Another question for OOTB...

[TarHeelNation11]

UNC71-00's strategy of bringing basketball discussion topics to OOTB -- to avoid some of the crazies and RIAR's -- seems to be a sound one.

So in that vein, I have a question for y'all since I concede that y'all know more about basketball than me. Here's my question: I keep seeing all this clamoring for Berry to get more PT. My question is....why? I'm not flaming, bashing the kid, or any of that, I'm genuinely asking why are fans begging for him to get more playing time?

Again....I'm not the most observant and I don't know a ton about basketball in terms of in-depth X's and O's and what not, but to me, Berry is the invisible man. I never notice when he's on the court. Like, he doesn't score (is he a scorer?), and I never notice him make a notable good or bad play. He's just sorta....on the court. Please enlighten me on what I'm missing. How good is he supposed to be? Thanks in advance.

 

[bleeduncblue]

Pretty simple to me. JB needs more PT because he's the next true PG ... he's raw but has a huge amount of potential. Britt is solid and will be running the Point next year but he cannot break defenders down off the dribble ... JB will, at some point, have the ability to do that - which we badly need. The 4 weeks he missed with injury were a huge blow to his freshman development. The more time he gets on the court this season, the more advanced he'll be next season.

 

[Raising Heel]

My opinion, which is worth exactly what you've paid for it, is that Berry is the one player on our roster who can really attack the rim. As a freshman he's already 195 lbs., which is 20 lbs. heavier than Marcus Paige.

The team's biggest deficit IMO is somebody who can create his own shot, whether that's driving into the paint or a dead-eye shooter. Using our last two championship teams as a comparison, we had both. Felton/Lawson were big enough to go to the basket and get their shot off (especially Lawson, wow) and McCants/Ellington could both light it up from outside.

As good as his court awareness is as a PG, this team needs Marcus to be a SG. Britt is a bit of a tweener who doesn't excel at either, so Berry is more the kind of guy we need at PG to penetrate and put pressure on defenses.

 

[gunslingerdick]

Originally posted by TarHeelNation11:
UNC71-00's strategy of bringing basketball discussion topics to OOTB -- to avoid some of the crazies and RIAR's -- seems to be a sound one.

So in that vein, I have a question for y'all since I concede that y'all know more about basketball than me. Here's my question: I keep seeing all this clamoring for Berry to get more PT. My question is....why? I'm not flaming, bashing the kid, or any of that, I'm genuinely asking why are fans begging for him to get more playing time?

Again....I'm not the most observant and I don't know a ton about basketball in terms of in-depth X's and O's and what not, but to me, Berry is the invisible man. I never notice when he's on the court. Like, he doesn't score (is he a scorer?), and I never notice him make a notable good or bad play. He's just sorta....on the court. Please enlighten me on what I'm missing. How good is he supposed to be? Thanks in advance.

I like Berry and I think he is certainly the future at the PG position. And for us to be as good next year as we can be, he's got to be our guy. But I agree. He's not ready. Nate Britt is a better option at this point.

He will be very good. He's not lightning fast like Lawson (he's probably not even as fast as Felton). But he's a consummate floor general that has scoring capability. He's strong as an ox so he will be able to finish at the rim with contact despite him being a marginal athlete. His shooting right now is slightly above average. But I have all the confidence in the world that he will become a great shooter. He's tough, gritty and simply a winner. You're gonna love him.

 

[coolwaterunc]

For the most part, the offense seems to run a little better with Berry on the floor running the point. For one thing, it takes Paige, our biggest scoring threat, out of the point guard position into the two-spot, where he operate more as a scorer. Berry has shown the ability to penetrate and drive, which opens up more opportunities for the bigs to do something and puts pressure on the defense to take focus away from Paige. The offense was far and away better with him running things during the Duke game. He flat out sucked against NC State, but IMO, our best pure scorer does not need to be running the point, period. That leaves Berry and Britt, and I'd give the nod to Berry for those reasons.

 

[Raising Heel]

Wow. I'm laughing that everyone responded within a couple minutes of each other, and we all seem to agree.

Maybe we should create a clandestine BB board over here.

 

[UNC71-00]

First- what is a RIAR?

As far as Berry, I think several people have made valid points:

- he's a pure PG. I would rather see him starting at PG and then let Britt spell either MP or JB. I like Britt and I think he has a nice outside shot when he gets enough looks and could sub out MP when needed. And he is also capable enough to run the 1.

- Berry is our PG of the foreseeable future. Might as well get him some burn now while it doesn't make too much difference.

- I don't think JB is quite ready to be in at clutch time though.

 

[BillyL]

Berry was a highly rated PG from Florida where he was named the state's POY 3 years in a row. So much was expected from him this year, and a few peeps thought he might start from day 1, thus pushing Marcus to the 2 spot as our starter there.

Berry is a strong kid that is a pretty good on-ball defender, he also can get into the lane maybe a little easier than Marcus or Nate and then finish at the rim or dish to the open man.

Problem #1 is, Roy pretty much promised Marcus that he'd be our starting PG this season, and while he and Nate have been our backcourt starters for a game or two, many feel that Berry is a better PG than both Britt or Paige. There's also those that think that Tokoto should be our starting SF and that move would allow Roy to play 2 natural backcourt players.

Paige's plantar fasciitis has limited his mobility and limited his offensive production much of this season. With the Heel's offense having become stagnant the past several weeks, there are those that say give Berry all the minutes he can handle so to develop his game and that in the future we will reap the rewards. Joel has IMO, suffered a little of that slow freshman learning curve that our other 2 frosh have exhibited symptoms of as well . . JB got off to a pretty weak start this year, but, showed some serious improvement right before he suffered that groin pull . .

He is our future PG, he is going to be a great player before he leaves Chapel Hill . . and many a fan want to hand him the keys to the offense and see what he can produce.

 

[mikeirbyusa]

Berry was coming on stroong and WHAM, gets hurt! Set him back quite a bit then WHAM AGAIN, gets sick as a dog!

He will be a dernn good one and he is fearless, we need that!

 

[heelmanwilm]

I predicted he would have his jersey in the rafters. I've never made such a prediction and i'm
All in on it.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[gteeitup]

i can't believe paige is 20lbs less than berry

 

[mikeirbyusa]

Originally posted by gteeitup:
i can't believe paige is 20lbs less than berry

and Berry is STRONG. Not Lawsons speed, but then who is, but he has strength and drive to get to the hole and finish for us, Outside shot is coming. has a pretty stroke, needs reps is all he needs now.

 

[TarHeelNation11]

Wow! Thanks for the responses guys. I'm pretty shocked. I do not follow basketball recruiting (football recruiting is my thing) so I had no idea Berry was this heralded and supposed to be so good.

I guess my follow-up question is why isn't he showing any of this?? Is it a case of Roy reigning him in too much? Or he hasn't quite gotten the light to turn on yet? Y'all mentioned injuries so I guess that definitely set him back.

I guess it sorta just sucks to see Kentucky and Duke's elite freshmen immediately perform right away whereas ours usually do not, but again that's just based on my limited knowledge.

 

[BillyL]

Originally posted by TarHeelNation11:

I guess my follow-up question is why isn't he showing any of this?? Is it a case of Roy reigning him in too much? Or he hasn't quite gotten the light to turn on yet? Y'all mentioned injuries so I guess that definitely set him back.

I guess it sorta just sucks to see Kentucky and Duke's elite freshmen immediately perform right away whereas ours usually do not, but again that's just based on my limited knowledge.

The transition from high school ball to the college game can be a little slower depending on the player. It is especially true in Roy's system, his scheme of offense seems to create a longer learning curve for UNC freshmen. It would also help if UNC had a much stronger and talented cast on the floor to support our incoming players. In a team sport, sometimes you're only as good as the players around you . . Kentucky and dOOk seem to have that edge of late.

UNC's 2014 class was rated #5 overall, with ESPN rating our players :

Justin Jackson #8

Theo Pinson #10

Joel Berry #17


I think it's safe to say that all 3 haven't produced as many would have expected them to, over-hyped (?) freshman learning curve (?) . . who knows exactly why . . ?

 

[mikeirbyusa]

Originally posted by TarHeelNation11:
I guess my follow-up question is why isn't he showing any of this?? Is it a case of Roy reigning him in too much? Or he hasn't quite gotten the light to turn on yet? Y'all mentioned injuries so I guess that definitely set him back.

He WAS well on his way before the injury. His PT was growing by leaps and bounds and I honestly thought he was fixing to get his 1st start, then WHAM there you go, another set-back.

Don't care who goes-stays, he will be our PG next season.

 

[UNC71-00]

THN-

What does RIAR mean?

 

[TarHeelNation11]

Originally posted by UNC71-00:

First- what is a RIAR?

Originally posted by UNC71-00:

THN-

What does RIAR mean?

Roy Is Always Right

 

[bleeduncblue]

I fall under "RIMR" (mostly).