Quick stuff (BC game)...

[gary-7]

...and I'm just glad I didn't hafta write this about a loss.

That wasn't for lack of trying, it would seem --- good grief. Granted, this BC team couldn't shoot that way from 3 if you left them in a gym by themselves --- trouble is though, for much of the game (and all of the first half) it looked like we had done exactly that. So, let's start right there:

- Just awful defensive effort and brains after the first possession. Bad footwork, non-angled forces, late (or no) help, getting stuck too far from shooters, etc etc. Just yikes. TBH, the only guy who had a positive go on that end in the 1st half was Eliot.

- Good news was that eventually --- a long time coming, BTW --- it was defense that salvaged a bad loss. Drake terrorizing inbounders actually gave us a chance to pull this stinker out in regulation. And in fairness, down the stretch we showed flashes of better team D and individual efforts. Seth, in particular, picked it up in the 2nd with deflections and/or denies, but DAMN,,,, can we not come up with the loose balls we caused?

- Speaking of Seth, he was putting that vertical to use --- TUFF bucket on that last inbound play, and other finishes thru HARD contact. Also, he went to war on the glass. I've long since given up on relying on any stats from our home boxscores so I haven't bothered to look yet, but I know he had a dadgummed double-rebound effort, and from a 6'3 guy that's pretty impressive. And on that last BC drive in OT (where we executed Help correctly), I think he may have gotten a piece of that shot before the Lubin block.

- As hard as the game was to stomach for much of it, there were a couple of encouraging things, as well as "growth" moments. Not mitigating that he had a stinker on defense, RJ looked like RJ on offense, knocking down the shots we need. Also, after alllowing BC to get away with mayhem in the 1st half, the zebras finally got us to the FT line in the 2nd, and RJ helped make up for some of our early misses by being perfect from the line. He also did his best job of the year running our offense when EC was out.

- Another good sign was Ian showing a lot of maturity in the 2nd half. After being helter-skelter early, he seemed to take a deep breath and showed patience. There were a couple of key possessions in which he eschewed the tendency to force, and took his time to set up and create a better shot for himself. Young fella has to understand that he is showing up on scouting reports these days. A lot of fans don't understand how big scouting is at the collegiate level (especially in conference), and sometimes neither do Freshmen, so seeing growth in his reaction and adjustment is a good thing. Also good to see Drake shake off a stinker at Wake and knock down a key 3 and absolutely BRING it on D in the 2nd half. Granted, I and half of the state was yelling at him to take that shot on the block instead of overpassing, but he later made the dagger dime from the FT line to Lubin at the end.

- Speaking of the "end", that almost came in regulation due to the aforementioned defensive flurry and a play drawn up with 1.4 seconds left that got RJ an AMAZING look. I used to have one similar that got the flair pass out to the wing, but that pitch-back wrinkle with the built-in screen was SWEET. Dunno if that was Jeff's or Hubert's, but kudos!

- So... I just glanced over to goheels and I'm VERY relieved for JWash --- damn, that looked scary, like ACL-scary, but apparently no damage. Speaking of Wash, BC's whole approach was dribble-drive bully-ball that too often ended up with their rumblin-bumblin-stumblin Bigs barging their way to the rim. Now granted, they hooked more than a PBA bowler, but that was a tough matchup. Lubin either fouled or got stuck in the paint leaving open shooters, and Wash was getting bulled. Not meaning to dog either one of our guys --- they both ended up contributing mightily (now looking at the goheels box, Wash had 18 and 6 w/3 big dimes) --- but I think there were more ops to go offense-defense with Claude, who is built for banging with guys like BC's, and did so effectively whilst he was in.

- Finally, speaking of the boxscore, I know damn well just from the marks on my notes we had more than 16 Assists (hell, Eliot had 5 just on a 2-minute highlight reel I watched). My point is, unlike some earlier games, BALL-MOVEMENT wasn't an issue. We generally got good looks and the rock seldom got "stuck", and as a result, we shot better than 55% (and an at least respectable 37.5% from 3) -- big contrast to Tuesday. And that's with some frustrating close-in misses. Also, even with our stat-guy's propensity for undercounting dimes and steals and misassigning TOs notwithstanding, one stat that does stand out is REBOUNDING. It's a quiet stat today, since with all the shooting going on there weren't as many to be had, BUT, we manned up and outboarded em by 13 (!), and only allowed 6 offensive (and some of those were loose balls). So yeah, that mattered. Seth led the way, but all our guys were sticking their noses into a VERY physical fray.

Anyway, phew!... enough with the cardiac-kid act already. Hopefully some of the positives I mentioned will keep moving forward so we can learn to BUILD a lead --- not just get one. Got a big week coming up, and I hafta say I liked our guys body-language much better today, so there's that...

 

[al would]

Just my quick take ..

A couple games ago I made a comment about how much better and more active we looked on defense .. so much for that.

We let BC shoot 60% from three.

We let a team that averages less than 70 a game drop 90 on us at home.

Vegas had us as 20pt favs @home and we had to scratch and claw to get in to OT.

I have no fng clue what hubcap is thinking starting the line up he did ... what was he trying to accomplish @gary-7 ?

After watching this ish show today I think we could easily lose the next 4 games by double digits.

 

[39 Feet Above Sea Level]

Excellent eyeballs and a strong enough ticker to post your analysis, G-7.
We have lots of issues, but here’s the thing:
When a team makes threes like that, it’s gonna be a struggle.
When a center backs down a center to the hole with no double team challenge, then throws the hook
move to score at will, you’re gonna struggle.
And so we did. But in crunch time, several guys made tough plays to scrap for a win.
I will take the W and happily slap fives with any Carolina player coming through the tunnel to
the locker room. GDTBATH 🏀⛹🏾‍♂️ 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

 

[gary-7]

Just my quick take ..

A couple games ago I made a comment about how much better and more active we looked on defense .. so much for that.

We let BC shoot 60% from three.

We let a team that averages less than 70 a game drop 90 on us at home.

Vegas had us as 20pt favs @home and we had to scratch and claw to get in to OT.

I have no fng clue what hubcap is thinking starting the line up he did ... what was he trying to accomplish @gary-7 ?

After watching this ish show today I think we could easily lose the next 4 games by double digits.

I'll leave the rest and take a stab at the lineup: I imagine it was because BC is physical but not "long". And starting Lubin vs their thick Bigs spared Wash foul trouble.

In tbose senses it worked, as we outboarded the by 13, and Wash was around for 18, 6 and 3.

 

[JovialMuse]

The rational part of my brain knows that sometimes bad teams just have good nights against you and also that it's really difficult for teams to bring their all every game, especially against less talented teams with big games coming up. But, man, this was really hard to watch. I have almost zero confidence that UNC can win any of the next 4 games. On a positive note, I do remember a really bad home loss to Pitt in 2022 and feeling the same way and then the team clicking and going on that magical run. Conversely, with the exception of 2024, all of our teams under Hubert have had these months-long stretches of atrocious unCarolina basketball. I listened to the podcast with Pinson, Felton, and JJ recently where they chalked this up to missing in the portal and the need for players to shoulder responsibility. But if we can't also recognize an inability to bring in the necessary talent to arguably the most storied basketball school with what should be almost unlimited funds and big names then what are we doing? Or if we can't recognize an inability to adapt to roster imperfections and still maximize the top 15 in the country talent that is there...what are we doing?

End of rant. Glad we won. But still, ugh

 

[gary-7]

The rational part of my brain knows that sometimes bad teams just have good nights against you and also that it's really difficult for teams to bring their all every game, especially against less talented teams with big games coming up. But, man, this was really hard to watch. I have almost zero confidence that UNC can win any of the next 4 games. On a positive note, I do remember a really bad home loss to Pitt in 2022 and feeling the same way and then the team clicking and going on that magical run. Conversely, with the exception of 2024, all of our teams under Hubert have had these months-long stretches of atrocious unCarolina basketball. I listened to the podcast with Pinson, Felton, and JJ recently where they chalked this up to missing in the portal and the need for players to shoulder responsibility. But if we can't also recognize an inability to bring in the necessary talent to arguably the most storied basketball school with what should be almost unlimited funds and big names then what are we doing? Or if we can't recognize an inability to adapt to roster imperfections and still maximize the top 15 in the country talent that is there...what are we doing?

End of rant. Glad we won. But still, ugh

Look, there's no objection to rants --- I know my pen will never be the same after several table slams --- so yeah, I get it.

Meanwhile, before I respond, allow me to digress for a second:

I just watched another game tonight, and the very idea that Doug Shows is allowed within 50 feet of a basketball arena wearing a striped shirt is an abomination on the game. Lord knows, he and Groover gave us a royal butt-f***ing in Winston Tuesday, and with all that said, I have little doubt that one or both of those jabronies will show up in Durham Saturday...

Anyway, while I'm not backing away from my systemic critiques of what we are doing (and the 1st-half defensive no-show tonight), there were some things that can be objectively taken as positives. For example, we batted a thousand in OT on the offensive end, while making enough plays on the other end to take a must-win home...

 

[notashelbyfan]

The rational part of my brain knows that sometimes bad teams just have good nights against you and also that it's really difficult for teams to bring their all every game, especially against less talented teams with big games coming up. But, man, this was really hard to watch. I have almost zero confidence that UNC can win any of the next 4 games. On a positive note, I do remember a really bad home loss to Pitt in 2022 and feeling the same way and then the team clicking and going on that magical run. Conversely, with the exception of 2024, all of our teams under Hubert have had these months-long stretches of atrocious unCarolina basketball. I listened to the podcast with Pinson, Felton, and JJ recently where they chalked this up to missing in the portal and the need for players to shoulder responsibility. But if we can't also recognize an inability to bring in the necessary talent to arguably the most storied basketball school with what should be almost unlimited funds and big names then what are we doing? Or if we can't recognize an inability to adapt to roster imperfections and still maximize the top 15 in the country talent that is there...what are we doing?

End of rant. Glad we won. But still, ugh

Keep in mind this is the same team with a better version on Jackson and Powell not that earlier in the year played Florida, Kansas, Michigan State, and Louisville and had shots to win all 3 of those games but lost so I have a hard time believing that talent is our issue. You don't play teams like that well, and then wet the bed against Stanford, and have to pull wins out of your ass against BC and ND unless there are issues elsewhere.

I rarely agree with Gary on anything but what we do agree on is misuse of the players we do have.

If we don't make a change we are headed for mediocrity, in the long term.

Getting Caleb Wilson is a huge help but if he can keep what we should be having back next and use Wilson right then we are going to be on the same track we are on now.

I don't know about everyone else but I am not going to be satisfied with one year okay and the next year sucking pattern and that where we look to be right now.

 

[Kool1234567]

This team is in trouble…Will have to win the ACC tournament to make the Dance…

 

[sdingeldein]

It's a weird team. Came close to beating 3 teams ranked in the top 15 and then struggle against a bad NCSU team and bad BC team.

 

[JovialMuse]

Keep in mind this is the same team with a better version on Jackson and Powell not that earlier in the year played Florida, Kansas, Michigan State, and Louisville and had shots to win all 3 of those games but lost so I have a hard time believing that talent is our issue. You don't play teams like that well, and then wet the bed against Stanford, and have to pull wins out of your ass against BC and ND unless there are issues elsewhere.

I rarely agree with Gary on anything but what we do agree on is misuse of the players we do have.

If we don't make a change we are headed for mediocrity, in the long term.

Getting Caleb Wilson is a huge help but if he can keep what we should be having back next and use Wilson right then we are going to be on the same track we are on now.

I don't know about everyone else but I am not going to be satisfied with one year okay and the next year sucking pattern and that where we look to be right now.

I may have done a poor job communicating my current state of mind with this team. I agree with you and Gary that this team has top-15 talent. RJ is a proven commodity, Ian and Drake are emerging stars even if inconsistent (to be expected with freshmen), EC is really good (also inconsistent but for different reasons), and Seth... Washington... all talented... I could go on. Seeing them all show flashes of their ceiling but seemingly consistently underperforming tells me we're misusing them or deploying schemes that don't maximize our current roster which aligns I think with yours and Gary's opinion mostly. There's no Cormac or Harrison out there this season lighting fires under players in games either which hurts but that itself can't explain this level of regression in my opinion.

I really want Hubert to work out, i do, but at this point Hubert's record is: a very underwhelming first season with an amazing month of March, a terrible second season, a great 3rd season, and now another underwhelming 4th season. So, if my math is correct,that's approximately 6 good months and 12 bad months with this staff. That's not Carolina basketball.

 

[JovialMuse]

Look, there's no objection to rants --- I know my pen will never be the same after several table slams --- so yeah, I get it.

Meanwhile, before I respond, allow me to digress for a second:

I just watched another game tonight, and the very idea that Doug Shows is allowed within 50 feet of a basketball arena wearing a striped shirt is an abomination on the game. Lord knows, he and Groover gave us a royal butt-f***ing in Winston Tuesday, and with all that said, I have little doubt that one or both of those jabronies will show up in Durham Saturday...

Anyway, while I'm not backing away from my systemic critiques of what we are doing (and the 1st-half defensive no-show tonight), there were some things that can be objectively taken as positives. For example, we batted a thousand in OT on the offensive end, while making enough plays on the other end to take a must-win home...

You're rigbt, Gary, when things really mattered yesterday the team did what it took to win and it can be argued this current team has lacked that ability for the most part so far. It was against BC and we shouldn't have been in that position to begin with, but baby steps I guess. We need some big steps this week though. Hopefully playing against BC's atrocious D and seeing the ball go in got us out of that prolonged shooting slump too. If we can hit some shots maybe we overcome our other deficiencies. Guess we'll see. Not holding my breath though!

 

[Geth]

We let BC shoot 60% from three.

To be fair several of those 3's were well contested and a few were of the answered prayer variety. Couldn't have been defended much better.

 

[trimbornunc86]

I don’t see how we can take any danm positives out of yesterdays win… Is this really where we are at now as program??? Barely scrapping by against a team 1-7 in the league in a game that was a must win for us … it’s downright embarrassing… coaching is pathetic, certain players lack of effort is pathetic.. how many players on this team are actually better now then they were at the start of the season.. the chances of even going 2-2 in the next 4 are beyond slim at best. So now we are going to resorting to needing to win a bunch of games in the ACC tourney to have to sweat it out on selection Sunday..

 

[39 Feet Above Sea Level]

To be fair several of those 3's were well contested and a few were of the answered prayer variety. Couldn't have been defended much better.

Absolutely, well defended, late in the shot clock prayers, especially by Hand in the last six minutes. 🤭

 

[NathanFielder]

It’s just a really inconsistent team. I’ll disagree that this is a supremely talented team. I think it’s talented in some parts but very inadequate in other parts.

But this is what inconsistent teams do. They have head scratching wins, losses, and everything in between.

I don’t think this team right now is above squeaking by bad teams. They barely beat Georgia Tech and other every mediocre teams. I don’t think they’re above playing a really bad team closely on occasion. It’s just where this team is right now.

But that inconsistency might turn into some surprisingly good performances against the meat of the schedule here. I’m not going into these games with any expectations either way though. This team is way too unpredictable minute to minute for me to have a firm grasp on anything.

At this point, they can’t be choosy on style points. They need to simply stack wins no matter how uncomfortable those wins may be. You earn having disappointing wins. This team hasn’t earned that.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

One positive is the return of Seth's offense. I just hope it's for real and not because of the low level of competition.

 

[GoNtheDistance]

poor coaching, poor system, poor rotation, poor roster, poor game management, poor (no) adjustments. FIRE HUBERT. he isn’t nor was he ever the right guy.

 

[Quest4Seven]

I watched Nate Oates keep Sears an All American on the bench the entire second half yesterday because he felt there were better players to put on the court to win. When did Hubert ever pull Love when he was playing hero ball or RJ for taking pull up 3’s on a 3 on 1 fastbreak?


Reality is Hubert does not have control of the team and players arent held accountable for poor play or lack of effort.

 

[big_deez]

To be fair several of those 3's were well contested and a few were of the answered prayer variety. Couldn't have been defended much better.

Geth, so true, some of those 3s were just insane. Wouldn't it be cool to see some of those prayers going for this team? Honestly tho, they shouldn't have been a position where those prayers could be game winners.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

Keep in mind this is the same team with a better version on Jackson and Powell not that earlier in the year played Florida, Kansas, Michigan State, and Louisville and had shots to win all 3 of those games

Would we win those games - or even be close - now? I fear not.

We've seen divergent movements within our team.

Seth and Elliot started the year looking like they had really turned the corner. They looked great, but don't seem to have improved much (if at all) during the year. Good preseason improvement but little in-season improvement.

RJ started off in a shooting snide. And every time he had a decent game, we'd sigh in relief, but he couldn't make it 2 in a row. Until now, with 3 games looking a lot more like the old RJ. Off-season regression, but just lately some in-season improvement.

Ian and Drake started off looking like talented freshmen. With emphasis on the freshman part. Especially Ian, who showed a lot of energy but with poor results. Drake was doing better but still in learning mode. For a while it looked like Drake was going to be the freshman who was going to make it. But then Ian got it and started charging ahead, while Drake continued to improve. They've both improved.

Meanwhile the front court was and is nothing to write home about. Has there been any improvement?

My point in going over the obvious is that we've had some in-season improvement, but not across the board. And not a lot (with Ian being the exception that proves the rule).

Nearly all teams improve over the season. But some teams improve faster and more steadily than others. My sense is that this team would beat our November team. In other words, we have improved some. But my guess is that we've improved as a team less than the average team improves.

If I had to bet, I'd bet we'd lose those same early games against good teams, but the close ones would no longer be close.

Needless to say, I'd like to see this team prove me wrong. Starting at Pitt.

At this time in 2022 we were 12-6, on the verge of a 17-4 run to the championship game. RJ was a freshman on that team.

 

[Kool1234567]

? Anyone that goes to the games that watches pregame warmups…I have seen this posted several times on TOS by different people that warmups are just the guys doing what they want and basically goofing off…Shooting Airballs and dribbling balls off their feet…Also no coaches on the floor…If this is true that is very telling…Basically just not organized at all…Can anyone confirm this as false or true…

 

[GoNtheDistance]

? Anyone that goes to the games that watches pregame warmups…I have seen this posted several times on TOS by different people that warmups are just the guys doing what they want and basically goofing off…Shooting Airballs and dribbling balls off their feet…Also no coaches on the floor…If this is true that is very telling…Basically just not organized at all…Can anyone confirm this as false or true…

that may be a slight exaggeration but generally that theme is correct. it’s a (too) loose environment with not a lot of structure. mirrors the bullshit we see on the floor during games.

 

[Kool1234567]

that may be a slight exaggeration but generally that theme is correct. it’s a (too) loose environment with not a lot of structure. mirrors the bullshit we see on the floor during games.

Thanks for the answer…Very disappointing…

 

[DSouthr]

Well, if nothing else, this was an entertaining game, like 2 boxers standing in the middle of the ring trading blows or that new slap fighting thing, no defense just hit me! LOL I think maybe I took more positives from this game than many, oh of course there for a few minutes I couldn't help but think, welcome to a Loyola Marymount Tar Heel game?

On the offensive end one of the best showings we have had in a while. I was very happy to see RJ playing more within himself rather than trying to be the hero. Some absolutely beautiful assists from RJ to Jalen, in particular, I like the emphasis over all to include our front court in the offense. Seth looked more like the Seth we had before than concussion, I don't think he is yet 100% back but each game he looks closer. Jack, felt he responded like I want to see a young kid respond when he didn't start the second half and I LOVE how he did that, by looking more to drive than settle for a jumper but not driving in to the teeth of the defense. Cadeau, played pretty well for the most part of this game, I am talking the offensive end for all so far, have not yet talked about the other end of the court. But those TO's were not just bad, they seemed to be brain dead? This kid just seems to do that, like his brain freezes at some point in every game where he nearly hands the ball to his defender? And then he does something amazing, some of those finishes from him were just tough tough? Seth's double double, 12 boards at 6'3", that is tough as nails. Claude, kid just came in and played hard nosed and about as physical as we can get, best I have seen from him as a Tar Heel. Got to give Jalen credit for those 18pts, easy looks yeah but he put himself in position for the easy look and was ready to finish and that has not always been true of our bigs this season.

Hubert, frankly, not his worse game as a coach, the only thing I did not agree with personnel wise was not using JWit more. Out side of that I was not mad at his sub decisions. Starting Cadeau, RJ, Jack, and Seth I hope was only because BC is a smaller team, that can't be our starting line up against Pitt. I did like that after BC scored we tended to run it right back down their throats, rather than passively walk it up, so we did get a lot of right back at ya scores. Yeah, trying to make some chicken salad here but one of the things we struggled with was scoring and at least in that aspect we did well, biscuits is always a good thing. And not to forget, we shot what was it, 32 or 34 treys last game, this one we shot I think it was 16. THANK YOU! As I have said for years now, just score, don't be so worried if you are beyond the 3pt line or not just score. Yesterday we just scored and we eat biscuits, game before we bombs away from trey and neither scored or won. You can lecture me all you want about how 3 is better than 2 and I will as always come back with 2 beats the heck out of ZERO and you will shut up till the next time you try the same lecture on me. This team does NOT need to shoot a ton of treys, it needs to make shots no matter where they come from!
But then there was the defensive end and on defense UNC was offensive, none of them did the so called little things, not when they allow the other team to score at will.

1) Since when did it become allowable that you give up the base line drive, you don't give up the baseline, you turn him back in to traffic, that is so basic and yet over and over we allowed it? Dang it Jalen, you are getting bullied and backed down, I get that his 270lbs is a problem but you can't just give him the baseline, you can't get any help that way, turn him to the paint and maybe you will get some help.

2) I think this auto switching is making our guys both lazy as well as confused, it takes away the need to fight thru screens, you should only switch when absolutely necessary. It is taking our guys a half step to realize the switch and way to often it sets up yet another wide open look for a shooter and our defender has to long a run to hassle the shot. Have we totally given up on teaching big men how to hedge the high screen, it looks like we have?

3) Communication or the lack of it is a thing I am sick and tired of hearing, this is not a team of deaf mutes, why do they act like they are? It is your job to communicate, don't care if it is your nature or not, I don't care if you send damn smoke signals, let your team mates know for example they are about to get nailed by a set screen, call out the switch so your team mates knows and does not have to guess. Talk to each other!

4) You see a team mate that is not putting in the work needed you get in his arse, you make him understand that is not acceptable !

5) You see one of your team mates plowed overtly physical on our offensive end you pay that crap back, don't back down from that crap, you stand and fight. They send a physical message you send one right back!

6) What happened to a team mate needing help you help him and your mates rotate to the next most likely pass to cover your help? When we do help way to often no one rotates over to the open guy left by the helper, you do realize other teams have watched that on tape right? And what happens when that help does not come, well you get Jalen at a long but lean 225lbs trying to fight off a 270lbs guy that is backing him down, how do you think that is going to work out? Or a guard a half step behind a guard driving down hill getting a lay up? What you want is for Jalen to hedge that big man away from the baseline, and force him to turn in to the paint, when that big man turns his head with the dribble you attack his dribble while his head is turned and can't see the attack.

7) I see a LOT of our guys having their heads turned AWAY from the ball on the defensive end? How the heck do you know what is going on with the ball and thus what you need to do when your head is not turned to the ball, does anyone here have eyes in the backs of our heads?

These are simple basic things, up there with raise your hands as a defender, stuff that should be ingrained in a kid way before he gets to college, up there with don't pass the ball to the other team Elliot...

 

[DSouthr]

I may have done a poor job communicating my current state of mind with this team. I agree with you and Gary that this team has top-15 talent. RJ is a proven commodity, Ian and Drake are emerging stars even if inconsistent (to be expected with freshmen), EC is really good (also inconsistent but for different reasons), and Seth... Washington... all talented... I could go on. Seeing them all show flashes of their ceiling but seemingly consistently underperforming tells me we're misusing them or deploying schemes that don't maximize our current roster which aligns I think with yours and Gary's opinion mostly. There's no Cormac or Harrison out there this season lighting fires under players in games either which hurts but that itself can't explain this level of regression in my opinion.

I really want Hubert to work out, i do, but at this point Hubert's record is: a very underwhelming first season with an amazing month of March, a terrible second season, a great 3rd season, and now another underwhelming 4th season. So, if my math is correct,that's approximately 6 good months and 12 bad months with this staff. That's not Carolina basketball.

Good stuff!

I have said all season, in my view we are a top 25 team talent wise (we do not play like a top 15-25 team), you say top 15, I will not argue on that. We do have a glaring issue that we all knew we had going in to this season, we are just to small at every position on the court. Bad enough to go in to the season already handicapped by being one of the smallest teams in the country but the player usage is to me simply crazy, it is almost abusive it is so poor. I find myself constantly trying to understand why Hubert makes many of the decisions he makes. I wonder, when opposing teams are prepping to play us and watching our tape, do they include a laugh track?

I to want Hubert to work out, I want nothing more than him to finish his career with us like a hall of fame head coach, I hate having to talk about his short comings, get no joy at all from that. But I can not watch mistakes I would expect from a rookie head coach and not talk about it, we are 3.5yrs now in to Hubert as our head coach, how can we see this number of mistakes and not talk about it? UNC basketball right now feels like the mistake Hydra, solve 1 problem and 2 more take it's place? I hear Hubert at every post game talk about his team not doing the little things, well Hubert, got to tell you, maybe you start doing the little things you should be doing as the coach before you get on your players for not doing them? Maybe start with this simple question, am I asking my players to do things that they simply are not capable of consistently doing?

 

[heels05champs]

I watched Nate Oates keep Sears an All American on the bench the entire second half yesterday because he felt there were better players to put on the court to win. When did Hubert ever pull Love when he was playing hero ball or RJ for taking pull up 3’s on a 3 on 1 fastbreak?


Reality is Hubert does not have control of the team and players arent held accountable for poor play or lack of effort.

Facts. Hubert enabled Love to derail that preseason #1 team, never reeled it in and has also occasionally done that with RJ. I see not much accountability most of the time. How often have y’all seen Hubert get so mad at the poor effort that he benches the entire 5? I know y’all remember when Roy used to do that. Hubert could improve by being more of a coach/disciplinarian and less of a fried to the players.

 

[IDUNK4HEELS]

Well, if nothing else, this was an entertaining game, like 2 boxers standing in the middle of the ring trading blows or that new slap fighting thing, no defense just hit me! LOL I think maybe I took more positives from this game than many, oh of course there for a few minutes I couldn't help but think, welcome to a Loyola Marymount Tar Heel game?

On the offensive end one of the best showings we have had in a while. I was very happy to see RJ playing more within himself rather than trying to be the hero. Some absolutely beautiful assists from RJ to Jalen, in particular, I like the emphasis over all to include our front court in the offense. Seth looked more like the Seth we had before than concussion, I don't think he is yet 100% back but each game he looks closer. Jack, felt he responded like I want to see a young kid respond when he didn't start the second half and I LOVE how he did that, by looking more to drive than settle for a jumper but not driving in to the teeth of the defense. Cadeau, played pretty well for the most part of this game, I am talking the offensive end for all so far, have not yet talked about the other end of the court. But those TO's were not just bad, they seemed to be brain dead? This kid just seems to do that, like his brain freezes at some point in every game where he nearly hands the ball to his defender? And then he does something amazing, some of those finishes from him were just tough tough? Seth's double double, 12 boards at 6'3", that is tough as nails. Claude, kid just came in and played hard nosed and about as physical as we can get, best I have seen from him as a Tar Heel. Got to give Jalen credit for those 18pts, easy looks yeah but he put himself in position for the easy look and was ready to finish and that has not always been true of our bigs this season.

Hubert, frankly, not his worse game as a coach, the only thing I did not agree with personnel wise was not using JWit more. Out side of that I was not mad at his sub decisions. Starting Cadeau, RJ, Jack, and Seth I hope was only because BC is a smaller team, that can't be our starting line up against Pitt. I did like that after BC scored we tended to run it right back down their throats, rather than passively walk it up, so we did get a lot of right back at ya scores. Yeah, trying to make some chicken salad here but one of the things we struggled with was scoring and at least in that aspect we did well, biscuits is always a good thing. And not to forget, we shot what was it, 32 or 34 treys last game, this one we shot I think it was 16. THANK YOU! As I have said for years now, just score, don't be so worried if you are beyond the 3pt line or not just score. Yesterday we just scored and we eat biscuits, game before we bombs away from trey and neither scored or won. You can lecture me all you want about how 3 is better than 2 and I will as always come back with 2 beats the heck out of ZERO and you will shut up till the next time you try the same lecture on me. This team does NOT need to shoot a ton of treys, it needs to make shots no matter where they come from!
But then there was the defensive end and on defense UNC was offensive, none of them did the so called little things, not when they allow the other team to score at will.

1) Since when did it become allowable that you give up the base line drive, you don't give up the baseline, you turn him back in to traffic, that is so basic and yet over and over we allowed it? Dang it Jalen, you are getting bullied and backed down, I get that his 270lbs is a problem but you can't just give him the baseline, you can't get any help that way, turn him to the paint and maybe you will get some help.

2) I think this auto switching is making our guys both lazy as well as confused, it takes away the need to fight thru screens, you should only switch when absolutely necessary. It is taking our guys a half step to realize the switch and way to often it sets up yet another wide open look for a shooter and our defender has to long a run to hassle the shot. Have we totally given up on teaching big men how to hedge the high screen, it looks like we have?

3) Communication or the lack of it is a thing I am sick and tired of hearing, this is not a team of deaf mutes, why do they act like they are? It is your job to communicate, don't care if it is your nature or not, I don't care if you send damn smoke signals, let your team mates know for example they are about to get nailed by a set screen, call out the switch so your team mates knows and does not have to guess. Talk to each other!

4) You see a team mate that is not putting in the work needed you get in his arse, you make him understand that is not acceptable !

5) You see one of your team mates plowed overtly physical on our offensive end you pay that crap back, don't back down from that crap, you stand and fight. They send a physical message you send one right back!

6) What happened to a team mate needing help you help him and your mates rotate to the next most likely pass to cover your help? When we do help way to often no one rotates over to the open guy left by the helper, you do realize other teams have watched that on tape right? And what happens when that help does not come, well you get Jalen at a long but lean 225lbs trying to fight off a 270lbs guy that is backing him down, how do you think that is going to work out? Or a guard a half step behind a guard driving down hill getting a lay up? What you want is for Jalen to hedge that big man away from the baseline, and force him to turn in to the paint, when that big man turns his head with the dribble you attack his dribble while his head is turned and can't see the attack.

7) I see a LOT of our guys having their heads turned AWAY from the ball on the defensive end? How the heck do you know what is going on with the ball and thus what you need to do when your head is not turned to the ball, does anyone here have eyes in the backs of our heads?

These are simple basic things, up there with raise your hands as a defender, stuff that should be ingrained in a kid way before he gets to college, up there with don't pass the ball to the other team Elliot...

One of the best if not the best post you have put out in the years I have seen you post here. I fully agree that several of the players do not seem to be on the same page and because of that there has been many offensive and defensive lapses in game play.

I am sure you are in agreement with me that somebody on the team needs to put on big boy pants and emerge as a leader to hold his teammates and himself accountable for all of the poor play so far in this season. Maybe a players only come to Jesus meeting would help but more likely a serious look in the mirror to see the reflection of a poor product on the floor…

 

[Geth]

that may be a slight exaggeration but generally that theme is correct. it’s a (too) loose environment with not a lot of structure. mirrors the bullshit we see on the floor during games.

If thats the case (I haven't been able to attend this season) common sense and my soccer coaching tell me that right before the game is no time to be making mistakes. If you're purposely loose and not still locked in on the basics it opens you up to mistakes when they matter.

 

[1heel4life]

This team is what it is. I will absolutelybe stunned if this team makes the tournament. NIT ? This once proud program is so mediocer sp it`s SAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[GoNtheDistance]

we only make tourney if we win acc tourney at this point. not enough quad 1 opportunities left given the shit we’ve already done so far.

 

[al would]

that may be a slight exaggeration but generally that theme is correct. it’s a (too) loose environment with not a lot of structure. mirrors the bullshit we see on the floor during games.

I made a post/comment about this years ago when the team was showing up for warmups and pre-game shoot around wearing their headphones with a total disconnect from their team mates and surroundings. Not a big surprise with the results for a team when you're in your own world pre-game. Maybe I'm just to old to get what, or why, young people do now in competitive sports and why coaches allow it.

 

[GoNtheDistance]

I made a post/comment about this years ago when the team was showing up for warmups and pre-game shoot around wearing their headphones with a total disconnect from their team mates and surroundings. Not a big surprise with the results for a team when you're in your own world pre-game. Maybe I'm just to old to get what, or why, young people do now in competitive sports and why coaches allow it.

it’s been like this since Hubert came. he truly let go of so many old traditions and has completely done it his way which honestly makes me give him far less grace if he would
have at least stayed tried and true to things that made us successful in the past. he’s done the opposite. far less structure, but hey at least the kids can wear black shoes now. i joke about that but
it’s true. he’s let go of so many traditional things that have survived across coaching changes (stupid or not).

 

[al would]

i joke about that but
it’s true. he’s let go of so many traditional things that have survived across coaching changes (stupid or not).

I said the same thing about those stupid fng bubble gum shoes. Reminds me of when Matt Do in his first season did the official team shot in street thug gear instead of suit and ties. There's a lot to be said for discipline and tradition and it's top down. Like not wearing a suit and tie as a coach. jmo

 

[dtodd4475]

I will sit back and watch as people seem to have settled in to root for or against their team. I get it.

The final 5 minutes and OT were some of the best offensive efficiency this year. Multiple attack points from multiple people. BC answered often with tough low on clock three's. Somehow snuck it out. Shouldn't have been that close, but the offense, including set plays was very good down the stretch, and needed every one of them.

Splitting the next 4 games is going to be huge. We will see how the fellas step up.