Quick stuff (ND game)...

[gary-7]

...and what a perfect Senior night.

ND has been playing really well of late, and my hope was for us was no let-down or looking ahead so we could enjoy a special night for 7 Heels, and we got it. Accordingly, I'm not gonna get too detailed --- just some general things:

- Really classy by Hubert to start the three Blue Steel seniors since Pax had already started this season. They comported themselves well.

- Boy, ND's identity has really changed since Brey left --- physical, old Big East style, and I like that we were having none of it.

- My one complaint for the night was ball-stopping in first half. WAY too much dribbling by guys not named Cadeau and playing one-sided. I noticed Sean giving Ingram a quick video lecture at halftime, and I imagine that was the locker room theme --- totally different second half on ball-reversals and extra passes.

- THE big thing that prevailed tonight and got us into a position to coast was DEFENSE! I hope to hell there are no complaints about that here. We were on them from the outset and there were some absolutely beautiful possessions with our guys 1 thru 5 moving their feet and getting after it. Wanna see more of that Saturday.

- Great to watch that smooth JWash stroke --- preview of great things to come!

- Speaking of strokes, nice move by Hubert to call plays for Mando to spot-up 3s and Big fella swished em both! Pretty cool, especially after missing another dunk (ugh!).

- Fitting send-off for RJ cementing his ACCPOY status.

_ Finally, I got my wish with doubling their score for much of the first half, and being able to give curtain-calls to Cormac, Mando and RJ, as well as extended minutes for the other Seniors. Even Jamie Luckie couldn't f*** it up.

Anyway, that's it for this one --- 3 days to prepare for the dip-shits in durham... Let's do this!...

 

[Rabidfrog]

- THE big thing that prevailed tonight and got us into a position to coast was DEFENSE! I hope to hell there are no complaints about that here. We were on them from the outset and there were some absolutely beautiful possessions with our guys 1 thru 5 moving their feet and getting after it. Wanna see more of that Saturday.

So I have been loud about our defense during our win streak - how we were connected 1-5 in ways I haven’t seen much of ever in the college ranks. It reminded me of the best of the NBA championship caliber defenses. During that win streak there were a couple games that just blew my mind with how clean our defense was… then it disappeared (except for spurts here and there). Then it has been more and more prevalent the last few games.
Tonight it was a masterclass!! ND never had a chance to breathe on their offensive end. They were taken to the woodshed and just beat on and beat on defensively!
That type of effort translates VERY well to the tournament. That type of defense makes us very scary!

One other comment: I have been comparing this team in my head to 17/09 and trying to decide if they have what it takes. But tonight it hit me that they are never going to be those type teams… but they could be 1993. That 93 team had very little NBA talent… but their defense as a TEAM made them very hard to handle.

Having a guard shoot out of his mind helped (check). Having a big man that drew a ton of attention helped (check). Having one of my favorite “do everything it takes” guys in Lynch helped (check).
Having a smart point guard who gets everyone involved helps (check). Defenders off the bench (check). I loved 1993… I love this team no matter where we end up… but man that is the comparison they remind me of….

 

[tarwhiz]

...and what a perfect Senior night.

ND has been playing really well of late, and my hope was for us was no let-down or looking ahead so we could enjoy a special night for 7 Heels, and we got it. Accordingly, I'm not gonna get too detailed --- just some general things:

- Really classy by Hubert to start the three Bule Steel seniors since Pax had already started this season. They comported themselves well.

- Boy, ND's identity has really changed since Brey left --- physical, old Big East style, and I like that we were having none of it.

- My one complaint for the night was ball-stopping in first half. WAY too much dribbling by guys not named Cadeau and playing one-sided. I noticed Sean giving Ingram a quick video lecture at halftime, and I imagine that was the locker room theme --- totally different second half on ball-reversals and extra passes.

- THE big thing that prevailed tonight and got us into a position to coast was DEFENSE! I hope to hell there are no complaints about that here. We were on them from the outset and there were some absolutely beautiful possessions with our guys 1 thru 5 moving their feet and getting after it. Wanna see more of that Saturday.

- Great to watch that smooth JWash stroke --- preview of great things to come!

- Speaking of strokes, nice move by Hubert to call plays for Mando to spot-up 3s and Big fella swished em both! Pretty cool, especially after missing another dunk (ugh!).

- Fitting send-off for RJ cementing his ACCPOY status.

_ Finally, I got my wish with doubling their score for much of the first half, and being able to give curtain-calls to Cormac, Mando and RJ, as well as extended minutes for the other Seniors. Even Jamie Luckie couldn't f*** it up.

Anyway, that's it for this one --- 3 days to prepare for the dip-shits in durham... Let's do this!...

Defense was locked in. There can not be any more relapses to non-committal defensive play. Everything is on the line from this point forward and our effort should reflect that.
J Wash was not gonna miss tonight. If he was in a position to be a volume shooter, he was on his way to a big time scoring night. I so hope he can make the jump in other areas of his game so he can showcase that knock down jumper all next season.

 

[tarwhiz]

So I have been loud about our defense during our win streak - how we were connected 1-5 in ways I haven’t seen much of ever in the college ranks. It reminded me of the best of the NBA championship caliber defenses. During that win streak there were a couple games that just blew my mind with how clean our defense was… then it disappeared (except for spurts here and there). Then it has been more and more prevalent the last few games.
Tonight it was a masterclass!! ND never had a chance to breathe on their offensive end. They were taken to the woodshed and just beat on and beat on defensively!
That type of effort translates VERY well to the tournament. That type of defense makes us very scary!

One other comment: I have been comparing this team in my head to 17/09 and trying to decide if they have what it takes. But tonight it hit me that they are never going to be those type teams… but they could be 1993. That 93 team had very little NBA talent… but their defense as a TEAM made them very hard to handle.

Having a guard shoot out of his mind helped (check). Having a big man that drew a ton of attention helped (check). Having one of my favorite “do everything it takes” guys in Lynch helped (check).
Having a smart point guard who gets everyone involved helps (check). Defenders off the bench (check). I loved 1993… I love this team no matter where we end up… but man that is the comparison they remind me of….

I am with you in that comparison, just that the 93 team had such size available.

 

[dtodd4475]

Just what the doctor ordered. An easy game, double digit 1st half lead, maintain and extend early in the 2nd over a bad opponent and tuck the kids in, this one was over early. 30 plus beat downs are extreme though for any league matchup.

I get Hubert wanted the late curtain calls, but this was one where the extended bench past the core 8 could have got a little more run, and the starters could of cheer led more in the last 8 minutes or so. Noone turned an ankle up 3 to 4 touchdowns though, so all good. Other then that playing an over matched team at home on senior night went exactly to script for the fellas.

 

[montana_heel]

Please, please, please live in the weight room Jalen. If you can get enough lower body strength to hold your spot defensively, you will make an amazing jump next year. I consider this your freshman year with the injuries. The next two could be very good.

 

[39 Feet Above Sea Level]

That was a beautiful beatdown, demonstrating the focus was on ND, not on dook.

With so much good stuff going on defensively, the Irish had zero chance; after they
cut the lead to 20, we blitzed ‘em with 16 straight points for good measure.

For a cherry on top of that sundae, Jalen Washington responded to the THR naysayers
(cough, cough, Dave Chapelle) with a terrific performance. Don’t tell me he won’t be
impactful next season.

Since the tiebreaker scenario is complicated and maybe unfavorable for the number one ACCT
seed, let’s just beat the blued evils and party on Franklin Street on Saturday night.

GDTBATH

 

[TPFKAPFS]

Told you the boy was bad! JWash has a beautiful stroke! His shots didn't even brush the rim! If that kid learns to trust his wheels and gets significantly stronger (especially lower body strength) he will be a real problem! He has to keep his motor up and continue developing his ball instincts (D & O) that got a little rusty too! Great team win and I love how effective Hubs' set pieces were last night! I said to my peeps in 219 that when Ryan is aggressive, Ingram is shooting in rhythm + getting his hands on every ball, EC is pushing pace + taking care of the ball, Mando demanding attention, and RJ being RJ-how do you stop this train? BTW: Pax & JWash shut up their silly detractors who clearly don't really watch the games! Pax came in and made a real impact. It might not show in the box scores but the kid got his hands on so many balls and most ended up in our hands! That freakin' type of D travels and we just gave the NCAA notice! Did y'all notice how frustrated their best player #3 was???

I loved the Senior Speeches! (I was kind of hoping RJ would make a surprise announcement in his, lol)

GDTBATH!

 

[NorCalTarheel]

Jalen + more strength and quickness= unlimited upside.

Grab a beast 5 out of the portal (assuming there is one to grab) and let J stroke that jumper from the 4 spot and, ooohhh boy!

I love this year's team but the future looks pretty good too!

Go Heels!

 

[Kool1234567]

Most complete game in a while…Great D all night and really never gave ND any hope…

1 more left at HIS…

 

[Indy_Heel]

The only negative I really have from last night is listening Jim Boeheim. He reminds me of Debbie Downer. Plus it seems like he doesn’t “prepare” for games. He made two comments you could tell he has no clue. He first said UNC usually schedules cupcakes on senior night, I guess he doesn’t realize they play dook every other year. Anyone hear the comment about Ingram? He was talking about Ingram trying to back his guy down in the first half. He said “that’s not his game he’s more of a spot up guy… I think” and that “I think” was said quietly and the tone he said it was like he didn’t really know like he was questioning himself…. Not the I think, like it was his opinion because he knew better. I just thought that was comical. Other than that couldn’t have asked for a better game leading into the dook game.

 

[DSouthr]

So how about our bench "chipping in" with what, 48 points! LOL Yeah, I know, senior night and all but that was a kind of cool box score! Outside of maybe a game vs UCLA in the NCAAT, this may have been our best basketball since Hubert has been the coach. IN my view this was at worst our A- game (Ingram shooting better than 1-8 from 3 would have had me looking at their A rather than A- game), for a full 40mins. We have had halves that we showed this but not the full game, this was a full game of really solid play. Watch out for this ND team in coming seasons, that team of freshmen and sophs will grow up.

I shared after the last game that I felt this team was building again, coming off of a bit of a lull, felt this matchup vs ND was their getting us at the wrong time for them, senior night for RJ and Bacot you had to figure our guys would be UP for it and they were. Really appreciated what they led with, defense! That is what this team has to do, our guards have to really play hard out front, example the job RJ and Seth did on that young but really talented PG (Burton), believe he had 9 at the half, he finished with 9.

The one negative I saw from this game and maybe that is to strong a term for it, did look like Cadeau lost his composure a little bit for a few mins of that second half, he was yapping at the refs and all the sudden he is whistled for 2 or 3 quick fouls, I felt 2 of those were refs pay back for yapping, learn from this. Love the kid but he has to get the yapping under control.

OK, so like Seth Trimble, that is my guy, that between the legs cross over for the easy lay in finish was as pretty as it gets. If you re-watch it, notice the help defender, bite on the initial move to the basket, re-treat when it looks like Seth had stopped and as Seth finishes that defender is running away from the basket, he faked both the primary and secondary defenders at the same time, high lite reel! Want another high lite reel shot, Cadeau driving gets fouled, and some how, watched it several times, still don't see how he contorted his body and got a shot off, much less it swish in and not even touch the rim? That was a bit other worldly for me, "OMG, did you see that"!

JWash, over the last several string of games, when Jalen has come in to games he has not looked for his own offense. I have defended this kid over and over but I have been screaming for him to LOOK FOR OPS to use that jumper, don't just be a screener!!! He got started by setting the high screen and popping out for the un-contested jumper, FINALLY he was looking to use that jumper again! Hopefully that shut up one particular poster here that has gone out of his way to trash the kid, hopefully it has.

Ryan, LOL, there was a look in his eyes, Burton was wearing his old ND jersey number, I don't think he liked that much, loved that he didn't just settle for jumpers, he pumped faked and drove the pressure, forced a lot of switches and help, big time game from him!

My game ball for this one has to be shared maybe by our whole defensive unit, as a unit they were really good no matter what combinations we put out there. I felt even Paxon defended hard and chipped in, Konkwo blocking shots, just a team effort! Maybe Hubert and his staff deserve that game ball! Man, I hope that carries over to sat against the dukies!

The only sad part is this was the last time we get to see Bacot play at the Dean Dome, may be the last time RJ does as well, we are going to miss those 2 fellas when they are gone more than we realize.

 

[al would]

Just a great game for UNC and the seniors and senior+'s .. and the defensive effort was once again stellar and they're doing it with their feet and good team defense.

Can't (continue) to say enough about Jwash but man oh man does he not have a multi-million $$ stroke and he just keeps getting better with his increased PT and I really liked that little wrinkle with him and Bacot on the floor together and if that's a preview of NCAAT UNC I like it and have wondered all year why hub has not done this sooner with Wash at the 4 on O. We can put a good big team on the floor if needed as long as EC is in the mix.

Enough of the celebrating over beating Roy's favorite rented mule but there is a lot on the line Saturday, and in the upcoming ACCT, but we seem to be going in the right direction and doing some good things on both sides of the ball at the right time of the year. GO HEELS !!