Quick stuff (UVA game)...

[gary-7]

...and that was just a self-inflicted disaster.

- As annoying as he could be, Billy Packer used to make a very good observation concerning the game of basketball, i.e, that one of THE most vital and underappreciated skills is catching the ball. To be sure, catching, securing and being strong with the basketball is often step-1 of a successful play. If that's the case, well, we were at step-zero today. I'm not sure i can remember a worse display than I just witnessed. Yeah, yeah, we know UVA is gonna hold thru screens, etc, etc, so you have to be strong with the ball --- obviously we weren't. But here's what makes it a total head-scratcher: JUST DROPPING THE BALL with no assistance from the defense (?!?), and not just a few isolated times but over and over. We had passes hit guys right in the hands, and just losing the ball while attempting to dribble. Add in some stupid passes, well, it doesn't take long add up to 19 TOs, and worse 25 points given up from that.

- The lack of securing the ball bit us way beyond the recorded TOs. We lost numerous rebounds (especially at crucial points in the second half). We played possession after possession of really good defense trying to grind back into the game, only to fail to secure the defensive board, mostly after getting our hands on it first. Just when it looked like we were stifling them and getting back in order we gave it away. Yeah, we outrebounded them for the game (42-30), but make no mistake, those flubs were killers. That sort of thing also keeps us from getting out in transition.

- Ball security came up again --- and worse than I can remember seeing, like ever --- in just getting up a good shot with position. I don't knnow what was wrong with Luke today. From the get-go it looked like someone had sprayed teflon on his hands. And the entire day was summed up in 2 second-half blunders: A beautiful spin move to the baseline only to fumble it away, and failing to even get the ball to the rim on a lay-up off a perfect dime. Air-balling the late FT at that point just sorta fit into the day. Wow. Just wow.

Honestly, the rest of this one won't take long to write since the game is mostly summed up by the previous paragraph. Just a few more things:

- UVA played well at home, as expected. They hurt us a few times on their signature "flair" cuts for corner 3s, and we got lost a couple of times in Help in the paint, but all-in-all, this one was, again, self-inflicted.

- Roy's frustration was palpable and understandable and he even tried the most extreme utra-small lineup we've seen with Theo at the 5.

- As for concerns beyond a really, really bad day, Cam has a ways to go still. He hasn't quite learned the flow of our free-lance game, but more immediately his footwork is off right now. If you notice, he's not catching the ball in triple-threat position, and thus often finds himself off-balance. By the time he decides to drive or shoot it's often too late and ends up as a force. And the other continuing concern is our Bigs --- in addition to the aforementioned ball-security stuff --- at some point they have to be legit scoring threats in the paint.

- JB tried to will us back into this game (17 pts and 8 Rebounds), but he can't do it alone. Not much help out there today.

Welp, while losing in Charlottesvile is unfortunately nothing new, the way we did it hurts nonetheless --- and stings even more after having one purloined down in Tallahassee. The ultimate key of course will be how we react. We shall see.

 

[gobblercalls]

7 assists, 19 turnovers. I don't ever remember numbers like that from a UNC team and I go back to the late 1960's

 

[imajericho]

Probably 10--11 losses on the year. We will be a low seed or NIT team. Most likely 5-7 range seed.

 

[coryfly]

There are a few things I think we can state at this point in the year, things we probably won't improve on.

1. We have some really good on the ball defenders. Everyone gets blown by at times in basketball but we have some guys who battle on the ball. However, off the ball we are pretty average. Kenny Williams is very good off the ball. Outside of that the rest get lost way too often.

2. We aren't a very good passing team. Theo is a good passer but counters that with carelessness. Overall we just aren't a team that has great vision or the ability to execute well in the passing game. So the turnovers are going to continue, because of the passing and other reasons.

3. Joel is the go to guy and really the only one right now. I would like to see this change as it would help him not to have to carry the load so much but not sure it will. I thought at the beginning of the year Kenny showed the potential to be that guy. I don't think he will yet though, even though he is really solid overall and probably makes less bad decisions than anyone.

4. The bigs are just going to struggle. It is what it is and I like their potential (especially Manley) this is something we knew would happen. Outside of Cam, our entire bench is pretty weak as well tbh. Just not going to get a lot consistently there against decent teams.

Those are probably going to limit what this team can do overall, which is ok. We knew it would be kind of a process this year.

Now, there are other things I think this team can improve upon.

1. The bigs fighting for position. Little nudges here and there dislodge them. It is less of a stregth issue IMO but more of an awareness of the game at this level. That could certainly get better.

2. Cam dribbles too much, basically stopping the offense. He is a shooter who can pick his spots to drive off the pass but he seldom needs to try and isolate and take his man off the dribble.

3. Maye going into guys around the basket or while shooting. He is at his best when he creates space with the stepback or fake. If he doesn't have space he needs to get rid of it. He seldom finishes when he goes into players or forces it without space.

3. Upperclassmen have made too many bad plays in a number of ways to start the ACC season. They haven't always done this so obviously that should change to some degree going forward.


This game overall isn't a concern IMO (FSU loss was way worse as we weren't ever going to win this game). Much better teams have struggled down there. It was unreasonable to expect this team not to struggle. Going forward they need to beat the teams they should and maybe steal a couple of others. One thing that should give us hope for sure is that Roy is one of the best at having the team playing well going into the tournament.

 

[Heelswin]

Probably 10--11 losses on the year. We will be a low seed or NIT team. Most likely 5-7 range seed.

I'll take it!!!

 

[al would]

I expected this team to struggle but not over such basic things as spacing, passing and especially effort. Today against UVA this team looked like they were a collection of AAU guys that just got thrown together for a tournament. The lack of a decent post presence is certainly a concern but our "core 4" today looked like they just started playing basketball together yesterday. I realize there is a learning curve for the frosh coming in but our upperclassman do not look comfortable or confident on either side of the ball and that is unusual. But I will give UVA their due .. they played well and are a really good team .. jmho

 

[Ozheelfan]

Hey Gary, you mentioned Cam and his footwork, I've been watching the offense in the last couple of games and it is stagnating when he's in.... he's often running to the wrong spot (not sure how to put that in coach speak, but he seems out of position a lot) and yes, the offense just stops when the ball gets to him.

I wouldn't say its all on Cam though - there is very little movement in the half court, we haven't seen a run-out fast break in almost 4 or 5 games and, as a result, Joel looks like he's pushing too hard and trying to do his best Marcus impersonation by taking on the entire load.

Also, there seems like some anxiety amongst all the wings with Cam on board... they're now fighting for a much smaller piece of the minutes0pie and could be pushing too hard... Luke included.

 

[gary-7]

Hey Gary, you mentioned Cam and his footwork, I've been watching the offense in the last couple of games and it is stagnating when he's in.... he's often running to the wrong spot (not sure how to put that in coach speak, but he seems out of position a lot) and yes, the offense just stops when the ball gets to him.

I wouldn't say its all on Cam though - there is very little movement in the half court, we haven't seen a run-out fast break in almost 4 or 5 games and, as a result, Joel looks like he's pushing too hard and trying to do his best Marcus impersonation by taking on the entire load.

Also, there seems like some anxiety amongst all the wings with Cam on board... they're now fighting for a much smaller piece of the minutes0pie and could be pushing too hard... Luke included.

Oz, the frustrating fact is we haven't been as cohesive since Cam returned. As I said in the OP he is not yet in sync in our free-lance game, which goes by a general set of rules as to movement but still has a lotta feel to it. That part should come.

More concerning is that he has become a ball-stopper. As a Wing he needs to be prepared to make a quick decision when the ball gets to him. Catch it ready to shoot, drive, or pass and go, or pass and screen away (basic rules of the Passing Game). That's one reason the footwork is such an issue. By the time he gets his balance the defender is set and ready, and thus his drives go nowhere, and the other guys grind to a halt not knowing what he's gonna do.

I also think what you said about the other Wings is fair. As for Luke, he is playing scared inside ---- rushing instead of gathering himself. When he got the and-1 on Salt he gathered himself and took a good shot. The other times? Whew. That was ugly.

 

[pln2013]

More concerning is that he has become a ball-stopper.

This has been super frustrating. I'm happy to give him a bright green light - if you have any daylight, let it fly - but he's just been holding the ball and then attempting plodding forays in the vague direction of the basket. It ain't pretty. He needs to let it fly or move the ball.

Makes me wonder if he's trying to show a more diverse game for pro scouts, to both his detriment and the team's.

 

[gary-7]

This has been super frustrating. I'm happy to give him a bright green light - if you have any daylight, let it fly - but he's just been holding the ball and then attempting plodding forays in the vague direction of the basket. It ain't pretty. He needs to let it fly or move the ball.

Makes me wonder if he's trying to show a more diverse game for pro scouts, to both his detriment and the team's.

Well, Roy does want him to be more diverse in his game here than he was at Pitt. But you are absolutely correct that whatever he does off the catch needs to come quickly and decisively. Those drives today were indeed plodding and not doing anyone in light blue any good.

 

[pln2013]

Well, Roy does want him to be more diverse in his game here than he was at Pitt. But you are absolutely correct that whatever he does off the catch needs to come quickly and decisively. Those drives today were indeed plodding and not doing anyone in light blue any good.

Yeah, I'm all for drives against aggressive closeouts. But the "wait...wait...wait...now!" drives are gross.

 

[al would]

This is what happens when UNC doesn't have the solid inside post presence and abandons their traditional game. Roy can't use the usual UNC system without the post guy that the offense runs through. Even the current veteran players are not used to having to play without the dependable bigs .. is what it is .. jmho

 

[Archer2]

I saw several instances of everybody holding the ball too long, dribbling out side with no sense of purpose and then picking up our dribble with no where to go or no one to pass too. One thing JJ excelled at was moving without the ball, something all our players need to improve upon.

 

[rexerdog]

Cam: 10-1 without him, 2-3 with him. Definitely some kinks to work out. At the start of the year I really enjoyed watching this team play as they shared the ball, making the extra pass and nothing "sticking" to any one player. Now a lot of sticking, standing around and isolation or pick and roll end of clock situations. Some of this also has to do with conference play, this time of year always exposes you in some way or another. Not to mention no transition game whatsoever. Roy will figure something out, always has.

 

[FranktheHeel]

Just some thoughts:

We also had 19 offensive rebounds which you would think wow, we dominated the glass, but we did not convert them into points. As Gary said Virginia really won the battle by getting those big offensive rebounds off of good defensive sequences by us. Back to our offensive rebounds, we were only able to score 12 second chance points. We have to find a way to convert more on second chance opportunities, I think Sterling Manley is the guy to do that, but also collectively we need to look to get the rebound and kick it out being able to find an open shooter in position and cash in. We have to value each possession we get and when we are able to get an extra one after an offensive rebound being able to convert on it can only lead to good things for us offensively.

The two traps in the corner with Theo and B-rob, I think that needs to become part of our defensive attack. They both forced turnovers and those are the kind of little plays that can change momentum in close games. Also, I think we should start pressuring the ball handler out above half court for stretches, just to make things a little more difficult and get him into having to think a little more and maybe panic leading us to force a turnover and grab a quick basket.There’s nothing wrong with playing scrappy basketball, this group did that at the beginning of the year and was successful.

Another thought is not having a strong presence in the paint has really made teams put even more pressure on our guards on the perimeter causing our offense really to have no flow or stagnant. For one, I think we just need to start setting more ball screens so our guards can get some room to operate and be able to get into the lane. Joel is very good at being able to pull up off a ball screen. Also, we need to get Luke going with some more pick and pop opportunities. Against these bigger teams he has had trouble inside, so I think it’s time to get him out on the perimeter primarily giving him some more space to operate.

This leads to my next point I think we need to go to our small ball lineup more. Defenses are really making things difficult on our traditional lineups, I think we just need to space the floor completely and put our Bomb Squad on the floor allowing them just to be able to have their spacing, move the ball and get into the lane on their own. Hopefully, this will also get us to move better in transition and push the tempo more. I would love to see us play very up-tempo vs Boston College.

I also think that we need to start to get Cam more shots in rhythm, it seems that him having the ball in his hands and having to create is not really his game at this point and in order to be successful we will need him to contribute from beyond the arc. He scored at Pitt by being out on the perimeter and waiting to get passes from his guards who drove into the lane and dished to him as he spotted up from three. I know we need him to be able to do more than that, but I say to start games we need to get him going that way and as teams start to close out on him and he gets fully healthy, than he can take them off the dribble and score from closer range

We were so successful in the beginning of the year with such great ball movement and it looked like this team had such a great chemistry which is why I believe that this team is going to be okay, they proved that they can play together and at a high level on both ends of the floor. It’s never easy to integrate a new guy into the team in the middle of the year especially while playing against top level competition, but Cam is wiling to learn and wants to really fit in here. I think Roy sees that he needs to make some tweaks and the guys realize that they need to play better, this is the time to iron out these kinks in order to be playing at our best come March.

 

[dadika13]

I've warned everyone this season...we aren't THAT good. Right now, not good enough to beat tough teams on the road in conference.

And it's ok. We're coming off a natty.