Very quick stuff (Portland game)...

[gary-7]

...and I'd really like to enjoy a UNC game at some point this season.

So... you play an underdog on their home turf who has nothing to fear, willing to foul everyone but the score-keeper, set more illegal screens than a Home Depot burglary, and predictably hitting pretty much everything they threw up?..,. well, you should expect that when yer Carolina. Indeed, we've seen that movie too many times, and that prospect alone should prompt coming out with effort and a determination to play to our strengths. Y'all watched it --- we did none of that --- at least not until the last under-4.

- honestly, I really don't have much technical to add to the previous threads from this season --- same old story. Our strengths should be inside-out. Nope --- few if any deep entries (and missing myriad post-entry ops). And transition? Nope --- played right into their hands and tempo. Hitting FTs? Once again, nope (which pre-empted us ever getting a working lead).

- more of the same-ol' --- too much dribbling, not nearly enough passing.

- obviously it's good to see Pete regaining confidence with the spot-up 3, and Caleb taking initiative, but that's fool's gold. This is a TEAM game, and the aforementioned individual exploits were too often bail-outs from lackluster team play

- bottom line is the win was nothing more than a result of an experienced roster deciding to play 4 minutes of good enough basketaball and effort at the end to pull a stinker out of the fire.

- finally, on second thought, I will offer a couple of x-and-o takes: 1) as long as we stubbornly remain in 20 defense, we're gonna be sitting ducks for teams that want to scheme us, and buddy, we better bring max effort on that end a lot sooner than we did today... and 2) individual heroics aside, we're never gonna have a Carolina transition game until the perimter guys (not named Leaky) commit to pushing the rock and pitching ahead, and Mr. Nance finally realizes what lane he's supposed to run as a 4/5 man.

Anyway, sorry to be sour about a win, but watching it was a sour two hours when you don't see progress. This is college hoops' primo week (other than March Madness), and I've enjoyed watching AZ playing Carolina transition the way we used to, and our boy Andrew Platek light up FSU today (oh wait, I was told he can't play at this level ), and some very talented teams serving notice for the coming months, many of whom are doing it with a wealth of old-school Bigs, BTW. SO... is it too much to ask to be able to enjoy watching a whole game for our boys in Carolina blue? No, it's not, dadgummit, so lessee what tomorrow brings...

 

[ChiShankCity]

This is (more or less) what this team was last year apart from February and March. Expect them to be similar this year.

 

[Heels5150]

Thank you Gary for another honest and pointed analysis. Happy Thanksgiving to you and all of Tar Heel Nation. I started thinking just about the 4 minute mark left in the game that it might be a good thing if we lost. I can’t ever really remember ever thinking that for our team in years past. However, this Team is still making freshman mistakes and for a veteran team that’s not going to work going forward. Tomorrow we start playing Power 5 schools. I thought this was some of the best ball Caleb has played all season long. He had the one three late in the second half that was a bad shot selection. Outside of that his shot selection was very good. People are now saying that our bench is not producing but we have Hubert to thank for that. Since game one he should have been utilizing and playing our bench. None of our starters should be averaging over 32 minutes a game. We could literally split this Team in half and they could still have 2 top 25 teams in the country. There is a a lot of talent on this current team. It will be interesting to see how we respond tomorrow. Turnovers and free throws were disturbingly bad today. Lazy passes, missing free throws not to mention front ends of one n one are areas that need to get rectified sooner rather than later. Our defense wasn’t aggressive and there were way too many communication breakdowns during todays game. Guys losing sight of the ball and their man. I was very excited about this teams overall talent going into this season because with it we could start being the defensive teams in years past. Traps, full court, 3/4 quarters court, half court, etc… We could start dictating on defense and start forcing turnovers to start creating uptempo points on offense. Fast break, secondary break and just putting pressure on on other teams to start breaking them down all together. We have been sleepwalking through the first part of the season thus far and someone needs to come along and smack us to hopefully wake us up. That goes for the coaching staff especially. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

 

[dtodd4475]

Nance, Leaky, and Caleb were great. RJ struggled, but stepped up strong in crunch time, not concerned with him.

Mando is a concern to me. Another smallish front line and he was not as active cleaning the glass as he was last year. Seems a step slower in everything he is doing this year. Need the big fella to return to that burst he had a year ago. He gets some big bodies opposite him tomorrow, maybe that will bring it out in him.

Huge minutes again - Caleb 38, Nance 35, Leaky 34, Mando 34, RJ 31. The bench had almost 30 combined minutes with a bucket and a rebound. Nickels got a call in a close game deep into the 2nd half and made two horrible defensive plays within a minute giving up layups.

Shot 3's well, but uncharacteristically struggled at the FT line. Tomorrow will be interesting, looking forward to what it brings.

 

[Archer2]

Looks like it may take a butt whuppin’ or two to get this team’s attention. That goes for the staff too.

 

[Grayhead]

Does bacot seem like he hasn't touched the ball since last year. Something is way off with him conditionally

 

[imajericho]

Felt we didn't play great but Portland made a lot of shots that probably don't make that were tough shots this game. A lot of step backs and such that were contested.

 

[TarHeelFanWV]

Mondo’s hands seem weak. He’s not grabbing stuff that seems easy to grab. Like he has butterfingers. Also, when he gets the ball on offense, he’s holding the ball too low which is allowing the defenders to knock it away from him. At 6’10 and his strength, he needs to hold that ball higher.

And this defense reminds me of the Roy Williams years.. not guarding the 3 point line at all!

 

[UNC-75]

Let’s acknowledge that Portland played a good game. Their best this year and far exceeded what all expected. They hit a number of tough shots and despite that the Heels got the W. Sometimes you just have to overcome the unexpected challenge and our guys did.

 

[Ozheelfan]

Thanks for the write-up Gary.
Just finished watching on replay and it is helpful since you don't get sucked into some of the rubbish from the talking heads.

Caleb: His best game this year, yet still about 8 out of 10.... two inexplicable misses on easy lay-ups, a couple of wild shots and a 3-attempt for no reason. You could see he was much more dialled in for this game, not on offense, but defense... his effort on D in the first few minutes fuelled his offense IMO.

RJ: A quiet game, but not terrible. Yes Grover, a little too much dribbling around the perimeter, but he's getting better.

Bacot: As some have mentioned, he seems a little slow so far, it could be lingering conditioning from his ankle sprain in the FF.... or too many Canapes at the various cocktail events he went to during the summer. Either way, it shouldn't be a concern... I think working into a season is good, as long as you finish strong in April!

Nance: Great shooting night, he is terrific on offense when he has space or is able to run 'his moves'. Possibly his worst defensive outing in Carolina Blue... Was caught out of position or off balance multiple times.

Bench: Easy to see why Nickel and Trimble had their minutes cut... Trimble with back-to-back erratic plays in the 1st half, Nickel with worse defense than Nance! I'd have liked to see Dunn play more, he was solid if not spectacular.

Leaky: If there is any doubt who the Iron Man of this team is, then look no further than #1. Rarely puts a foot wrong and after 4 years is realising good things happen when a 6-9 former point guard with a 7ft wingspan takes it to the hoop.

Carolina Exposed:
In previous games it was backcourt ball pressure... Portland must have known they didn't have the athletes to try that. Instead, they resorted to mugging on post defense - and got away with tons. The problem was it put Mando and Pete way off their inside moves. This exposed another weakness for these Heels - both Bacot and Nance tend to go "head down" in the paint... their number has been called and no matter how many opponents in the way, they'll force up a shot. They are getting better at kicking out, but this game exposed how they 'panic' when doubled and hacked and I believe other teams will take note.

 

[alabamaheel]

Nance, Leaky, and Caleb were great. RJ struggled, but stepped up strong in crunch time, not concerned with him.

Mando is a concern to me. Another smallish front line and he was not as active cleaning the glass as he was last year. Seems a step slower in everything he is doing this year. Need the big fella to return to that burst he had a year ago. He gets some big bodies opposite him tomorrow, maybe that will bring it out in him.

Huge minutes again - Caleb 38, Nance 35, Leaky 34, Mando 34, RJ 31. The bench had almost 30 combined minutes with a bucket and a rebound. Nickels got a call in a close game deep into the 2nd half and made two horrible defensive plays within a minute giving up layups.

Shot 3's well, but uncharacteristically struggled at the FT line. Tomorrow will be interesting, looking forward to what it brings.

I agree but I did notice Nickels pass to Bacot from over the top. He gets it. I think the defense will come. He’s definitely willing.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

This is (more or less) what this team was last year apart from February and March. Expect them to be similar this year.

Yep.

I'm thinking of cancelling Sling until February. Of course if I do that, they will suddenly get better.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

I haven't seen Iowa St play but their numbers suggest they could give our front line some trouble. Good inside shooting and excellent shot blocking.

OTOH, those numbers also suggest that their ball handlers might be a little loose with the rock.

It also looks like they play a good bit of 3-guard lineup. So Trimble and Dunn might see better minutes today.

They are slightly more experienced than we are - not easy to do - despite starting a freshman - and are deep. Their starting lineup is 4 seniors and a freshman, and the top 4 guys off the bench - all of whom average double-digit minutes - are also seniors.

We are a little taller.

They aren't a particularly good 3-pt shooting team. But we are Carolina, so they'll probably light it up.

I like our odds, but we definitely need to step up. Can we? The theory that we have been playing down to the level of our opponents and will rise to the challenge against better teams will be put to the test.

If Leaky shuts down Kunc, and if Caleb or Trimble can handle Holmes, we should be fine.

 

[Tom79]

Ampong the assaults in the game, Mando seemed to be suddenly tripled a number of time in the paint. Agree gary our guys were playing way out of sync, playing as though superior talent should win. Well, Portland came to play and we did not respond well. At 7 minutes I thought here comes the L, but we got to 4 minutes and resolved to play better in that last segment.

WWJD, go to FUBO man, I cut the cord for this season and FUBO has not missed any games for me. Besides, it is 20 dollars less than spectrum, get your local channels and sports to satisfy.

 

[Tom79]

no post, just toomany taps...

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

WWJD, go to FUBO man, I cut the cord for this season and FUBO has not missed any games for me. Besides, it is 20 dollars less than spectrum, get your local channels and sports to satisfy.

Thanks for the suggestion, but FUBO is $23 more than Sling. I'm OK with Sling for basketball, but If I were looking for more channels, I'd definitely check it out. Price-wise and coverage-wise it seems more competitive with YouTube TV or Hulu Live, but I haven't done any serious comparing.

 

[Grayhead]

Thanks for the suggestion, but FUBO is $23 more than Sling. I'm OK with Sling for basketball, but If I were looking for more channels, I'd definitely check it out. Price-wise and coverage-wise it seems more competitive with YouTube TV or Hulu Live, but I haven't done any serious comparing.

Direct stream for me. Stability is important.

 

[heels05champs]

Looks like it may take a butt whuppin’ or two to get this team’s attention. That goes for the staff too.

Does Hubert have it in him to get into his teams butt? By nature, he coaches with constant praise and paints rainbows and sunshine. We need him or someone on this staff to be able to downright rip into these guys when they deserve it. Stop talking about the bench being a motivator and actually make use of it.

 

[Grayhead]

Does Hubert have it in him to get into his teams butt? By nature, he coaches with constant praise and paints rainbows and sunshine. We need him or someone on this staff to be able to downright rip into these guys when they deserve it. Stop talking about the bench being a motivator and actually make use of it.

May be harder to do in this day and age. I would employ some of Roy's tactics, like letting the bench play minutes and sitting the starters.

 

[Archer2]

Does Hubert have it in him to get into his teams butt? By nature, he coaches with constant praise and paints rainbows and sunshine. We need him or someone on this staff to be able to downright rip into these guys when they deserve it. Stop talking about the bench being a motivator and actually make use of it.

I’m afraid he may be making the same mistake Mack made, trying to be BFF to his players versus being their teacher and mentor.

 

[tcb22]

I agree with everyone that Bacot seems a step slower this year. Hope that will get better and also his reactions to the double and triple teams that are being used against him. I also thought Portland played "inspired" basketball. They played up to the stats that AJ had provided and they were playing a home game. Remember the Hawaiian team (can't think of their name) who were often good for an upset win? That was Portland yesterday.

 

[kjcooper]

Bacot workouts may not have been as much as normal over the summer, but he will get better as the season goes on. Still needs to improve on his FT%, should be in the low to mid 70's.

 

[DSouthr]

Well this was a team that traveled across country to play a 10am game against a team in their backyard this early in the season, I expected us to be more sluggish than we were. Portand kept this thing close by hitting some really hard shots and frankly, some lucky stuff dropped. Leaky threw a blanket over their best shooter but that Moses kid really showed out. They hit a lot but honestly, they hit a lot against a solid defense. What did seem to hurt us was their shortish front court guys played really physical and were allowed to get away with more physicality than our taller front court was allowed to. Make no mistake, Portland has some deadly jump shooting going on, you just can't help to far and they will burn you with ball movement if you try for and miss a steal or a block. Keep in mind, does not matter who it was against, that Portland team was scoring over a hundred in games so far
so they were anything but weak sisters of the poor. I think same time of the year last year, we lose this game yesterday by double digits. Why, because they didn't panic.

Nance was assertive offensively and was able to take advantage of the size mismatch he had with his length. There should not be many that can really alter his shot when we play a team that is small, those smaller guys may and to often have exploited him on the other end but his getting it back on the other end is important. I would like to see Hubert blend a little bit with this group of the Roy game to Hubert's preferred long stretch 4 game by rotating our stretch 4 out rather than have him come down and camp outside as much. Rotate him outside thru a 1 pass away he is in position for a clean pass and look. If it is not there cut either thru the lane or to the short corner. Nance is not really quick with his feet, struggles with those quicker guys he has to match up with, in space the 6'5" guys have the advantage on him and teams are trying to put quicker guys on him.

Caleb Love, by my count took 1 shot that was even questionable and even that 1 didn't upset me (was kinda early in the shot clock for that) but I have seen him hit a lot of those, especially when he is hot. I expect the questionable shot from Caleb but last game and this one, give him his due because his shot selection is much better and it had to be. He does seem to be working harder defensively than last season, still takes to many chances on steals and gets burned but seems to be working harder even if he is not scoring. All around, this may have been as good an all around game as I have seen Caleb play. I absolutely love watching him drive draw and dish as opposed to trying to finish over or thru 2 and 3 defenders, that is a major upgrade in his game IMO.

Leaky Black, oh he just thru yet another blanket over those other teams best shooter/scorer and then missed his double double by 1 rebound and what about that late trey he hit well it was huge is what it was. Why didn't Puff play more because Nance was getting off on the offensive end and Hubert needs him playing confidently and Leaky was doing Leaky things. Why didn't Trimble play more well because Caleb was not hitting his jump shots leading up to this game and when he starting off strong you feed the beast and the beast ate!

Bacot, honestly seems sluggish so far, it is as if his balance is just off, like he is not as bouncy and things just look forced to often, setting up to far outside rather than fighting for good position deep paint. This driving twisting putting the ball on the floor is not Bacot's sweet spot in his game, be big play big, the smaller but broad shoulder from court guys seem to be giving him fits? Seems like the different center of gravity those shorter guys play with makes him less than comfortable.

RJ was fine but it feels at times that he feels like he is playing in Caleb's shadow and he is not as comfortable with that. But RJ picked his spots and hit some nice shots.

If a team is going to jump shoot like that Portland team did, they are just going to be a tuff out for any team in the country, no matter where we are in the season. Great teams find ways to win games like this and that is what we did.

 

[DSouthr]

Bacot workouts may not have been as much as normal over the summer, but he will get better as the season goes on. Still needs to improve on his FT%, should be in the low to mid 70's.

His balance does not look great to me and that is usually an indication that stamina is a problem. So yeah, I agree, with all that Bacot had going on this off season you have to wonder if maybe his conditioning was not what it should have been coming in to this season. I want some plyer on the other team to piss Bacot off, I love when Bacot gets pissed, he becomes physically aggressive and plays really hard, we have yet to see that, it does seem to happen more against bigger opponents that the little fellas.

 

[dtodd4475]

Portland did shoot the 3 well, but not insane, 12 for 32. We shot lights out from 3 11 for 22. Uncharacteristically we left a lot of meat on the bone from the free throw line though.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

Bacot workouts may not have been as much as normal over the summer, but he will get better as the season goes on.

That's what we're all hoping.

Not everybody improves year-over-year. Both Hansbrough and Maye were arguably their best as juniors. Which is not to knock their senior performances.

Some players - Ty Lawson being the poster child - seem to lose more over an off-season than others, yet end up improving even more as the season unfolds.

Fingers crossed for Armando.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

Portland did shoot the 3 well, but not insane, 12 for 32. We shot lights out from 3 11 for 22.

Hmmm. A "normal" percentage from deep, and this game might well have gone the other way.

 

[imajericho]

I agree with everyone that Bacot seems a step slower this year. Hope that will get better and also his reactions to the double and triple teams that are being used against him. I also thought Portland played "inspired" basketball. They played up to the stats that AJ had provided and they were playing a home game. Remember the Hawaiian team (can't think of their name) who were often good for an upset win? That was Portland yesterday.

Did chaminade actually ever win?

 

[gary-7]

Did chaminade actually ever win?

Ask Ralph Sampson.

 

[Grover Thomas]

His balance does not look great to me and that is usually an indication that stamina is a problem. So yeah, I agree, with all that Bacot had going on this off season you have to wonder if maybe his conditioning was not what it should have been coming in to this season. I want some plyer on the other team to piss Bacot off, I love when Bacot gets pissed, he becomes physically aggressive and plays really hard, we have yet to see that, it does seem to happen more against bigger opponents that the little fellas.

The good news for Mondo is that we play a bunch of games in a short period of time so he will get in shape if he wants to or not.

I agree it’s almost like he is off balance….hell he looks like me when that vertigo gets in.

But overall his numbers are the same….but he lead the team in turnovers which is mainly do to conditioning and trying to put the ball on the floor twisting and turning and forcing shots.

He will get better quickly however

 

[Heels5150]

Ask Ralph Sampson.

I will never, ever forget when that happened

 

[dtodd4475]

Ask Ralph Sampson.

One of the biggest, if not the biggest upset of all time. But they were the sacrificial lamb for that tournament 99% of the time