Very quick stuff (Pitt game 2)...

[gary-7]

...and that waa garbage.

Only gonna say two things from our end:
- You can't expect to win ACC games shooting that poorly from the FT line and from 3.

- Why in the hell were we letting them kill the clock and play one-on-one at the end??? That's their whole f***ing "system". Attack the damn basketball EARLY in the shot-clock.

With that said...
- Open suggestion to the ACC: How bout holding open auditions from, I dunno, rec league or church league to find someone, ANYONE, who can call a damn basketball game? From the tip, that was some of the worst garbage I've seen in a long time. Pitt is a dirty team and got rewarded for it way more than called. RJ finally sold a couple that their dirty little PG had been committing all game, but too little, too late... literally EVERY Pitt screen was illegal by rule --- you are NOT allowed to roll into the defender's path, and they did it EVERY time, but not ONE single call... #11 committed (sometimes multiple) offensive fouls on most of his drives... Mando alone should have made 20 trips to the FT line, including on that last gawdawful "travel" call while he was getting fouled yet again. And on and on... And BTW, anyone not liking me mentioning this, welp, feel free to read something else.

Out.

 

[joeydavid]

Pitt's players who played tonight and rankings on 247 Composition Rankings coming out of high school.

Hinson #142
Elliott #224
Santos #232
Burton #406
Cummings #536
Federico Unranked
Sibande Unranked
GDG Unranked
JDG Unranked

Out coached. Out played. Frankly the refs allowed Bacot 10 fouls on his rebounding alone.

 

[heels05champs]

This game was just brutal to watch. The refs were terrible. Our coaching staff had one of their worst games. And honestly, this Carolina team is not enjoyable to watch most games. The offense does not seem to click, I’m not sure the personnel is a good fit for what they’re trying to do and there is no leader on the court. I can’t recall seeing any of these guys smile or seem like they even enjoy playing together.

It’s just overall been a disappointing season so far. A team full of upperclassmen should not look like this. I’m not sure what that says about next year when we have a much younger team.

 

[strummingram]

I hate it when the referees force UNC to shoot 30 three-point shots and miss 90% of them

 

[GoNtheDistance]

for the record, the crew tonight was awful but we’ve got to stop with blaming referees after every loss. or the other tried and true, “every team plays their best game against UNC”

 

[joeydavid]

we’ve got to stop with blaming referees for our losses. or the other tried and true, “every team plays their best game against UNC”

Thought the refs weren't very good and gave UNC more of the breaks.

 

[MTaylor93]

for the record, the crew tonight was awful but we’ve got to stop with blaming referees after every loss. or the other tried and true, “every team plays their best game against UNC”

This! Best thing I’ve read in a while. I absolutely can’t stand that one. If we are any good, they would play their worst game (or at least not play very well). That’s what good teams do, make other teams play bad.

 

[Sportscribe]

First time poster, long time reader.

Like other posters on here, I am simply tired of excuses being made for a team that is supposed to be this talented. Tired of watching prima donnas with bad attitudes, bad shot selection and bad facial expressions. Tired of seeing a bench that is hardly ever utilized with no semblance of any type of rotation. Tired of wishing it was the way it use to be when student athletes stayed at least three years on all teams allowing me to know the top 8 guys on all ACC teams and who was playing who on any given night.

I guess I am just tired of "FAMILY" and "CAROLINA WAY" being thrown all over these message boards and some posters finding it hard to believe fans who have followed this program for 40 years dare to question decisions made and effort given each and every game. This program being mediocre is not acceptable, but like it or not, I am just going to have to accept it. Last year was nice but it was last year, lightening in a bottle, perfect storm...etc..Carolina basketball that those of us 50 and over is probably gone. You remember dont you? The days we were shocked and sick until the next game over a loss. I am immune to that feeling now, and that is beyond sad.

Some of you can bash me as a first time poster so have at it. Reality is reality, the record is the record and even if this season is somehow salvaged by 20 wins and a good run in either tournament, Carolina Basketball is better than that.

 

[gauchoheel]

I thought refs were fine. Shooting stunk. Offensive talent isn't there this year. I hope we can upgrade from Love-Leaky-Nance starting 2-3-4 next year; unfortunately don't really see who that would be at the moment. I love Caleb and Leaky, but we can get better overall basketball players. Davis had his worst offensive game; likely just an aberration or injury.

I'd have gone offense / defense for the last couple possessions. Take Leaky out (yes I understand the defensive risk; it's worth it) on the Bacot travel play for Nickel. Sub Trimble and Dunn in for RJ / Love on the last defensive possession. For all Hubert's schematic tinkering on defense he could get a little more creative with subs at the end of games.

 

[Goheels83]

Gary, something needs to change with this team. I’m so ready for Leaky and Love to move on. We’re better than this. These last 5 yrs have been just hard to watch even with the run last year.
What needs to be done in your opinion?
And don’t hold back players,coaches or whatever.
Is this team just not very smart?
They always seem to be a split second late on d or passes. Just no rhythm.

 

[Sportscribe]

Careful now. You dont want to talk bad about or question "family" or "Hubs"

 

[tarwhiz]

I thought refs were fine. Shooting stunk. Offensive talent isn't there this year. I hope we can upgrade from Love-Leaky-Nance starting 2-3-4 next year; unfortunately don't really see who that would be at the moment. I love Caleb and Leaky, but we can get better overall basketball players. Davis had his worst offensive game; likely just an aberration or injury.

I'd have gone offense / defense for the last couple possessions. Take Leaky out (yes I understand the defensive risk; it's worth it) on the Bacot travel play for Nickel. Sub Trimble and Dunn in for RJ / Love on the last defensive possession. For all Hubert's schematic tinkering on defense he could get a little more creative with subs at the end of games.

I had never heard the term offense for defense until watching Dean Smith coach basketball. He was a master at it.
There have been so many times this year where Trimble could have been used in the second half defensove situations. Also aside from his one bad looking 3 point attempt, Nickel looks great moving the ball and cutting to open spots. Time to see what he can give us over 20 min.

 

[ChiShankCity]

We’re not beating anyone if Bacot and RJ play their D- games in the same game.

Honestly Caleb being efficient (for his standards) for the second straight game might be more important than the loss.

This loss can’t be this shocking to people can it? We’re not that good, we have Duke next, and… we’re not that good. If you’re a sports bettor, Wake plus the points and Pitt plus the points were auto bets right before UNC/Duke.

But again, if Caleb is going to shoot this efficiently consistently, then I’ll take the loss. The loss is almost irrelevant in comparison. The rest of Caleb’s game leaves a lot to be desired but if he makes some shots, then we may be closer to what many of you envisioned.

Take the big picture look here. We won 4 in a row, we had an extended break with a sleepy home game vs Pitt before going to Duke. Not surprising we didn’t play our best game.

This team losing games shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, lol. That’s what this junior/senior core has been their entire careers. They’ve told you who they are for 3 full seasons minus last March. Maybe start believing what they’re showing you.

 

[dtodd4475]

We’re not beating anyone if Bacot and RJ play their D- games in the same game.

Honestly Caleb being efficient (for his standards) for the second straight game might be more important than the loss.

This loss can’t be this shocking to people can it? We’re not that good, we have Duke next, and… we’re not that good. If you’re a sports bettor, Wake plus the points and Pitt plus the points were auto bets right before UNC/Duke.

But again, if Caleb is going to shoot this efficiently consistently, then I’ll take the loss. The loss is almost irrelevant in comparison. The rest of Caleb’s game leaves a lot to be desired but if he makes some shots, then we may be closer to what many of you envisioned.

Take the big picture look here. We won 4 in a row, we had an extended break with a sleepy home game vs Pitt before going to Duke. Not surprising we didn’t play our best game.

This team losing games shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, lol. That’s what this junior/senior core has been their entire careers. They’ve told you who they are for 3 full seasons minus last March. Maybe start believing what they’re showing you.

Those two did have bad games indeed, but they lost by 1 point, 1 point, so they ain't beating anyone with that is a bit hyperbolic. They are very similar to last year's team at this point. But last years team lost to a much worse Pitt team by more at home then this one with the D- games from those two.

I guess it's always what you are looking for that shows the most to the beholder.

 

[Archer2]

Those two did have bad games indeed, but they lost by 1 point, 1 point, so they ain't beating anyone with that is a bit hyperbolic. They are very similar to last year's team at this point. But last years team lost to a much worse Pitt team by more at home then this one with the D- games from those two.

I guess it's always what you are looking for that shows the most to the beholder.

 

[Archer2]

I don’t even recognize this team, they bear very little resemblance to the teams I’ve been watching since ‘60. They don’t play hard, smart, or together. They’re disparate parts with little synergy. Throw in NIL and the Stargate and I’m fast losing interest. Losing is becoming so common that I’m inured to it for the most part. Don’t want this to be my last memories of Carolina basketball.

 

[Tarheel75]

Look guys..., a bad shooting night from RJ (who is suffering with a dislocated finger), team shoots 34.8 % from the field, 18.5% from 3, & 59.1% from the FT line. That's where the game was decided. All of this and we lose by a point.

I too, also get irritated when our guys let extreme physicality rule their play. We are not a physical team, we are generally a finesse group of players who, when challenged by physical play resort to mindless "hero ball" while forgetting where their "bread is buttered" down in the paint. Did you not think that Bacot would be doubled and tripled down low? Did you see how Bacot, by waiting too long to pass back out and reset in the paint for better angles and positions to score got mugged because he mindlessly tried to score with 2-3 defenders surrounding him? A simple pass back out and re-working the offense for a better shot was the most likely way that Pitt's physicality could have been mitigated and resulted in some more scores.

Pitt has won 5 of 6 playing this style..., and it works when referees let physical play go. I was there and you need to know, that we were not called for a fair amount of fouls that we committed too, ours were just not the physical type. The Capel's have blueprinted the way to play UNC, and more of it is coming. So, what to do about it?

When the players get the mindset that they had last year in the last 6 six games we will see a marked difference in play. We will just have to wait and see, I guess.

By the way, from where I sat, Caleb was fouled on that last second shot. The Pitt defender caught him on the shooting hand in his block attempt. Sometimes you get that call, but not this night.

Both Capel's can eat one after I listened to post game from Jeff. They have manufactured the "Disrespect Card" as their single motivation for playing
UNC. Pitt still has problems though; they generally lose the game following ours and their style of play will not be tolerated by certain officials even in the ACC, not to mention the NCAA tournament, if they make it, and I think they will.

Well, how does this game affect Saturdays game? Should be an interesting watch.
Will dook try to be physical with our guys? I don't think that will work for them, as they also are not a physical team. Again, this has been a roller coaster of a season, much like last year.

 

[imajericho]

Caleb was fouled after the clock already hit zero.

 

[Tarheel75]

Caleb was fouled after the clock already hit zero.

Doesn't matter as long as the shot was taken within the shot clock. Had caleb made the shot it would have counted.

 

[joeydavid]

Doesn't matter as long as the shot was taken within the shot clock. Had caleb made the shot it would have counted.

No it wouldn't. The ball is clearly in his hand with 0.0 on the clock and the red lights on.

 

[Tom79]

Caleb was fouled and if I recall correctly that play should have been reviewable.

 

[joeydavid]

Caleb was fouled and if I recall correctly that play should have been reviewable.

On review, the refs would wave off the shot because the game was over before the shot was taken.

 

[Tarheel75]

No it wouldn't. The ball is clearly in his hand with 0.0 on the clock and the red lights on.

Well, the official had his arm up for the 3-point shot, and I suspect that if Caleb had made it, it would have gone to the monitor for verification, and yeah, most likely would have been disallowed after re-watching that play.

ETA: the horn did not go off to end the game until after his shot was blocked though. Doesn't make anyone feel any better though, and it should not come down to a play of this type anyway if we, as I mentioned above, had made FT's and shot a bit better.

 

[Tarheelsman71]

Forget finding some refs to call the game right! How about we recruit some players that can actually shoot he freaking ball. Give me a bunch of 6 foot dudes that can truly shoot (and make) the ball and we could beat anyone. We suck at shooting. Some nights we get LUCKY, but that only gets you so far.

 

[gkss]

Doesn't matter as long as the shot was taken within the shot clock. Had caleb made the shot it would have counted.

Should not have come to that- up by one and the ball, Bacot gets doubled and travels because we are doing our”standing around watching “ thingy, and we don’t get a shot off , or at least attack the basket. We have to execute offensively in that clutch situation and we didn’t because we are a mess offensively and that is on the coaches first, and the players second. And the argument of shooting poorly is most often the result of poor shot selection.

 

[Tarheel75]

Should not have come to that- up by one and the ball, Bacot gets doubled and travels because we are doing our”standing around watching “ thingy, and we don’t get a shot off , or at least attack the basket. We have to execute offensively in that clutch situation and we didn’t because we are a mess offensively and that is on the coaches first, and the players second. And the argument of shooting poorly is most often the result of poor shot selection.

Poor shot selection most definitely will produce poor shooting percentages. However, it was not the case last night. RJ missed 7 shots where he was wide open as well as 2 FT's (he is the league leader in FT %) and has a bad finger on his shooting hand and it noticeably made a difference in his accuracy, and Leaky missed several wide-open shots, although he is not the offensive threat that RJ is. Having the ball twice with the lead in the last minute and turning it over without even getting a look or shot was the back breaker.

 

[midline]

I hate to say it, but I still think the biggest problem is standing in front of the bench the whole game. I’m not sure he has much control over this group. They seem to do what they want. And once again here we had Leaky out there shooting 3s. Clue to Hubert. There is a reason folks leave him wide open. Then in first half Bacot hardly touches it for a 10 minute span as everybody else jacks up a 3 at their first opportunity. We just don’t get good shots, unless you figure Lobe jacking up a shot from Roy’s signature a good shot. Davis didn’t have his shot last night. At some point a coach needs to see that and tell them to head fake, drive, and set up others. But those things never happen with this team. And Pitt actually won this game by being tougher than UNC. That is also disappointing. I just think Hubert needs to gain control of this bunch and insert some discipline. But to this point, I’m not sure Hubert is a head coach. Loyal assistant, yes. But some folks don’t make the transition to the big chair. But this is UNC basketball. Time to get serious

 

[notashelbyfan]

for the record, the crew tonight was awful but we’ve got to stop with blaming referees after every loss. or the other tried and true, “every team plays their best game against UNC”

Dude they bitch about the refs when we win, not just when we lose. We made more free throws that Pitt took its got to stop! I'm so sick of it we just are not very good. Coaching is subpar, and the players lack discipline!

The coaches look as confused as new born baby in a titty bar!

 

[djones1975]

i am getting old. We played one of the worst games we have played and should have won the game. The refs were bad. Period. However, they did not cost us the game. We were up 1 with the ball with around 40 seconds left. We still had a chance to shut them down up 1. It was frustrating. The biggest take away is that Davis cannot guard on the drive or on a post up very well. When he is on offensively we can just take it. We had open 3's and plenty of opportunities. I should be mad.
I went to the game last night with 3 of my boys, and the crowd was really great. Even though I should be mad (my boys were), I enjoyed the feel of a loud supportive crowd. I am going to choose to have fun watching the rest of the year. No expectation. Hoping Puff gets better and that Hubert plays the bench and they excel. I am looking forward to playing Duke and the rest of the season. I am getting old.

 

[ChiShankCity]

Those two did have bad games indeed, but they lost by 1 point, 1 point, so they ain't beating anyone with that is a bit hyperbolic. They are very similar to last year's team at this point. But last years team lost to a much worse Pitt team by more at home then this one with the D- games from those two.

I guess it's always what you are looking for that shows the most to the beholder.

Really good point. Maybe it's a positive that we had a chance to win despite clunkers from RJ and Bacot.

 

[Sportscribe]

When Carolina fans have to search this hard for a silver lining in losing to Pitt in BASKETBALL shows just how far this program has fallen in a short time....JMO

 

[heelmanwilm]

 

[FlaTarHeel]

Pitt has won 5 of 6 playing this style..., and it works when referees let physical play go. I was there and you need to know, that we were not called for a fair amount of fouls that we committed too, ours were just not the physical type. The Capel's have blueprinted the way to play UNC, and more of it is coming. So, what to do about it?

Both Capel's can eat one after I listened to post game from Jeff. They have manufactured the "Disrespect Card" as their single motivation for playing
UNC. Pitt still has problems though; they generally lose the game following ours and their style of play will not be tolerated by certain officials even in the ACC, not to mention the NCAA tournament, if they make it, and I think they will.

Those Capel's are as low class as you will find, but they hide it using their family name and their dad's legacy.

They are going to use the race card and lack of fair play with the ACC refs.
The black ref last night(Mike Roberts) will easily buy in to their B.S. and there are a few others in the league as well(See Bert Smith).

I though Ron Groover had turned the corner in a positive way a few years ago. I was wrong, he's killing us this year.

This series with Pitt is going to get real ugly if the Capel's stay employed long enough.

I will end by saying this, I respect Rashad McCants more than Jason Capel.
(Let that sink in)

 

[tarwhiz]

Should not have come to that- up by one and the ball, Bacot gets doubled and travels because we are doing our”standing around watching “ thingy, and we don’t get a shot off , or at least attack the basket. We have to execute offensively in that clutch situation and we didn’t because we are a mess offensively and that is on the coaches first, and the players second. And the argument of shooting poorly is most often the result of poor shot selection.

I am not jumping on the Hubert can't coach bandwagon like some are, but I have a real problem with the play call to give it to Bacot with his back to the basket in the first place.
He did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in that situation throughout the game, why do we think he was going to all of a sudden have success? Even if he draws a foul, he was atrocious at the line.
The best offensive player for UNC all night was Caleb Love. Why not set a ball screen with Pete and let Caleb play downhill to score at the rim, get fouled or drop off a pass. Bacot and Nance could have followed the shot at the rim.
The game was lost in this possession.

 

[Heelicious]

I am not jumping on the Hubert can't coach bandwagon like some are, but I have a real problem with the play call to give it to Bacot with his back to the basket in the first place.
He did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in that situation throughout the game, why do we think he was going to all of a sudden have success? Even if he draws a foul, he was atrocious at the line.
The best offensive player for UNC all night was Caleb Love. Why not set a ball screen with Pete and let Caleb play downhill to score at the rim, get fouled or drop off a pass. Bacot and Nance could have followed the shot at the rim.
The game was lost in this possession.

100%. Even if, whether he got fouled or not, the ball came free from AB's hands. He regathered it, which means his two feet and pivot foot should be reset, re-established. So no travel.

But agreed, there should have been several better options there. Then - take the reality that RJ Davis sort of slipped and turned his foot, and fell / face planted accidentally into the Pitt guy with like 4 seconds left for an "excuse me" foul, just an unfortunate string of events. But it comes down to the fact that this team is just average with below average coaching and situational play calling at this point (or poor execution of the play that is draw up / called) - and this is the result you should expect.

This team already sort of stole two games they should've lost (OSU and Syracuse) - losing this one just sort of evens it out.

 

[GoNtheDistance]

coming off a timeout and Hubert not pressuring their best player on the ball to force ANYBODY other than him to score was ill-advised. you KNEW he was getting the ball and we let him dribble out the clock before getting a switch with RJ and RJ being forced to foul inside 5 feet. call it what you want, but consistently is terrible coaching the game and making necessary adjustments. he rarely makes any. hell Caleb Love probably just shot another contested 3 from Franklin St just now. what a joke. Is he recruiting well? seems so. But at the end of the day, you have to lead and coach that talent. Hubert is failing miserably at that. Again, go listen to the George Lynch podcast on Inside Carolina in the last week. It's very clear that there's a perception of little leadership or accountability with this team. Lynch specifically said that even if Hubert isn't going to address it, somebody in the locker room needs to address Caleb continuing to put up 20ish shots a game shooting the percentage that he is.

 

[heels05champs]

It’s as obvious as can be that HD has no control over some of these players and fails to use the bench to get what he wants. Listen to his post game comments and you will see that they still aren’t doing what is practiced at times. HD continues to let Love do what he wants with no repercussions and that’s an easy way to lose a locker room and set a bad example for the young guys.

 

[al would]

It’s as obvious as can be that HD has no control over some of these players and fails to use the bench to get what he wants. Listen to his post game comments and you will see that they still aren’t doing what is practiced at times. HD continues to let Love do what he wants with no repercussions and that’s an easy way to lose a locker room and set a bad example for the young guys.

X 10 ! If you refuse to exert your will over, and control your players, you are not a head coach hubcap. If players don't do as instructed sit their ass down and put in players that will. And this using a "pro substitute situational" bs works great if you have a pro team .. which you don't. That entire game last night was an embarrassment to UNC fans and has got to be demoralizing to both the incoming and existing players.

 

[joeydavid]

Well, the official had his arm up for the 3-point shot, and I suspect that if Caleb had made it, it would have gone to the monitor for verification, and yeah, most likely would have been disallowed after re-watching that play.

ETA: the horn did not go off to end the game until after his shot was blocked though. Doesn't make anyone feel any better though, and it should not come down to a play of this type anyway if we, as I mentioned above, had made FT's and shot a bit better.

Here's another look at it. The game was over before he shot the ball or had any contact by Sibande. It's really not even all that close.

 

[dtodd4475]

Poor shot selection most definitely will produce poor shooting percentages. However, it was not the case last night. RJ missed 7 shots where he was wide open as well as 2 FT's (he is the league leader in FT %) and has a bad finger on his shooting hand and it noticeably made a difference in his accuracy, and Leaky missed several wide-open shots, although he is not the offensive threat that RJ is. Having the ball twice with the lead in the last minute and turning it over without even getting a look or shot was the back breaker.

Agreed, we got good looks for our best shooter. He had an awful shooting night, great looks. Also to the "why go to Mando" crowd on the last travel, I get it he was bad at recognizing the double, and is a poor passer, but I would of chose to go threw him as well. He hesitated and they locked him up, resulting in not getting a shot up with the walk. I didn't like the result, but I liked the the set up.