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Alabama vs Carolina sweet 16 game thread on Thursday 28 March 2024 in LA

Withers shot is great if it goes in, and terrible if it doesn't. On paper though, I think it's not the look you wanted. You wanted either RJ, Cormac, or Bacot inside possibly drawing a foul. Maybe that comes up empty also, but it's probably what you are looking for there.
 
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Agreed. Great post. I just hate that the L comes to that pos oily cockroach / snake oats. They will probably beat Clemson too. Not sure then who they’d meet in final four - UConn?
if you think Hubert had a good game plan the last 10 minutes of the game then I cannot have an intelligent conversation with you. Our best defender and ball handler/driver were in the bench.
If you think you could’ve done anything better perhaps you should’ve been selected ACC Coach of the Year!
 
The loss is painful, but overall we played well. Guys who normally don’t make shots kept us in the game. Alabama was just better. Credit to them. Credit to Oats. He never looked like he didn’t think they were in control or the better team.
RJ was the lone missing piece…and he is the one who has carried us all year.
 
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Nice you just won the “Dumb Dumb post of the year” award! Didn’t complain about RJ’s abilities all year but now that he had ((((1)))) bad game you want to call him out like that is frightening- Who are you?

I’m glad ACC Coach of the year Hubert Davis decided to roll with RJ instead of EC; EC would have been a massive liability! MASSIVE!!!!! I would have rolled with ACC Player of the year RJ Davis till the freaking wheels fell off as well! It was a good decision we just lost. Period.
Well, I’m obviously not an unintelligent freshmen on this board like you. I call it like I see it and apparently you bury your head in the sand. RJ has been incredible all year, but last night he was terrible. EC should’ve been running the team, he’s the true pg.
 
Well, I’m obviously not an unintelligent freshmen on this board like you. I call it like I see it and apparently you bury your head in the sand. RJ has been incredible all year, but last night he was terrible. EC should’ve been running the team, he’s the true pg.
Disagree. Alabama made it very clear they would completely ignore him on offense. When he was hitting a couple 3s we stayed in the game, but as he started missing them, by further and further margins, it basically became a turnover for him to shoot and let them play with an extra defender against the rest.
 
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Disagree. Alabama made it very clear they would completely ignore him on offense. When he was hitting a couple 3s we stayed in the game, but as he started missing them, by further and further margins, it basically became a turnover for him to shoot and let them play with an extra defender against the rest.
The offense flowed better and others scored with more ease when he was in. The scoreboard mostly indicated that. Everything bogs down, always has this year, when RJ runs point.
 
Well, I’m obviously not an unintelligent freshmen on this board like you. I call it like I see it and apparently you bury your head in the sand. RJ has been incredible all year, but last night he was terrible. EC should’ve been running the team, he’s the true pg.
Then stop acting like an unintelligent freshmen, Hall of Famer!
Oaks game plan was to leave EC on an island because he knew EC would be a liability shooting the ball. Fortunately, and surprisingly, EC started off making shots and I’m 100% certain that if that had continued to be the case ACC Coach of the Year Hubert Davis would’ve kept him in the game. But, unfortunately, EC’s incredible shooting ability started fading fastttt thus allowing Alabama to stick with the initial game plan call ‘Welcome to EC’s island!’
EC is a special pg and I can’t wait to see the improvement but he’s got much much work to do.

Yes ACC Player of the Year RJ Davis had a bad game. Bama won. We lost. It was actually a pretty damn exciting game! Although I hated *THE* shot, but if Withers had made that 3 he would’ve been celebrated like Luke Maye in this biiitc! The game was also surprisingly well officiated.

Lastly, I’m not burying my head but you can call it what you will. I’m just super proud of RJ Davis and after all the great things that he’s accomplished I simply refuse to allow this one game to define him. I for one hope he returns for 1 more year…along with Harry, JWash, and yes also Withers(boi got balls for taking that shot lol)

Im out!
 
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The offense flowed better and others scored with more ease when he was in. The scoreboard mostly indicated that. Everything bogs down, always has this year, when RJ runs point.
The offense flowed better when he made some 3s. It ground to a halt when he started missing them badly and they just played 5 on 4 on D.
 
We don’t need to tear each other apart, or the players and staff. A decision was made to go with a different rotation- obviously it may or may not have been a correct decision because on one hand, we had a chance at the end. On the other hand, we executed and shot poorly in the second half with EC and Trimble sitting. Arm chair coaching is healthy for us fans- it relieves some stress. I personally fell that EC and Trimble, with their shooting limitations, still would have been the better option but it still comes down to the fact that RJ was off shooting, Bacot struggled with chip shots and containing Nelson, and Alabama played well. Love our coaches, players, and our passionate fans! Go Heels!
 
The loss is painful, but overall we played well. Guys who normally don’t make shots kept us in the game. Alabama was just better. Credit to them. Credit to Oats. He never looked like he didn’t think they were in control or the better team.
RJ was the lone missing piece…and he is the one who has carried us all year.
I think he knew that Nelson would be perfect to be blindside help on Bacon and that would alter the game in Bama's favor.
 
Looked it up. He was 4 for 19 this year on 3's.
Yeah, and that's basically a meaningless sample size. He shot 42% last year on 96 attempts; he's shot 200 threes in his college career and is a 33.5% shooter. He's also a good free throw shooter, so I think the career numbers are representative.

I think anyone who thinks he makes that shot <30% of the time (wide open, standstill three) doesn't really understand Withers' career context. He's a decent shooter.
 
Agree with this. But when we shoot 25% in second half - 10/40 - pretty fortunate to be up 3 late. People need to make shots.

We should’ve given rj some chance to get going in second half but once it was clear he was just going to be off, we should’ve pounded it inside or found opportunities in the paint on almost every possession. To me that would mean ec in place of wojcik - and running more stuff in the paint for bacot and especially Harrison.

Bingo. We continued to pound the ball into the ground on the perimeter and hike up low percentage shots (a lot of RJ), rather than have EC in the game to distribute and drive in hopes we could open some things up inside the arc. Just bad by Hubert. He can't make the shots, but he can adjust the lineups with emphasis on the types of shots we want.
 
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Yes - why? Hubs is a good “player relationship” coach. EC is a very good player and is very honest with himself - even hard on himself. And will work on what he needs to do to become better, more complete. I don’t think he’s going to shirk this or cop out by staying as is as a player and going elsewhere. Could he improve more in another program? I don’t see it. If he even improves a reasonable amount as a shooter I think he will get major (avg 30+) minutes per game next year.

And who better to learn how to shoot better from - than Hubert and Paige? Including being a better overall pg - though he grew a ton this year and overall I think he made great decisions and he is an elite passer.

Second thing. I heard something interesting somewhere yesterday: a commenter saying transfer portal at least for some high end highly kids like EC - transfer portal isn’t about PT as much as it is about how much money the kids can make. EC already has a big deal I assume with huge national company Marriott. He likely has others. Is he going to transfer, blow up that deal, and start over? I don’t think so.

For no names like nickel it is about a better fit and more playing time but for EC I don’t think he’ll leave because of existing and potential future NIL $ oops at UNC.

I also hope that NIL and not wanting to go out on THAT gsme is why I hold out hope of RJ coming back. Plus fwiw setting some all time UNC records too.
 
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Incorrect, he gets the ball to the right places and our offense is more efficient with him on the floor. It's really not that hard to see.
The game doesn't support this. You can simply just look at when we surged in the 1st half and when we lost our lead in the 2nd.
 
Mama's posts and his body language.
I don’t think there’s much in either of those two that point to him transferring. There are psycho meddling moms and dads be she is not. She is smart about all things about her son. She and hubs and ec will work it out.

His body language was imo more about being hard on himself almost to a fault - like we saw earlier. Such a vicious killer competitive streak - hates to lose , hates to not play well. And holds himself to a super high standard to play well, play better.

I sure could be wrong though. We will see, soon enough.
 
I'll be surprised if he's here next year.
Nah remember he reclassed…he’ll now be joining forces with his star class of buds! And plus, he now understands that he has a bunch of work to do before ever thinking about moving to a new environment. I just hope we manage to keep JWash, Harry, Tremble and JWit (yes I said JWit). And hopefully the NIL will entice RJ Davis to stick around for 1 more year too. Me greedy!

ZHigh will prob quickly transfer however l did like his display of excitement; his facial expressions were like 🥴😲😛😮. Kidd was having so much fun!
 
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Nah remember he reclassed…he’ll now be joining forces with his star class of buds! And plus, he now knows that he has a bunch of work to do before ever thinking about moving to a new environment. I just hope we manage to keep JWash, Harry, Tremble and JWit (yes I said JWit). And hopefully the NIL will entice RJ Davis to stick around for 1 more year too. Me greedy!

ZHigh will prob quickly transfer however l did like his display of excitement; his facial expressions were like 🥴😲😛😮. Kidd was having so much fun!
Agree with all of this. Not sure if High or Okonkwo are back if Hubs thinks he can get better players in portal (I think he can) and if he doesn’t see these guys making a MASSIVE leap up in ability so they’d earn big PT. (I don’t see it).

Wash is a huge wild card. I don’t see him transferring but who knows? They need to get him on some program to improve his footwork, quickness, strength - and aggressiveness and toughness down low against bigs. On offense defense and rebounding
 
Yeah, and that's basically a meaningless sample size. He shot 42% last year on 96 attempts; he's shot 200 threes in his college career and is a 33.5% shooter. He's also a good free throw shooter, so I think the career numbers are representative.

I think anyone who thinks he makes that shot <30% of the time (wide open, standstill three) doesn't really understand Withers' career context. He's a decent shooter.
See, I think this year is very different then his Louisville years, he struggled early and basically shut it down as part of his game. He has had WIDE open looks with 15 seconds on the shot clock, dared to shoot multiple times in the 2nd half of the season in the middle of games where he deferred, or missed consistently when he did reluctantly shoot it.

Just as Cadeau "is a decent shooter" coming in he wasn't this year, and their confidence waned. Settling for that look from either of those two with 15 seconds left on the shot clock is bad feel for time and score in my opinion, about the worst if not the worst option they had on the floor.

I wish he defied the odds and knocked it down too, but for me you gotta know score and time and there was not 5 or less on the shot clock to settle.
 
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I don’t think there’s much in either of those two that point to him transferring. There are psycho meddling moms and dads be she is not. She is smart about all things about her son. She and hubs and ec will work it out.

His body language was imo more about being hard on himself almost to a fault - like we saw earlier. Such a vicious killer competitive streak - hates to lose , hates to not play well. And holds himself to a super high standard to play well, play better.

I sure could be wrong though. We will see, soon enough.
I agree with you 100% sir! EC wants to do well so freaking badd that every mistake he makes becomes an internal battle ground that he can’t seem to escape- he’s just wired that way. I think that will all change as he matures remember he reclassified.
 
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How I look at next season will hinge on how we do in the portal.
And of course who is back. Jackpot imo is HI rj ec seth wash withers. Maybe that’s not realistic.

But again - I ask - where are these kids going to go to get better development, exposure, connections to playing for money as a career, nil deals than here? Throw out any schools below the top few blue bloods and almost all of those are set. So they want to transfer to Directional University or to get more pt off the bat at a mid to low contender in a major conference? Great. But NFW is that a better path for the kids future and career than the full rounded life opportunities and what is gained -‘the whole package- by being part of the UNC Basketball Program
 
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