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.
RJ Davis coming back wasn’t a good idea
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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.
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.
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.
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.
I lean toward Drake. Better defender, seems to be adapting faster than Ian, and gives our very short team a bit more length.
Ian is getting there, too, but I'd give more minutes to Drake.
Ha. We're UNC fans. We're allowed to worry about more than one thing at a time.
Like I haven' been saying it since week 2 in multiple threads. Better to get to the party late than never I guess.
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.
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.
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.
Well if you calculate the NIL space RJ took up which could have gone towards acquiring a quality Big Man instead then I agree. We are too guard heavy roster wise.
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.
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.
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.
Yep. Unfortunately. At this point - and really last year, too, in retrospect - I have to admit that the flashes we see from JWit are just that: flashes. Nothing more. Not a star waiting to turn the corner. Why is the name Melendez coming to mind?
Last year I thought Withers might be that guy for us this year, when he'd be getting starter minutes. But while I think the extra PT and a year at UNC under his belt have been good for him, they haven't produced the improvement I hoped for.
It's tempting to blame Withers, and plenty here do. But when was the last time this coaching staff produced a top big man? Armando and ???? Brady came fully developed and thrived. Pete came fully developed and got worse.
When we aren't showing a good front line and we are whiffing on top freshman and portal bigs, it's easy to think we just don't have good players. But surely a good coaching staff would have turned somebody into a quality ACC starter.
That said, I have hopes for Lubin this season and maybe Brown next year.
Yeah, but this year is a fluke, so far.
FR = 32.3%
SO = 36.7%
JR = 36.2%
SR = 39.8%
GR = 27.5%
Maybe it isn't reasonable to expect him to get better every year. Even Hansbrough backslid a little after his NPOY year. But he's been very consistent. So I expect his 3pt shooting to inch up.
Here's a question.... Are we using RJ right? Last year Elliot shot like crap from deep, while Seth was good, but timid.
If you had been told then that Elliot would be shooting 37.5% and Seth an amazing 52.2%, wouldn't you have thought RJ would be getting easy shots and having a great year - with those guys demanding coverage from opposing D?
What am I missing?
RJ is definitely not shooting at even a decent clip so far. He’s trying waay to hard to take up the slack for scoring. I think the pressure has simply been too much for him to just shoot the ball. Besides Seth there is no one else that is willing and capable of shooting deep. Also the lack of size or great play from big men to draw defenders in, is killing our guards.
It’s been obvious I like RJ and still do. He’s not the problem. lol he’s done stuff 99% of all tar heels have never done. But, the situation is diff at UNC. We don’t have the caliber of players across the board and it’s been that way for a few years. I don’t care how good he plays, we can’t stop other teams right now. I don’t think it’s optimal for him or ANY player to be here five years either. I just think he’s the least of our problems, but he’s a problem when he hunts his shot. I do know that when the ball’s not going in it doesn’t matter what else you’re doing, people tend to see the worst that’s happening in your game, me included. He rebounds well, passes and assists well “when he passes” lol. And takes care of the ball and stays out of foul trouble.
It’s been obvious I like RJ and still do. He’s not the problem. lol he’s done stuff 99% of all tar heels have never done. But, the situation is diff at UNC. We don’t have the caliber of players across the board and it’s been that way for a few years. I don’t care how good he plays, we can’t stop other teams right now. I don’t think it’s optimal for him or ANY player to be here five years either. I just think he’s the least of our problems, but he’s a problem when he hunts his shot. I do know that when the ball’s not going in it doesn’t matter what else you’re doing, people tend to see the worst that’s happening in your game, me included. He rebounds well, passes and assists well “when he passes” lol. And takes care of the ball and stays out of foul trouble.
You are missing the fact that those two guys are shooting wide open shots. RJ doesn’t get many of those. I hate when he takes crazy shots, especially if he makes the first one like Caleb used to do.
Good question. Maybe not being the primary ball handler any more has something to do with it but idk. I do know he's not playing within the offensive flow more often than not and taking a lot of very questionable shots when it's simply not necessary. He's just forcing to much. jmo
I agree Al. Your last sentence sums it up. I posted above my reasons why. Doesn’t make it right of course.
I’m glad RJ came back! He’s a warrior!!He’s not the problem. We have to get our front court adequate, and settle on rotations. We can play up tempo and trap in pressure defense! RJ is pressing and dribbling too much at times, but we’ll figure it out.
That was actually my point in another post. You'd think the D would be focusing a lot more on Seth and Elliot, but RJ still seems to be smothered.
To be fair, if you are the opposing coach, are you going to lay off RJ?
Seriously? The problem with losing to the #1 and #2 teams in the country, and an OT 1-pt loss to Michigan State, is RJ Davis being on the team? That makes total sense! lol
That's the coach not having them ready to play .. at least that's a big part of it.
With ZERO scoring threats in the post, and guys the opponent will dare to consistently make 3's across the board other than RJ the dee has the luxury of smothering RJ from outside, living with his drives if anything, or Cadeau's. Tough 2's from undersized guards in the paint.
Without him on the court we have even less for opponents to worry about. Ian is a pup, who passes and defends even less than RJ, but can create. Seth is the major beneficiary from RJ on the court, he gets more defensive attention if no RJ. It is the roster makeup. Defend RJ, limit his 3's and make any of the others score.
Without him on the court we have even less for opponents to worry about. Ian is a pup, who passes and defends even less than RJ, but can create. Seth is the major beneficiary from RJ on the court, he gets more defensive attention if no RJ. It is the roster makeup. Defend RJ, limit his 3's and make any of the others score.
The Auburn game by the way, Cadeau took the most shots, Seth 2nd most, RJ 3rd with only 11 attempts. Opponents will take that all day everyday.
Withers and Washington are not starting caliber players on a good team. Opposing teams have a 5 on 3 advantage to start the game.
So . . . it's not coaching? That was my first guess.
I agree that we're weaker than usual up front. But wouldn't that be true for the whole game?
I haven't run the numbers but my sense is that we do worse early and better later in games. Same players. So why does that happen?
We often storm back in the second half. Which could suggest that Hubert is a really good halftime coach. Or it could suggest he's not that good a pregame coach. What's your take?
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I hate it but sometimes it’s just the teams identity. How many of us were perplexed with Marcus game? He used to kill it in the second half of games and suck it up in the first. Pretty odd for sure. I remember it being a glaring difference. I may be wrong though.
Coach, I talked about this over the summer, now hear me clearly, I can not go to the point of saying RJ coming back was a mistake but as I said then and still feel, his coming back has created some problems that could become real issues if not handled right.
You bring in 2 5 stars whose best position is at the 2 yet you have RJ coming back looking for his 35mins a game (not to mention Seth's best position at this point is as a 2 guard)? Either someone doesn't get minutes or they have to play out of position. You as well have the deal of RJ feeling at times that he needs to get his game off and takes some really bad shots, bad shots that went in a lot last season but this season have not yet dropped like they did. Hubert has this fatal flaw of staying with a guy, allowing him to try to shoot himself hot, happened with Caleb, happening now with RJ, that is on the coach more than the player.
RJ is 5'11", if RJ were 6'4" he would be in the NBA today, he isn't getting any taller, he isn't getting any quicker, he is a volume shooter that is not hitting for strong efficiency. Yet he is hyped huge, very likely our highest compensated NIL guy on roster? RJ is a great player for us, he gets more than you should expect from his small frame, for a guard that may not be the quickest guy around, the heart and desire are there but the size and God given quickness just are not, thus he is at UNC and not the NBA right now.
What it comes down to for me is that RJ is and should be treated like a role player with the hook that comes just as quickly for him as any other role player, this team is full of role players. From what I see there are 2 guys in our regular rotation that step outside of what their role should be, RJ and JWit and others that should have a bigger role than they have now. It feels to me like Hubert plays favorites at times way more than he should, if he doesn't get that under control it could cost him his job at some point.
it appears having Cormac and Harrison on the floor last year were more of a major factor in RJ’s success than many of us realized.
Absolutely, opponents had to respect their 3 game, couldn't just chase RJ and dare the others to shoot. Having Mando did the same for the attention he demanded in the block.
I'm not expecting Hubert to change his starters for Alabama, but I'll be disappointed if he doesn't after that game.
We've faced some tough teams. We know from experience that Hubert seems more inclined to go iron man than develop players. This year was supposed to be different. But if you look at the numbers, you might think the only reason he isn't going iron man is because he only has 3 guys he trusts.
Another thing we've speculated about in the past is that Hubert coaches like he's on the hot seat. Which he probably was early on. But, again, that feeds into going iron man rather than risk losing a game because you experimented with lineups. Compare that mindset with Roy's.
To be fair, Hubert IS giving several players more PT. But I suspect that's mainly out of necessity. Not so much a Roy-like commitment to giving his players a chance to develop.
We've faced some tough teams. We know from experience that Hubert seems more inclined to go iron man than develop players. This year was supposed to be different. But if you look at the numbers, you might think the only reason he isn't going iron man is because he only has 3 guys he trusts.
Another thing we've speculated about in the past is that Hubert coaches like he's on the hot seat. Which he probably was early on. But, again, that feeds into going iron man rather than risk losing a game because you experimented with lineups. Compare that mindset with Roy's.
To be fair, Hubert IS giving several players more PT. But I suspect that's mainly out of necessity. Not so much a Roy-like commitment to giving his players a chance to develop.
