High plays with an attitude, i kinda like that. Go Heels!
Luka Bogavac commits to UNC!!
- Thread starter UncTwinz
- Start date
Roster is really constructed well! Our staff has grown by leaps and bounds and learned to mine the portal while keeping their toes in the HS pool. Ridiculous how quickly peeps give up, isn't it? I am comfortable going into battle with what we currently have but I would obviously love to see a potential big-bodied backup 5 join. I saw/heard enough to believe that both High and Brown will be able to contribute as needed, especially High. This discussion perfectly highlights a fundamental difference between posters like D and me. We saw the same things, but they made me cautiously optimistic and D just cautious! Have we ever had a player more motivated to grow and learn from the past than High?? His motor, work ethic, skill, and need to convince peeps his past is behind him will coalesce into a serious jump next season in my estimation! Brown worked very hard on the court and proved he was not intimidated by any moment. He will need to be stronger, less foul prone, and grow out of the baby deer leg phase, but can certainly give us 5-10 minutes a game by ACC time! The good news is we have multiple options to give us the other 5-10 minutes we might need including some pretty interesting smaller ball lineups that could run peeps to exhaustion!
BTW: If Twinz is Chapelle, I applaud his personality transplant because I have so far respected Twinz's takes. I can't remember even one take by C that I could respect!!
Great get by Hubs and staff (despite peeps refusing to believe they could do it) and a truly welcome addition to the Family!
GDTBATH!
BTW: If Twinz is Chapelle, I applaud his personality transplant because I have so far respected Twinz's takes. I can't remember even one take by C that I could respect!!
Great get by Hubs and staff (despite peeps refusing to believe they could do it) and a truly welcome addition to the Family!
GDTBATH!
Well said TP, while I have seen the potential for both High and James to be solid productive players for us I am VERY cautious in my thinking of what they may give us next season. IN my view to much has to occur in their game (both physical and mental) for me to be able to hold the belief you have. I am not sold that this staff has the ability to develop these guys enough to form them in to productive players quickly.
What we have heard about High came last summer, what did we also hear? We heard Jalen was going to be one of the best centers in the NCAA, we heard Tyson was scorching the nets, and we heard Cadeau was easily hitting treys from all over the court? Any of that pan out over the season? So now I am supposed to have belief that some how both High and James will break open their games and becomes guys I can depend on for 20mins a game, when my eyes have seen nothing but their being well away from that level so far? So yeah, I am optimistic but yes I am cautious, very cautious.
To be clear, even I do not believe both can give us 20 minutes per game. I do believe we will get enough from them and others for us to be fine for up to 20 minutes per game as needed! I believe High is farther along in readiness for several reasons, but I also think we are fine if he isn't. I am optimistic the staff can develop players, and I also believe they don't have to make extraordinary leaps just regular and steady improvement. Bogs opens up so many options and ensures peeps will have to play honest D on the perimeter. If so, driving lanes will open up and the lane will be less crowded. This is the piece we need and Bogs will elevate youngsters' games with his experience/leadership and game! No reason to be pessimistic since it is less likely that all our questions are answered negatively as it is that all are answered positively!
Winner, winner chicken dinner! There will be some guys on this team that don’t live up to expectations and some that exceed expectations.
Arch, you should know better than this.... rational discussion on Radar?
Yep. No excuses for our staff this year.
Looks like a good addition. Not sure he's a 3, which I think was the team's biggest need. But at least a bigger 2 gives them some flexibility and options.
I still have some doubts about who the number 1 option is going to be. Hubert's offense has depended on isolation throughout his tenure at UNC, so I'm assuming that's going to continue. Who's going to be the perimeter isolation guy and the late shot clock guy?
I do think a lot remains up in the air when it comes to how good this team will be. Until I see Evans handle the PG role, until I see if Seth becomes a more competent perimeter shooter, (among others) I'll remain skeptical but open minded.
I'll sound like a broken record, but this addition fully depends on this coaching staff's talent evaluation. All of us are guessing. Hopefully, the staff got it right.
I still have some doubts about who the number 1 option is going to be. Hubert's offense has depended on isolation throughout his tenure at UNC, so I'm assuming that's going to continue. Who's going to be the perimeter isolation guy and the late shot clock guy?
I do think a lot remains up in the air when it comes to how good this team will be. Until I see Evans handle the PG role, until I see if Seth becomes a more competent perimeter shooter, (among others) I'll remain skeptical but open minded.
I'll sound like a broken record, but this addition fully depends on this coaching staff's talent evaluation. All of us are guessing. Hopefully, the staff got it right.
I would include talent usage along with evaluation. Unfortunately we have seen this staff do less with more.
Holy cow, did you see this report from Greg Barnes? No wonder our frontcourt last year was so bad.
"Multiple sources have confirmed that UNC has surpassed the $14 million mark in its financial commitment to the 2025-26 roster, approximately triple what was spent on the roster a year ago."
"Multiple sources have confirmed that UNC has surpassed the $14 million mark in its financial commitment to the 2025-26 roster, approximately triple what was spent on the roster a year ago."
Greg: UNC Giving Hubert Davis, Basketball Program Unprecedented Financial Support
The head coach, in concert with new general manager Jim Tanner, added six players to the roster this offseason.
247sports.com
Very Interesting - This seems to put to rest the people that said we had the money last year. They are spending 14 mil this year (wonder how much of that is just to Wilson) and that's triple of what they spent last year. The best thing I took from this, is every excuse from Hubert is now off the table. They just spent 14 million either win or get out (not said in article but my thinking)
Two things jump out to me.
1. $14M and you don't have a proven alpha scorer makes me nervous.
2. $14M is half what Flagg what's reported earned by himself last season.
I realize not all Flagg's $$ was from dook but damn ... I will miss what college basketball used to be.
1. $14M and you don't have a proven alpha scorer makes me nervous.
2. $14M is half what Flagg what's reported earned by himself last season.
I realize not all Flagg's $$ was from dook but damn ... I will miss what college basketball used to be.
The $28 mill was from New Balance and Fanatics, but they were multi-year contracts. I think I saw they were 7 year deals. So he got about $4 million from them last season.
Luka seems like he's proven his scoring ability in a pro league. Caleb was an alpha scorer in high school. But this is a team game and we'll just have to wait and see how all the new pieces work together.
I like our team for next season and I love the Luka addition so I don’t want to sound like a debby downer but UNC spending $14 million on this group is insane…
Cooper is rich as hell. But, like MANY dookies before him, he cut no NCAA Title net. 🙂
First of all, board rules (No TOS). But that number more than likely accounts for the overall total that was spent on Luka, not against the collective. In other words, collective + support.Greg: UNC Giving Hubert Davis, Basketball Program Unprecedented Financial Support
The head coach, in concert with new general manager Jim Tanner, added six players to the roster this offseason.
Very Interesting - This seems to put to rest the people that said we had the money last year. They are spending 14 mil this year (wonder how much of that is just to Wilson) and that's triple of what they spent last year. The best thing I took from this, is every excuse from Hubert is now off the table. They just spent 14 million either win or get out (not said in article but my thinking)
So if we put 2 and 2 together from what’s been said about how much was left and the ballpark figure provided by TOS; I’d say that put Luka anywhere between $700k and maybe $4M?
I would imagine the boosters did not put together the same package as they would have for Drake. My guess is that was $3M? So overall, I’d say Luka got paid $2M in total with 65% of that money coming from boosters.
That would result in one of the highest paid rosters in college bball next year. Obviously Carolina has overpaid on some guys likely because they had no choice due to last years disaster and kids generally not wanting to come play for a coach that misused several 5* talents and with no offensive philosophy.
This is a solid roster but certainly not a $14M roster.
This is a solid roster but certainly not a $14M roster.
It's about what Texas Tech has spent. Definitely not close to what Kentucky, dook, and BYU have spent.
This NIL BS has completely destroyed college athletics. I guess it's already ramping up in HS and the AAU circuits too.
That’s the biggest thing that jumps out to me is this is what you get for 14 million???? That doesn’t seem like a very well constructed roster when you have so many question marks still
Per a SEC football coach, there are college programs paying kids that committed to them early $20k a MONTH just to keep their commit...
Peeps really think our roster is not constructed well??? We had goals to improve size, shooting, defense, and team camaraderie. I believe every single box has been checked and now peeps want to stress over a nebulous "Go to, end of shot clock" scorer??? (This could be situational and handled as a team too) Maybe we should instead try not to get into situations where we need a 1 on 1 superman to save us....instead, look at our 2 deep at every position, huge, experienced, skillful team and celebrate! YES, the coaches need to continue to grow; yes, the team needs to show they can mesh; yes, some peeps have to improve over the Summer, and yes Hubs needs to figure out his rotations, defensive strats, and cater the O to our talent! BUT why would anyone not be optimistic looking at this group???
No, it read to me as if this $20k a month was in addition to what ever they agreed on in NIL to get the commitment.
I think this team will be improved mainly because of the upgrades they made with the bigs. Going from Lubin and Washington to what they have now will naturally make them better and potentially make them much better. It's similar to upgrading from Leaky/Nance to Ryan/Ingram. That upgrade was going to naturally make UNC a better team.
But I absolutely understand the skepticism of the roster too. Evans is an unknown as a PG. Maybe it will be fine, but it can certainly be clunky, especially for those who prefer more of a pure pass-first PG like they had in Cadeau. There is validity to skepticism around Seth Trimble and whether his jump shot will improve or not. And Bogavac looks great on YouTube, but I think it's hard to project a player we really don't know much about. Also, Caleb Wilson is a shiny 5* prospect but is his game day 1 ready? I'm reading some "developmental prospect offensively" kind of stuff about him and there's no guarantee that translates in year 1. And while I think Veesaar is a stud, he will be asked to play a role he has never played before as the primary interior option.
Then of course the X-Factor is Hubert. I think it's absolutely justified to be bearish on him. He has certainly earned anyone's pessimistic outlook at his coaching ability. And his talent evaluation has not been a strong suit of his.
As for your "Maybe we should instead try not to get into situations where we need a 1 on 1 superman to save us."
That's all great, but history has shown us that under Hubert, the offense will stall at times and be forced into some isolation situations and late clock situations. Unless it's a complete change, that's just something that's part of Hubert's offense. Also, he likes to hunt switches and matchups and that also leads to more isolation. So if UNC were to not be so dependent on that, that's on Hubert.
instead, look at our 2 deep at every position, huge, experienced, skillful team and celebrate!
We hear this every season on how deep this team projects to be. And every season under Hubert, it turns out to be a less deep team that most here projected. You specifically said last season going in that UNC would be 10 deep if you were being conservative. it turned out last year UNC was like 6 or 7 deep. Right now, I think Evans, Trimble, Bogavac, Wilson, Veesaar, Stevenson, and Powell give them a legitimate 7 dudes that will be day 1 ready. (and I still think Bogavac is more a guess right not, but let's say a confident guess) And that's more depth they had before. And even that could be optimistic because we don't know a ton about Bogavac.
I'm optimistic that this group will be better than last season's. If that's the mission, then mission accomplished. If the mission is this is a Final Four contending team where games are meaningful in January, February, and March to win championships and not just making the NCAA Tournament, IMO that remains to be seen.
As I understand it Luka is 21 and has been playing against grown men. So there's that. But how good were those grown men?
How does the league he played in compare with conferences here? I mean is playing there like playing in the SEC, the ACC, the Big Sky...?
I ask because we have had some disappointments with kids who came from lesser conferences.
The Adriatic League is one of the top leagues in Europe. Marcus Paige couldn't even average double figures scoring when he played there. Tomislav Ivisic averaged 7 points per game in that league, and then went to Illinois and immediately averaged 13 points per game.
You guys remember former dook starter Suilamon?
That's about as fair and unbiased an approach as I've seen. Thanks. I agree with literally every word you typed and am still optimistic. I'm a little more bullish on Evans and believe Henri will be the focus of opposing defenses (he's that good). I'm optimistic on Luka because of his age and history of playing against grown men in a very good Euro league.
Unfortunately, like you, my trepidation starts rests and ends with Hubert. I SINCERELY hopes he figures it out this year but wouldn't bet the farm on it.
I think the season goes as the team gels. If they play together as a team, I think this is a very good basketball team. If we have some individualism, quite honestly like we had last year, it could be a bumpy end of the road for our coach.
Go heels!!!
Hope I am wrong but I see more of a Paxon Wojic level player that is being spun in to Cormac Ryan? I do NOT like the notion of starting yet another under sized 3, Luka is far more 2 than 3 from what I have been able to see, I realize others may have seen more in his game that have seen him play more than I have. But for me I would have him behind Jpow at the 3 and as everyone knows, I would not start JPow at the 3, you guys know I want Caleb at the 3 as our starter, with Jarin at the 4. JPow is a catch and shoot guy, classic 3 & D guy that I hope adds some mid range (he and Jarin), proven solid defender vs NCAA D-1 opponents.
At the 2, Seth will get the lion share of the minutes there and should, I think we get a lot more from both Dixon and Young than many suspect and Denis could as well factor in. Young is a kid that I think will play his heart out when he gets in a game for us, kid is wearing his dream jersey. If you remember the energy Ant gave us his first season with us out of no where, I suspect Young may give us something similar. I am very high on Dixon, I think folks are sleeping on that kid for now. Dixon is a really smooth jump shooter off the catch or off the move, doesn't rush, takes very good shots, doesn't try to do things outside of his comfort level, is working to become a PG, that will take some transition time. Denis is being talked about as a project but that kid is a rangy 6'6" and athletic, his shooting has been coming around nicely. Like any freshman he needs to develop but I don't see him as a project as many seem to.
It is easily a higher level than the ACC. Big boy league.
I think there's reason to be optimistic. My concern lies a lot with Trimble. The reality is once it was determined Trimble was returning, it forced the PG situation that UNC decided on. The PG with Trimble must be a plus shooter. No if/ands/buts. I have a concern with Trimble at a premium offensive position because of his limited shooting, and I think it's harder to manufacture offense with him on the floor. Then add that Caleb Wilson probably isn't a plus shooter, and I'm guessing Veesaar isn't a volume 3PT shooter, you already have 3 non-shooting threats on the floor. So they had to go to Evans.
This will be an interesting season. Evans' coach at Colorado State went to Minnesota and they signed Cade Tyson. So we'll see pretty quickly how coaching affects Evans and Tyson.
Again, I can see it all working and UNC being a pretty dangerous team. I can also see it being a clunky struggle if Evans is an inconsistent PG, if Seth's shooting remains a 0, and if there are growing pains offensively with Wilson and Brown and High aren't ready o become competent role players.
We'll see. Hopefully Hubert and staff got their evaluation correct.
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