Quick stuff (FSU game)...

[gary-7]

...and it's about time we had one of these.

We've certainly seen enough of opponents coming out of the gate making everything, so yeah, that was a pleasant change. The fumbles turned into catches and the rim-outs turned into buckets, and the 3-balls were splashing. I felt bad for Leonard, who has been bitten by the injury bug, but they still have length and athletes, so let's not sneeze at that first half onslaught. Fact is, there were some VERY positive improvement areas that translated into results today:

- While this has been an more common theme recently, this team is learning to play 20 defense the way Dean intended. Being brutally honest, Roy had allowed that full team commitment necessary for success on that end to get slack during his last few seasons, so reteaching our shell fundamentals has been an ongoing project for Hubert and staff. Welp folks, happily it's starting to take. I saw feet moving, proper forces, gap coverage and help.

- On the offensive end, yeah, we made shots, but we got good looks for a reason. On that note, repeat after me: WHEN YOU PASS AHEAD, GOOD THINGS HAPPEN. This is no small thing! On our first two transition ops we didn't do that and they fizzled, but then it was like from above a familiar nasal voice was imploring "PITCH AHEAD!", and danged if we didn't start doing just that. The result? Some of the prettiest breaks I've seen all season.

- Speaking of which, I realize some fans don't get the value of passing ahead to someone who's not in scoring position, but that simple act changes the geometry of the floor in our favor and makes defending transition more problematic, creating instataneous spacing. You watched the result. Seems that Dean Smith feller knew a thing or two.

- Manek played and hustled his ass off on both ends, and Love must've put put in some extra gym time as that shot looked smooth. There was that dunk attempt (groan), but some sweet dishes as well. And encouraging to see Styles first off the bench. If he can stop with the looseness with the ball, kid has a high ceiling --- figuratively and literally.

- Finally, would've liked to have seen us play a cleaner second half, but realistically it's hard to maintain focus after putting up 62 in the first. And dang, we need some major work on LOB passes --- is Ed Cota available for a seminar? The good news in the second half was FSU going Zone for extended time, giving us a chance to work on Zone-O (especially with Cuse coming up), and we looked mostly pretty sporty running it.

Anyway, the best news within the blowout was that we did it mostly by improved Carolina fundamnetals on both ends. Thst foks, I will take any time...

 

[r_u_worthy]

Great summary Gary- I was happy to see the point about hitting ahead! I can’t tell you how many times I hollered at the TV and from the stands to pass ahead and seems like guys constantly turned that pass ahead to sideline down and the break never gets anywhere. They have been finding that hit ahead more often of late and it’s starting to show. Today marked some of the best primary they have run this season. Really fun to watch, must be awesome to play!!

 

[SuperFan61]

Great game by the Heels today, obviously the first half in particular, but I'd really like to see the blowout losses to good teams come to a stop. I’ve never seen a team quite like this one.

 

[gary-7]

Great summary Gary- I was happy to see the point about hitting ahead! I can’t tell you how many times I hollered at the TV and from the stands to pass ahead and seems like guys constantly turned that pass ahead to sideline down and the break never gets anywhere. They have been finding that hit ahead more often of late and it’s starting to show. Today marked some of the best primary they have run this season. Really fun to watch, must be awesome to play!!

Yessir. Right there withya. I even broke out my spot-on Dean impression today during the game, so apparently the guys heard us

 

[gary-7]

Great game by the Heels today, obviously the first half in particular, but I'd really like to see the blowout losses to good teams come to a stop. I’ve never seen a team quite like this one.

I hear that, and the key to getting that wish is the guys embracing and sticking with those Carolina fundamentals, whether or not the shots happen to be falling on a given day.

 

[Tarheel75]

Good Stuff Gary.

Leonard's team was down 4 of his better players and lost another one today. Just a bad injury plagued year for his team. We also are down a couple players as well. In the end though, you play with who you have, and FSU had some good players who are young and inexperienced and in some players cases, even worse than we are, however, the beatdown we put on FSU was not as much about how poorly FSU played and how undermanned FSU was, but just how well we executed in all phases in the 1st half.

Had the same team showed up last Saturday against dook, even if we still had lost, it would have been a lot closer than that game ever was. From the 12-minute mark until the game was over, we were not very good at all, and as you mentioned, focus becomes an issue with most teams that have a game where the outcome is never in doubt.

That's not out of the ordinary at all. However, I can tell everyone this fact about the last 12 minutes if it were coached by DES. Instead of turning the ball over 6 times, making horrible passes, and taking very questionable shots, coach would have made the PG stand at the timeline with the ball and either hold it or pass it around until there was 12 seconds left and then initiate the offense and get a shot off at least and work for an OR. In other words, shorten the game thus you delete TO's, run clock, and in this game, the team would have won by 30-35 minimum.

I agree that it was great to see Styles, Puff, & Dunn get playing time and they are coming along, but...., I think it should also be plain to all, that in a game against stiffer competition or that might be a slugfest, the mistakes that were cumulative
just by those 3 alone could be disastrous in a must win game. Still, we have a few more games that will afford more opportunity to get them minutes. Specifically, our group kept our eyes on those 3 mentioned. As far as mistake free goes, none were, but they all had some good minutes.


Puff's overall play graded out the best. Styles play was really exciting to watch, and he is going to be a player once he learns that the offense does not run through him and that he just can't take shots every time the ball gets in his hands. I may be mistaken, and we were trying to be observant, but I don't think Styles passed the ball off one time once it was in his possession other than on a rebound and his shot selection was bad, as you all saw, he was determined to shoot and make a 3. Dunn is still a bit shaky with the ball and rushes his shots, but he needs to play in order to overcome that, as the speed of the game still gives him problems.

I, and I hope others, also saw that we had 5 TO's due to BAD passes. This has been an issue the entire season, and I point a condemning finger at both Walton and Caleb. It continues to cost us points and it continues to give points away to the opposition. Just no focus and just not smart basketball to not value every possession period.

Bottom line: We smoked FSU in the 1st half to the point that they could not recover and we won our18th game and stand 10-4 in the conference....., and that's good stuff guys.

 

[Grover Thomas]

Good Stuff Gary.

Leonard's team was down 4 of his better players and lost another one today. Just a bad injury plagued year for his team. We also are down a couple players as well. In the end though, you play with who you have, and FSU had some good players who are young and inexperienced and in some players cases, even worse than we are, however, the beatdown we put on FSU was not as much about how poorly FSU played and how undermanned FSU was, but just how well we executed in all phases in the 1st half.

Had the same team showed up last Saturday against dook, even if we still had lost, it would have been a lot closer than that game ever was. From the 12-minute mark until the game was over, we were not very good at all, and as you mentioned, focus becomes an issue with most teams that have a game where the outcome is never in doubt.

That's not out of the ordinary at all. However, I can tell everyone this fact about the last 12 minutes if it were coached by DES. Instead of turning the ball over 6 times, making horrible passes, and taking very questionable shots, coach would have made the PG stand at the timeline with the ball and either hold it or pass it around until there was 12 seconds left and then initiate the offense and get a shot off at least and work for an OR. In other words, shorten the game thus you delete TO's, run clock, and in this game, the team would have won by 30-35 minimum.

I agree that it was great to see Styles, Puff, & Dunn get playing time and they are coming along, but...., I think it should also be plain to all, that in a game against stiffer competition or that might be a slugfest, the mistakes that were cumulative
just by those 3 alone could be disastrous in a must win game. Still, we have a few more games that will afford more opportunity to get them minutes. Specifically, our group kept our eyes on those 3 mentioned. As far as mistake free goes, none were, but they all had some good minutes.


Puff's overall play graded out the best. Styles play was really exciting to watch, and he is going to be a player once he learns that the offense does not run through him and that he just can't take shots every time the ball gets in his hands. I may be mistaken, and we were trying to be observant, but I don't think Styles passed the ball off one time once it was in his possession other than on a rebound and his shot selection was bad, as you all saw, he was determined to shoot and make a 3. Dunn is still a bit shaky with the ball and rushes his shots, but he needs to play in order to overcome that, as the speed of the game still gives him problems.

I, and I hope others, also saw that we had 5 TO's due to BAD passes. This has been an issue the entire season, and I point a condemning finger at both Walton and Caleb. It continues to cost us points and it continues to give points away to the opposition. Just no focus and just not smart basketball to not value every possession period.

Bottom line: We smoked FSU in the 1st half to the point that they could not recover and we won our18th game and stand 10-4 in the conference....., and that's good stuff guys.

To be honest…..Love had 4 turnovers and I saw at least 3 of them was passing the ball to a teammate….one too low lob try to leaky and at least a couple of entry passes to Bacot. The dude had a team high 6 assist and played good defense the entire time he was in the game. Hell I even like the dunk attempt…..it take balls to try that shot even in a big blowout game….and when we get in the tournament we need him to be aggressive and confident….as Our record shows….we win…when he scores….you can say….”All we need is Love”

 

[Tarheel75]

To be honest…..Love had 4 turnovers and I saw at least 3 of them was passing the ball to a teammate….one too low lob try to leaky and at least a couple of entry passes to Bacot. The dude had a team high 6 assist and played good defense the entire time he was in the game. Hell I even like the dunk attempt…..it take balls to try that shot even in a big blowout game….and when we get in the tournament we need him to be aggressive and confident….as Our record shows….we win…when he scores….you can say….”All we need is Love”

I understand that TO's are just a part of the game, always has been. However, when I see the same TO's occurring time & time again by the same culprits, then I have to conclude that the BB IQ of those individuals are questionable at the very least. That old saying " that making the same mistakes over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity" is apropos. While I know that none of our players are insane, the repetition of those same mistakes (i.e.) TO's, can drive me and the coaches insane, and usually can be fingered quite prominently in losses.

As far as Caleb's fails when he decides to try the spectacular play verses the easy play, from my point of view, he embarrasses himself and a lot of fans. Make the easy play-always.

All we need is Love? Nah..., Need all who play.

 

[tarwhiz]

With Love and Styles being the two talked about here with the turnovers, I am curious who got the turnover when Caleb drove baseline and tried to feed Styles in the corner? The ball hit the bottom of the backboard and was misdirected at Styles feet and went through his hands.
I believe Dontrez got that turnover, but that was not entirely his fault.
Trez still makes a LOT of mistakes on offense, but he is just a different looking cat athletically than the others. I believe, as I did before the season began, that Styles helps us most at the 4 spot at this point in his career. He has a lot of Nasir Little in his game, and that can play at the 4 in college. Puff is the better option backung up Leaky at the 3, as Puff makes better decisions with the ball and has a better perimeter stroke.
Needless to say both Styles and Puff need to be getting 8-10 min per game. Walton needs early first half playing time to guage if his shot is confident. If so, play him, but likewise if not.

 

[alabamaheel]

With Love and Styles being the two talked about here with the turnovers, I am curious who got the turnover when Caleb drove baseline and tried to feed Styles in the corner? The ball hit the bottom of the backboard and was misdirected at Styles feet and went through his hands.
I believe Dontrez got that turnover, but that was not entirely his fault.
Trez still makes a LOT of mistakes on offense, but he is just a different looking cat athletically than the others. I believe, as I did before the season began, that Styles helps us most at the 4 spot at this point in his career. He has a lot of Nasir Little in his game, and that can play at the 4 in college. Puff is the better option backung up Leaky at the 3, as Puff makes better decisions with the ball and has a better perimeter stroke.
Needless to say both Styles and Puff need to be getting 8-10 min per game. Walton needs early first half playing time to guage if his shot is confident. If so, play him, but likewise if not.

One thing about it, you can definitely see that styles has a totally diff gear that he can call upon at times. I’m excited about his years going forward. No doubt

 

[Grover Thomas]

I understand that TO's are just a part of the game, always has been. However, when I see the same TO's occurring time & time again by the same culprits, then I have to conclude that the BB IQ of those individuals are questionable at the very least. That old saying " that making the same mistakes over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity" is apropos. While I know that none of our players are insane, the repetition of those same mistakes (i.e.) TO's, can drive me and the coaches insane, and usually can be fingered quite prominently in losses.

As far as Caleb's fails when he decides to try the spectacular play verses the easy play, from my point of view, he embarrasses himself and a lot of fans. Make the easy play-always.

All we need is Love? Nah..., Need all who play.

Love makes the world go around! Choose Love….after all Love conquers hate

 

[midline]

Today's game was one of those games. You have three, four games a year where anything you throw up is falling, just like you have three, four, games a year where you can't throw it in the ocean. Today was one of the good days. And it also helps that FSU is injured to the point that they are absolutely helpless. I am not sure that a good high school team couldn't hand 80 on them. Amazing to think that one short month ago they were in the conversation as maybe the best team in the league, then it all fall apart. But you just have to sit back and enjoy these games.....especially considering the last few years

 

[gary-7]

As far as Caleb's fails when he decides to try the spectacular play verses the easy play, from my point of view, he embarrasses himself and a lot of fans. Make the easy play-always.

There's the key. Today he was money from 3 and did some tremendous play-making. On the flip side, he had the silly TOs and was 0-fer on 2-pt shots. Thus, the latter sentence speaks to your point, i.e., make the simple play.

With Caleb's length and athleticism, he's gonna pull off some spectacular plays just by default. In other words, there's no need to be puttin' extra mustard on that hot dog.

Hell, if you could transplant Joel Berry's brain into Caleb's body, you could go ahead and reserve a front row seat into the HOF.

 

[Grover Thomas]

There's the key. Today he was money from 3 and did some tremendous play-making. On the flip side, he had the silly TOs and was 0-fer on 2-pt shots. Thus, the latter sentence speaks to your point, i.e., make the simple play.

With Caleb's length and athleticism, he's gonna pull off some spectacular plays just by default. In other words, there's no need to be puttin' extra mustard on that hot dog.

Hell, if you could transplant Joel Berry's brain into Caleb's body, you could go ahead and reserve a front row seat into the HOF.

He may get there anyway Gary…..because one should never underestimate the power of Love!

 

[dtodd4475]

Coming out of the gate a couple of "small" things I liked was the simple pressure release with Leaky inbounding then flashing immediately middle killed the Seminoles thought of maybe testing our struggles handling on ball pressure with their full court pressure. Getting misses allows pushing the rock more, but we pushed it quickly upcourt and it opened the lanes to make plays in transition, like it should when you do it with fidelity.

Leaky was GREAT early on, press release, moving off the ball ( with finishes), strong crisp passes, lock down pressure dee without fouling.

FSU is absolutely obliterated by injuries, losing yet another early in this game. We attacked that as we should. This was a big game as it couldn't be our 1st "bad loss" with our lack of "good wins" by the metric. We took that possibly out of the equation early.

 

[gary-7]

Coming out of the gate a couple of "small" things I liked was the simple pressure release with Leaky inbounding then flashing immediately middle killed the Seminoles thought of maybe testing our struggles handling on ball pressure with their full court pressure. Getting misses allows pushing the rock more, but we pushed it quickly upcourt and it opened the lanes to make plays in transition, like it should when you do it with fidelity.

Leaky was GREAT early on, press release, moving off the ball ( with finishes), strong crisp passes, lock down pressure dee without fouling.

Expanding on that, I could see that the staff worked on Press Offense in prep for this game, as there was always the key middle man making himself available anytime FSU showed pressure. Had Puff not been overly cautious on inbounding a couple of times, there would have been little bother. Hopefully we make that readiness standard practice moving forward.

 

[imajericho]

I understand that TO's are just a part of the game, always has been. However, when I see the same TO's occurring time & time again by the same culprits, then I have to conclude that the BB IQ of those individuals are questionable at the very least. That old saying " that making the same mistakes over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity" is apropos. While I know that none of our players are insane, the repetition of those same mistakes (i.e.) TO's, can drive me and the coaches insane, and usually can be fingered quite prominently in losses.

As far as Caleb's fails when he decides to try the spectacular play verses the easy play, from my point of view, he embarrasses himself and a lot of fans. Make the easy play-always.

All we need is Love? Nah..., Need all who play.

Most the turnovers were late in the 2nd half if I remember correctly.

 

[Tarheel75]

Most the turnovers were late in the 2nd half if I remember correctly.

There was 3 in a row within 45 seconds by Lebo and 1 I think by another of the "blue Steel unit, most of the rest occurred at various times. Love with 4-Styles with 3 & Dunn with 1 and Puff had 0 TO's. Between Love-Styles & Dunn there were 8 TO's or exactly half of the 16 we had for the game.

Typical of younger players who were the best on their respective HS teams, who could make mistakes and recover with superior play. But..., as Adam Lucas says in his column about Styles, there has been the learning curve to manage and the waiting patiently for the game to come into focus, all of the new ones will be important going forth and the less mistakes each make, more trust and playing time will follow.

 

[gobblercalls]

No pass should be given for the second half which FSU won by 18? Granted our reserves played a lot but our starters were in for at least 13 minutes. FSU's whole team was basically reserves. Sloppy play, show boating, poor decisions, and poor execution and it seems to be okay because we blew them out in the first half. As much as I enjoyed the first half I loathed the second. I think it's dangerous to allow them to revert to the garbage they showed the last 20 minutes. The attempted windmill was bad enough but to see him laughing after he blew it should have repercussions. I think that's the first smile I've seen from Love all year. I am gonna be really upset if Styles leaves. That guy has star potential written all over him! Just my .02 worth.

 

[tarwhiz]

Coming out of the gate a couple of "small" things I liked was the simple pressure release with Leaky inbounding then flashing immediately middle killed the Seminoles thought of maybe testing our struggles handling on ball pressure with their full court pressure. Getting misses allows pushing the rock more, but we pushed it quickly upcourt and it opened the lanes to make plays in transition, like it should when you do it with fidelity.

Leaky was GREAT early on, press release, moving off the ball ( with finishes), strong crisp passes, lock down pressure dee without fouling.

FSU is absolutely obliterated by injuries, losing yet another early in this game. We attacked that as we should. This was a big game as it couldn't be our 1st "bad loss" with our lack of "good wins" by the metric. We took that possibly out of the equation early.

Great points! I have been saying for a while that Leaky can bring up the ball and or initiate offense at times. Leaky often has a weaker defender on him and the pressure he gets is sometimes not as great as what Love and Davis sees

 

[imajericho]

No pass should be given for the second half which FSU won by 18? Granted our reserves played a lot but our starters were in for at least 13 minutes. FSU's whole team was basically reserves. Sloppy play, show boating, poor decisions, and poor execution and it seems to be okay because we blew them out in the first half. As much as I enjoyed the first half I loathed the second. I think it's dangerous to allow them to revert to the garbage they showed the last 20 minutes. The attempted windmill was bad enough but to see him laughing after he blew it should have repercussions. I think that's the first smile I've seen from Love all year. I am gonna be really upset if Styles leaves. That guy has star potential written all over him! Just my .02 worth.

Based on Styles comments after the game, he is definitely not leaving.

 

[Grover Thomas]

No pass should be given for the second half which FSU won by 18? Granted our reserves played a lot but our starters were in for at least 13 minutes. FSU's whole team was basically reserves. Sloppy play, show boating, poor decisions, and poor execution and it seems to be okay because we blew them out in the first half. As much as I enjoyed the first half I loathed the second. I think it's dangerous to allow them to revert to the garbage they showed the last 20 minutes. The attempted windmill was bad enough but to see him laughing after he blew it should have repercussions. I think that's the first smile I've seen from Love all year. I am gonna be really upset if Styles leaves. That guy has star potential written all over him! Just my .02 worth.

I Loved the dunk attempt….take balls to try it in a game…then come back and hit a three…..he did get punished as Davis took him out. I like the smile….his smile is Lovely

 

[strummingram]

Based on Styles comments after the game, he is definitely not leaving.

He just hasn't seen the message boards. Once he does, lookout.

 

[Heels5150]

There's the key. Today he was money from 3 and did some tremendous play-making. On the flip side, he had the silly TOs and was 0-fer on 2-pt shots. Thus, the latter sentence speaks to your point, i.e., make the simple play.

With Caleb's length and athleticism, he's gonna pull off some spectacular plays just by default. In other words, there's no need to be puttin' extra mustard on that hot dog.

Hell, if you could transplant Joel Berry's brain into Caleb's body, you could go ahead and reserve a front row seat into the HOF.

I made the exact same analogy about Love yesterday on a different topic thread. I do agree, I wish Caleb had Joel’s grit, tenacity and overall mindset of the game. I Love all of my Tar Heels but Berry was just special.

 

[tarwhiz]

Based on Styles comments after the game, he is definitely not leaving.

I would not say " definitely" but it was good to hear from his mouth " Be ready when your time comes" That was the exact echo from Coach Davis post game presser. That means they are at least on the same page publicly.
That kid just needs time at the four where his length and athleticism plays at this stage of his career. I don't believe he is ready to help at the 3 this season, he is too turnover prone to take on that responsibility at this time.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

Great win.

A little disturbed that we lost the 2nd half by 18 points.

Yes, we played our bench more . . . but not that much more. Our starters still averaged over 28 minutes.

I get that it's tough to maintain that intensity when game is out of reach. But still . . . 18 points?

 

[Grover Thomas]

I made the exact same analogy about Love yesterday on a different topic thread. I do agree, I wish Caleb had Joel’s grit, tenacity and overall mindset of the game. I Love all of my Tar Heels but Berry was just special.

I think Love got plenty of intangibles…..he don’t have to be like anyone else except Caleb Love. Dude led us in points and assist yesterday…..and played good defense. Let Love lead the way.

 

[Grover Thomas]

Great win.

A little disturbed that we lost the 2nd half by 18 points.

Yes, we played our bench more . . . but not that much more. Our starters still averaged over 28 minutes.

I get that it's tough to maintain that intensity when game is out of reach. But still . . . 18 points?

We were up by 38 at half time
When Love hit that 3pointer at 8:11 remaining
We were up 54 to 85 or by 31. Love and Bacot and Leaky was out of the game after Love’s three.

The only starters in the game after the 8:11 point was RJ and Manek. RJ jacked up a few threes and missed them all and Manek did too although he made a layup.

so for the last eight minutes we scored 9 points and they scored 20. But it was mainly the reserves turning the ball over…..and Styles had 3 of them.

 

[tarwhiz]

We were up by 38 at half time
When Love hit that 3pointer at 8:11 remaining
We were up 54 to 85 or by 31. Love and Bacot and Leaky was out of the game after Love’s three.

The only starters in the game after the 8:11 point was RJ and Manek. RJ jacked up a few threes and missed them all and Manek did too although he made a layup.

so for the last eight minutes we scored 9 points and they scored 20. But it was mainly the reserves turning the ball over…..and Styles had 3 of them.

Styles turnovers were all in first half 5 min span, i believe

 

[Lewis&Miller]

Of course, Love and Davis shot it well and when they do the Tar Heels can play with elite teams and blowout for 20 minutes teams of FSU caliber. I'm more impressed with Maneks game than anyones yesterday. He was constantly on the move along the baseline 10' in from the goal and garnered multiple baskets on dunks, reverses, and 8 foot flip shots. He seem to move with understanding and purpose, finding those small open spots for quick baskets. Im gonna believe it was the coaching of Manek guiding him to evolve in this offense rather than Manek just discovering where to move to in such a purposeful manner for one Saturday afternoon. These next 5 opponents will give the answer.

Can Manek get those open baseline shots and dunks going forward or was that a one off game not likely to be repeated. If this offense can now generate open Manek baskets around the rim, it could help unleash the teams talented potential.