Caleb Wilson to announce Thursday, January 23rd

[CarolinaBlue5]

Did you watch the video? Are you calling Theo, JJ and Raymond Felton liars?

Yes I did watch! I clearly stated that I trust AJ more! He’s around the program way more than them believe it or not…did you read my post?? Of course they are going to back Hubert..they are never going to come out and bash a very well liked former coach! We may not have had the money (at that time) to drop 2+ plus million on a center but we had enough to get a very good center! Can you argue that we wasted money on Tyson and could have had Wolfe instead? What about using Lubin and Tyson’s $ on a dominant center? Hell..we supposedly dropped 700,000 plus on Isaiah Denis! Sounds like we could have had a player like Wolfe..by the way he is elite! For example, We could have had a player like the center for Clemson that came from Cincinnati for less than what we paid for Tyson! We had to double the freaking center for Hawaii bc our post players are so bad! Either way you look at it, Hubert did not do a very good job putting this team together and evaluating talent out of the portal! He’s gotten some very good players from the portal but has had some really bad misssed too! More so than hits

 

[CarolinaBlue5]

Are you on the premium board @Sk1310 if not, lots of good info on there! AJ is well connected to the boosters who actually supply the NIL $, are you calling them liars??…he claims we had the $ to get a center and didn’t

 

[Sk1310]

Are you on the premium board @Sk1310 if not, lots of good info on there! AJ is well connected to the boosters who actually supply the NIL $, are you calling them liars??…he claims we had the $ to get a center and didn’t

I actually would call the boosters liars over Theo and JJ who played with Marcus Paige and is on the coaching staff. Boosters don't want to take the blame.

 

[CarolinaBlue5]

I actually would call the boosters liars over Theo and JJ who played with Marcus Paige and is on the coaching staff. Boosters don't want to take the blame.

That’s your opinion and you’re entitled to it!

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

View embedded media

Theo ans JJ on Hubert and NIL

That was fun.

 

[DSouthr]

Are you on the premium board @Sk1310 if not, lots of good info on there! AJ is well connected to the boosters who actually supply the NIL $, are you calling them liars??…he claims we had the $ to get a center and didn’t

From what I hear, we were ready to pay Dybansa $3-4mil, the $3.5 mil number seems about right. Now I ask anyone here, if we didn't have the money to pay for a top flight center from the portal, how is it that we have the money to offer Dybansa what we did? From what I understand, our offer $$$ for the 2025 shooter high school recruit (blanking on his name right now) that ended up at UConn, we were the high bidder, in excess of $2mil and yet he ends up at UConn, pretty big offer to not have the money. Realize, I am talking AFTER giving NIL to all our returning players.

I think Hubert made 2 critical mistakes in the portal and a bad one in high school recruiting. On the portal, I think it is common knowledge by now that Kalkbrenner would enter the portal and if he did UNC would be where he ended up no matter what it cost, he never entered the portal. It was widely believed that Raymound would stay in the portal and that UNC would be his landing spot, it would take a huge check but UNC would have stepped up. The other guy that Hubert wanted really bad was Aidoo but Calipari thru a huge number at him and it was just to much for a player like Aidoo. Those were in my opinion Huberts 3 guys he badly wanted, EVERY ONE ELSE, that list of 7ft kids were all plan B guys and frankly treated like plan B guys, players do not like feeling like they are your plan B, it was that very thing that ended up costing us Aidoo coming out of high school. For those 3 plan A guys there sure seems to have been the money there to pay for them.

From high school recruiting for 2025, we seemed to have our big man eggs in the 2 baskets of Moreno and Koa Peat, 2 players I wish we could have got but you have to read the tea leaves. Moreno a Ky kid had Ky all over him once Calipari went elsewhere, 100% believe we would have got him had Calipari not left Ky but he did and we didn't, same with Jasper Johnson. Where I think we really blew it was not making the big 7' 230lb center Reibe a priority over Moreno and letting him slip to UConn. You just had to realize that Moreno was going to Ky once Calipari exited stage left. And the other kid we blew it on was Bryson Tiller, 6'9" 230lbs kid, we all but ignored him to the point he dropped us. Really glad we got Wilson, if you miss on Dybansa and I would have dropped out of the Dybansa race well before I sent the message he was THE priority, it almost cost us Wilson.

You really have to read the landscape, you have to understand who is playing you for $$$ and who is seriously interested in playing for you and you realize that BEFORE you spend all that recruiting capital on a kid that never was really interested in playing for UNC.

 

[DaveChapelle]

From what I hear, we were ready to pay Dybansa $3-4mil, the $3.5 mil number seems about right. Now I ask anyone here, if we didn't have the money to pay for a top flight center from the portal, how is it that we have the money to offer Dybansa what we did?

Are you really asking how someone could have no money in May and more money in January?

 

[Ozheelfan]

Geez, that was hard to stay quiet about, I had to drop the Mr Ed clue! LOL

UNC did 2 very smart things that allowed this to happen, yes we stepped up the $$$, that was key. But on a day that there is so much anger toward Hubert, I have to call the balls and strikes as I see them, Hubert fought and clawed for this kid and he was smart about it, he stayed in direct contact with the kid and his family where the competition was talking to middle men more than the family. You had to know, with the kid aligned with Klutch, the agency was not going to be pumping UNC up much, they were pumping Ky. Hubert worked directly with Caleb's dad and it was dad in control of things, not the agency. This was a very smart move by Hubert, get the NIL up to where we are at least competitive and then sell the branding aspect, as opposed to selling the branding but being to far out on the NIL.

So what about all those folks screaming UNC didn't have the NIL and that is why we whiffed on several badly needed recruits in both the 25 class of recruits and the last portal? It is very important to understand, this stuff is fluid, what may be true today may not be true tomorrow. It was clear that football was badly under funded by NIL, I think that is well known and has been for a long time. When the football and basketball collectives were combined, basketball money took a hit. There were a number of big time boosters that were not on board with Hubert being hired, those purse strings simply were not opened as wide as the may have been.

Did UNC have $$$ for players, yes they did but as AJ shares, a lot of what they had was spent on returning players, I like having the continuity of bringing back players that help you win games, all UNC fans should realize the value in that. I think it is very clear, we spent far to much money on Tyson, I believe we spent to much to bring RJ back. We had $$$ but what we had left over to pay some of the more big time talents that could have filled our area of need was not going to allow us to out bid some of the other programs that were willing to way over spend. Son, I realize that we are $1 millons less than the other school but at UNC you will have far more branding, you will make more in the long run with us, hard sell if the up front cash is not close, get the up front close and that branding sell sings louder. That is why we got Wilson and why we didn't get Dybansa.

Guys, telling you, the Belichick hire in addition to sending shock waves thru all of sports, drove a major re-alignment and commitment to UNC sports. It drove home the point that you get what you pay for, boosters that have been shy to spend all the sudden are looking at things a bit different. There is a group of former Tar Heel basketball players that have assembled to help the $$$ to flow, indications are that that has started and is expected to grow and rev share is working on with this. Means we can now be closer in up front NIL money and in time be able to flat out bid when needed. Point being the $$$ picture looks much better today than it did over the summer, did we have the money is a very different from do we have the money.

Fabulous post Dave.
I have to admit, I sometimes ‘speed read’ some of your lengthy efforts, but I ate up every word of this one. Thank you for sharing your INsight.

 

[big_deez]

LOL, lordy, your question on JWash, unfortunately, I do think Hubert is locked in on JWash as a 5 and I simply do not believe the kid is a 5, I think he is a 4 whose jump shooting should have been emphasized from day 1. You were not posting last season, I screamed all season how I wanted JWash at the 4, how I wanted the 4 to be split between JWash and JWit and Ingram at the 3, he just is not a kid that is going to battle deep in the paint consistently, her is a finesse guy rather than a physical guy. He is just a kid that can spread out and maintain great balance and have the power to handles a lot of these big centers. Wilson will not be either so I sincerely hope we don't force him in to the 5 slot. But I don't think JWash has played more than 15mins total in his career at UNC at the 4 spot.

I get it, he is 6'10" so he looks like a center, it ain't how they look, it is how they play, I wanted JWash playing beside Bacot, not backing him up. Not going to convince me that JWash at the 4 is not better for us than Drake at 6'6" is, Drake needs to be at the 3 where his natural position is. I like Lubin at the 5 and JWash at the 4 with the roster we have to work with. But I would NOT ant JWash used like we used Pete Nance, we need our 4 to have a LOT more movement, I hate watching guys run to a spot and camp out, I am all about motion offense, 5 guys moving in unison for a purpose.

DS, good points on JWash. Out of desperation, HD probably thinks he has no choice but to play folks out of position. I guess since he is the coach in a big time position, I have to assume he knows best. I've never coached bball(just played) but played and coached other sports. From my experience, especially playing out of position, there has to be a specific need. Things such as injury, in game adjustments and other specific reasons may require out of position scinarios, primarily in the short term. However taking a player that has intensely trained and played at a high level for years at a specific position and throwing him in a different role is not a plan for success. Yes there are exceptions but you get my point. It's a huge fail on how this team has been constructed and in turn the numerous, resulting failures. It wouldn't surprise me if at a minimal JWash hit the portal. It seems there are team issues, could there be others likely to bail?

 

[TPFKAPFS]

THis is supposed to be a positive thread about an outstanding 5 * recruit!!!!

JWash was a center his whole life. To play him and Lubin together means someone has to sit. So that means we take Seth, Drake, or Ian and remove/lessen our most consistent energy guys from the lineup??? You would tell Ian and Drake that even though you worked your tails off, and have demonstrated you are good for the team, we will still sit you???. NOPE. That would cause more trouble than it fixes! It would astonish me if JWash enters the portal and I cannot stand when we suggest or even imply such things. Doesn't sound like Family to me. How could anyone watch the development of RJ, EC, Seth, JWash, and the rapid growth of JB and even suggest that this staff doesn't develop players? AND EC did not deserve the keys to our ride until he matured into the player who could handle it! He is still learning to manage his emotions and I propose he is farther down the road due to our staff's handling of his responsibilities! BTW: RJ isn't taking any wild step back heat checks and he has increased his assists exponentially! Recruiting doesn't happen in a vacuum, so we can't just use hindsight to say what should have been done. It is impossible to focus on 6 peeps without some of them feeling like second choices so what should Hubs have done? He spent time and resources pursuing 3 Bigs that looked very promising and keeping in contact with others and we whiffed. So freakin' what! Do you really feel like we should have abandoned all UNC stands for and just tried to outbid peeps for mercenaries? I do not now nor will I ever feel this way! This team does have a small margin and needs to play with maximum effort to win. Beating the dead horse over and over again will not change anything, but we might be able to help by going to the game and actually cheering FOR them instead of rallying the troops against our beloved team! There is always an empty seat next to my wife and me so I'll ask the guy for you if any of you want to actually help!

 

[DSouthr]

DS, good points on JWash. Out of desperation, HD probably thinks he has no choice but to play folks out of position. I guess since he is the coach in a big time position, I have to assume he knows best. I've never coached bball(just played) but played and coached other sports. From my experience, especially playing out of position, there has to be a specific need. Things such as injury, in game adjustments and other specific reasons may require out of position scinarios, primarily in the short term. However taking a player that has intensely trained and played at a high level for years at a specific position and throwing him in a different role is not a plan for success. Yes there are exceptions but you get my point. It's a huge fail on how this team has been constructed and in turn the numerous, resulting failures. It wouldn't surprise me if at a minimal JWash hit the portal. It seems there are team issues, could there be others likely to bail?

I would suggest we have at least 3 starters in Seth, JWash, and Drake all playing and out of their real position and that is even with a 5'11" 2 guard and the kicker is it is not due to injury? There is a lot of freakin out going on about a thing you had to know full well was going to happen before the first game was played this season, why freak out now? It is not as if this is a total surprise, it was the expectation after the portal closed. And the double down kicker is that even as small as this team is, it can still win big time games if we stopped handicapping our selves where we don't need to.

 

[DSouthr]

THis is supposed to be a positive thread about an outstanding 5 * recruit!!!!

JWash was a center his whole life. To play him and Lubin together means someone has to sit. So that means we take Seth, Drake, or Ian and remove/lessen our most consistent energy guys from the lineup??? You would tell Ian and Drake that even though you worked your tails off, and have demonstrated you are good for the team, we will still sit you???. NOPE. That would cause more trouble than it fixes! It would astonish me if JWash enters the portal and I cannot stand when we suggest or even imply such things. Doesn't sound like Family to me. How could anyone watch the development of RJ, EC, Seth, JWash, and the rapid growth of JB and even suggest that this staff doesn't develop players? AND EC did not deserve the keys to our ride until he matured into the player who could handle it! He is still learning to manage his emotions and I propose he is farther down the road due to our staff's handling of his responsibilities! BTW: RJ isn't taking any wild step back heat checks and he has increased his assists exponentially! Recruiting doesn't happen in a vacuum, so we can't just use hindsight to say what should have been done. It is impossible to focus on 6 peeps without some of them feeling like second choices so what should Hubs have done? He spent time and resources pursuing 3 Bigs that looked very promising and keeping in contact with others and we whiffed. So freakin' what! Do you really feel like we should have abandoned all UNC stands for and just tried to outbid peeps for mercenaries? I do not now nor will I ever feel this way! This team does have a small margin and needs to play with maximum effort to win. Beating the dead horse over and over again will not change anything, but we might be able to help by going to the game and actually cheering FOR them instead of rallying the troops against our beloved team! There is always an empty seat next to my wife and me so I'll ask the guy for you if any of you want to actually help!

TP, why ya acting like saying a kid may not start declares that he gets no playing time? Seen ANYONE even hint at suggesting that Jack/Drake/Seth should not play OR play less than starter level minutes?

RJ played to me the best game he has played for us this season against BC but strikes me as strange that his game is judged exclusively about how his offense is rolling, folks want to look at his box score in a game and see 20+ and assume he played a great game, no matter that it took him 20 shots to get that 20pts. Forgotten is the fact that to call RJ a par defender takes being in a overly generous mood, truth is he is a defensive negative and for the season is a very low efficiency scorer. RJ is the guy that would be coming off the bench for me, he would for sure get starter level minutes but I would start Jack at the 2 with Cadeau at the point and Drake at the 3 (his natural position) and JWash at the 4, his natural position, along with either JWit or Lubin. Then we are not as tiny, actually have a size advantage at the 3 and 4, physicality to battle big centers, and what should be solid scoring coming off the bench with RJ and Seth.

You tell me, exactly how much effort does JWash need to play with when his 225lbs body is being backed down by a 7ft 270lbs opposing center? Sincerely, I would like to know, think maybe we should move Seth to center and wonder why he would struggle to defend that 270lb dude? This team has the roster it has, not going to be anymore additions to it till next season, no matter how we got here, here we are. Step #1 1 to this team actually winning like a UNC team is expected is to limit the small handicap as much as we can
and you do that by matching up players to their natural positions as best you can and drastically ramp up the game pace tempo, harass the other team defensively the length of the court, speed them up. This team can not afford to play hard at one end and rest on the other. We should be looking to attack the other teams best weapons, make them defend, do what you can to draw their better players in to foul trouble, force them in to line ups they are not used to. You do that by going hard and deep to your bench, which by the way helps reduce the sting of guys not starting.

And ya know what would really help, go back to the UNC free lance offense of constant motion, setting a lot of screens, guys moving with a purpose. We are running so many set plays that at times we look almost robotic and it isn't as if the other teams do not know our plays, they do, at times they seem to know them better than our own players do. You run the break (primary and secondary) and that snuffs out go directly in to attacking with free lance then vary the levels of pressure coming back down. They score you in bound the ball and run it right back down their throats, you can do that with a kid like Cadeau at the point. You defeat a length advantage by running the other teams big men to the point they start reaching and finding foul trouble, not bombing away treys from in-efficient 3pt shooters.

This team digs it's own grave when they become to RJ centric and they go bombs away from trey, that didn't happen vs BC and we would have won that game by 20 had we been able to defend and not get stuck in so much half court offense. This particular team is much better when our guards are able to drive and limit the 3pt takes to set up the drives in half court. WE should not have guys playing 38-40mins a game, they are going to rest on 1 end or the other playing that many minutes and this team simply can not afford that. 3pt shooters do not often draw fouls but drivers sure do.

 

[big_deez]

TP, why ya acting like saying a kid may not start declares that he gets no playing time? Seen ANYONE even hint at suggesting that Jack/Drake/Seth should not play OR play less than starter level minutes?

RJ played to me the best game he has played for us this season against BC but strikes me as strange that his game is judged exclusively about how his offense is rolling, folks want to look at his box score in a game and see 20+ and assume he played a great game, no matter that it took him 20 shots to get that 20pts. Forgotten is the fact that to call RJ a par defender takes being in a overly generous mood, truth is he is a defensive negative and for the season is a very low efficiency scorer. RJ is the guy that would be coming off the bench for me, he would for sure get starter level minutes but I would start Jack at the 2 with Cadeau at the point and Drake at the 3 (his natural position) and JWash at the 4, his natural position, along with either JWit or Lubin. Then we are not as tiny, actually have a size advantage at the 3 and 4, physicality to battle big centers, and what should be solid scoring coming off the bench with RJ and Seth.

You tell me, exactly how much effort does JWash need to play with when his 225lbs body is being backed down by a 7ft 270lbs opposing center? Sincerely, I would like to know, think maybe we should move Seth to center and wonder why he would struggle to defend that 270lb dude? This team has the roster it has, not going to be anymore additions to it till next season, no matter how we got here, here we are. Step #1 1 to this team actually winning like a UNC team is expected is to limit the small handicap as much as we can
and you do that by matching up players to their natural positions as best you can and drastically ramp up the game pace tempo, harass the other team defensively the length of the court, speed them up. This team can not afford to play hard at one end and rest on the other. We should be looking to attack the other teams best weapons, make them defend, do what you can to draw their better players in to foul trouble, force them in to line ups they are not used to. You do that by going hard and deep to your bench, which by the way helps reduce the sting of guys not starting.

And ya know what would really help, go back to the UNC free lance offense of constant motion, setting a lot of screens, guys moving with a purpose. We are running so many set plays that at times we look almost robotic and it isn't as if the other teams do not know our plays, they do, at times they seem to know them better than our own players do. You run the break (primary and secondary) and that snuffs out go directly in to attacking with free lance then vary the levels of pressure coming back down. They score you in bound the ball and run it right back down their throats, you can do that with a kid like Cadeau at the point. You defeat a length advantage by running the other teams big men to the point they start reaching and finding foul trouble, not bombing away treys from in-efficient 3pt shooters.

This team digs it's own grave when they become to RJ centric and they go bombs away from trey, that didn't happen vs BC and we would have won that game by 20 had we been able to defend and not get stuck in so much half court offense. This particular team is much better when our guards are able to drive and limit the 3pt takes to set up the drives in half court. WE should not have guys playing 38-40mins a game, they are going to rest on 1 end or the other playing that many minutes and this team simply can not afford that. 3pt shooters do not often draw fouls but drivers sure do.

It seems HD HAS centered everything around RJ. I'd love to see some extended minutes with EC, Ian, Drake at 3, JWash at the 4 and Lubin at the 5, couldnt hurt at this point. That would mean RJ sitting for a while, don't think HD is willing.

 

[NathanFielder]

THis is supposed to be a positive thread about an outstanding 5 * recruit!!!!

JWash was a center his whole life. To play him and Lubin together means someone has to sit. So that means we take Seth, Drake, or Ian and remove/lessen our most consistent energy guys from the lineup??? You would tell Ian and Drake that even though you worked your tails off, and have demonstrated you are good for the team, we will still sit you???. NOPE. That would cause more trouble than it fixes! It would astonish me if JWash enters the portal and I cannot stand when we suggest or even imply such things. Doesn't sound like Family to me. How could anyone watch the development of RJ, EC, Seth, JWash, and the rapid growth of JB and even suggest that this staff doesn't develop players? AND EC did not deserve the keys to our ride until he matured into the player who could handle it! He is still learning to manage his emotions and I propose he is farther down the road due to our staff's handling of his responsibilities! BTW: RJ isn't taking any wild step back heat checks and he has increased his assists exponentially! Recruiting doesn't happen in a vacuum, so we can't just use hindsight to say what should have been done. It is impossible to focus on 6 peeps without some of them feeling like second choices so what should Hubs have done? He spent time and resources pursuing 3 Bigs that looked very promising and keeping in contact with others and we whiffed. So freakin' what! Do you really feel like we should have abandoned all UNC stands for and just tried to outbid peeps for mercenaries? I do not now nor will I ever feel this way! This team does have a small margin and needs to play with maximum effort to win. Beating the dead horse over and over again will not change anything, but we might be able to help by going to the game and actually cheering FOR them instead of rallying the troops against our beloved team! There is always an empty seat next to my wife and me so I'll ask the guy for you if any of you want to actually help!

I don't disagree with much of what you wrote. Personally, I don't think Washington is good enough to warrant this kind of constant debate on this board, lol. I think he's just a role player who's going to have good moments here and bad moments there. But that's not my point here.

Where do you think this program is right now? If you had to give it an approval rating from 0-100%, where are you right now with this program? Do you have any questions whatsoever on the way Hubert is running the program? The direction of the program?

I don't mean to ask any insulting questions but your tone is probably the most positive tone here that I have a hard time deciphering if it's just a positive attitude in general or how you objectively feel how things are with UNC basketball at the moment.

 

[_B5]

when it comes down to it, our starting 5 could get real big real fast. EC, IJ, DP was supposed to be our starting back court. I think withers is our best big body and with his athleticism he belongs in that pick and roll at the top of the key(added plus he can knock down the wide open 3.) I think Washington in the short corner would be so helpful for this offense. The funny thing is I don’t believe we have seen this line up together more than 5 minutes. I don’t believe we have seen at any point this season a lineup of ec,cap,Drake, Tyson and wash together. Which was supposed to be our starting lineup if Seth and rj left. Its just weird how Hubert always shifts to going small. He reminds me of Nash in Brooklyn, and we all know how that ended when he put Kd at the 5, with 4 guards.