That's what they were saying before the tip-off.

I'd hate to think they are right.

Watched Northwood versus Central Cabarrus last night. Central Cabarrus came into the game 32-0, and they were able to beat Northwood 65 to 51. It was apparent that they were the more talent team overall. Northwood Drake Powell showed why he is an elite talent. The problem was he did not have a good supporting cast, their guards are not elite by any standard. Drake Powell had to being the ball up court since the guards were turnover prone, have to admit he has a very good handle. Northwood downfall were they committed 19 turnovers against Central Cabarrus, which led to a lot of fast break point for Cabarrus. Drake showed great shooting form from the 3 point line and with his mid range jumper, defense was good, and the kid is athletic. Finished the game with 17 points on 8 of 10 from the field. The potential are there for him to be an outstanding player and a contributor his freshman year of 2024. Definitely has a great upside to his game.

I was able to catch Simeon live tonight for the first time in a long time as Roselle Catholic won the sectional finals.

Wilcher's stat line scoring wise wasn't great (I think he was about 2-8 for 6 points) but it doesn't even remotely come close to telling the full story. He had 6 assists (I counted only 1 turnover) and 6 steals (more on this later). They also only credited him for 4 rebounds but I counted 7.


Things I liked:

- His vision and unselfishness is exceptional.

I thought we had to wait for Cadeau to get a pass first floor general but man Simeon was just that tonight at the highest possible level. His head is always up, always looking up the court on a break and always looking for the open guy when he gets doubled on a drive. The 6 assists could have easily been 12 if his guys finished around the rim better. Then there is the unselfishness. His entire game is how can he make his teammates better and set them up for their shot. My brother went to the game with me (he's a former high D1 PG) and he couldn't get over how he was always pass first. It's just very rare these days. Mgbako (top 10 player going to Duke) had 26 and I'd say 20 of those were directly set up by something Simeon did.

- His handle is an A+

He controlled the ball for probably 60-70% of Roselle's offense and not once did he come close to a turnover while dribbling. He was being pressured heavily and it didn't matter, the ball is on a string with him and it's always being protected. He's also one of those kids who almost seems faster with the ball in his hands. He glides up the court and was the fastest guy on the court by far.

- His defense is ACC ready

This kid has a nose for the ball that is so rare. The 6 steals weren't from bad passes by the other team or loose balls, they were Simeon creating a turnover when a guy penetrated because his hands are so active and he created loose balls. He did this over and over with only 1 foul all game, he is just so good at finding the weak spot when a guy drives and shows the ball when he shouldn't.

- He plays very physical

He's one of those very physical PGs who loves contact and can still make a pass/layup with contact. He's one of those guys that's going to go to the line a lot (he didn't tonight because they doubled his drives and he correctly found a teammate for a layup when they did). That physicality is also there on the defensive end, he's going to fight through screens and body guys trying to get by him.


Things he'll need to work on and concerns:

- His shot wasn't falling tonight and hasn't consistently most of the season

This is the glaring piece of his game that needs some polish. The form is great and he gets really nice lift on his jumper, he just needs to make more shots consistently. He had a few that were right there tonight and just didn't drop. I think he'll develop it but as a freshman coming in, don't count on 35% from 3.

- I'm not sure him and Cadeau can/should play together

They are SO similar from what I've seen/heard of Cadeau. Pass first, not great shooters, very athletic PGs. Which one of them moves off the ball? Good luck to HD on that one because I just don't see it right now unless we had 3 elite shooters on the court with them.



Overall, my biggest takeaway watching him live was that he's ready. He does many things at a very high D1 level already and minus a few freshman hiccups, I'd trust him to run our offense immediately in 2023-24. I've heard the argument on him vs. Trimble but I think Simeon is a much better player right now. He's a better scorer, he's bigger and more physical, and the defense is right there with Seth. My prediction (assuming no one reclasses and Caleb leaves) is that Simeon starts at the 1 next year with RJ sliding to the 2. I think that's our best lineup.

We got a really really good one. I can't wait to see him in Carolina Blue next fall.

To the THI staff and fellow subscribers, I want to say thank you for the experience thus far!

It's refreshing to have meaningful discussions and cordial agree to disagree moments that don't turn visceral.

I feel comfortable posting and joining in discussions here. Unlike other places. SMH

AJ and staff, I enjoy the all around content from podcasts, to videos and inside information that you share when you can.

Very disappointed and even sad about the season. I've been around a long time and the leadership of the basketball program seems more off than it has ever been.

As good of a guy as Hubert may be, it was a failure, in my humble opinion, to hire a very VERY inexperienced coach.

Looking forward to the reset button being definitively pressed.

5 stars to you THI! Everyone have a great day!

I just got home from the 4A state championship game (Myers Park vs Richmond) and sophomore AJ White was the best player on the court. He is a legitimate 6’7”-6’8” and the kid can jump out of the gym. He had 15 points on 7-9 shooting, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks, 2 steals and 2 assists in 27 minutes. He has 8 P5 offers. I would love to see us get involved soon because he is absolutely going to blow up this summer.

I noticed in the AP article that they labeled Bacot's injury as an "apparent ankle injury". I thought that was a curious choice of words with a rather sinister undertone. Does that mean that they think Bacot is faking the injury? Do they think he actually injured some other body part and that they are just saying that it is an ankle injury. No big deal. But I just thought it was a strange choice of words for a very obvious ankle injury.

...and I won't belabor this.

First, to be fair, we had to play 2 outta 3 games with UVA effectively without Mando... and fact is. this UVA team doesn't match up well with us, and I have no qualms saying that with Bacot, we take the hat trick this season. Alas, we can't have nice things.

So..... if yer gonna beat these guys sans Mando, then you CAN'T help them, e.g....

- you CAN'T dribble side-to-side. I've explained it multiple times --- it's about GEOMETRY. The Pack Line is like a Japanese fan designed to expand to the wings -- but it is vulnerable to early shot-clock attacks, and you can't be afraid to take the ops for shots, drives and dumps, BUT you MUST attack it at VERTICAL angles. You saw what happened when we rolled Pete instead of popping, for example. With that said, once again, Lordy, we're a poor passing/vision team. I bet we messed 7 open vertical dumps in the first half alone (my kingdom for a legit PG and a good-passing Big).

- you also CAN'T keep missing good open looks

- and when you finally start getting them (granted, overdue by a full half), you CAN'T be missing FTs like that (which alone would've spotted us a late lead)

- and you CAN'T be loose with the rock playing a team that literally fouls you multiple times on every possession

Well, sum total --- we did all that. So... there ya have it.

Finally..... Not gonna pull any punches --- If we were living in a sane world, there would be little worry we would nonetheless be in the Dance --- it would just be a matter of where and how bad the seed. We won 20 and had a winning record in the friggin' ACC --- Case. Closed. Period. But... unfortunately we're in a world of mathematically unsound, self-justfying invented nonsense like "Net" and "Quads" --- even without my math degree I'd laugh at that garbage --- which thus allows jabronie hacks like Lunardi and legions of Carolina-hating loudmouths out there to push their thinly-veiled agendas. And chances are, that'll have their desired effect and we get left out.

Anyway... there's nonetheless little doubt that we brought our current dilemma on ourselves, so it is what it is at this point --- and personally, I'm not gonna think about it anymore til Sunday. So, welp..... L8er...

From Feb 1 through exiting the ACC tournament, both the 2022 and 2023 iterations of this team played 12 games.

The 2022 team went 9-3

The 2023 team went 5-7

The teams were more similar to begin each season. Comparing the first 12 games each year, we see...

The 2022 team went 9-3

The 2023 team went 8-4 (and the extra loss was probably due to Armando being out for the VaTech game)

But this has been the worst coaching job I've ever seen at UNC in the 45+ years I've been watching them. Yes, I'm painfully aware of the 8-20 team but that team had a roster that would have struggled in a YMCA rec league. This year UNC had a supposedly loaded roster and what should have been an improved team over last year. Instead, there has been absolutely no player development (hard to develop when you never play) and no game adjustments. The team has actually gotten worse as the season progressed.

I have no confidence in the future of this program under Hubert. Again, he's a great guy and loves the University but that doesn't automatically translate to being a good coach. Do I think he'll be fired after this year? Not really, although it does set us up for further disappointment. I really hope Bubba takes the next coaching search seriously.

That's the question I'd love to hear Hubert answer. Since that's not going to happen, the next best thing is to ask you guys what you would do differently?

I'm guessing most of us would say that Hubert should have developed his bench more aggressively, and gone to it more in most games throughout the season.

It's also pretty clear to me that HD never figured out how to use Pete Nance.

After watching RJ run out of gas on offense late in games, I wonder if the decision to make him the primary ball handler was the right choice?

I'm sure there will be a lot better suggestions coming from our gurus, take it away....

I didn't watch much yesterday, but 3 of first 4 games were one possession wins. WF v Cuse was really entertaining.

Next up... go Yellow Jackets!

Should UNC accept an NIT invitation or not? If we decline, would that reflect poorly on the school? If we do accept, do we play to win or to develop kids coming back? Thoughts?

I'm sure that's how he wanted to go out. Losing on a buzzer beater to a team he had just accused of "buying" their players, in a city he repeatedly insulted.

Discussion
Was it the final game of the season? Probably so. Was it one of UNC's worst games in the 3-point era? Probably so.

UNC scored 0.82 points per possession while allowing Ken Pomeroy's #72 offense to score 1.03 points per possession. If you think UNC's offense was bad, they were only 0.13 off of Dean Smith's goal. The defense was 0.18 off of Smith's goal. It made for a Smith Index of -0.3109, the 6th worst performance by a UNC team in the last 991 games.

On a night when UVA's best player didn't play and the two remaining big men found themselves in early foul trouble, UNC opted to take 51% of their shots from 3-point land; they only shot 30% from there. In the last 991 games, UNC has only suckled at the 3-point teat more in 13 games. It's astonishing to watch a team with such a one-track mind that it has absolutely no awareness of the opponent's weaknesses.

You want some good news? Well, you won't find it on the defensive end. UNC has allowed an opponent to be more efficient on only 86 of its last 991 games. They allowed UVA to shoot 59% inside the arc, the 911th-worst interior defense since 1996. They allowed UVA an assist/turnover ratio of 1.83, an 11th percentile performance on defense.

Not only were the Heels astonishingly ugly, the game was, too. Neither team shot 50% from the field nor 30% from 3, and there were only 138 total possessions. We've only had 26 games slower than this one in the last 991.

Over the last 5 years we have seen a deterioration of defensive intensity and a plague of bad body language. Hubert needs to send some coaches and players on their way, Monday, to save this program.

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