Where's the basketball expert on this board that told us we didn't need a center in the transfer portal? Washington is no more s starting caliber center at Carolina then I am. Throw in Withers at the 4 and it should get s coaching staff fired. Its inexcusable and beyond pathetic that they went into this season as our starting 4 and 5. The basketball program is quickly becoming irrelevant in every form of recruiting. Lost a kid to Washingyon today that they hadn't recruited all year. The offensive juggernaut that is the Spsrtans are getting ready to drop a 50 spot in the first half. An absolute clown show with no accountability.

One more year of him makes a big impact on this team. Attitude, leadership and grabbing boards

Just finished watching Dayton game. RJ is “the Man”. Having said that, I was so so crushed when Trimble entered portal as I thought he was are best on ball defender and was so athletic. Having witnessed his transformation especially offensively, with his size, ball handling and jumping ability plus the other intangibles, He has NBA written all over him! Just sayin. Please stay one more year

Back before Bunting finally, at least 3 years late. got fired, I developed what I called the 3 Year Rule. My assertion is that almost every coach shows, often very clearly, within his first 3 years at a school whether he can win at that school better than his predecessor, and /or better than he won at his previous stop(s). UNC football fans especially have had it pounded and drilled a million times into their heads by UNC officials that the worst thing for a football program is change of HC - that continuity is required for the program to win much of anything. That cliche is valid only after a coach has proven he can win Big at a place: then you want continuity. But if a coach has not won big at that place, then keeping him just guarantees more of the same.

And lack of continuity itself, even after winning BIG, does not ruin a program. Look at Miami in its golden age. Howard Schnelleberger coached at Miami only 5 seasons, and his last was his National Championship. Jimmy Johnson then came in for 5 years, and he finished with 4 straight Top Ten finishes, including 1 National Championship. Dennis Erickson stayed at Miami 6 years and won 2 National Championships. The program then went into a slide of sorts, but that had nothing to do with the fact that coaches had been leaving rather quickly. It came because Erickson had let team discipline slip into nothing so that the team embarrassed the university so badly so often with its street punk acting that Tad Foote stomped his foot down and ordered a house cleaning.

Even under toughened admission and retention standards, Butch Davis's 6th and final team finished ranked #2. The next year, Davis's OC took over Miami and won a National Championship with one of the 3 or 4 best teams in CFB history. The year after that, it took 3 very questionable calls for Ohio St to keep Miami from winning another National Championship.

No continuity, but HUGE winning. None of those coaches leaving Miami set the program back. A big winning coach leaving hurts a program only if a bad hire is made. A mediocre coach leaving after even just 2 years NEVER hurts a program unless the next hire is worse.

Continuity means zilch, nada. The key is having a great or at least very good HC. It is far better to have 10 consecutive HCs that all leave after just 4 seasons, if all proved to be the right hire, than to have maximum continuity of just 2 HCs over 40 years who each proves to be mediocre over and over. Again, see Miami.

IF UNC had been operating the 3 Year Rule, it wouod have fired Bunting no later than his third season, saving us 3 more years being dragged downward.

Especially in this age, the 3 Year Rule needs to be something that UNC enforces on itself and makes clear to coaches. That would fit naturally with UNC also changing the way contracts are done, placing major emphasis on bonuses for achievements rather than just guaranteeing a large set salary. Earn the money, coach.

The other reason that UNC needs to play a strict 3 Year Rule is that anytime a program is struggling, the fans begin to lose heart and then interest. We can see that with UNC right now. Fan interest was dead. What sparked fans back into interest? Mack fired and the new coach search. Anytime a coach is fired, fans will have hope that the program makes a better hire. They then are reengaged, fired back up, before the new coach even gets named.

If they do not get the job well started toward done within 3 years, fire them and also revive the fan base at the same time.

I have a lot to be thankful for this year. I hope you all do as well.

We appreciate all of the members of our community and wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you for making this the best UNC fan community around.

....and this is important for everyone to read.

For real, I'm dog-tired but this needs to be said, so please pay attention:

- Start right here: If you haven't done so, please read my scouting report on Auburn in last night's analysis. What they can put on the floor right now is, quite simply, the most complete team in the country. They are better than KU, bama, Zags, dook,uk, name it. Please don't bother arguing, because if you do, you will be wrong. I'm not saying this because of my Auburn connections --- I was pulling for UNC as hard as I could --- just stating fact. Granted, they could very well lose tomorrow --- they are, after all, undisciplined (an achilles heel of Pearl teams) --- but make no mistake as to what they have.

- So... the reason I'm leading with this is to give y'all some perspective. 1) They are very good and played very well. 2) We did not. Thus, please spare me the "woe is us" nonsense. We aren't doomed, we're just not there yet.

With that out front, let's get into some analysis:

- Let me start by giving credit where due --- this was a generally well-officiated game. Refreshing to have a solid crew, so no complaints there.

- I told you that Broome was a stud, and he started out just being ridiculous (he ain't normally THAT good), but we adjusted and contained him in the second half. Trouble is, their other weapons came thru when they needed them.

Negatives:
- Hubert, please do NOT change your inbound scheme just because an opponent pressures. That was a coaching mistake.
- Ian, take your blinders off. When you get bogged down, look for your teammates
- Ball-movement in general --- long before things got desperate the ball was sticking to one side. REVERSE it!
- We've got to get JWash in a more aggressive and confident mindset on offense. He's too good of a shooter to be hesitant,, and misses are ensuing.
- We uncharacteristically missed too many FTs
- While we had some success driving off of it, we did not attack Pearl's 1-1-3 Zone as smoothly as we should have

Positives:
- Back to my scouting report --- We defended their Flex-cut action very well and only gave up one bucket off of it. And we often forced them into long 3 looks. Trouble is, they made a lot of those.
- We kept fighting amidst a lack-luster performance
- FINALLY!!! We saw some scramble!!! That's right, 43 reared its head and dadgummit, it worked!!! Three possessions of 43 resulting in a forced timeout, a stop, and a turnover. PLEASE Hubert... don't wait for desperation time. This team needs to be multiple!

Anyway, here's the deal: FLUSH this game and move on. In fact, in many ways tomorrow's game vs Mich St is the most important of this young season [edit] This is a challenge for us to get back on track that can set the tone --- good or bad --- for the rest of the season. Players and staff --- time to get after it with both barrels, no matter what sort of zebra crew we draw... 😡

I have a lot to be thankful for this year. I hope you all do as well.

We appreciate all of the members of our community and wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you for making this the best UNC fan community around.