Very quick stuff (FSU game)...

[gary-7]

...and once again, I'll take it.

- This'll be very quick, lest I get too much into criticism, but what haunts me is just how poor a passing team we are... and not a good catching team either... phew!

- I dunno what was up with Mando, but that was a forgetable one... at least we survived it.

- we picked a good night to drain 3s. That first half staked us enough to cushion what seemed like an inevitable lull.

- Good minutes by Styles, but where was Dunn?

- Lot of possession for Caleb at PG, likely to relieve RJ from their ball pressure. Did mostly a credible job.

- Anybody else sick and tired of announcers trying to talk us out of the Dance?

- Finally, I'm not going to fret too much more about this one --- bottom line is we went into a stereotypical road TRAP game on short rest vs a newly energized opponent and walked out with a critical W. So yeah, I'll take it.

Anyway, hell... if nothing else, seeing Leaky take one to the rack and give us a highlight flush we've been wating so long for made my damn night. That in and of itself is something to build on for Saturday...

 

[gauchoheel]

...and once again, I'll take it.

- This'll be very quick, lest I get too much into criticism, but what haunts me is just how poor a passing team we are... and not a good catching team either... phew!

- I dunno what was up with Mando, but that was a forgetable one... at least we survived it.

- we picked a good night to drain 3s. That first half staked us enough to cushion what seemed like an inevitable lull.

- Good minutes by Styles, but where was Dunn?

- Lot of possession for Caleb at PG, likely to relieve RJ from their ball pressure. Did mostly a credible job.

- Anybody else sick and tired of announcers trying to talk us out of the Dance?

- Finally, I'm not going to fret too much more about this one --- bottom line is we went into a stereotypical road TRAP game on short rest vs a newly energized opponent and walked out with a critical W. So yeah, I'll take it.

Anyway, hell... if nothing else, seeing Leaky take one to the rack and give us a highlight flush we've been wating so long for made my damn night. That in and of itself is something to build on for Saturday...

Good win. Those passes though; yuck. What are they thinking on some of them?

 

[Rabidfrog]

We pushed the ball so well the first half - first time in a while I recognized us having a fastbreak/secondary break — I even saw some pass aheads

… then poof — we went back to walking the ball up.

Weird season where basically we have 0 bad losses and almost 0 good wins…

 

[Rabidfrog]

Also - Leaky Black has been amazing the last little stretch here… shooting, blocks, steals, smothering D… and a dunk we have waited and begged 5 years for!!!!

 

[dtodd4475]

Got some good minutes from Styles when Mando and Puff were AWOL. Washington looked lost though.

Turnovers were bad, not the total number so much, but the unforced variety, other then that, thought Pete, Caleb, and RJ were good. Leaky was great.

Some good stuff, some still shaky stuff, but the 3ball was phenomenal. Don't have to be 14 - 29 good like tonight, but can't be what we were for that prolonged stretch and win. Nance and RJ finding their stroke once again from behind the arc is so key.

Back in the mix to dance now. Still work to do, on that tightrope without a net at this point. Not much room for error.

 

[FlaTarHeel]

- we picked a good night to drain 3s. That first half staked us enough to cushion what seemed like an inevitable lull

- Finally, I'm not going to fret too much more about this one --- bottom line is we went into a stereotypical road TRAP game on short rest vs a newly energized opponent and walked out with a critical W. So yeah, I'll take it

1. I have said all season we should avg 8-10 3's per game
Love/Davis(5) Nance/Black/Johnson(3) Rest of the team(1/2)

2. Trap game for sure

 

[Goheels83]

Don’t understand why Nickel doesn’t get some run. I do understand why Dunn doesn’t. He’s struggling and I just don’t think he’s got the talent to be a major factor here.

 

[Steat]

Also - Leaky Black has been amazing the last little stretch here… shooting, blocks, steals, smothering D… and a dunk we have waited and begged 5 years for!!!!

Leaky did it in front of 17 NBA scouts. The kid may not get drafted, but I think he has a future in the NBA.

 

[FlaTarHeel]

Leaky did it in front of 17 NBA scouts. The kid may not get drafted, but I think he has a future in the NBA.

He will be a better version of Theo Pinson if he continues to be aggressive.

 

[Quest4Seven]

Don’t understand why Nickel doesn’t get some run. I do understand why Dunn doesn’t. He’s struggling and I just don’t think he’s got the talent to be a major factor here.

There have been way less talented players than Dunn get minutes here. Platek, Justin Watts, Stillman White, Kerwin Walton are obvious ones off the top of my head

 

[notashelbyfan]

He will be a better version of Theo Pinson if he continues to be aggressive.

Tha hell you say!

 

[DSouthr]

Bottom line, we had to have this road win after the short turn around and we had to over come a MIA Bacot.

But what a weird game, what a weird couple of back to back games? IT was not that long ago, what maybe 2 weeks, that the 1 guy that had to have a big night for us basically every night was Bacot, literally if we were going to win Bacot was the key. The glaring weakness was the inability of Nance and Leaky to represent enough offense that their man would not drop off them to double guys that are our relied on scorers. Well Bacot didn't produce to the level we have come to expect vs Uva and basically he was MIA last night but Leaky and Nance have not been MIA the last couple of games!

In a line I coined a few days ago, Nance is becoming Manek at about the same time of the season this season that Manek became Manek last season! No, they are by no means similar type of players but in a weird way the results they are now producing is weirdly similar and un-expected.

To have seen this team play as it did in that first half, what may well have been their best half of this season and for them to do that basically without Bacot, is special the right word?

As for the game, clearly Leaky gets this game ball, that dunk (you know the one LOL) came at the PERFECT time. This team seemed to forget how to score, they went cold as ice and FSU fought back. But Nance hit a trey and Leaky nailed that highlite dunk and we did 1 more thing that good teams do, we hot our free throws when it really counted. They defended as well, they defended thru what to me seemed like a team of whistle happy refs. Don't ya love it when ESPN shows a replay of a Caleb drive where he hits the floater and does it thru contact from 2 FSU players with yet again no whistle but whistles the 3rd touch foul on Bacot? Even Cory Alexander saw the contact when they replayed that and mentioned it and you know he is anything but a UNC guy. I do want to give the 1 FSU player credit, really nice check hook he delivered to RJ, kid may have a boxing future, not sure how the refs considered that a basketball move and allowed the foul on RJ to remain? OK, so RJ did foul but that check hook should have been a F-2. I hope the league office takes a look at that one. Maybe it was just the cam angle I saw so I will grant that.

I like a LOT of what I am watching from BOTH RJ and Caleb as of late, especially Caleb! They have greatly, hop it stays that way, reduced the heat check one on one stuff. Absolutely LOVE Caleb driving and actively looking to pass off the drive, letting the offense come to him rather than forcing it. They are always going to toss some questionable passes but I felt Caleb last night was on point. Now how do you play Caleb, now that he is willing to pass out to the open spot up shooter as the double comes to him? There were 2 assist he should have had but the guy he passed to screwed it up, RJ was not paying attention on one and Bacot fumbled it on the other. Now that is the Caleb I like! RJ solid, hope he did not reinjure that finger.

1 final thing about this game, what was going on with Bacot? Yeah, he picked up a early first half foul, yes we know Hubert is likely to pull him for the half when he picked up his 2nd first half foul, actually did put him back in after his 2nd but that didn't last long. But Bacot spent a LOT of time on the bench in that second half with the same 2 fouls??? Weird...

 

[DSouthr]

Leaky did it in front of 17 NBA scouts. The kid may not get drafted, but I think he has a future in the NBA.

For his NBA future last night was not a good night for Bacot to lay an egg either, with all those scouts looking on he may have cost himself some money. But yeah, have to think Leaky turned some NBA heads last night, Caleb didn't hurt his chances either and RJ showed what he can as well do. Last night leaky looked like a pro, Bacot didn't.

 

[TarHeelTroy]

With Bacot out of sorts we were fortunate to have a great shooting game. My theory is Coach held Bacot out because the team was playing well without him and didn't want to disrupt that. But it was very odd to see Bacot sitting for so much of the 2nd half. Hopefully not a health issue.

 

[UNC-75]

Someone explain to me why Hubert had Bacot on the bench for a large portion of the second half. I understood the first half with 2 fouls but even if he didn’t score his presence on D would have been clearly better than what we had down under without him.

I know we won and that’s all that should matter. I’m not complaining just trying to understand what and why.

 

[gary-7]

I just don’t think he’s got the talent to be a major factor here.

Simply not true.

 

[Goheels83]

There have been way less talented players than Dunn get minutes here. Platek, Justin Watts, Stillman White, Kerwin Walton are obvious ones off the top of my

Simply not true.

What are u seeing in him? I’d love to be wrong!

 

[ChiShankCity]

Don’t understand why Nickel doesn’t get some run. I do understand why Dunn doesn’t. He’s struggling and I just don’t think he’s got the talent to be a major factor here.

Because Hubert doesn't trust him in a must win game. It's very clear there are 6 players that Hubert trusts. We're not going to see much other than the 6 Hubert trusts unless there's foul trouble or an injury.

This team has also been abysmal offensively lately. They rank 133rd in the country in offensive efficiency since February 1. Would Nickel completely turn that around? I'm not sure. But I'm guessing the strategy is to lean on your defense to keep you in games. Our defense has been ok. 28th in defensive efficiency since February 1.

Can you risk maybe a 0 defender to try to turn your awful offense into a less awful one?

I think it ultimately depends how you view Hubert. If you like him, Nickel isn't going to make much difference. If you don't like Hubert

 

[heels05champs]

T

Someone explain to me why Hubert had Bacot on the bench for a large portion of the second half. I understood the first half with 2 fouls but even if he didn’t score his presence on D would have been clearly better than what we had down under without him.

I know we won and that’s all that should matter. I’m not complaining just trying to understand what and why.

There is nobody on this board that could explain Hubert’s use of personnel.

 

[TPFKAPFS]

Except for the dozen times we and Hubs have already explained it! The interesting thing is the use of personnel has been a focus for our last 4 coaches on these boards (along with timeouts)! The coaches were very different and the complaints are often contradictory but please carry on!

 

[heels05champs]

Except for the dozen times we and Hubs have already explained it! The interesting thing is the use of personnel has been a focus for our last 4 coaches on these boards (along with timeouts)! The coaches were very different and the complaints are often contradictory but please carry on!

Reply to my post if you feel the need to respond. And no, you haven’t explained it and if you did it was inaccurate and unfounded.

 

[Rabidfrog]

Reply to my post if you feel the need to respond. And no, you haven’t explained it and if you did it was inaccurate and unfounded.

HD doesn’t sub based on time in the game (Roy subbed at 16 minute mark, etc…)
HD doesn’t sub based on normal patterns at all.

With the exceptions of fouls or injury’s…
— HD subs
- based on matchups and how the practices went and how you did with your assignment once in the game (styles and his athleticism playing a lot vs FSU)
- He rides the hot hand (hitting shots, your staying in) and rhythm
- He rests starters some in the first half then let’s them stay in rhythm and subs less in the second.

I don’t know if I agree with him, but this is the pattern. It is an NBA style of subs. Stars play a lot, specialists are for when the series calls for it (Styles vs FSU athletes, Nickels vs Syracuse, Trimble vs penetrating guards, Washington vs Length, etc…)

 

[heels05champs]

HD doesn’t sub based on time in the game (Roy subbed at 16 minute mark, etc…)
HD doesn’t sub based on normal patterns at all.

With the exceptions of fouls or injury’s…
— HD subs
- based on matchups and how the practices went and how you did with your assignment once in the game (styles and his athleticism playing a lot vs FSU)
- He rides the hot hand (hitting shots, your staying in) and rhythm
- He rests starters some in the first half then let’s them stay in rhythm and subs less in the second.

I don’t know if I agree with him, but this is the pattern. It is an NBA style of subs. Stars play a lot, specialists are for when the series calls for it (Styles vs FSU athletes, Nickels vs Syracuse, Trimble vs penetrating guards, Washington vs Length, etc…)

In the day and age of the transfer portal and NIL, how do you see this approach working for HD moving forward? How do you avoid mass transfers with this type of personnel usage?

 

[GoNtheDistance]

In the day and age of the transfer portal and NIL, how do you see this approach working for HD moving forward? How do you avoid mass transfers with this type of personnel usage?

I think this will be a huge gamble year over year. Much like our necessity to fill key pieces via the portal (ie replace Manek with Nance). Sometimes the pieces fit, sometimes they don't. I hope that in time Hubert will adapt his system and his sub patterns. They are all over the place and not conducive to any continuity. I listened to a good UNC Podcast recently with Justin Jackson as the guest and he said the same.

 

[TarHeelFanWV]

Crazy we are still projected in first four out.. Lunardi not always right though. The team put themselves in this situation though so I dont feel bad for that reason, however, I do think its crazy that they keep saying even with a Duke win, we still need a couple wins in the conference tournament. Thats a joke.

I ABSOLUTELY hate NET rankings. So WVU who is 16-13 and Michigan State at 17-11 are better than us and are in the tournament as pretty high seeds (for their record) because what? Because they play in a conference that is supposedly better than the ACC? Who is to say that conference is better than ours? Who is to say those teams are better than ours? Just because they play each other and beat each other all year long in their own conference, that makes them okay to lose because they are supposedly a better conference than us? What if Iowa State, WVU, TCU, Michigan State, and all these other subpar teams (record wise) are really just terrible? There is no proof that these conferences are better than the others. Big 12 and Big 10 can play each other and lose countless of games and still be a 7-8 seed, yet our conference records are just as good, if not better than theirs and we get no love. What is this based off of? ACC won the ACC/Big Ten challenge if I recall...

 

[TarHeelFanWV]

Also, NET rankings are dumb because Kentucky literally had 2 Quad 1 wins (both against Tennessee) and are now up to 5 quad 1 wins and they didnt have to do anything.. Only because the teams they beat earlier in the season turned into a top 50 team in NET rankings.. That is STUPID. Injuries or anything can change that, doesnt take away or add to the team you beat earlier in the season.. Teams can get better later in the season than they were when you played them. It should not be based off of NET rankings.. Just my opinion....


Kentucky literally did nothing to earn 3 extra quad 1 wins. Their opponents just raised in NET rankings. But yet those same opponents wasn't quad 1 when they beat them.. so wasn't a quality win then, but is now. Makes no sense

 

[al would]

Leaky did it in front of 17 NBA scouts. The kid may not get drafted, but I think he has a future in the NBA.

I've always felt he had great potential but his defensive prowess just never turned in to offensive aggressiveness .. and the man has the handle and athleticism to do it but has yet to figure out that that is his strength. I figure someone will give him a shot and maybe even as a point forward/defensive specialist type player. I would love to see a computer simulation of him against MJ.

 

[al would]

Sometimes the pieces fit, sometimes they don't. I hope that in time Hubert will adapt his system and his sub patterns. They are all over the place and not conducive to any continuity.

Yeah .. big time. Hubert never adjusted his game planning to his teams strengths and now it may be to little to late. Same way with the sub patterns. Now with crunch time coming up he's got a bench full of players with very little big game experience. Maybe if hubcap wants to coach NBA style he should try and get an NBA gig. And unless he starts giving the subs some time to develop he may well turn UNC in to dook / ky jelly thing where only the cream of the crop gets time and the rest are just practice people. That would be sad.

 

[gary-7]

What are u seeing in him? I’d love to be wrong!

His confidence has been hurt by being jerked around in playing time, to be frank, but he has more than shown the ability to be part of this rotation.

 

[tarheels0015]

Maybe bacot didn't feel well .. idk ..he looked sluggish to me

 

[al would]

He rides the hot hand (hitting shots, your staying in) and rhythm

Really ??? How's that "hot hand" bs been working all year with the 30ish% 3 pt team shooting ??? Caleb's a freaking bball black hole and I could build a brick house the 3 pigs couldn't touch with his shots. RJ aint much better and both of them have this stupid "road to nowhere" mentality when they get their hands on the ball. GMAFB with that hot hand garbage.

 

[Rabidfrog]

Really ??? How's that "hot hand" bs been working all year with the 30ish% 3 pt team shooting ??? Caleb's a freaking bball black hole and I could build a brick house the 3 pigs couldn't touch with his shots. RJ aint much better and both of them have this stupid "road to nowhere" mentality when they get their hands on the ball. GMAFB with that hot hand garbage.

It got us to the championship game last year
It has got us to the rubbish bin this year

NBA - You trust your stars and you use your bench as needed
College - I just don’t think that will work long term, but I also haven’t given up HD can adjust

 

[al would]

It got us to the championship game last year

Last year aint this year .. two completely different groups .. not like the NBA.

 

[dtodd4475]

He will be a better version of Theo Pinson if he continues to be aggressive.

He has more upside then Theo for the league. The teams and the G league did wonders for Theo's shot once they got him to make him a border line big leaguer. Leak is a 7'1 wingspan legit dee wing, he shoots it as well as Theo did already in college. He is going to get big looks. I think he will latch on and stick.

 

[TPFKAPFS]

All things change. The game evolves all the time so we can not possibly say the more pro-like sub system won't work long term! We all screamed for change at the end of DES' and Roy's tenures and now we scream that we shouldn't change....weird! I would at least let the man grow a bit since he has already shown he can adjust AND let him get his peeps in before we decide from the outside that his systems of subbing, O and D can't work! Funny thing is he is recruiting better than anyone we have had since the beginning or Roy's tenure and at the top of our history and peeps are even saying that he doesn't get credit for that! I like where we are headed and I still believe the story of THIS season is not written yet!

 

[Rabidfrog]

Last year aint this year .. two completely different groups .. not like the NBA.

… that is exactly my point! It seems like a hot and cold strategy, not long term consistently sustainable. But with some tweaks and learning I am still hopeful HD continues to learn on the job and keeps getting better as a head coach — his recruiting seems great so far, he just needs to X&O smoother.