The Tarheels backcourt will have to play very well against Trimble and Suilamon on tuesday.I give the edge to the heels frontcourt because they play tougher then the terps big guys.Georgetown gave them fits on the boards in that game.
The game vs Maryland will be decided by the backcourt play.
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I am a little more worried about our on ball defense since Berry has had so much trouble keeping his man in front of him. Hopefully, MP will help solidify our attempts to stop penetration and our D won't get warped. I am very happy with our toughness and i believe we will win a close affair. Our Bigs certainly should be able to out do theirs and I hope we can get to their bench.
Definitely going to have to play our best defensive game of the season. Really looking forward to renewing an old rivalry. I really wish Maryland was still in the ACC to be honest!
Article I saw today support that the Terps will win. #5 looks all too frustrating familiar. Once again, we will have to play our best defensive game of the season. I just hope the coaching staff stressing guarding the 3 point line like rabid dogs.
http://www.testudotimes.com/marylan...11/30/9815312/terps-unc-game-time-tv-schedule
http://www.testudotimes.com/marylan...11/30/9815312/terps-unc-game-time-tv-schedule
Why?
MD has plenty of firepower at their wings that will demand attention. I would pay attention to the 3 and 4 positions in this game. There will be some challenging match-ups there.
Honestly, that is the biggest challenge because they can stretch the floor, even from the 4 position. Brice can dominate inside on offense against these guys but will be challenged defensively. JJ /Theo will have their work cut out as well.
I actually am less concerned with Stone and their true Bigs. We can get some offensive glass action on them, and I think Kennedy's experience (with big Joel being useful off the bench in this one) can negate their size guys.
JB has not had any consistent trouble keeping his man in front of him, except when our Bigs don't do their jobs on high screens, or help D isn't where it needs to be. Our guards and wings are taught to funnel outward to sideline and then baseline, and the success of that depends on communication, ball-side gap control and back-side help.
Marcus's return should indeed help as he is more natural at guarding high than Theo, and he and JB should be able to tandem better away from the hoop, but if Turgeon has watched our film he will utilize high ball screens from his Bigs, so we will need a solid team defensive effort.
MD likes to get you to collapse so they can kick it out. Seeing man and ball, and then closing out will be key.
...and just now in a game preview Jay Williams said if he was coaching MD he would have Trimble using high ball screens testing Kennedy Meeks. Hope we've been practicing the hell outta defending that.
That would likely be a mismatch favoring Trimble on the perimeter. I love Theo but he ain't Dudley Bradley (or even Jackie Manuel) defensively just yet to be able to stay with smaller, quicker players.
Gonna be a battle..if we stay out of foul trouble inside and Marcus is somewhat effective I think we'll win. Go Heels!
I a mood to argue I reckon today cause I am going to disagree with the Op and a little on this post from gary. I think this game is going to revolved around which front court shows up more so than the back courts. IMO the back courts may well off set each other, my question is how well we will be able to deal with their size inside the paint. How quickly will our front court guys step to the penetration and rotate on the back side to cover the slips. Of course I would love to see our guards shut down the penetration by staying in front but between the touch fouls being called now and the hard screens up top it is double tuff to stop a ball handler from getting that step. So to me the key is going to be our ability to switch screens and rotate to head off and recover back to passing lanes.
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gary, IMO Brice can dominate if he looks to draw contact and does not go back to that fall away stuff but he seems to often to shy away from the contact and that neither gains him the foul call or allows him to be in good rebounding position on a miss. Hicks with his movement and work can get some things done inside but Brice & Hicks have to stay out of foul trouble, especially first half foul trouble. Roy may want to protect Brice a little bit in that first half so fouls will not hamper him in the second, Brice really backs off when he gets foul 2 in the first half and when he picks up his 3rd earlish in the second. Foul trouble cools his offense as well as his desire to defend.
The position spot I will be looking hard at is the wing, Jackson/Theo vs Leyman, who wins that battle is going to be big, can not let leyman get clean looks and get in a zone, have to make those challenges for him and then seal him off from going after his miss. I think leyman may struggle with Jacksons constant movement off the ball, he could find foul trouble because of that.
I do think he will develope in to a defender at that level gary, a ways to go but the kid loves the challenge of defending. Maybe it is just me but i am much higher on him as a defender than most seem to be. A quick ball handler 2 is a tuff match up for him but that is a tuff match up for any 6'7" player.
I said in another post that PART of our problem was the inconsistent show by the bigs, but JB does choose to go under screens when he should fight to stay on the hip and he does get flatfooted at the top of the key at times. (I will not say any more because it is starting to sound like bashing one of our own to me) I believe he will be a very good defender for us and his positives far out weigh any negative, but we need MP until then. Our best team has MP and JB at guards! Meeks is the key to this game to me. If he is high energy on O and D we will excel, but if he fouls too much or doesn't hedge with strength our D gets warped. Brice on the other hand often hedges too hard and picks up needless fouls(and he drifts). Our D needs simple tweaks and we have the coaches to make them. I would rather face High ball screens than a steady diet of zone though since we have a tendency to jack up 3's against zones. (JJ seems to have this figured out though)
Go Tar Heels and Go MP!
Go Tar Heels and Go MP!
Theo will be a lock down Defender very soon. The guy works his tail off! Right now he can't handle the quicks, but he is a terror to wings. I think it will be a shock to them when he enters and adds his energy to our team. (assuming he goes to the bench)
Absolutely agree with that. The little guys are not who he needs to be matched up with.
