UNC's issue is not a player/talent one. It is a lack of a complete offensive system and that's whats playing out game after game. No one expected us to be in this same position today as one year ago. We had everyone back, experience, bench players, a plug and play transfer, and complete familiarity in the "system". This offense is too simplistic, does not systematically integrate players opposite the ball, and is easily team defended. Carolina always win the battle of most difficult shots attempted (poor offensive execution).
The idea of this new offense is, it puts UNC back in the living rooms of elite HS players. Ok, that works but that is only viable for a couple years(Mack Brown has seen you have to win with that talent or the pipeline becomes a trickle, and suddenly an about-face in the portal game big time). An idea is not a functioning system. Hubert's offense has been guided and conditioned to the highlight feats of Caleb. I think Trimble and RJ can be an extremely successful combination but not in this style of alternating primary ball handler/two man basketball. If Caleb is not engaged going forward, we aren't going far. Its all in the lack of system.
I agree and especially agree with "I think Trimble and RJ can be an extremely successful combination but not in this style of alternating primary ball handler/two man basketball. If Caleb is not engaged going forward, we aren't going far. Its all in the lack of system."
I think what you are saying is that if you have 2 PGs on the floor together then you really don't have a PG. I don't often see 2 QBs on the football field playing together. Now I don't care who the PG is, you simply have to have that guy that sets it all up, that gets everyone on the same page. I honestly feel that guy on this current team is Trimble but it is not often he is put in that situation, it is either RJ or Caleb that run the point when Trimble comes in. You need a game manager, the definition of a manager is one who gets things done thru other people. By definition neither RJ nor Caleb are game managers, they can't be if their primary instinct is their own scoring
D, I'll just comment with a disclaimer.
One one hand (as you likely know) ANYTHING that would get Cadeau on campus is ok with me. I am long past sick and tired of being stuck in Point Guard Purgatory.
With that said, I am more concerned with maximizing what we have NOW for THIS season. I just posted an OP to that effect, and IF we do that and this season revitalizes itself, then I suspect the personnel stuff for the future will take care of itself --- and in a positive way.
As you know, I just do not agree on Cadeau as a 23 guy, I like him for 24. Talents like Trimble and Wilcher simply have to play, they have to be out on the court and frankly while I didn't like 20mins for a guy that has been out for a month, I do feel Dunn has earned PT. I as well STRONGLY believe that BOTH Caleb and RJ need to sit more in BOTH halves, especially Caleb. The message has to be sent that you can not jump off in to your 1on1 nonsense, it has cost us games we should not have lost and the ONLY way to stop it is to bring them to the bench when it starts. If it were me, when I pulled Caleb from the game he would 100% of the time take a seat next to Jeff Lebo, no one else sits next to lebo but Caleb if Caleb is not in the game. There simply has to be accountability for poor play, you do not scream your lungs out at a player that is not working hard defensively, you put someone else in that is willing to work hard (if a big man is not playing well, he goes to the bench and sits next to Sean Maye every time he comes out, I would have Washington sit next to Sean Maye all game if our bigs are playing well). You don't let a kid throw up 30 shots unless he is blazing hot for that game.
Look gary, you and I may not ever agree much on Trimble but you know enough about this game to agree with me that Trimble is the best back court guard defender we have on this team and I think it is by a rather large margin. So Burton, Pitt's 2 guard, 6'4" listed weight 200lbs but looks bigger, absolutely torched Caleb, owned him all game, Dunn didn't do much with him either. Caleb is not going to be ever confused with being a great defender, IMO Caleb is our worst guard defender, his real value is the ability to score more than he allows the other team to score, clearly he didn't do that vs Pitt. People always look at Caleb based on his offense, folks should look long and hard at the "defense" he plays because it is near Kerwin Walton level. So why did Caleb play over 30mins vs Pitt, Dunn coming off a month away due to injury get 20mins and our best guard defender got all of 5mins? WE stop Burton we win by 20 easy...
To max the potential for this current team, first that Iron 5 mindset instilled in them from last season has got to go away, this team not only has a nice bench but it has a bench of players that deserve to play. We should be the team with strong legs to end each half but very little bench is coming in the second half? We should be using those fresher legs to pressure the other teams ball handlers the length of the court, make their ball handlers work for everything they get. Switch from token to pressing to trapping, keep them off balance and tire those legs out. Turn defense in to offense for easy scores, they will not rotate as strong on those tired legs, they will start grabbing and reaching rather than moving their feet that is when they pick up foul calls. It all starts by using the deep bench of talent you have so that your team is NOT the tired team.
Even a guy like McKoy, when was the last time he played, put him in with the mission to go out and play as physical as he can, don't worry about picking up fouls, you just go out looking for a fight and don't worry how the refs call the game, would do the same with Shaver if he were available. Know how ya stop a guy like Burton, you teach him there is going to be a price you pay for driving the lane, you do not have to teach him to many times before he figures it out.
On the offensive end, outside of the Caleb/RJ 1on1 battles, I do NOT like the way we are using Nance. We all realize, Nance is not Manek, they are 2 VERY different types of players, we are trying to fit Nance in to a Manek role, I have no idea why? While Nance can hit the occasional trey I don't want him spending the majority of the trip on the offensive end camped out 40' from the basket. manek scored well from the outside because he had a really quick trigger, Nance has a slow trigger, his real value is using his length in the mid range, he is really good at that but more important is that when he is in the mid range he is involved with the offense, camped 45' from the basket to often he is not involved at all. I would go to a high low with nance up top and Bacot working the short corners or posting up in a passing lane for nance, like Brice Johnson playing Syracuse. Nance can hit that mid range but he is as well a really good passer if he has a solid passing lane. He can set the high pick and slide up for the trey at times as Bacot posts up for the driver to have the option to slip to Bacot, kick back to nance, or kick over to Love or finish if he has the lane.
This nonsense of initiating our offense with Bacot well up above the foul line and nance camped out 40' from the basket makes no sense, your only options are away from the basket, east west and it needs to be north south. I love a healthy Leaky's defense but clearly he isn't 100% right now (ankle sprain), he has got burned in our last couple games, a Leaky that can not move his feet to defend has to go to the bench, bring in Puff, bring in Nickel don't care which but bring in at least a guy that will score if he can't defend. Same with Caleb, if he is not in the right head space and isn't scoring he is a liability, get him off the floor and put someone else in, I don't care if it is Creighton lebo you bring in (well I do but you know what I mean).
