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Stay big or go small against Pittsburgh

IDUNK4HEELS

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Nov 25, 2004
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kernersville nc
Three hours till tip off and I have being thinking about this for a couple of days now and I felt this might be a good subject to discuss.

Pittsburgh’s starters are not all that big which should be perfect for Carolina’s bigs but their 6’6 shooting stat not only leads the league in scoring but also leads the league in REBOUNDING. On paper the Heels in the paint should win the war but games are not paid on paper.

I am sure Coach Williams does not want to give up his teams greatest strength the inside game but the Panther present a difficult problem and that is who covers who. Coach Williams in his call in show last night said that Pittsburgh probably has the fastest player in the league in their point guard so Love and Davis who until recently have not shown much defense will have their hands full.

Pitt will start three guards and the 6’6 star can go inside and out so even if Black can hold him down who or which guard will Brooks, Bacot or Sharpe have to try and stay with.

If Love, Davis, Walton, Harris and Platek can collect some threes then the offense might roll because a undersize Panther will have to cover Bacot or Sharpe but the threes will HAVE TO FALL for that to happen.

If Pittsburgh hits some three point bombs then Carolina may be forced to go small with a lineup of: Harris, Davis, Bacot, Love and Black to counter the shooting and speed that Pittsburgh offers.

My gut feeling is that Carolina will still start two bigs and then make changes if needed by the flow of the game.
 
Roy will always play 2 bigs this year IMO, the only time he might not is end of game situations or if we had 2 or 3 bigs in foul trouble! He will probably put Brooks on champaigne but I think we will switch on him some and maybe put Leaky on him! If Leaky guards him it puts a big on the 6’6 guard (Toney) or the other 6’3 guy! Luckily this Pitt team is more of a street ball rum and gun team and they don’t have a ton of pure knock down set shooters! Is being pretty athletic I think we match up pretty well with their style!
 
Would be shocked to see Roy play small unless absolutely forced to do so. As someone mentioned in another thread Brooks has been terrible against stretch 4's pulling him away from the basket recently. Any team that plays small is tough for this year's Heels, mainly because they cannot be efficient enough on offense to take advantage. Last game was first all season they have shot over 50% from field. Heels probably need to be at about 55% and hit enough 3's to keep Pitt honest to have a chance.

Let Champagnie get his but don't let anyone else get hot. Leaky can be the game MVP without scoring a basket. Pitt plays deep with 9 guys getting about 15+ minutes so UNC's depth not really an edge. Pitt seems to shoot 3's at about the rate UNC does they shoot them better. I am hoping for a solid W to continue the streak but will take any victory except a moral "we played well on the road and had a chance to win at the end..."victory.

Your small ball line-up looks interesting I just don't want to have to see it.
 
Have we gone "small" at all this year? If we have, I can't remember when. Rebounding has been our strongest asset and I just don't see Roy going small.
 
Have we gone "small" at all this year? If we have, I can't remember when. Rebounding has been our strongest asset and I just don't see Roy going small.

I think we have a couple of times at the very end of games..probably less than 5 possessions though
 
Roy will always play 2 bigs this year IMO, the only time he might not is end of game situations or if we had 2 or 3 bigs in foul trouble! He will probably put Brooks on champaigne but I think we will switch on him some and maybe put Leaky on him! If Leaky guards him it puts a big on the 6’6 guard (Toney) or the other 6’3 guy! Luckily this Pitt team is more of a street ball rum and gun team and they don’t have a ton of pure knock down set shooters! Is being pretty athletic I think we match up pretty well with their style!
I remember when Carolina played NC State in the 1997 ACC finals and State played 1 big maybe 6'7" and 4 guards.
Dean Smith played Jamison on States biggest player, then he put 7'3" Serge Zwicker on States 6'1" point guard Justin Gainey. Gainey was not a shooter and Serge never went beyond 15 ft. Dean was a genius.
 
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Would be shocked to see Roy play small unless absolutely forced to do so. As someone mentioned in another thread Brooks has been terrible against stretch 4's pulling him away from the basket recently. Any team that plays small is tough for this year's Heels, mainly because they cannot be efficient enough on offense to take advantage. Last game was first all season they have shot over 50% from field. Heels probably need to be at about 55% and hit enough 3's to keep Pitt honest to have a chance.

Let Champagnie get his but don't let anyone else get hot. Leaky can be the game MVP without scoring a basket. Pitt plays deep with 9 guys getting about 15+ minutes so UNC's depth not really an edge. Pitt seems to shoot 3's at about the rate UNC does they shoot them better. I am hoping for a solid W to continue the streak but will take any victory except a moral "we played well on the road and had a chance to win at the end..."victory.

Your small ball line-up looks interesting I just don't want to have to see it.

Take notes folks, Bubs nailed this, don't let anyone else beat ya, because chapienpenny is not gonna score 80, it is the rest that can beat ya. So handle the rest and look to deny Chapaingpenny getting the ball, block him out on a shot attempt and these guys are not really a threat. Of course we were going to be big against them, that was this game actually, our bigs just owned the paint, that was the game, we owned the paint.
 
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