A Shot, a Miss, and Criticism Fueled Withers Toward this Season
CHAPEL HILL – With 1:01 left in North Carolina’s Sweet 16 game against Alabama last March, the Tar Heels had the ball
A Shot, a Miss, and Criticism Fueled Withers Toward this Season
- Thread starter andrew jones
- Start date
No mention of the and-one he immediately gave up following the bad shot. To me, the and-one was the bigger mistake. We were still up one point when Grant Nelson started his move. Either don't foul, or foul him hard enough to stop the shot attempt.
Last edited:
Going to try to choose my words in order for this to not come off as negative as it may seem.
I felt to often last season that JWit came in looking to prove he deserved to be a starter, like he was not comfortable just playing his role. He forced things that were outside of the natural flow of the offense and in doing so to many TOs resulted. It wasn't and isn't a question of talent, guy has a ton of that, he has some skill but it needed refinement. It was the decision making, the forcing things that were not there that had me so upset. Play YOUR role and what you want will come to you, force things and more bad happens than good.
Clearly he believes he is a solid or better jump shooter, clearly be believes himself to be a MUCH better ball handler than he has shown in a UNC jersey. Truth is his jump shot does not look all that broke but his shot selection was a clear problem that MUST get handled this season. He showed, when he plays within his defined role his production is really solid, it is when he steps out of that things don't go well. That last shot vs bama, just 1 shot in a season, bad decision yeah. Had RJ taken and missed that shot it would not have been a discussion but had RJ taken that shot RJ would have been playing within his own role, JWiit did not play within his role with that shot. Had it gone in great, sure it would be love, in truth it would have been a bad shot that had a good result. For me it was just 1 more bad decision on a stack of bad decisions that was already to high. This kid can really be big for us if he will just learn to let the game come to him rather than try to force it, a lesson Caleb Love could not learn in 3 seasons for us.
I am higher on him than this may seem, I see the ability in him but he has to show his game maturity, his improved last half of the season showed he was advancing in that area, that last shot showed old habits die hard.
I felt to often last season that JWit came in looking to prove he deserved to be a starter, like he was not comfortable just playing his role. He forced things that were outside of the natural flow of the offense and in doing so to many TOs resulted. It wasn't and isn't a question of talent, guy has a ton of that, he has some skill but it needed refinement. It was the decision making, the forcing things that were not there that had me so upset. Play YOUR role and what you want will come to you, force things and more bad happens than good.
Clearly he believes he is a solid or better jump shooter, clearly be believes himself to be a MUCH better ball handler than he has shown in a UNC jersey. Truth is his jump shot does not look all that broke but his shot selection was a clear problem that MUST get handled this season. He showed, when he plays within his defined role his production is really solid, it is when he steps out of that things don't go well. That last shot vs bama, just 1 shot in a season, bad decision yeah. Had RJ taken and missed that shot it would not have been a discussion but had RJ taken that shot RJ would have been playing within his own role, JWiit did not play within his role with that shot. Had it gone in great, sure it would be love, in truth it would have been a bad shot that had a good result. For me it was just 1 more bad decision on a stack of bad decisions that was already to high. This kid can really be big for us if he will just learn to let the game come to him rather than try to force it, a lesson Caleb Love could not learn in 3 seasons for us.
I am higher on him than this may seem, I see the ability in him but he has to show his game maturity, his improved last half of the season showed he was advancing in that area, that last shot showed old habits die hard.
With your example of including Caleb, it reminded me of the primary person at fault. A real simple fix in Caleb’s situation would have been to bench him. How long or how much would have been up to Caleb. All up to the coach imo. HD is definitely still learning and I know there was a lot of pressure to win and not to have to sit one of your horses, but it’s his team. You ride the pine and you find out really quick how much you want to play the way you are told. Which leads me to my next point. HD may have not had a problem with Withers play. We know he didn’t want to turnovers but I honestly think he believed that Withers could get it done. It just never happened consistently in games. That’s my take on Wit anyway. Learning your fit can be hard, especially when you know and believe you can do , and have done, certain things. I wasn’t bothered much by his play last year honestly. Didn’t like the turnovers but I was also busy being pissed at a pg who couldn’t throw a ball in the ocean. lol
He wasn't comfortable for most of the season and didn't really know his role. It affected his play a lot, especially from mid-Jan into Feb. Once he got comfortable being at UNC, with his teammates, and having a smaller role than he was used to, his play improved, which is why I noted the last month of the sesaon.
You could be right, and I suspect you are to a degree. But understand it wasn't a smooth transition for him.
Similar threads
