The last 2 games...

[DSouthr]

First the duke game, I FINALLY took the time to watch this game yesterday BEFORE I watched the Miami game. Now I realize many took my comments about Roy coaching vs duke as my being very negative toward Roy, they actually were not intended as such. I was arguing a point that the head coach ALWAYS has the trump card over his players that refuse to do what the coach tells them to do and that is playing time, specifically yanking a kid that does not listen and parking him on the bench. Without actually watching the game I could not be sure if Roy should have done that but from what I could glean from the comments it appeared he should have.

I was surprised with what I actually saw from that game, no it was not a good game of coaching for Roy, but the tenor of this board made it seem like it was much worse than it actually was. Yes, Roy should have demanded the ball get inside to Brice and Hicks MUCH more in that second half. But Brice & Hicks didn't make getting them the ball real easy either, Brice did float around a lot on that second half outside, if ya gonna get the ball inside to Brice then Brice kinda needs to be inside to receive it.

What I watched was a typical UNC vs duke game for about 38min and 40 seconds and we had a bad last minute 20 seconds, they got the breaks and we didn't. Ingram was a big factor in that last 5mins, give the kid credit. Allen for all his antics did what he had to do to help them get that win and that limited line up in a odd way played to their advantage. It kinda became we 5 against the world and their intensity if anything increased. We should have pounded it in and got that 5th foul on Plumlee, clearly the refs were hesitant to call fouls on a duke team with limited numbers after jones went down. We were not going to get the call on Plumlee for off the ball stuff, we should have forced the issue and there were some chances, one in particular where Meeks had plum pinned inside the block charge circle but didn't go directly in to him to force the contact.

WE did want to long in that last 5mins to initiate our offense, got us deep in the shot clock and that is what forced many of our bad shots from guards, but when you are under 5 seconds on the shot clock and don't have an open guy, you are gonna get a forced shot. On that last trip down Roy should have called a time out more so because he saw Joel slow it down anticipating a time out. I can see not calling one if if Joel does not slow it down, attack before the defense is set but he did pull it back and Roy should have taken the time out.

My point, maybe it was knowing the out come before I watched the game but I was not nearly as upset with our play as the majority of comments prepped me to be, we lost the last minute 20 seconds and that was the game. OK, heart breaking for sure but nothing to go find a tall tree and a length of rope over either? I was MUCH more disappointed in how we played ND and Lville if I am being honest but do agree, was not any where close to Roy's best game as a coach. So maybe only half his pay for that game should he donate away.

Miami, loved it, IMO, that was our B+ game and could consider an A- grade, Brice, Jackson, Hicks were terrific. Britt was really solid, Joel struggled with fouls but loved his on floor leadership, Paige was solid but for his jump shooting, Theo did what Theo does, hustled and got some opportunistic scores. As good as brice played and I love to watch Brice play when he gets pissed, clearly he was pissed, Jackson to me was player of that game, the kid was outstanding in pretty much every aspect. He defended, he hit the boards, he shot well, and he hit his free throws.

I liked our intensity for most of that duke game if I am being totally honest but that intensity level went up a notch yesterday and that was fun to watch. I felt before that game our backs were against the wall and that we would win, I was looking for a 10pt win, what I got was much better.

What that game yesterday should show is this team did not quit after that heart breaking loss, I am glad this fan did not quit on them...

 

[keysersosay#1]

Thank you D..... Nice analysis as always

 

[ChiShankCity]

I don't know if it's true, but Roy consistently says he doesn't look at the score during the game. He gets a feel of how his team is playing throughout the game. So clearly, he's a "feel" coach. If I were to guess, Roy was probably watching the game and saw that we were clearly the better team and eventually the depth and talent would take control of the game.

Whenever you coach like that, you take a risk against a team like Duke in a game as meaningful as that. While I consider some of the game can be analyzed as "weird things happen in rivalry games", there were several missed opportunities aside from the end of game timeout.

1. Big missed chance in pressing Duke. Duke is void of a consistent PG. Roy loves playing to his depth and truly believes that's a huge advantage going into the game. Duke was able to control the tempo especially in the second half (69 total possessions, we average 73 possessions per game). And we never even tested Duke if they would struggle handling pressure. Maybe we don't practice it.... And if we don't, I would question why we don't considering the depth. Pretty basic way in forcing Duke to get tired faster.

2. If you weren't going to press/test their ball handling and it was evident they couldn't guard Brice... The rotation needs to be shorter in a game like that IMO. The most important thing to Brice's success is spacing in the paint. That's why he's been more effective when Meeks was either hurt, or not playing with him. So that rotation needed to change. Also, Pinson couldn't play with Johnson on the court. No offensive credibility... Duke could at least make Johnson's life harder for a simple substitution.

3. I did think Brice got tired in the second half. Roy gave Brice a blow after the under 12 TO... It was a quick 2 minute blow. The oldest "trick" in the book is to sub a guy a minute before the media TO. Steal an extra minute of game time, which maybe an extra 2-3 min depending on stoppages before the media TO. Also, in big national TV games, the media timeouts are longer. Not by much, but by maybe 30 sec-1 min. TV controls these games. The refs get a cue from a media person signaling the broadcast is ready to play. Could have, and probably should have, stolen an extra couple minutes of real time rest.

4. If Brice was getting tired, then Roy had timeouts to get him rest. The counter is that you don't want Duke to get rest since they're tired. In that kind of game where Brice is unguardable, I don't care if Duke had 200% left in the tank, they weren't going to stop Brice if he had anything left in the tank.

5. The 2 calls to go 1-3-1 were completely from the sideline. I understand one to give them a completely different look and Duke missed an open look. After that though... It's not like Duke was torching the nets. They shot 42% for the game. You're inviting a corner three with that defense. You're more vulnerable to offensive rebounds too.
_____________

Typically when you have 2 good teams and the game is close at the end... The team that's better coached during practice and the better tactical coach will give that team an edge. Duke was very clearly better prepared in that situation. They knew exactly what they were going to do.

Move on, hopefully learn from it. Roy isn't going to change on a dime. But hopefully they know what they're going to do in late game situations from now on. Hopefully they know that Brice is consistently their best option. Hopefully this will be like 2005 and 2012. Disappointing first losses to Duke due to failed late game execution. Then get revenge on the return leg.

I am worried that we're 27 games in and still don't have our rotation figured out. But better figure out that Hicks is the better option than Meeks late than never.

 

[gary-7]

First the duke game, I FINALLY took the time to watch this game yesterday BEFORE I watched the Miami game. Now I realize many took my comments about Roy coaching vs duke as my being very negative toward Roy, they actually were not intended as such. I was arguing a point that the head coach ALWAYS has the trump card over his players that refuse to do what the coach tells them to do and that is playing time, specifically yanking a kid that does not listen and parking him on the bench. Without actually watching the game I could not be sure if Roy should have done that but from what I could glean from the comments it appeared he should have.

I was surprised with what I actually saw from that game, no it was not a good game of coaching for Roy, but the tenor of this board made it seem like it was much worse than it actually was. Yes, Roy should have demanded the ball get inside to Brice and Hicks MUCH more in that second half. But Brice & Hicks didn't make getting them the ball real easy either, Brice did float around a lot on that second half outside, if ya gonna get the ball inside to Brice then Brice kinda needs to be inside to receive it.

What I watched was a typical UNC vs duke game for about 38min and 40 seconds and we had a bad last minute 20 seconds, they got the breaks and we didn't. Ingram was a big factor in that last 5mins, give the kid credit. Allen for all his antics did what he had to do to help them get that win and that limited line up in a odd way played to their advantage. It kinda became we 5 against the world and their intensity if anything increased. We should have pounded it in and got that 5th foul on Plumlee, clearly the refs were hesitant to call fouls on a duke team with limited numbers after jones went down. We were not going to get the call on Plumlee for off the ball stuff, we should have forced the issue and there were some chances, one in particular where Meeks had plum pinned inside the block charge circle but didn't go directly in to him to force the contact.

WE did want to long in that last 5mins to initiate our offense, got us deep in the shot clock and that is what forced many of our bad shots from guards, but when you are under 5 seconds on the shot clock and don't have an open guy, you are gonna get a forced shot. On that last trip down Roy should have called a time out more so because he saw Joel slow it down anticipating a time out. I can see not calling one if if Joel does not slow it down, attack before the defense is set but he did pull it back and Roy should have taken the time out.

My point, maybe it was knowing the out come before I watched the game but I was not nearly as upset with our play as the majority of comments prepped me to be, we lost the last minute 20 seconds and that was the game. OK, heart breaking for sure but nothing to go find a tall tree and a length of rope over either? I was MUCH more disappointed in how we played ND and Lville if I am being honest but do agree, was not any where close to Roy's best game as a coach. So maybe only half his pay for that game should he donate away.

Miami, loved it, IMO, that was our B+ game and could consider an A- grade, Brice, Jackson, Hicks were terrific. Britt was really solid, Joel struggled with fouls but loved his on floor leadership, Paige was solid but for his jump shooting, Theo did what Theo does, hustled and got some opportunistic scores. As good as brice played and I love to watch Brice play when he gets pissed, clearly he was pissed, Jackson to me was player of that game, the kid was outstanding in pretty much every aspect. He defended, he hit the boards, he shot well, and he hit his free throws.

I liked our intensity for most of that duke game if I am being totally honest but that intensity level went up a notch yesterday and that was fun to watch. I felt before that game our backs were against the wall and that we would win, I was looking for a 10pt win, what I got was much better.

What that game yesterday should show is this team did not quit after that heart breaking loss, I am glad this fan did not quit on them...

Dave, I will throw in just 2 things re dook: The overall complaint I had with Roy was not forcing tempo with traps and getting TOs to get things organized offensively down the stretch.

 

[KOOL123]

At the end of the day somebody has got to make a shot....This is a team loaded with JRs and SRs....Step up and make a bucket....Marcus use to be that guy but I am just baffled by him...Have never seen anything like it....

 

[Heelicious]

First the duke game, I FINALLY took the time to watch this game yesterday BEFORE I watched the Miami game. Now I realize many took my comments about Roy coaching vs duke as my being very negative toward Roy, they actually were not intended as such. I was arguing a point that the head coach ALWAYS has the trump card over his players that refuse to do what the coach tells them to do and that is playing time, specifically yanking a kid that does not listen and parking him on the bench. Without actually watching the game I could not be sure if Roy should have done that but from what I could glean from the comments it appeared he should have.

I was surprised with what I actually saw from that game, no it was not a good game of coaching for Roy, but the tenor of this board made it seem like it was much worse than it actually was. Yes, Roy should have demanded the ball get inside to Brice and Hicks MUCH more in that second half. But Brice & Hicks didn't make getting them the ball real easy either, Brice did float around a lot on that second half outside, if ya gonna get the ball inside to Brice then Brice kinda needs to be inside to receive it.

What I watched was a typical UNC vs duke game for about 38min and 40 seconds and we had a bad last minute 20 seconds, they got the breaks and we didn't. Ingram was a big factor in that last 5mins, give the kid credit. Allen for all his antics did what he had to do to help them get that win and that limited line up in a odd way played to their advantage. It kinda became we 5 against the world and their intensity if anything increased. We should have pounded it in and got that 5th foul on Plumlee, clearly the refs were hesitant to call fouls on a duke team with limited numbers after jones went down. We were not going to get the call on Plumlee for off the ball stuff, we should have forced the issue and there were some chances, one in particular where Meeks had plum pinned inside the block charge circle but didn't go directly in to him to force the contact.

WE did want to long in that last 5mins to initiate our offense, got us deep in the shot clock and that is what forced many of our bad shots from guards, but when you are under 5 seconds on the shot clock and don't have an open guy, you are gonna get a forced shot. On that last trip down Roy should have called a time out more so because he saw Joel slow it down anticipating a time out. I can see not calling one if if Joel does not slow it down, attack before the defense is set but he did pull it back and Roy should have taken the time out.

My point, maybe it was knowing the out come before I watched the game but I was not nearly as upset with our play as the majority of comments prepped me to be, we lost the last minute 20 seconds and that was the game. OK, heart breaking for sure but nothing to go find a tall tree and a length of rope over either? I was MUCH more disappointed in how we played ND and Lville if I am being honest but do agree, was not any where close to Roy's best game as a coach. So maybe only half his pay for that game should he donate away.

Miami, loved it, IMO, that was our B+ game and could consider an A- grade, Brice, Jackson, Hicks were terrific. Britt was really solid, Joel struggled with fouls but loved his on floor leadership, Paige was solid but for his jump shooting, Theo did what Theo does, hustled and got some opportunistic scores. As good as brice played and I love to watch Brice play when he gets pissed, clearly he was pissed, Jackson to me was player of that game, the kid was outstanding in pretty much every aspect. He defended, he hit the boards, he shot well, and he hit his free throws.

I liked our intensity for most of that duke game if I am being totally honest but that intensity level went up a notch yesterday and that was fun to watch. I felt before that game our backs were against the wall and that we would win, I was looking for a 10pt win, what I got was much better.

What that game yesterday should show is this team did not quit after that heart breaking loss, I am glad this fan did not quit on them...

Great post Dave. This may seem like a bit of a ticky tack quibble, but I'd at least give this game an A-. Meaning, if we bottle this game and match it against ANY team in the NCAA, (including KU, NOva, OK, UVA) I think we win going away. Even with Paige's shooting. We could get to the line a bit more, and rebound a bit better, so I guess I've talked myself into the B+ grade you gave them. But I think we can't ever expect every single guy to have a good to great game in the same game, and we almost got that yesterday IMO. I know it was at home and Miami came out flat and were due for a loss, etc.

But again - if you tell me we'd play like they did yesterday, each game the rest of the way, on offense and defense, I don't think they'd lose another game this year. Three titles (ACC reg, ACCT, NCAA). Wouldn't that be nice?

 

[r_u_worthy]

The end of the dook game aside- the team is trending up! Everyone was talking about the Heels losing 3 of 5 before Miami, but with the win on Saturday UNC has won 3 of 4 and played some of the best ball of the season for extended stretches with the effort against the Canes being the most complete game since the Terps game against that level of competition. That is a very good sign.
I thought 7-1 or 6-2 over the last 8 conf games wins the conference and secures a 1 seed. That seems very doable from this point! (Yeah- the glass is half full!)

 

[DSouthr]

Great post Dave. This may seem like a bit of a ticky tack quibble, but I'd at least give this game an A-. Meaning, if we bottle this game and match it against ANY team in the NCAA, (including KU, NOva, OK, UVA) I think we win going away. Even with Paige's shooting. We could get to the line a bit more, and rebound a bit better, so I guess I've talked myself into the B+ grade you gave them. But I think we can't ever expect every single guy to have a good to great game in the same game, and we almost got that yesterday IMO. I know it was at home and Miami came out flat and were due for a loss, etc.

But again - if you tell me we'd play like they did yesterday, each game the rest of the way, on offense and defense, I don't think they'd lose another game this year. Three titles (ACC reg, ACCT, NCAA). Wouldn't that be nice?

Yeah, as I said, thought about A- but went B+ due to Marcus jump shooting and Meeks continued lacking of aggression. I also factor in the fact that Miami had the long road trip to us and that is a larger factor this time of the season. I will say this was the best game this season for the combo of Brice and Jackson both having great games in the same game.

Lot of folk made a big deal out of our losing to Lville and ND but few consider we had a string of not just 3 away games but it was 3 long travel away games, that takes a toll on teams this time of the season. Duke plays us tuff short handed but they got the long travel away game to LVille and they go down. And of course we torch a good Miami team that had the long travel game, Pitt vs us Pitt had the long travel. It is one thing when we go on the road vs any of the big 4 because those are short bus rides, much different than going to Ky and Indiana, or BC & Miami for that matter. Point is we didn't get the best punch Miami has. Early season travel is not as hard because you are on fresh legs, later season it becomes a lot more of a drain.

 

[Archer2]

I believe the long trips do make a difference, Dave. I try not to get too high after a great win or too low after a bad loss. Your average performance level will, by definition, fall somewhere in between. The key is to play nearer to the higher end of the spectrum as often as possible.