I got into the building early and RJ and Elliot were getting up shots. Elliot took nothing but threes and RJ was working on all kinds of stuff.

See nobody started a thread must be because it’s gonna be a blowout hmmm well someone should tell American that right now they lead 18-13 under 12 timeout

...and well, damn.

As I tried to explain beforehand, beating KU at Phog was a monumental task, but y'know what? We damn near did.
So, let's take a look:

- Sorry (not) if it offends anybody, but some of the nonsense I've seen posted here was exposed for what it is. We just walked into the toughest environment in college hoops, against the #1 team, and took it to the wire. This UNC team is not a "mess". It has strengths and weaknesses and is a work-in-progress.

- So, basic stuff. KU got "home cooking" in being allowed to be "physical" and Good Lord at the uncalled illegal screens --- I counted TWELVE of the handoff/ass-check variety --- but here's the good news: As I've harped on over and over, the AGGRESSOR gets the calls, and we didn't back down. Instead, we maintained aggressiveness and kept attacking the basket, and started getting enough calls to get to the line enough to make a difference. This was vital, as we shot 28/31 FTs.

- Reality check: OK -- we all know that we lack bulk inside, but as I mentioned pregame, Dickinson cannot guard JWash. Well, turns out he couldn't guard Withers either. JWit knoked down huge 3s and drove to the rack effectively in the second half.

- In the texts I get from my "coach-mafia" during games, the adjective that is so often used to describe Cadeau is "sick". Well yeah... my boy is SICK. Folks, we're watching something VERY special here, and he needs to play 35+ each and every game, as he is the ONE guy we can't replace.

- Our "comeback" was fueled by what I prescribed pregame --- REBOUNDING!!! They were unconscious shooting in the first half, but we cleaned glass in the second, and the transition game got going. After getting bullied on the glass in the first half, we ended up outrebounding them by one for the game!

- On a personnel note. Harris is a dirty little f***, and EC flat took him to school.

- Bad news: Too much "hero-ball". Shot-selection hurt us late. RJ was forcing all game, and despite Withers' key shots, he also forced late.

- As for the Frosh, Jackson rose to the occasion with some key ifrst-half contributions. Powel gave as good as he got, and our guy James Brown acquitted himself well.

- Hubert, my brother: PLEASE run more offense thru JWash and PLEASE utilize scrambles; These guys are made for it and our personnel can't be allowed to be sitting ducks. FORCE THE ACTION instead of allowing opponents to bully.

Anyway, hopefully we can stop dissing this team. There are areas for needed improvement for damned sure, but we can compete with ANYBODY...

Kansas up 27-20 midway 1H.

Takeaways:
- Dickinson having his way as expected
- Transition D with the second unit has been a problem
- UNC has gotten a couple of layups off makes so clearly running has been an emphasis
- Powell and Jackson have made a FG

A general opinion. If Cadeau is on the floor without RJ, EC needs to look to score more.

Game seems a little big early for the second unit.

I'm hopeful this thread won't turn into a debate/underpant soiling session about NIL, but who knows!

I looks like Hubert has 9 offers out for the '25 class.... 4 x PF, 2 x SG, 1 x SF, 1 x CG and 1 x PG.

So it looks like he's in the market for a high level Big, but no centre yet... wings are always needed but I'd like to see some action on the PG front - thinking EC may only be on board for another season.

I know very little about the players and would love to hear people's thoughts

Bryant and I are here inside Allen Fieldhouse and ready to see how the Heels handle all of this.

...originally posted in another thread --- decided to start a separate topic:

Made a point of watching a good bit of quite a few games post-facto (I love having ESPN3, ACCNx and SECNx on my Sling), and KU is as good as you'll see but no one is markedly better than other top teams --- plus all teams are works-in-progress even as far as scouting (most of that gets done during holiday events anyway).

Early impressions just from what I've seen:
- KU is legit, and so are we. In fact, if the staff will make the proper tweaks, we can be better.
- Gonzaga was a dadgummed juggernaut in slamming Baylor then turned around and damn near lost to a blah Arizona State team at home --- Zags are loaded on offense (and have the rare PG who's in Cadeaus's league) but struggle defensively (as Mark's recent teams have seemed to do).
- Houston is vintage Sampson thug-ball, but Auburn took them down at Houston.
- Speaking of AU, they're friggin scary if they're clicking
- AZ still has Caleb and an elite PG in Bradley and a buttload of incoming firepower
- bama is loaded again, but with the caveat that they have Oates
- I've seen just enough of dook to be (once again) not be as impressed as the fawning media, but they added Flagg and a shooter and a rangy Big with enough size to be a problem. Games with them will be the usual wars.
- I have not seen MIch State yet so I don't know what Izzo has this year, and just a little bit of uk --- so yeah, I'll be paying attention tonight

BTW, an early dark horse team nobody wants to play is North Florida. They've already beaten S.Carolina and GaTech on the road (and Tech ain't half bad) --- ain't gonna scare anybody at the airport but are matchup hell. Will be interesting to see what they do at UGA tonight...

Really hurts this team. He would be the first big off the bench, if not a starter. High energy and hustle, he would have really helped on the boards. BTW...why did he leave and where is he now?? Wishful thinking but I thought I read somewhere that he could come back to the team

Anyone know what happened and is his return just idle speculation??

...and I'm glad I watched this on DVR instead of live (I went to another game down here) --- I might've been as livid as Hubert was in the second half.

But yeah, I'll resist the temptation to jump to any conclusions from a first game, but there were some things we need to get cleaned up in a hurry, and these were as much mental as physical. First, credit to Elon --- they're much better than (inherently meaningless) preseason evaluations indicated, but that fact exposed the dangers of the sort of lapses we saw on our end.

With that said, at NO point in a second half should Elon ever lead this UNC team, so let's start with what went wrong:

- Shot-selection went thru some bad spells. RJ was hunting outside of flow due to his clunky start, and some of our shots around the paint were more throw-ups than strong gathers-and-finishes, all of which contributed to the lacksuster 32/80 perfomance

- JWash NOT taking shots he should have

- Some really bad decision-making by Seth in transition --- "give it up to get it back" is the way we're supposed to do things here

- Withers followed a good first half with a WTF second --- just yikes at some of those passes

- Jackson reverted back to his Memphis ice-skates --- take a deep breath, son

- Tyson looked lost, and we weren't effective in deploying him

- I continue to SMH at the stubborness of not forcing these guys into our tempo by mixing in traps

- And our vaunted Zone Offense --- sheesh. Elon deployed a 2-2-1 ameoba look that morphed into a 3-2 on wing passes, and we were just clunky as hell even getting into our pivot rotation.

- Gotta be careful with the cross-court pitch-aheads. Dean did not teach that as a routine for a reason --- you only used it for a WIDE-open look that would lead to a lay-up or create a 2-on-1. When in doubt, I want it in my elite PG's hands to create pressure with the Secondary.

Fortunately, disaster was averted with enough positives:
- When things worked, it was an enticing look at what we're capable of, incl some highlight film moments --- spectacular transition finishes, slick ball-movement, etc... LOVED that Dean Smith back-screen lob play late in first half, for example.

- RJ shook off a rough stretch to be the hero when things got dicey. It's great to have that guy when the chips are down.

- Time to recognize that Cadeau has turned into a not-just-good but excellent defender --- flashing some Joel Berry footwork to go with his quicks and ball-hawking instincts. And I think we can maybe put to rest the backing off of EC and Seth nonsense --- they combiined for 6/8 from deep (and Eliot had one taken away by an untimely whistle).

Anyway, for all the clunkiness, I'm glad Hubert didn't abandon utilizing depth. These are the precious few games that allow that to be built for down the road. So, how are we gonna do at KU? That's impossible to know, but at least the staff sure as hell should have some teaching material on film after this one...