Quick stuff (State game 2)...

[Archer2]

cute. Been here a lot longer than you my friend. We need fans like you to tell us it’s all roses and gum drops. Balance.....

My post was very realistic, no roses and gum drops at all. I just don't think it's your place to call them pathetic. They've invested a thousand times more into the program than you or I. They deserve some respect for that. If you don't think so, we'll agree to disagree.

 

[Archer2]

Coby leaving after one year really set us back I know that was 2 years ago but if stays and plays with Cole that changes everything in the development of Brooks, Bacot, and Black. Those 3 playing with those 2 guards improves them coming into this year and would have helped the learning curve from freshman this year be more of a smooth transition!

I feel pretty sure we get everyone one back that can come back not counting Brooks, he may leaves and who cares what Platek does. Sharpe could leave but who knows.

I feel like with the improvement this year and if Sharpe does come back we are a top 5 team next year as long as the progression on Love, Davis, and Walton continues to trend the right direction.

One more thing Black maybe the the key next year to getting us over the hump, he has to be very good in the trash role. D up the best on the other team and get lots of rebounds and trash baskets.

I hope you're right about no one turning pro early. If so, we'll be one of the favorites next year. A deep, talented, experienced team.

 

[TPFKAPFS]

If you have been here so long, you should have figured out what it means to be Family by now! Calling somebody sophomoric names is not realism or objectivity, it is simply beneath Tar Heel fans! (it does fit with puke, Moo, and Kentuck fans, however) Being optimistic is just as valid as pessimism and it is better for the team spirit. I think Felton's behavior was pathetic, but the young man deserves the chance to become a better person and our forgiveness. The rest of the class deserves recognition for their sacrifice and hard work even while we acknowledge that they might not have the same otherworldly talent as other Tar Heel recruits!

 

[notashelbyfan]

cute. Been here a lot longer than you my friend. We need fans like you to tell us it’s all roses and gum drops. Balance.....

Lots are taken out of context, I know you wasn't calling them pathetic as far as their heart, effort or as human beings. You was simply pointing out the class being pathetic as a whole related to their ability to make Carolina basketball what we should be on the national level!

 

[GoNtheDistance]

Lots are taken out of context, I know you wasn't calling them pathetic as far as their heart, effort or as human beings. You was simply pointing out the class being pathetic as a whole related to their ability to make Carolina basketball what we should be on the national level!

exactly. All great kids who have given us all they have. I believe that and respect that. Truly. But strictly from a talent perspective, that class was awful compared to pretty much every class of size we’ve had in the modern era and it’s not even close. I stand by that.

 

[Bubspub88]

Saw something on twitter very positive. With Harris classified as a freshman, UNC had 4 freshmen (Love, Sharpe, Davis and Harris) score in double figures against state. Last time that happened was in '07 with Lawson, Ellington, Thompson and Stephenson. Throw in Walton's 8 and definitely a sign of good things ahead.

Love is not going to a typical facilitator at pg, he just does not play that way. If he can cut his to's down to about 3 per game and Davis can boost his 3 point % a bit this team is near it's ceiling in my opinion. If Brooks can get anywhere close to last season's efficiency playing fewer minutes and Leaky can continue to play solid perimeter D while filling his stat line in areas other than points the Heels can make noise in March.

If two of Love, Davis, Harris and Walton are hitting outside and 2 of Bacot, Brooks and Brooks are solid inside UNC can score around that 75 to 80 ppg Roy wants. The key is to figure out early who those guys are and let them get the shots. The play we are seeing now should have been what was happening in early December in terms of rotations and identifying roles. This would have been a great year to return four starters but that didn't happen. Is UNC in the tournament, too early to tell but definitely felling better than I did a month ago.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

I started a thread a couple of weeks back (we were on a 2-game win streak after squeaking past ND and Miami) asking if we were finally starting to get it, or just lucky. Not too many endorsed the notion that we were starting to get it. Yet. But I sort of feel like that might be happening right now.

I got that vibe in our loss to FSU. Yeah, a loss, but for good stretches in that game we were working better as a team and moving a lot better.

We beat Wake, but I didn't feel we built on what I saw against FSU. Then I saw a lot more of it against State.

Pitt will be a good test. They aren't the slow-it-down team they have been in recent years, and we have a height advantage (as usual). But we can count on them banging it up if the refs allow it. And, frankly, we need the toughening up.

Pitt is coming off what I think of as a "we got cocky and had a let-down" loss at Wake. So I assume they'll be ready.

If we can avoid our own "cocky letdown" after looking good against State, we'll see if these improvements are real. The Capel bros know Roy's system and Jeff looks like a decent coach, so we need to be on our toes.

 

[DSouthr]

Saw something on twitter very positive. With Harris classified as a freshman, UNC had 4 freshmen (Love, Sharpe, Davis and Harris) score in double figures against state. Last time that happened was in '07 with Lawson, Ellington, Thompson and Stephenson. Throw in Walton's 8 and definitely a sign of good things ahead.

Love is not going to a typical facilitator at pg, he just does not play that way. If he can cut his to's down to about 3 per game and Davis can boost his 3 point % a bit this team is near it's ceiling in my opinion. If Brooks can get anywhere close to last season's efficiency playing fewer minutes and Leaky can continue to play solid perimeter D while filling his stat line in areas other than points the Heels can make noise in March.

If two of Love, Davis, Harris and Walton are hitting outside and 2 of Bacot, Brooks and Brooks are solid inside UNC can score around that 75 to 80 ppg Roy wants. The key is to figure out early who those guys are and let them get the shots. The play we are seeing now should have been what was happening in early December in terms of rotations and identifying roles. This would have been a great year to return four starters but that didn't happen. Is UNC in the tournament, too early to tell but definitely felling better than I did a month ago.

I would suggest we should not have anyone leave early, at least based to the season to date, could change but it is how I see it right now. There are 3 guys that several may challenge my view on, lets look at those 3 fellas.

Sharpe, really nice blend of power, motor, and length, I needed only about 30seconds and the IQ of an egg to see that. Problem is the kid is completely raw, for now his game is all about that power, motor, and length, the refined skill that the NBA covets is not there yet, it will be in time but not there right now. With those assets he now has, added skill will have him slow down once the ball gets to him so that he can both finish and draw a ton of and 1 ops. Right now he rushes when the ball gets in his hands and throws up something that he did not fully control. Needs to refine scoring go to moves and punish defenders. Really needs to show a consistent mid range game and work on his defensive footwork. BY all that is right, this kid has lotto level potential, maybe even over all #1 pick level potential but that will not happen in the next draft, could very well be the case after a soph season given the soph bump we are so used to for UNC big men.

Bacot, has really helped his case by working hard this past off season, added strength is showing but his motor and will to battle physically has shown as a huge soph bump. Thing is I am not sure the NBA gets all that excited with those things, he isn't that physical mismatch the NBA loves (like the huge physical attributes Sharpe has), he isn't that knock down jump shooter even in the mid range, what I am saying is for the NBA, the question is does he have the "it" factor because my take so far is he would be more of a deep bench NBA guy at best. Come back, work on at least a consistent mid range and get even stronger in the weight room. The general feeling I believe is the kid does a lot of things good but what does he do that is great and not sure there is a good answer for that.

Love, huge talent but raw doesn't seem strong enough to describe him. He has good measurables for a PG, really good length, and is now showing the will to play defense. But those TOs, not just the shear numbers of them but the type of TOs we see him giving up, sorry but that is a no go for the NBA, till that gets vastly cleaned up and the no brain stuff stops, the NBA is not going to be interested. Kid drastically needs to work on his ball handles this off season, that is more important than any other single aspect for the kid, he is a VERY shaky ball handler right now. One thing that would help would be for someone to tell him how to use a 2 handed pass, his next 2 handed pass may be the first I have seen from him.. Next, really needs to work on passing the ball, in every aspect, not just in to the post but under pressure as well. The guy he should really want to pattern his game after IMO may be John Wall. Really focus on being an assist man more than a scorer, score just enough to force respect but he has the ability to be a great assist guy and I think could ride that to a long NBA career, I don't see him as ever being a huge scorer in the NBA but he could be a huge assist guy and your mega stars love a guy that can get them the ball in a spot they can finish it. That means Love would have to totally retool his mindset, from that of scorer to that of master set up guy. That may be asking to much but it is the difference for his being a 2 contract at the most guy in the NBA to his being a 10+ year NBA player.

 

[DSouthr]

I started a thread a couple of weeks back (we were on a 2-game win streak after squeaking past ND and Miami) asking if we were finally starting to get it, or just lucky. Not too many endorsed the notion that we were starting to get it. Yet. But I sort of feel like that might be happening right now.

I got that vibe in our loss to FSU. Yeah, a loss, but for good stretches in that game we were working better as a team and moving a lot better.

We beat Wake, but I didn't feel we built on what I saw against FSU. Then I saw a lot more of it against State.

Pitt will be a good test. They aren't the slow-it-down team they have been in recent years, and we have a height advantage (as usual). But we can count on them banging it up if the refs allow it. And, frankly, we need the toughening up.

Pitt is coming off what I think of as a "we got cocky and had a let-down" loss at Wake. So I assume they'll be ready.

If we can avoid our own "cocky letdown" after looking good against State, we'll see if these improvements are real. The Capel bros know Roy's system and Jeff looks like a decent coach, so we need to be on our toes.

Just to my eyes, I have seen each game since Roy altered the starting line up, progression in each game since. Granted, some of it has been really slower than we could have expected but even small progression from each game makes you a nightmare to deal with late season and in the post season.

Now the last 2 games Brooks has seemed to disappear again, finding that really odd? One thing to consider, for last couple years Brooks has primary defended centers, some 4s last season but this season he is pretty much exclusively defending 4s. When he has a stretch 4 to deal with, his defense has been, in my opinion, disappointing. It is like he will defend the stretch 4 to drive but is really tentative to defend them as jump shooters, he kind of tip toes out to them and ends up in no mans land, getting a lot of long 2s and treys splashed in his face. Seen him twice now try to close out hard on a jump shooter and foul them on a trey attempt, don't need to see that again.

The other guy is Leaky, his defensive effort is not consistent, one game he looks in on a guy and the guy is shut down, next game I see him flying out at a guy that splashes multiple jumpers on him? I want to see Leaky lock in defensively on the opposing wing and deny him the ball, just take him out of the offense consistently each game for as long as he is on the court. I really don't care if he scores as long as the other teams wing is shut down.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

Sharpe, really nice blend of power, motor, and length, I needed only about 30seconds and the IQ of an egg to see that. Problem is the kid is completely raw, for now his game is all about that power, motor, and length, the refined skill that the NBA covets is not there yet, it will be in time but not there right now. With those assets he now has, added skill will have him slow down once the ball gets to him so that he can both finish and draw a ton of and 1 ops. Right now he rushes when the ball gets in his hands and throws up something that he did not fully control. Needs to refine scoring go to moves and punish defenders. Really needs to show a consistent mid range game and work on his defensive footwork. BY all that is right, this kid has lotto level potential, maybe even over all #1 pick level potential but that will not happen in the next draft, could very well be the case after a soph season given the soph bump we are so used to for UNC big men.

Regarding Sharpe, I think the question boils down to how much a team is willing to pay to make sure this possible franchise-altering player is theirs When he "gets there" - rather than letting him get picked by someone else this year or next.

I'd bet there are several teams who will guarantee to pick him late in the 1st round. So unless he wants to return, or wants to be a lottery pick - which I agree he's likely to be if he waits - then I think he enters and stays in the draft.

He might even sneak into the lottery this year.

If he goes toward the end of the 1st round, he could be the bargain of this draft.

Even if I'm a team that needs a ready-to-play guy, I'd probably still snatch up Sharpe and use him for trade bait.

I'm not expecting Sharpe to be on our team next year.

 

[FranktheHeel]

Always great to beat State, the feeling never gets old!

It’s been such a bright spot seeing the growth Armando’s game has taken from a year ago and as I said a few weeks ago he is now one of those guys where you look for the guards to get it to when we need a bucket. I really liked seeing him and Day’Ron make those midrange Js at the Ft line and also his layup with the left hand, they keep that up and that’ll pull their defender out and allow us to beat teams even more with the hi-low. I think we have seen in the last few halves a real effort to get the ball inside to our bigs in a position to score, we’re +43 in the last 3 halves.

That Ant impact continues on, I loved seeing him push the ball on live ball turnovers, make some big plays on D and making that smart read of getting to the rim on Caleb’s forced 3 where he was there for the putback.

Also, kudos to Kerwin for knocking in some big triples when State made a push.

RJ and Caleb are making strides and it’s nice to see. Yes, Caleb needs to cut down on those 5 turnovers, but there we some more positive moments from him on both ends. RJ is going to win us a lot a lot of games in his time here, that stretch where I believe he had 7 straight is exactly the kind of impact he can have for us as he continues to get more comfortable.

A big next two-three weeks of games for this team, but one game at a time and I think a Pitt win tonight is something this team can really build on for this stretch.

 

[TPFKAPFS]

I responded to the thread almost immediately with my belief that we had turned a corner! I have noticed incremental improvement from the beginning and I saw a tremendous jump recently. I pointed out several times that even when we were playing like hot garbage, we showed so much grit we still stayed in games we shouldn't have! This alone gave me confidence that the Mad Genius would get us exactly where we are right now. What others call a shortened rotation, I call Roy's typical situational rotation! He will stay with the peeps and combos that work well together in the moment and match up best with the opponent. GB hasn't disappeared for even one moment and he has not been disinterested for one second. He did need to conquer some inner demons and remove the weight of expectation, but he still helped as a leader consistently. What GB is doing is working to do what the team needs now that he isn't focused on proving he is the ACC POY! He is playing D all the way out to 3 pt line against smaller, quicker players for the first time and getting better at it. There has never been a Big that was comfortable guarding a long range shooter so it isn't instinctive. BUT I watched all our Bigs move their feet and stay in front of smalls when we switched everything on the perimeter! GB is scoring less but still contributing. All Sharpe really needs to do to be a top pick right now is work on his hands! (maybe foul a bit less) If he controls all the balls he gets those giant mits on, he will be almost impossible to stop! (20/10!) Love and Davis just need to stay on the curve they are currently on and we are gold!

This team is a problem right now and will only get better!