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Still wondering Why has not another big man been added to this years team

Yep! He will get destroyed down low, love his game but he’s suited for the stretch 4 position and that only...we know Hubert wants to play more spread out and play small ball and stretch the defense! But with 2 open scholarships we need to add depth where it’s needed and that’s down low! I trust Hubert and like the recruits he’s offered in future classes but I’m really hoping we can add another big...I know we never do this but a reclassification could be an option! Get a kid who loves UNC, will develop and play 10 to 15 min as a freshman! Then in year 2 could be a stud...Hubert seems to be open to new ideas so maybe he will explore this route, or maybe keep searching through the transfer portal! Either way I’m excited for next years team and future Tar Heel basketball!
Mancek is what, 6'9" and tips the scales around 235lbs and he can't at very least cover the 5 when Bacot needs a rest? Excuse me but that is really hard for me to understand. The role he played at Okey does not have to mean he plays that exact role at UNC and you can bet, our back up for Bacot right now is Mancek.

Look, you have a 4 that stretches the floor he is just going to be outside the paint a lot, stretching the floor, drawing out a big man defender from the paint. Doesn't matter if he has the ball in his hands or not, he is a constant threat for the ball to get to him and he to shoot. If Mancek were 7'4" and was still a stretch guy he would still spend a lot of time outside the paint and drawing away his big man defender who has to respect his outside shooting.

You guys worried about Mancek spending any time at the 5 are stuck between how Roy wanted them to play and how Hubert is wanting them to play. Roy wanted 2 conventional big men in the paint to both alter shots and dominate the boards but that resulted in to much congestion in the paint and created at times mismatches outside with smaller 4s (more like our wings) that were being defended by bigger defenders out in space, advantage smaller guy.

Now I (have said many times) am a fan of the big man game, IMO a great big man wins more college games than a great small man because a big man defended by a small guy that catches the ball deep in the post is not going to be stopped by a small defender. But with so many programs now going to the smaller 4s, guys that were solid shooting wings (3s) before, they are taking advantage that big men do not defend as well out in space. Sharpe for example defended smaller guys much better than most would have expected but most opposing coaches liked their chances of their 6'6" power forward being defended by Sharpe 30" from the basket.

After watching last season, I do think it is pretty clear that we were being torched by good ball movement, especially helping to much on a drive and allowing a wide open spot up shooter to be in great position to splash a 3 on us. We had to have counter to that and the counter I can get behind (as well as what it looks like Hubert is looking to do) is look to draw defending bigs out of the paint with a smaller or at least a more legit out side shooting threat what happen to be guys that have more mobility than the old school power forwards had. If we do that, I do hope that we maintain having a long wing (3) similar to our 4s length but is a respected shooting threat (Puff) rather than go 3 shooting guards (interchangeable 2s and 3s) meaning not as our primary look. I love us switching off between our 3 & 4 positions off those high screens and lose little defender length. Examples, Leaky and Mckoy in together or Puff and Styles. While Leaky struggles to shoot, Mckoy should be a decent shooter, where Puff really is thin, Styles has a really good motor and loves to mix it up physically.
 
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Exactly what I have been saying! It is silly to believe any serious baller would be scared to D up who ever he is directed at. Tell the kid the truth and he will adjust as all ballers would! JUst because you guard the 5 on D does not mean you have to stay with your back to the basket on O! Dang! + McKoy can guard 5s for a spell and there is this thing called a zone! + perimeter pressure and picking up full court can help with post D tremendously! It is a team game and we have plenty of pieces + smart coaches!
 
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The kid Pitt just nabbed from the portal (who's name I'm blanking on) sounds like someone we could've used. Athletic, runs the floor and a superb rim protector....

Makes me feel like there is a plan in place. Manley?? A big testing the NBA waters before coming back?

I just can't fathom not having another true 5 to spell Bacot during the upcoming season.
 
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The kid Pitt just nabbed from the portal (who's name I'm blanking on) sounds like someone we could've used. Athletic, runs the floor and a superb rim protector....

Makes me feel like there is a plan in place. Manley?? A big testing the NBA waters before coming back?

I just can't fathom not having another true 5 to spell Bacot during the upcoming season.
Yeah, Daniel Oladapo from Oakland. Let’s put it this way. If we go into next year without picking up another big, it will be a nerve wracking season. We’d be an injury to Bacot/Manek away from potential disaster. I’m hoping Shaver will reclassify.

Kerwin mostly played at the SF spot last season.

Hubert all but said we will no longer be going with a 2 big system and be spreading it out with shooters.

Bacot is your starter in the post. Manek is his back up.
I disagree. Like David, I’m convinced that Manic(my nickname for Manek) will start alongside of Bacot. I don’t think Hubert meant he “would no longer be going with a two big system” . I think he means ”two traditional bigs”, two guys who stayed down low. He wants his bigs to step outside and decongest the paint area. That doesn’t mean he won’t start two bigs, he just wants them to possess the ability to face up and shoot the jumper.
I will be shocked if Manek does not start at the 4 with Bacot at the 5.
As will I.
 
What I can't understand is how many peeps hold onto the competing ideas that:
1. The game has changed and teams do not need back to the basket bigs
2. Tar Heels can't compete without 2 back to the basket bigs!

If bigs are roaming the perimeter and few teams have beefy post dwellers, why is it unfathomable that Mckoy, Manek, Styles, etc can handle backing up Bacot for short stretches? If Bacot goes down it will be a tremendous blow no matter whether we have a 7 foot backup or not. No team absorbed the loss of their best player well at any point in history! If he gets in foul trouble we will be fine. (Zone, Full court pressure, switching all screens, doubling the post upon entry, pressuring the perimeter = many of the ways to handle this!) Running constant motion+ breaking often with a smaller team will also exhaust their big/ get some fouls and force them to respond to us!
 
Yeah, Daniel Oladapo from Oakland. Let’s put it this way. If we go into next year without picking up another big, it will be a nerve wracking season. We’d be an injury to Bacot/Manek away from potential disaster. I’m hoping Shaver will reclassify.


I disagree. Like David, I’m convinced that Manic(my nickname for Manek) will start alongside of Bacot. I don’t think Hubert meant he “would no longer be going with a two big system” . I think he means ”two traditional bigs”, two guys who stayed down low. He wants his bigs to step outside and decongest the paint area. That doesn’t mean he won’t start two bigs, he just wants them to possess the ability to face up and shoot the jumper.

As will I.
Could not agree more!
 
We are deep, athletic, and versatile enough to be a + defensive team, including Full Court/3/4 court pressure! Making teams take time to get the ball in the frontcourt will help prevent them from getting into their O and having time to set up proper entry passes! It also tends to speed teams up and this usually plays in our favor! Man or Zone pressure could help alleviate the issue with our thin front court.
 
Got to hit shots to set it up so last year it would have been difficult to do it! Hopefully, this is one more thing that can be fixed by simply hitting shots!
 
We are deep, athletic, and versatile enough to be a + defensive team, including Full Court/3/4 court pressure! Making teams take time to get the ball in the frontcourt will help prevent them from getting into their O and having time to set up proper entry passes! It also tends to speed teams up and this usually plays in our favor! Man or Zone pressure could help alleviate the issue with our thin front court.
Keep in mind that what I am going to say here is from a guy that totally believes big men in the college game are the game changers!

I have screamed for years that we had the personnel to play more of a pressure defense and I have never understood why we didn't, at least until we got way down in a game and the clock was ticking late. As opposed to Dean's switching defensive approach, Roy preferred to stay with his standard base defense. Other than at times assigning a sole defender to face guard a known and established shooter (IE Brooks on Manley, Leaky on Bohiem) our defense was rather vanilla and opposing coaches coached their players to know what to expect and how to handle it.

Now unless you play pac man like Bennetts teams do or Syracuse zone like Bohiem teaches it, you really are well served by showing different looks and forcing the other team to first figure out what they are going against right now and then how to attack it, that is pressure with a short time clock.

I want us to give defensive pressure constantly, go from 3/4 court token pressure and settle back in to a zone, full court trapping in to switching man to man, ect. NEVER let an opposing PG casually walk the ball up past half court with zero pressure. PGs under constant pressure make mistakes, never let off the pressure because it wears teams down. You do need your PG to be more of a QB than a guy primarily looking for his own scores in the half court but every PG prefers to play within a more wide open running game than a half court game and defensive pressure leads to you being able to play more a wide open game on the offensive end.

WE have a great squad right now to play a pressure defense because what we lack in front court size, we more than make up for with mobility and versatility out of the 3 and 4 spots and we have the 2 and 3 deep to do this while most teams do not. I believe it more allows you to play at the pace we want to be at on the offensive end, funny how placing pressure on the defensive end speeds other teams up mentally, exactly what you want to do (that defines as TOs leading to fast breaks).

And the real pay off, the pay off we always saw with Dean's teams, 3minutes left in the half or end of game, UNC goes on a run because the other teams tongues are dragging, they have tired legs and that leads to their breaking down mentally.
 
I want us to give defensive pressure constantly, go from 3/4 court token pressure and settle back in to a zone, full court trapping in to switching man to man, ect. NEVER let an opposing PG casually walk the ball up past half court with zero pressure. PGs under constant pressure make mistakes, never let off the pressure because it wears teams down. You do need your PG to be more of a QB than a guy primarily looking for his own scores in the half court but every PG prefers to play within a more wide open running game than a half court game and defensive pressure leads to you being able to play more a wide open game on the offensive end.

WE have a great squad right now to play a pressure defense because what we lack in front court size, we more than make up for with mobility and versatility out of the 3 and 4 spots and we have the 2 and 3 deep to do this while most teams do not. I believe it more allows you to play at the pace we want to be at on the offensive end, funny how placing pressure on the defensive end speeds other teams up mentally, exactly what you want to do (that defines as TOs leading to fast breaks).

And the real pay off, the pay off we always saw with Dean's teams, 3minutes left in the half or end of game, UNC goes on a run because the other teams tongues are dragging, they have tired legs and that leads to their breaking down mentally.

I love the idea of sustained pressure on the defensive end but it's hard to do effectively with a young team not used to playing together. Look at the teams that usually are high on the defensive metrics and they are more often than not comprised of upperclassmen. How many times did UNC give up open 3 or backdoor layup because the guys defending off the ball did not get into position? A key factor in those those teams you mentioned is that they were full of guys who knew their individual responsibility in the TEAM defense concept.

Man defense is so much easier to play, especially for the younger guys. A lot of what made a guy like Jackie Manual a lockdown defender was that the guys behind him were experienced playing together. Unless a young team has a dominant rim protector it is hard to play effective pressure defense. I would love for Hubert to spend the first 2 weeks of practice on defense. Switch defenses early and often and on offense PRESSURE the other team. Maybe my biggest pet peeve is when the other team makes a basket and the pg is standing there waiting for someone to inbound the ball. We always had a guy designated to that (usually the 5). Get the damn ball in and go into Lawson mode - don't let the opponent set their D.
 
Exactly what I have been saying D! Except for the Roy part because he knew our team couldn't handle pressure D so was forced to keep it simple, we agree totally! I am a strong proponent of Bigs being the game changers on O and D, but I recognize the game seems to de-value back to the basket Bigs on O, while wanting rim protectors on D. Hard to have both, but I think we have the team to handle it. The question is what will the team show Hubs in practice as I am sure he will want to use the D to speed the game up somehow! He was part of the multi-D era, but knows how tough it is to do this properly!
 
It is so exciting that Carolina may get a couple of verbals this week for next years team and that Bacot made it official today by saying he is coming back but UNC will be on thin ice this season if another big is not picked up soon. Maybe Shaver can be reclassified..:
 
I love the idea of sustained pressure on the defensive end but it's hard to do effectively with a young team not used to playing together. Look at the teams that usually are high on the defensive metrics and they are more often than not comprised of upperclassmen. How many times did UNC give up open 3 or backdoor layup because the guys defending off the ball did not get into position? A key factor in those those teams you mentioned is that they were full of guys who knew their individual responsibility in the TEAM defense concept.

Man defense is so much easier to play, especially for the younger guys. A lot of what made a guy like Jackie Manual a lockdown defender was that the guys behind him were experienced playing together. Unless a young team has a dominant rim protector it is hard to play effective pressure defense. I would love for Hubert to spend the first 2 weeks of practice on defense. Switch defenses early and often and on offense PRESSURE the other team. Maybe my biggest pet peeve is when the other team makes a basket and the pg is standing there waiting for someone to inbound the ball. We always had a guy designated to that (usually the 5). Get the damn ball in and go into Lawson mode - don't let the opponent set their D.
Excellent point, is a lot to learn for a young team and that could mean it is installed in stages as opposed to all at once. But don't know if there is a more complicated scheme to learn than the Pac-man the way Bennett wants it played and for last several years no matter how experienced his teams have been, they have played it really well.
 
It is so exciting that Carolina may get a couple of verbals this week for next years team and that Bacot made it official today by saying he is coming back but UNC will be on thin ice this season if another big is not picked up soon. Maybe Shaver can be reclassified..:
ID, I don't want to re-write it but I did address my current thinking on "our need for another big man" on another thread here (Bacot back thread) this morning so check that out and see if that maybe makes a better case. I have personally come near 180 on this since even earlier in this thread.
 
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I have read the comments from Dsouthr and TP, both of whom I really like and respect, BUT those of us who are strongly advocating for another big, are advocating for a big BENCH player. Someone like the kid Indiana just signed or Pitt just signed who is not a starter like brady but rather a sub who will give Bacot a 5-8 minute breather per game... Gather a few rebounds, make a shot or two The kid at Ind was is/going to be a BENCH player at Va Tech... THAT is what we need IMO

Think for a second if Bacot had decided to STAY in the draft. Man oh man we would be up ish creek without a paddle.

I still contend we need another big no matter the style that we play.
 
Don't let my comments fool you, I totally agree that it would be great to have a large bodied Big to backup Bacot! I firmly believe the staff is trying hard to find one as we speak. I just believe two things very strongly:
1. It is difficult to find the right Big that knows he will sit and may be a backup for his whole career at UNC in the portal.
2. Our team has multiple options right now that can give Bacot a break and change the pace of the game.

I'm very happy that Hubs and staff aren't just snagging any warm body over 6'9". I was never worried that Bacot would stay in the draft. I have not given up hope that Big Ster may still come back. I love the fact that we have vaulted back to the top of elite recruits' lists! All things considered, I think the program is on the proper trajectory and Hubs is going to be great!
 
I have read the comments from Dsouthr and TP, both of whom I really like and respect, BUT those of us who are strongly advocating for another big, are advocating for a big BENCH player. Someone like the kid Indiana just signed or Pitt just signed who is not a starter like brady but rather a sub who will give Bacot a 5-8 minute breather per game... Gather a few rebounds, make a shot or two The kid at Ind was is/going to be a BENCH player at Va Tech... THAT is what we need IMO

Think for a second if Bacot had decided to STAY in the draft. Man oh man we would be up ish creek without a paddle.

I still contend we need another big no matter the style that we play.
Key, the respect is mutual for sure! I do understand your thinking, I wrestled with this question for a while. I think much of my thinking was (to a degree still is) due to my not being as "sold" on bringing in McKoy, I would have preferred that spot go to a guy able to give us quality minutes as a more traditional 5, rather than what I for now see as more of a Jawad Williams type of 4. I am hoping hard to be shown wrong in that, I really want to be wrong on that and will be glad to step up and admit to being wrong about what McKoy brings us if he in fact does.

But with McKoy, we not only got the player, we invested in him one of the key front court rotation spots, of which we basically only go 4 deep in and that 4th guy gets reduced minutes (what I think for now is where Styles is). Bring in another front court guy, that guy would be bench in any event unless we got a miracle with Sharpe being able to come back (geez I wish we still had kessler for sure). But sans the miracle cure, rather than just bring in just any big guy, I think it is smarter to invest in Styles who has shown by staying with his commit even after Roy stepped down that he really wants to be here and is willing to put the work in, I say give him the chance at being the 4th front court guy in our rotation and not water his minutes down any more than they will be as the 4th guy in that rotation. So I am picking Styles over most of the portal options available, over any other options I think could be available for us.

Keep in mind as well, my big man concerns were/are about just next season because I absolutely LOVE how things seem to be unfolding for front court guys that we are in great position with from the next class. We got a great start with the big kid already committed and telling you we are set up to get at least 2 more very talented front court guys. With Mancek gone and would be very surprised if Bacot does not enter the draft after next season, we will have PT to offer big guys that already like us a ton.
 
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Filipowski, our latest big man offer, looks darn good.

If he could reclassify, he could back up this season and start next season already knowing what to do.

Folks on the Duke board think he's their next Plumlee, but that was before Hubert got involved.

Check him out. Good shooter/scorer and even a few nifty passes.

 
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His vid clip, not all that impressive, well not until you realize the kid is doing that at 6'10" and all the sudden it is like WHAT! He is better than any of the Plums by a LOT!
 
Nice to see there are a few options still available to help the Tar Heels up front this season….Now just one to say yes I am coming to the Hill..
 
Hey, here is a deal I will live with, we will give Arizona Obanor in exchange for Garcia!
I think Garcia is by far the better pick up, he’s a much better fit! Obanor would make us a lot better too! I really think we end up getting one of them..just a feeling
 
I really like this kid! (Filipowski) I do NOT want to see him corrupted by the dark side! He is a well spoken, nice and smart young man! He is a team first alpha with size and skill! How is he just a 4*??? I hope Hubs puts the full court press on him and that Face falls flat trying to run the rat brigade!
 
We all have our favorite targets and I'm no different. I'm not as concerned about 2022 as some of you. Hubert has one year to take care of roster for 2022. With the portal and NIL, I'm not worried about next year.

IMO, Hubert first priority is to improve the roster this year. It's a proven theory of "What have you done lately for me". In other words, fans will forget very quickly about Hubert's early recruiting success if he does not get out to a positive start in the season. I get it folks, but I have confidence that Hubert will get it done.

My main concern right now is Hubert signing a player like Garcia to play 22-25 minutes alongside Bacot and Manek. I cringe every time I think about how many games this season when Bacot gets 2 quick fouls. Also, it would be a miracle if Bacot does not go down a few games this season with an injury. Yes, I do believe in miracles.

If Hubert does not get Garcia, my response is "NEXT". Yes, getting someone in ASAP is important, but it is not death sentence. If you recall, K-Rat signed Bagley in August that year. Correction, he paid for Bagley.

UNC has turned the tide with the NIL. The kid that just signed with Tennessee State that is not even ranked just signed a 2M NIL deal. Bacot and Leaky have annouced their deals. Wait until you hear about Caleb Love's deal. Chill out folks! Good things brewing, possibly as early as this week!

 
I think Garcia is by far the better pick up, he’s a much better fit! Obanor would make us a lot better too! I really think we end up getting one of them..just a feeling
What I really love about Garcia is his ability to play multiple roles. he can stretch 4 or stretch 5 yet he can also classic 4 or classic 5. I do think he needs to add 15-20lbs of muscle before he is NBA ready but he has the frame to add and carry that. My thought all along has been if we could not keep Kessler or get Sharpe back that Garcia was one of the very few I would be all in for us to snag.

Know who wants Garcia at UNC maybe even more than Hubert? Caleb Love, Garcia is the perfect guy to allow what Caleb is best at to shine because when Garcia steps outside a big man MUST go out there with him, you can not switch a wing out on him with his length.
 
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