I am a Stefo fan, great shooter, but he is what he is . Williams & Ivey are a handful though for anyone.

Hey, sorry about the stereotype, but with the name and the way be plays, well....

 

[Tarheel75]

Very well covered Gary, and I appreciate it.

Once again, I was unable to either watch or listen to this game due to some family issues that we finally got a resolution to this afternoon, so I look forward to being at the rest of our games from now on out for the rest of this season.

I just want to make mention of something to keep in your minds going forward. Purdue brought back a veteran team with 90% of their offense back. They are also heavily favored to win the BIG10 this season and the talking head sportscasters have them as a final 4 favorite. They are big, they play good defense, they shoot the ball well, and typically take care of the ball (9) TO's this game and their really big guy had 4 of those (Edey).

I try to shy away from whining about officiating...., but..., whenever
I see that stupid SOB Jamie Luckey has one of our games, it's not good, his entire career, he has called so many touch fouls one way and let's anarchy in play go. It's not always against us, just as often, he will make other teams suffer the same consequences. He is NOT and NEVER will be a good collegiate official. And if you are observant, in any games he referees, there are always questionable calls and almost every single time, he is involved. He is just a bad official and I look forward to the time he no longer is officiating any games.

While I was unable to either watch or listen, I did spend 45 minutes on a call with a former player who was in attendance and whom I usually sit with during games. So, I will pass along some of his thoughts to you.

1. Purdue is the real deal and have all the parts to win a NC. However, we know how that can go sideways real quick in post season huh?
2. The final score was no where indicative of how close this game really was. He mentioned that the look on the Purdue's players faces showed real concern in the last 10 minutes of this game. As well and as hard as they played us, they could not shake free of us and Painter was in their grills in earnest at the under 4 TO, and they went out and played like their hair was on fire.
3. Bacot failed miserably in this game by trying to out physical his man and defended poorly. Let me interject here that I played in the post and it is an extremely difficult job to handle a player of either Edey or Williams caliber. You have to beat your man to your spot and be ready before he is in order to have success, and it can be limited success even then. You are not going to stop any talented big man..., but, if you do your work cerebrally and get ahead of him, you have a chance to LIMIT the damage they can do. Armando never did this the entire game he mentioned.
4. 1st half TO's created a "catch up" atmosphere for the entire half and because of the extra efforts and work that they brought upon themselves, fatigue become a factor in both halves, so there's that.
5. Played mediocre to poor defense the entire game. He mentioned that Leaky's defense is more than just how he plays his man, his defense is infectious and pushes other players to be better defensively, so his absence was really felt on the defensive side of the ball and MAYBE would have made this game even closer, but..., you can't be sure of that though, as we should all know that you can't incorporate transitive play from one game to the next..., but an interesting thought nonetheless.
6. Kudos to Garcia, who had his coming out in this game, he played extremely well. I though that as soon as he got comfortable and figured out the what about and where his game was the most effective, he would be the player we all expected him to be. I looked at the Official Scoresheet, and I see that our shortest player had the 2nd most rebounds. While that's great that RJ played his ass off, there are others who should and will have to get busy getting more rebounds....., looking at you Kerwin &, Manek.
7. He was quick to say that all in his group were very much encouraged with how much better we looked on offense even though we missed some really easy ones, and how we can score with any of the teams they have seen thus far this year and they have seen almost all of the top 25 teams play at least 1 game this year.
8. The group gives Hubert big props for the real possibilities of this team's chances going forward if they continue to grow this offense and progress defensively, they can be a really tough team to play in the ACC regular season and on into the post season.

I just want to add, that I don't think that UNC is a team that Painter's squad at Purdue would want to meet up with before the final 4 this season...why? Well, Purdue is more likely to play back to the mean in BIG10 play. While they are experienced and play well in most all facets of the game, they have a restricted
chance of improvements due to the amount of experience that is on that team. Not saying they won't improve, it's just that a team like ours has a lot more room to improve, and hopefully will, and if they do, then a game such as this one against Purdue takes on a whole different flavor. This UNC team did not play anywhere near the potential that it possesses, and when and if it does, we are going to be a really tough team to play, and just might go far in the league and post season as well.

 

[gary-7]

Very well covered Gary, and I appreciate it.

Once again, I was unable to either watch or listen to this game due to some family issues that we finally got a resolution to this afternoon, so I look forward to being at the rest of our games from now on out for the rest of this season.

I just want to make mention of something to keep in your minds going forward. Purdue brought back a veteran team with 90% of their offense back. They are also heavily favored to win the BIG10 this season and the talking head sportscasters have them as a final 4 favorite. They are big, they play good defense, they shoot the ball well, and typically take care of the ball (9) TO's this game and their really big guy had 4 of those (Edey).

I try to shy away from whining about officiating...., but..., whenever
I see that stupid SOB Jamie Luckey has one of our games, it's not good, his entire career, he has called so many touch fouls one way and let's anarchy in play go. It's not always against us, just as often, he will make other teams suffer the same consequences. He is NOT and NEVER will be a good collegiate official. And if you are observant, in any games he referees, there are always questionable calls and almost every single time, he is involved. He is just a bad official and I look forward to the time he no longer is officiating any games.

While I was unable to either watch or listen, I did spend 45 minutes on a call with a former player who was in attendance and whom I usually set with during games. So, I will pass along some of his thoughts along to you.

1. Purdue is the real deal and have all the parts to win a NC. However, we know how that can go sideways real quick in post season huh?
2. The final score was no where indicative of how close this game really was. He mentioned that the look on the Purdue's players faces showed real concern in the last 10 minutes of this game. As well and as hard as they played us, they could not shake free of us and Painter was in their grills in earnest at the under 4 TO, and they went out and played like their hair was on fire.
3. Bacot failed miserably in this game by trying to out physical his man and defended poorly. Let me interject here that I played in the post and it is a extremely difficult job to handle a player of either Edey or Williams caliber. You have to beat your man to your spot and be ready before he is in order to have success, and then it can be limited success even then. You are not going to stop any talented big man..., but, if you do your work cerebrally and get ahead of him, you have a chance to LIMIT the damage they can do. Armando never did this the entire game he mentioned.
4. 1st half TO's created a "catch up" atmosphere for the entire half and because of the extra efforts and work that they brought upon themselves, fatigue become a factor in both halves, so there's that.
5. Played mediocre to poor defense the entire game. He mentioned that Leaky's defense is more than just how he plays his man, his defense is infectious and pushes other players to be better defensively, so his absence was really felt on the defensive side of the ball and MAYBE would have made this game even closer, but..., you can't be sure of that though, as we should all know that you can't incorporate transitive play from one game to the next..., but an interesting thought nonetheless.
6. Kudos to Garcia, who had his coming out in this game, he played extremely well.
I though that as soon as he got comfortable and figured out the what about and where his game was the most effective, he would be the player we all expected him to be. I looked at the Official Scoresheet, and I see that our shortest player had the 2nd most rebounds. While that's great that RJ played his ass off, there are others who should and will have to get busy getting more rebounds....., looking at you Kerwin &, Manek.
7. He was quick to say that all in his group were very much encouraged with how much better we looked on offense even though we missed some really easy ones, and how we can score with any of the teams they have seen thus far this year and they have almost all of the top 25 teams play at least 1 game this year.
8. The group gives Hubert big props for the real possibilities of this team's chances
gong forward if they continue to grow this offense and progress defensively, they can be a really tough team to play in the ACC regular season and on into the post season.

I just want to also add, that I don't think that UNC is a team that Painter's squad at Purdue would want to meet up with before the final 4 this season...why? Well, Purdue is more likely to play back to the mean in BIG10 play. While they are experienced and play well in most all facets of the game, they have a restricted
chance of improvements due to the amount of experience that is on that team. Not saying they won't improve, it's just that a team like ours has a lot more room to improve, and hopefully will, and if they do, then a game such as this one against Purdue takes on a whole different flavor. This UNC team did not play anywhere near the potential that it possesses, and when and if it does, we are going to be a really
tough team to play, and just might go far in the league and post season as well.

Yeah, one positive I was gonna memtion was how we "hung in" anytime it was in danger of getting away. Thats one of those intangible traits usually associated with more veterán teams and bodes well mining forward.

 

[tcb22]

In the previous two years, we would have tucked out tails and folded after Purdue went on that 10-0 spurt after we had a one point lead. This team fought back but then went cold. Could not make a shot during the last 2-3 minutes. Walton missing a wide open 3 seemed to be the killer.

 

[Archer2]

Bacot was a no show. As one of our top two players, we can’t overcome that. He’s not close to being ready for the pros. Our defense was once again a no show as well. A mediocre defensive effort would have made this a coin toss. Let a team shoot 56% from two and 44% from three and you lose, period. For all the emphasis Hubert is supposedly putting on defense, I don’t see much being played.

 

[FlaTarHeel]

- Ant Harris finally got a chance for some minutes --- and proceeded to turn it over twice (sigh), but looked better once he settled in, and he's a willing defender. But speaking of defense, Kerwin trying to guard their Euro-sniper was a wildfire waiting to happen --- and, phew, it did. I mean, #55 is a handful for anyone, but you just can't play follow-the-leader around screens --- you MUST defend with your feet and recover to spots. Once Ant and/or Caleb did that, we kept him in check.

- Also, as one of the PU visitors told us, they struggle defending Stretch Bigs, and Garcia in particular took full advantage from deep. With that said, back in the day when we were spread out in the Four Corners, Dean had a rule for his Bigs --- they were only allowed to take one dribble off a catch. Thus, if they were in a corner, that kept them from ill-advised drives (well, except for James Worthy, who could take one bounce from the corner and dunk). I'd love to see Hubert insert a similar rule with Dawson.'

1. Thank God Ant got some minutes. I'm not surprised he was rusty from the start but he settled in as you stated. And his shot look much improved. He got to the rim a couple times but didn't finish. With more PT he will finish those drives.
2. I truly hate to throw a kid under the bus but Kerwin should not be playing more than 20 a game, even with Leaky out today. He's not helping us at all if his shot isn't falling and today he missed too many open looks. He's running around screens as you mentioned or and also flying at shooters off balance as if he's a shot blocker. I seriously can't remember the last player wearing Carolina blue who played defense so poorly.

3. The first 3 games it was McCoy, today it was Dawson. Those guys don't have the ability to put that ball on the floor 20 feet from the basket and get to the rim without a TO. Hubert has to see that by now.

4. I will also like to comment on something TH75 mentioned concerning Bacot. He looked like the Armando of old today. Maybe it was frustration about the foul trouble, but whatever it was didn't help us. Foul #4 was a garbage call but on that 5th foul he clearly quit and was ready to go home. No excuse for that weak crap.

 

[dlew71]

Turnovers, clean them up and continue to improve on defense, this team will be a tough out any night

 

[montana_heel]

Encouraging game. I thought Davis forced things too much. It's a fine line when he is trying to be ultra aggressive but he went over it quite a few times tonight.

We seem to have 4-6 almost unexplainable turnovers every game. Lazy lackadaisical plays that should never happen.

 

[alabamaheel]

1. Thank God Ant got some minutes. I'm not surprised he was rusty from the start but he settled in as you stated. And his shot look much improved. He got to the rim a couple times but didn't finish. With more PT he will finish those drives.
2. I truly hate to throw a kid under the bus but Kerwin should not be playing more than 20 a game, even with Leaky out today. He's not helping us at all if his shot isn't falling and today he missed too many open looks. He's running around screens as you mentioned or and also flying at shooters off balance as if he's a shot blocker. I seriously can't remember the last player wearing Carolina blue who played defense so poorly.

3. The first 3 games it was McCoy, today it was Dawson. Those guys don't have the ability to put that ball on the floor 20 feet from the basket and get to the rim without a TO. Hubert has to see that by now.

4. I will also like to comment on something TH75 mentioned concerning Bacot. He looked like the Armando of old today. Maybe it was frustration about the foul trouble, but whatever it was didn't help us. Foul #4 was a garbage call but on that 5th foul he clearly quit and was ready to go home. No excuse for that weak crap.

SMH a kid has a bad shooting night and you want to cut his pt. Only mistake on offense kerwin made was not shooting that last one and driving to the hole for a horrible shot. Shooters have to shoot. And just in case you missed it, Dawson didn’t have to drive to the rim. Without him we get curb-stomped today.

 

[CarolinaBlue5]

SMH a kid has a bad shooting night and you want to cut his pt. Only mistake on offense kerwin made was not shooting that last one and driving to the hole for a horrible shot. Shooters have to shoot. And just in case you missed it, Dawson didn’t have to drive to the rim. Without him we get curb-stomped today.

I thought Kerwin played decent on ball defense! He had a bad shooting night but ppl have to guard him! The dude on purdue hit 3 tough 3’s and a couple were in transition! Walton needs to play A LOT.. I’m glad to see Harris get some minutes too...he will be very valuable

 

[alabamaheel]

I thought Kerwin played decent on ball defense! He had a bad shooting night but ppl have to guard him! The dude on purdue hit 3 tough 3’s and a couple were in transition! Walton needs to play A LOT.. I’m glad to see Harris get some minutes too...he will be very valuable

I just find it odd that peeps call out a normally good shooting but yet still early second year player but fail to see Brady’s game as a bad turnout. He’s a senior. We have a fairly deep team. Their not all gonna click every outing. Dawson showed up and man I’m glad he did. If he’d played anything like his first few games it would have been ugly.

 

[TarHeelFanWV]

Love had some great moments and has shown big improvement from last season, but he’s going to have to finish some of those layups if he’s going to get to the NBA after this season.

 

[Ozheelfan]

Thanks for the write-up Gary and everyone for your observations.

I mentioned this in the game thread:

RJ and, to a lesser extent, Caleb have an annoying habit of putting their heads down on early-game fast break opportunities.

I watched both of them dribble into the trees (and Purdue has some trees) only to turn the ball over, miss an ill-advised shot, or ignore wide open teammates in favour of taking a higher degree of difficulty layup.

In the second half, both ball handlers were more judicious on the break, and the comebacks reflected it. But their early game "me-first" style is frustrating to watch.

 

[tarwhiz]

Bacot was a no show. As one of our top two players, we can’t overcome that. He’s not close to being ready for the pros. Our defense was once again a no show as well. A mediocre defensive effort would have made this a coin toss. Let a team shoot 56% from two and 44% from three and you lose, period. For all the emphasis Hubert is supposedly putting on defense, I don’t see much being played.

I can't argue with any points here, I would like to see multyple defensive sets starting today, but I think more likely in Dec.
As for Bacot, I believe he is "All in" for this being his last year of College. We can debate if that is good logic or not, but sadly that is today's College basketball.

 

[FlaTarHeel]

 

[DSouthr]

Gary and 75 hit most of the thoughts I had on this game but heck of a game just from a pure I love to watch college basketball stand point. Purdue is just a better team right now but they brought back 90% of their scoring from last season and that front court is really hard to deal with. Thing is, for those of us that specifically watch UNC we know this team is still a work in progress and we see solid progress from game 1 to now. For all the grief that has been aimed toward leaky in past seasons, this was IMO a game Leaky would have been a real factor in had he been able to play. Would have been nice to see Leaky switch over to Steph in that first half or Ivey in the second, I think he would have slowed some of those rolls. Bacot, Manek, Kerwin, McKoy had off scoring nights and I think we can safely assume that will not be a constant moving forward. My point being if you are going to get UNC you better get us now rather than late season when we have figured some things out.

Bacot, while he did battle hard, in front of all those NBA scouts, I could not help but think how much money Bacot may have cost himself last night. It was his night to show he could battle against length and bulk that you see nightly on NBA courts and be successful, an op to show he deserves a first round selection. Well he did battle, he did draw some foul trouble from those Purdue big men, but he didn't score and at times looked out matched. Garcia on the other hand stepped to the moment and showed those scouts things they like to see.

Manek, love the guy but when I look at shot selections from individual players, Manek is taking a lot of shots outside of the offensive flow, a lot of early takes with hands in his face. As results, he is shooting like 27% for the season from trey and we know, he is a much better jump shooter than that, needs to pick his spots better, Manek is a streaky shooter, when he gets hot he fills it up but when he misses a couple he needs to work to get cleaners looks. McKoy, I am not as down on him as many seem to be but he does seem to be playing a bit tight rather than free and easy, seems to be playing right now like he is intimidated by the bright lights we play under. Kerwin as a known shooter is forcing some things that he doesn't need to, he isn't a put the ball on the floor and drive guy, especially in to the teeth of guys 7'4" tall. All of these guys need to settle in and move off the ball and allow their offense to come in the natural rhythm of the game. I do like that we are in much more of a mode to attack defenses rather than that ole swing the ball around the perimeter and force up something late in the shot clock.

I never like to see us lose but if this is what it takes to beat us then this is the kind of loss that may help down the road more than it hurts, we played with winning effort, with exceptions being late in each half. It was a lack of decision making issues that let us down, TOs and shot selection, and just a off night from some guys that have scored well for us. Yet we lost a 9pt game in the end to the #4 team in the country and frankly, the game was closer than the final score indicated. If that effort level can be with us every game for the rest of this season, this team can play deep in March, with more improvement, we could be playing early April.

 

[al would]

Quick thoughts:
As stated above Bacot is not ready for prime time. His shots continue to be flat as a pancake, almost like he's wanting to hit the front of the rim amd bounce shots in and if he continues with those stupid reach fouls his PT will continue to go south.

Same old same old with the playing out of control instead of under control. I lost count of the times a UNC player would bust a hump to get down the floor only to run out of court and options at the same time. They have got to be smarter on the breaks for sure as not having good break options negates the purpose of running.

Garcia was a bright stop for sure and is one helluva lot better stretch than that dude Keester or whatever his name was last year. Dawson will certainly cause some restless nights for other coaches trying to game prep for him this season.

And Leaky was surely missed on the defensive side of the ball. There were quite a few times his length and experience would have come in handy. Hope he's back for today's game as we can use an extra body.

Wasn't terribly disappointed with the effort because we simply got beat by a better and more experienced team but the mental mistakes continue to plague this relatively young team and if not corrected we will lose games we should have won because of it.

 

[TPFKAPFS]

Bacot showing up and receiving a little grace from officials; Leaky being able to play; Manek having a normal game; Cleaning up shot selection and TOs and this is a different game! Purdue is as good as advertised and their depth really hurt us. I think we did fine against everyone not named Ivey or Williams on D, but allowed their bigs to effect our O way too much. Even if all things went our way, Purdue is good enough to still win that game, but I know they don't want to face us again later this year! Once again Garcia should be praised for an outstanding effort, but should never bring the ball up court and should not take more than 2 dribbles under any circumstances. McKoy looked much improved and I love the potential for Ant to be a real difference maker! Walton has vastly improved his D and is a few tweaks from being the all around contributor we need. (multiple lapses and a few really bad techniques aside)

So proud of these boys! The grit we showed bodes well for us once our offensive efficiency and defensive consistency improve! Love this team and I can't wait to see what happens once we learn to play both halves of games with will and intensity!

Hate learning from losses, but Hubs showed me he is a game coach that will lead us to great things!

 

[Heelicious]

2. I truly hate to throw a kid under the bus but Kerwin should not be playing more than 20 a game, even with Leaky out today. He's not helping us at all if his shot isn't falling and today he missed too many open looks. He's running around screens as you mentioned or and also flying at shooters off balance as if he's a shot blocker. I seriously can't remember the last player wearing Carolina blue who played defense so poorly.

3. The first 3 games it was McCoy, today it was Dawson. Those guys don't have the ability to put that ball on the floor 20 feet from the basket and get to the rim without a TO. Hubert has to see that by now.

2. Super bad take. If Kerwin is not on the court, who are our legit wing scorers. He is legitimately our best shooter. He was 2-6 from 3. Not terrible. Are we supposed to cut his minutes to "teach him a lesson" to never miss any more shots if he wants to keep or build back his playing time? That sounds like an awesome confidence building strategy.

When we had lineups with two of McCoy, Garcia, and Ant in the game, I was nervous as heck. Who in that group has a better chance of hitting a midrange or three, than of turning it over? None of them.

3. So what do you suggest for Dawson? Tell him not to dribble? I can accept that. But are you saying Dawson should have less playing time?

Dawson had 26 points on 10-13 FG and 3-5 from 3, with 8 rebounds (and yes, 4 turnovers).
If Dawson had say half of his 33 minutes yesterday we would've lost by 25 or more.

Sure - it drives me crazy that he does some blind spin moves and dribbles right into a defender ( a turnover) - but don't you think Hubert has told him many times not to do this? I hope you're not suggesting Dawson get fewer minutes, when we were already down Leaky.

 

[Heelicious]

...and this one was about where we are.

- The verdict there is not all bad by any means. As @Indy_Heel and some of the PU visitors correctly told us, they are simply deeper and more experienced than we are, and Leaky being out just reiterated our lack of backcourt depth.

- Speaking of depth, there were critical spells in both halves in which our fatigue was apparent and caused some general team lapses. The most egregious came right before the under-8. After finally getting a lead, we short-armed WIDE open shots, while they cashed in on the resulting transition opportunities, and in blink of an eye we're down 9. But then. rested after the timeout, we go on a run, but that ran outta gas eventually as well.

- It looked at first as if they were gonna just crush us inside, I was imploring our guys to "force them higher!", and to our Bigs' credit, they did, but picked up some ticky-tack (read: crappy) foul calls --- but you hafta do it. The hard part came in the second half when they were able to get entries into Williams with Garcia on his back. That was a bad formula for us.

- The good news was our commitment to block-outs, and that was big in keeping us within reach.

- Ant Harris finally got a chance for some minutes --- and proceeded to turn it over twice (sigh), but looked better once he settled in, and he's a willing defender. But speaking of defense, Kerwin trying to guard their Euro-sniper was a wildfire waiting to happen --- and, phew, it did. I mean, #55 is a handful for anyone, but you just can't play follow-the-leader around screens --- you MUST defend with your feet and recover to spots. Once Ant and/or Caleb did that, we kept him in check.

- Also, as one of the PU visitors told us, they struggle defending Stretch Bigs, and Garcia in particular took full advantage from deep. With that said, back in the day when we were spread out in the Four Corners, Dean had a rule for his Bigs --- they were only allowed to take one dribble off a catch. Thus, if they were in a corner, that kept them from ill-advised drives (well, except for James Worthy, who could take one bounce from the corner and dunk). I'd love to see Hubert insert a similar rule with Dawson.'

- Finally, with all that said, boy oh boy, nothing like bad omens to start a game --- Leaky sick and Jamie Luckie following us to Vegas -- talk about a buzz-kill, and can't say much for the rest of that crew either. Let's get real, that's not a good formula for a Big 10 hockey game, and yep, we get no FTs in the first half, and hell, I saw more illegal screens than at a porno multiplex. But as always, we have to come in knowing that and play thru it... but I'll tell ya, In particular, those aforementioned ticky-tacks hamstrung Bacot, and with him out, our post defense went south. Mando has to be able to stay on the floor longer going forward.

Anyway, back to that "identity" thing from my last "stuff" post, Purdue definitely has theirs and played well to that. We're still a work-in-progress in that sense, but the good news is there were some things today to build on as we discover ours. Just for one example, seeing our flash of playing 44 at the end reminds us that Carolina multiple defenses are still on the horizon. More immediately, let's hope the guys approach our game with Barnes' crew tomorrow with a positive attitude of taking the next step to becoming the team we can be...

@gary-7 good post.

You've rightly stated this before, and didn't mention it for this Purdue game, but I noticed it quite a bit in the second half....

I get that Purdue have a lot of grown men players who are strong and are playing very aggressive physical (legal?) defense.... but there were still far too many possessions where either Love OR Davis made the entire possession boil down to this. Dribble for 10 or 15 seconds, make zero or one pass, and a guarded shot is jacked up (by them or by someone on the perimeter).

I know a lot of it is on the interior bigs to get open, too, its not all on Love and Davis....but I can hardly ever think Hubert wants a possession to be dribbling, maybe one pass, and jack up a guarded shot - even if that shot goes in.

The ball needs to move (via passing) and the other players need to move to get open. That's still a large work in process.

And it looks like Love could be a beast / really good this year, but when (if ever) is the light going to come on to value every possession?

It feels like the turnovers aren't quite as bad as last year, but there are still far to many by him, Kerwin, etc. that are just lazy dumb soft unforced turnovers for a runout dunk. Ones where it seems he thinks he's too cool and its a bit too difficult to make the sound fundamental pass / play. That needs to change.

No way can we expect to have any chance against good teams with 10+ turnovers in a half or approaching 20 in a game. Think of all those missed opportunities at 1 or more shots for us on a possession, and how the open court turnovers are layups or dunks going the other way.

 

[gauchoheel]

Love had some great moments and has shown big improvement from last season, but he’s going to have to finish some of those layups if he’s going to get to the NBA after this season.

Yep. He does look a lot better on O, but still too many empty shots and bad turnovers. He could do with watching some Chris Paul tape to set the bar for a good shot/pass and lockdown PG D.

 

[Archer2]

I can't argue with any points here, I would like to see multyple defensive sets starting today, but I think more likely in Dec.
As for Bacot, I believe he is "All in" for this being his last year of College. We can debate if that is good logic or not, but sadly that is today's College basketball.

I agree. But if Bacot wants to be drafted in the first couple of rounds, he can’t afford too many games like he had yesterday.

 

[heels05champs]

Watching Villanova D up on Purdue continues to put in perspective how terrible our defense is. Teams don’t just get hot because they play Carolina. They get hot because they have wide open shots.

 

[Archer2]

Watching Villanova D up on Purdue continues to put in perspective how terrible our defense is. Teams don’t just get hot because they play Carolina. They get hot because they have wide open shots.

At this point, our defense is downright offensive.

 

[gary-7]

I thought Kerwin played decent on ball defense!

 

[tarwhiz]

Watching Villanova D up on Purdue continues to put in perspective how terrible our defense is. Teams don’t just get hot because they play Carolina. They get hot because they have wide open shots.

Watching Nova/ PU in my opinion Purdue has been too consumed trying to work it solely to Williams and Edy that they lost track of being a balenced offense today. Game tightening up now with Purdue playing more wide open

 

[Heelicious]

Watching Nova/ PU in my opinion Purdue has been too consumed trying to work it solely to Williams and Edy that they lost track of being a balenced offense today. Game tightening up now with Purdue playing more wide open

Purdue on a 24-7 run

 

[gauchoheel]

Watching Villanova D up on Purdue continues to put in perspective how terrible our defense is. Teams don’t just get hot because they play Carolina. They get hot because they have wide open shots.

Yeah we've been pretty crappy on that end for a team with 2nd/3rd weekend hopes.

 

[i.Ki11ed.iT]

i mi$ it