Quick stuff (BC game)...

[gary-7]

...and Holy Schniekies, we just best BC by 30!

- It starts right here: As discussed in a thread this weekend, a lineup change was more a matter of "when" than "if", and Roy didn't wait for Saturday. We came out Bomb Squad. Interestingly though, at the first sub we went back Hybrid --- heck, even played some Traditional at points during the game with Brooks and Manley on the floor together --- but the key is, the starting lineup change had exactly the desired effects.

- 1) It spaced the floor, and the guy who benefited most was Luke. Not having to drive into more long arms and hands was a huge help for him.

- 2) It helped us speed up our tempo and get out in transition. And the cool thing is that carried over even when we weren't in Small configurations.

- Folks, here's the thing about our transition game --- it is the key to what we do in general. I keep Fast Break points on a pretty much purist level (numerical advantage or someone beating everybody down the floor) and so some of the FB points that show up on stat sheets are actually in the Secondary. The game stats had 19 FB, I had 12, but 31 in the Secondary. No matter how ya count, that's 43 points out of our transition game and that works!

- So, any worries about rebounding didn't show up tonight. Good grief, a 58-23 advantage! And we had as many Offensive Rebounds as BC had total boards. Wow! Speaking of rebounding it was good to see Cam crack the double-digit mark tonight. We will need a team effort on the glass, as I suspect there will be even more small-ball in the future.

- One of the few negatives was once again, not cashing in on Offensive Rebounds as much as I'd like. However 24 second chance pts. isn't awful.

- Only 8 TOs tonight was a step in the right direction.

- Christian is doing a nice job coaching BC. He likes to free his Guards on constant motion off weaves and curls, and it took us a few minutes to feel that out. He also made a nice adjustment to start the second half by running tighter weaves to force early switches and create mismatches. For a few minutes our Guards were being hung out to dry by our Forwards not recognizing in Help, and their action set up some second-level Pick-and-Rolls that we got burned on. They quickly cut the lead to 9. In a nutshell, their action was putting our guys who were 2 passes away into a one-pass-away situation. Roy adjusted after the Under-16 and got our guys coming up from the baseline to step in and thwart the PnR action. Next thing ya know we're up 21 and the rout was on. After we made the defensive adjustment and turned them back into a jump-shooting team, at one point we held them 6-and-a-half minutes without a FG.

- And how nice is it to be able to say "Luke F***ing Maye" again? Apparently he took exception to his recent struggles. 32 and 18. Just wow.

- Folks, BC ain't a bad team. They beat dook and lost to UVA by 1 in Charlottesville. They just ran into a buzz-saw tonight in Chapel Hill, and hell, we weren't even hitting on all cylinders. We scored 96 and shot 50% on a night when JB's shot was way off, and Cam and Kenny were a combined 2/11 from 3.

- Finally, take note of the minutes. Even though there was still a lot of mixing and matching, our 5 best players who started got an average of 30.4 minutes. I suspect that will be a norm.

OK... nice way to come home after the misery Saturday. I think it's clear we're entering a phase of a new rotation, and I think it's for the best...

 

[Ozheelfan]

Great wrap again Gary.

With Luke, the extra room also looked to 'calm' him down, if that's the right word.
Meaning, he wasn't forcing low percentage shots and when in those low percentage situations (Two tall guys surrounding him) he used his pump fake to great effect.

The offense did 'stop' on occasion, but there was a lot more passing and movement off the ball which was great to see.

Theo does go "head down into traffic" at times, and I'm guessing this is because he wants to be more aggressive, but it's lead him to miss easy passes to open team mates (Cam in the corner a couple of times)

I'd also like to see Kenny's number called more for a hard cut... he is a great finisher, both at the rim and for a pull-up off the glass.

Oh yeah, and Jalek coming in when up 21 is a great way to get the kid some burn... he seemed much more relaxed and able to play his game.... unfortunately his first half time was cut short after he was caught watching on defense...

 

[gary-7]

Great wrap again Gary.
With Luke, the extra room also looked to 'calm' him down, if that's the right word.
Meaning, he wasn't forcing low percentage shots and when in those low percentage situations (Two tall guys surrounding him) he used his pump fake to great effect.

Absolutely, he was able to get himself under control and not rush in fear of an impending shot-block. And boy, once Luke started to feel it, dayumm!

 

[carolinablue34]

Can’t disagree with anything said here. Give credit where credit is due, a lineup change was needed and it happened. Roy is known for being stubborn but the man is no fool, he made the right call tonight and it showed. He will make adjustments when necessary and I’ve never been happier that he did.

Luke had a favorable matchup, but the small ball lineup really helps him with spacing so he’s not posting up as often. He’s a monster when he’s on.

I’m liking Manley more and more, and I’ll eat crow and say I thought he’d be the least productive of the freshmen bigs. He’s got potential that kid.

Just need to build on this going forward. Everyone seemed more focused and energetic. Great win tonight.

 

[FranktheHeel]

Play Hard, Play Smart, Play Together!!

The Heels certainly did that in this one, it felt like the way we were playing at the beginning of the year when we were successful. Starting small, really provided great energy out of the gates and let's face it, it's hard to guard and will continue to be moving forward.

Great ball movement, smart passing, cutting without the ball and playing unselfish with 20 assists on the night Going small definitely allowed more space to operate allowing us to have more movement off the ball, be able to move the ball better and be able to exploit the matchups as guys were able to get into the lane a lot better, we had 48 points in the paint tonight. And like you said Gary, it was awesome to see that carry over to the other lineups.

Loved that series where we had 4 Heels hit the deck and Kenny twice for a loose ball, even though we didn’t get it, just showed that want and aggressiveness from our guys that we always need.

Valuing the basketball was also a key area, we only had 8 turnovers tonight and Cam, Theo and Joel had none of them.

The fast break was back, it appeared that there was a big focus on grabbing a board and pushing it up the court, like Ole Roy likes it. I will definitely take those numbers @gary-7.

I'm not sure who, but someone in another thread said they wanted to see us dunk the ball more, well you got your wish tonight we had a season high with 7 DUNKS and 3 from big Ster!!

Dominating the boards!! 23 Offensive Rebounds today. Something I’ve been really looking at that is how we have been able to grab offensive rebounds, but not be able to convert them into points, I was happy to see that number on second chance points also increase tonight, that is definitely a step in the right direction. As Cam said in his presser, they were rebounding because they are supposed to!

Cam was great on the boards, him being able to rebound like that is going to be huge in our small ball lineups for one, but also having another guy active on the boards on both ends is a big plus for us. He also showed more versatility as he was moving a lot more without the ball, he did a nice job using the space BC gave us by not only cutting, but curling too and scored all of his 14 points without any 3 balls. I love his bball IQ he had 5 assists tonight and no turnovers,. Did you see that play when he tapped the ball loose from behind forcing a turnover on what was going to be a BC break-love it, those plays are both intellectual and instinctual and do add up throughout the game.

Luuuuke, oh what a night!! Not sure if you all noticed, but he was also sporting a fresh cut. There was a whole lot to like tonight, I’m gonna hit on a few. First, spacing, this definitely allowed Luke to have more room to operate and get himself going early. He was able to use it to get into the lane effectively, taking his man off the dribble from out on the perimeter. Second, moving without the ball is Luke’s bread and butter as he is able to get his positioning, establish himself and then start his moves. Lastly, he was doing it in all different ways: spin moves, step backs, threes, taking his man off the dribble and driving to the hoop. As Roy has been saying to Luke just be Luke, well he was Luke tonight and it was magnificent.

Theo doing Theo things. Can I just say if he can play like this he makes us so much better, stuffing the stat sheet, 8 points, 8 rebounds (4 offensive) and 5 assists and no turnovers! I thought he was better defensively tonight too. Also, he had more of desire to get the ball down the court and into the lane, which is a good sign because moving forward it will allow him to be able to dish it off to our guys on the perimeter when the D starts to collapse. And don’t we all like some of those nifty passes too.

Sterling with 9 points and 5 rebounds, 3 offensive in 11 minutes. This kid continues to impress me on what he brings. We gotta be patient with him the kid definitely has the skillset and I know it sounds kind of simple, but the more he keeps playing the better he will get.

That "Won" put a big Smile on this Heels face!!

 

[Archer2]

Nice observations by all you guys. The lineup change and the convincing win was just what the doctor ordered, for the team and our fans.

BTW, my Luke avatar that I changed to just before the FSU game appeared to be kryptonite for Luke. So I changed to this one to get him off the schneid. I may have to keep this one for a while.

 

[soap - new and improved]

Great stuff by all. I will simply add I think the official stats keepers shorted Luke at least 2, and maybe 3 assists. 2 for the whole game? Nah. Looked closer to 4 or 5 to me.

 

[gauchoheel]

Nice post, great game.

@gary-7 can you explain in more detail the defensive adjustment that slowed BC's run in the early second half? I noticed Joel and Luke were struggling to contain Bowman in the PnR.

Did anyone see that Luke three from 30 feet out? Wow.

Some good showings for Manley, though he did miss two point blank dunks. I loved Felton's feed to him and his and-1. And how about Theo's passes?! Lots to enjoy today.

 

[Archer2]

Sterling has supplanted Garrison as our best big.

 

[heels05champs]

Sterling has supplanted Garrison as our best big.

Agree. And I think this has been the case going back a few weeks. I can see Big Ster as the starting center next season.

 

[Spacegrass]

This team can't grind em out like last year could 60-58 style if needed. Going to have to outscore teams and have strong team rebounding efforts. Saturday will be a nice test to see how this new lineup travels on the road. You always expect to shoot better typically at home.

 

[mikeirbyusa]

Good stuff guys!

Simply put, Sterling needs to work his butt off into getting into better shape. Strength and conditioning needs to be his #1 goal. Get that and the sky is the limit for him.

 

[Steat]

Bird could have gotten 40 last night.

Manley will get 20-25 minutes a game next season. He needs to attend both summer sessions and get his butt in shape.

 

[shun1]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SMILE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!! GO TAR HEELS !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Heelswin]

Just a sidenote, but l thought nhis names was 'luke MF Maye'! He sure plays like a mf'er!!!

Go Tar Heels!!!

 

[dadika13]

Great stuff all above...

One piece I like that you mentioned @gary-7 was the secondary break. I had a coach once tell me that he doesn't run so he can score or speed up the game as his first priority, he does it to get into his secondary break offense. When you can swing to the trailing big up top it opens up so many options for your wings.

Good win and hopefully the new rotations will help us in some of these tougher road games coming up.

 

[gary-7]

Nice post, great game.

@gary-7 can you explain in more detail the defensive adjustment that slowed BC's run in the early second half? I noticed Joel and Luke were struggling to contain Bowman in the PnR.

Did anyone see that Luke three from 30 feet out? Wow.

Some good showings for Manley, though he did miss two point blank dunks. I loved Felton's feed to him and his and-1. And how about Theo's passes?! Lots to enjoy today.

Well first, it wasn't on Joel. BC's offense normally runs thru their two Guards off hard weaves and curls enabling catch-and-shoot or catch-and-drive on the fly, and they're gonna get points because of that, but in the first half they were having to work their asses off, mostly just to get deep jump shots, and that's not a formula for success. Yeah, they made some shots but they were down 15 at half-time in the process.

Christian changed up their attack by weaving closer to the key forcing early switches out front, first to get JB and Kenny off his main guys, and second, put our other guys in unfamiliar positions. So now with Luke being the only Big, after the initial switch his former man becomes a screener, and whoever of our guys was in Help-side just a pass ago now instinctively tries to to pick up the dribbler or chases his man and the screener rolls for an easy layup. That's why I called it a second-level PnR.

So, as opposed to the high ball-screens we're used to seeing, these screens came deeper and after moving us around. I'd have to rewatch to diagram it but on the fly it appeared as merely telling the other defender coming from the baseline on (what was now) ball-side to step up into the "gap" (above the block in this case) instead of chasing. That had the dual effect of taking away the roll pass and cutting off the driver. Sure, it leaves a jump-shooter available, but again, that is not the best long-term formula for success for them. The last thing ya want to do is allow a team built like BC to become an inside-out threat. They were able to do that against dook (which speaks to how poor dook's interior D is). Once we put an end to that open PnR nonsense they were gonna have to light it up from deep just to stay in it. They didn't...

 

[bax4444]

Good game for us, glad to see Roy going to this lineup sooner than I expected, which should give them plenty of time to gel and get cam up to speed.