...and dammit.

I'll keep this short:

- Despite the naysaying here and elsewhere, and despite ESPN's relentless keep-UNC-out-of-the-NCAAT drum-beating, I knew damn well we could beat these guys. The senior-night energy for RJ and Withers should've been a factor, and it was, and Eliot jacked the crowd with that chase-down block on Proctor. But then dook starts off with Knipple stumbling (thru an uncalled travel) to make a heave, followed by rim-clanging 3s somehow bouncing in like they were in friggin HIS.

- But here's what was really missing for the first 14 minutes: Yeah, we were playing tight defense on-ball, but just like up at VaTech, we were nonethelss lacking OFF-BALL. FACT is (contrary to some inaccurate narratives), what got us cranked up Tuesday was finally getting active and aggressive in HELP D, and that's exactly what happened here. In Blacksburg it started at the 1st half under-8, this time is started at 6:02 when we FINALLY ran 44, and once again that got the defensive aggression fired up for ALL 5 GUYS, and a run thus ensued that got us right back into this thing.

- 2nd half, and here AGAIN, it was aggressive all-5-guys defense that got us going. Lubin and EC with back-to-back steals got us in transition and RJ kept smoking and we forced yet another timeout. And despite Groover and Co.'s best efforts, we stretched the lead to 6.

- Folks, here's where things went south --- when we couldn't get into transition, we started STANDING AROUND on offense. That can be one of the hazards of a hot guy hitting shots, and our off-ball motion just ground to a halt. Also frustrating to me was not posting hard on the mismatches we were eliciting in the paint, or missing cutters from the wing when we did move. We've been gradually doing better at getting inside-out recently, but that disappeared over a key stretch. Coming out of the under-12, everything we were doing well came unglued. When our offense stagnated, we also got back on our heels on the other end. I would've loved to have seen us scramble more, but granted, it's harder to press when you're not making shots.

- Jeez, how many of our shots, that have been going in, now came off the rim?... and not finishing inside on potential dimes? Yeah, there were some forces, but as I mentioned last time out, our good shooting has carried a lot of our recent success, and when it disappears --- 33% (26% 3s) --- it just killed our chances in the 2nd half. And meanwhile the damn dookies get a non-shooting Big heaving in rainbows. Sheesh.

- Finally, look --- dook is beatable, and beatable by us. Yes, they're physically huge and have a lot of weapons, but they DON'T have a PG, and when we can apply 5-man defensive pressure and stress them at the top, it shows --- dook had 14 TOs (and EC forced 4 of those) --- and again, we could've used more scrambles to keep the energy up.

Anyway, it's pretty damn clear --- the guys need to bow up and decide to get after it in Charlotte. Backs against the wall, (pick your cliche), etc, etc... but this team is capable of doing that and I hope like hell they do, because if we can make the Dance, there's nobody we can't beat if things are clicking...

I have seen several references to BB wanting to bring our former players back and making them more a part of the program. I thought this was supposed to be an emphasis for Mack also. I noticed that Peppers and LT were here this weekend. Also Drake Maye. What has been the status of former players being around.