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RJ Davis coming back wasn’t a good idea

You're poking the sacred cow coach ... not that I disagree.

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Ian Jackson routinely gets lost on defense.

I really don't get this thread. You see how awful our big men are, and you start a thread about how RJ is the problem?
Our bigs are non-existent. RJ forcing absolutely is a problem. I’m not saying he is the only problem, but him coming back hurts Jackson. RJ isn’t exactly a defensive force either. And he’s had 4+ years to show that.
 
if our frontcourt wasn't playing so poorly, RJ wouldn't have to go hero ball so much. Continuing to start Withers and Washington is insane. Give Powell the nod and try starting Lubin. Maybe that would light a fire under Washington and Withers.
 
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Agreed. For this team to be it’s best at the end of the season he needed to have lesser numbers (or much better efficiency) than last season but doesn’t show the willingness to accept that. When he isn’t cooking he has to be willing to be in the background more and play within the flow.
 
Give Powell the nod and try starting Lubin
yup .. and if I were making wholesale changes it would be Seth at the 2 and Jack at the 3 to go with Drake and Lubin. Hubert's not doing the best job of coaching either .. but that's nothing new.
 
He’s had a great career at UNC and an amazing year last year, but we are better without him on the floor. Swap Jackson for him and we are better.
Brave man. But somebody had to say it.

Clearly he's struggling. Feeling the pressure. We should be up front about that.

Now that it's out in the open, what do you think will happen?

My guess (and hope ) is that RJ bounces back from this disappointing start. We have a week off before another tough team in Alabama. But then things get easier. I expect the real RJ to show up soon.

Here's what I don't get: With Elliot and Seth being greatly improved, I'd think there would be less defensive pressure on RJ. But if that's true, my eyes aren't spotting it. RJ may not be peeling himself off the floor quite as much this year, but he's still getting tough defensive attention.

How much of the problem is our weak front line? If opponents don't have to worry too much about UNC scoring coming from our bigs, it makes sense that they would greatly crank up the pressure on our back court. Certainly no need to double any of our bigs, like teams had to do with Armando.
 
Really don't get this take. RJ's a weak defender, but he's clearly our best scorer/shooter in a team already light on shooting.

The problem is we have Washington/Withers/Tyson as our best frontcourt players. They're not good enough. Swap them for Omoruyi and and Thiero and you have a great team again. We completely whiffed on Tyson (at least so far), and missed on centers. Not really a complex problem to me.
 
Really don't get this take. RJ's a weak defender, but he's clearly our best scorer/shooter in a team already light on shooting.

The problem is we have Washington/Withers/Tyson as our best frontcourt players. They're not good enough. Swap them for Omoruyi and and Thiero and you have a great team again. We completely whiffed on Tyson (at least so far), and missed on centers. Not really a complex problem to me.
I agree this problem has been developing since before Bacot left, but its just now catching up with us.
 
Really don't get this take. RJ's a weak defender, but he's clearly our best scorer/shooter in a team already light on shooting.
Have you seen his cumulative shooting stats this season? He's a 6' guard shooting less than 30% on an already small team. And he takes a lot of shots. Is what it is.
 
I agree this problem has been developing since before Bacot left, but its just now catching up with us.
Washington was obviously not good enough to be a starting center for us; he's not even really an ACC average center. Doesn't really do anything except shoot jump shots well for the position.

I've been shouting from the rooftops since Withers joined that he's a solid backup player, but not suited to be a starter. @What Would Jesus Do? and I had several disagreements about that, and I think it's pretty clear he's not the guy. Solid athlete but doesn't have a lot of true basketball skills.

Tyson may just be a bad whiff. I imagine we gave him a good NIL package too; oh what could've been if we'd used that extra NIL money on one of the several very good centers that were available. This team with any of Ballo/Reynaud/Omoruyi/Aidoo/Goldin would be similar quality to last year.

You cannot play a frontcourt full of non-entities and expect to win games based on your guards alone. Our defense and rebounding is just too poor. And there's no fix slated to come next year yet; we better hit the portal harder than this offseason.
 
Like I haven' been saying it since week 2 in multiple threads. Better to get to the party late than never I guess.
Yeah. And it's been 7 games. You're going to make your evaluation solely on those and not the 138 he played the previous four years? Frankly, that doesn't make any sense. He'll get the 3-pt shooting turned around.
 
Our defense and rebounding is just too poor.
And that's for sure. Our opponents are shooting over 45% from 3 this year (I think that's right) and I sat and just SMDH on almost every 3PT attempt MS took last night because there were no defenders around and no hands in shooters faces. And there's no excuse for these athletic guys not being able to close out on the shooters.
 
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