Contest #2



Contest #1

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One draft scout commented: "Both," the scout answered whether Jackson had helped or hurt himself this season. "He ascended some earlier in the year but a lot of that was supported by the age but then the more you watch him, the more you get confused about his IQ for the game, what he lacks and what he can improve on. The game doesn't come easy for him, he shot-hunts, things are about him and now he is sinking for me a little bit."

I find this very amusing and it was great for a laugh on a day I think all UNC fans need a laugh.

They are who we thought they were!

I hope we have a new starting 5 next season. The core is done. Has been done this entire season.

Hopefully the new guys don't pee on themselves anytime they play outside the DES.

2023 Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Candidates

Enrique Freeman Akron
Azuolas Tubelis Arizona
Hunter Tyson Clemson
DaRon Holmes II Dayton
Kyle Filipowski Duke
Drew Timme Gonzaga
Trayce Jackson-Davis Indiana
Kris Murray Iowa
Norchad Omier Miami (Fla.)
Bryce Hopkins Providence

I was just curious to see how Walton has been doing at Texas Tech. I haven't watched any of their games but thought some of you might be interested in how he's doing from a statistical standpoint.

12.8 Minutes per game
3 Starts
4.4 PPG
1 RPG
0.5 APG
0.5 TO/g
50.8% FG%
22/49 on 3's for 44.9%

Averaging a career high offensive rating of 127.4.
On the flip side, averaging a career low on defensive rating at 106.5.
+/- of 2.7

AJ or any others, I do not remember seeing anything being written about RJ going through any type of concussion protocol after the Syracuse game. Do you have any info on this?

A top schools list is coming. Recruiting update with Fox on Rivals.

on ACC Huddle

Roddy Jones - Clemson and FSU

Mark Richt - Ceklmson and FSU

Eric Manuel - wimped out with I Don't Know U

How ACC teams they think will be bowl eligible

Jones - 9, maybe just 8

Richt - 10

Manuel - 7, because he thinks the OOC slate is very tough for these ACC teams

As evidenced in the scatter plot, UNC finds itself, once again, with a team that (as a whole) executes well on offense, but is woefully inadequate on defense. In fact, since the advent of the 3-point line in 1987, UNC has only had 4 teams that were worse on defense. One of those four is the 2002 team, while the other three are from the last 5 seasons: 2018, 2020, and 2022. Last season's team has the controversial reputation of a terrible defensive team that turned it around in February. Is this team poised for a turn around?

If we look at last year's team in its first 22 games and compare it to this year's team, we insert trend lines and compare the two:


Note: UNC's historical average is 0.844 points per possession allowed

This graph shows us that the current team started out better defensively than last year's team, but unlike last year's team, it is allowing more and more points per possession as the season wears on. At least the 2022 team was trending in the right direction at this point.


If we compare this team's points per possession on offense and defense to the previous 27 seasons, we get a better understanding not only of where this team stands, but also of how likely they are to improve in these areas. A Normal Distribution is much like a spring; there is a pull toward the historical average that gets stronger the further one gets from that average. Too, the room for improvement narrows considerably as one advances beyond the average, much like a multi-lane highway merging down to one lane.

As we can see from these two curves, this year's team is above average on offense and well below average on defense. We can improve our shot selection, our accuracy, and our passing, but the likelihood of getting considerably more efficient on offense is not high. Conversely, there is much room for improvement on defense, and the team shouldn't encounter as much resistance to getting better than it faces with getting better on offense.

The theme of February needs to be defense.

Things are beginning to look a little bleak right now but with Wake, Clemson and Miami next on the schedule Carolina has a excellent opportunity to make a bunch of noise and progress. My hope that last year’s disaster in Winston Salem does not show its ugly head again. Mansanto has been burning up the nets recently and with Appleby still playing at all ACC caliber clip Wake is loaded. Playing defense has not been UNC’s strong point this season but to win this battle away from home the defense needs to get energized and play like Miami did against Duke last night…

As important as this game to me as a fan is I can only hope the Tar Heels can pull this one out without my constant play by play and posting here. Today is my wife’s birthday and I am taking her to the Tanger Center in Greensboro to watch “River Dance” which is currently on tour in the States. Yes I have my priorities right and I know it. Thank goodness I can DVD the game…

It seems like nearly everybody here is down on Caleb. Are we being fair?

As some here have pointed out, Caleb has that extra gear, and when he's in that gear, he's impressive, fun to watch, and can single-handedly win games for us.

Everybody loves that Caleb.

But he hasn't been in that gear all that much this season. And when he isn't in that gear, we tend to beat him up. When our other players don't have good games, we may point it out. We may bitch - especially after a loss. In RJ's case, for a while there, people piled on him for over-dribbling, but we also recognized that wasn't entirely RJ's fault. People routinely bitch about Leaky not being much of a scoring threat. But few call for him to be benched.

But we don't cut Caleb any slack.

Is it because Caleb was so high-ranked?

Is it because he's cocky?

Is it because he doesn't come across as committed to the team?

Sometimes I ask myself if I would be more forgiving if Caleb had been #50 out of HS. Or if he smiled more than once every 3 games. And I think the answer is, yes I would be more forgiving. I'd be glad when Caleb gave us those flashes, but wouldn't be expecting them all the time. Just like with most other players. It's not Caleb's fault that the HS scouts made a mistake when they ranked him.

Speaking for myself, I'm going to try to cut Caleb more slack. It's not his fault that he isn't the superstar I want him to be - any more than it's RJ's fault that he isn't 6'5, or Leaky's fault that he doesn't have a high-revving motor. They are what they are.

I am here flying solo tonight.

Late getting this started because this isn't the best place for media. Wake is low rent.

Anyway, fork in the road game for the Tar Heels tonight.

Are u ok bud?

Discussion
One steaming hot pile of it were the Tar Heels for 3/4 of this game. The total stats don't tell the story because UNC mounted a furious comeback in the 4th quarter of the game, but make no mistake, we all saw a broken team. In the first half UNC only mustered 0.57 points per possession while allowing Wake Forest to score 1.15 points per possession. That's a Smith Index (difference) of -0.58. I don't have historical records broken down by half, but the worst whole-game performance by a UNC team was the 2003 game at Maryland where the Terps scored 0.537 points per possession more than the Heels. It's doubtful that UNC has had many halves that were worse than last night's first half.

Once again UNC got 0.30 assists per field goal, a figure that has only been worse in 16 games since 1996. They shot 22% from 3 and 41% from the floor overall.

Defensively the Heels allowed 2.40 assists/turnover. That's a rate that only 33 of the last 982 opponents have reached. We also saw a #1 performance: Wake Forest's Tyree Appleby set an ACC record with his 23 made free throws.

It's a broken record: this team doesn't create turnovers, they don't pass the ball, and they take terrible shots. As long as Hubert Davis allows his players to continue getting playing time without impunity, we won't see a change, and this will be the first preseason #1 team to miss making the NCAA tournament.