Very quick stuff (State game 2)...

[gary-7]

...and it's always good to stomp State.

This will be very brief, as TBH, given some of the lazy narratives I've seen recently, I'm not really up for much effort.
So... speaking of effort, since it seemed to disappear in the 2nd half, I'll stick to the first:

- That was the first noticable positive --- effort and sense of urgency.

- With that said, pretty much the entire story of the blowout is right here --- we came out of the under-16 in 44, and immediately got a TO and layup. And lo and behold, we KEPT ON DOING IT (!!!)... and we kept turning them over and/or speeding them up --- and State is not a team that likes to be sped up --- and keeping that pressure on for a good part of the half was pretty much game-over.

- Again, it's not exaggerating to say that this was the story. And y'see, pressing has the added value of creating its own effort.

- The other reason that was so important is just how clunky our half-court offense can get when we're not in transition. I swear, I try to give the benefit of the doubt, but when we start running those horizontal and circular actions (with nobody within 10 feet of the damn lane) it's like WTactualF are we even trying to accomplish? You can't only rely on PnRs to get to the paint.

- Finally, I'm gonna say this since it had no impact on this game --- the inconsistent officiating just makes games hard to watch. Allowing NHL body checks or undressing guys with no whistle, but then calling phantoms or buying into fake head-whips. Again, it had no impact today (and some of that nonsense happened on both ends) but geez, just call it straight and nip the nonsense in the bud.

Anyway, it's always good to stomp State (I'm sure Roy enjoyed it), but it still begs the question of whether we'll continue to use what should be our best defensive weapons?...

 

[gkss]

...and it's always good to stomp State.

This will be very brief, as TBH, given some of the lazy narratives I've seen recently, I'm not really up for much effort.
So... speaking of effort, since it seemed to disappear in the 2nd half, I'll stick to the first:

- That was the first noticable positive --- effort and sense of urgency.

- With that said, pretty much the entire story of the blowout is right here --- we came out of the under-16 in 44, and immediately got a TO and layup. And lo and behold, we KEPT ON DOING IT (!!!)... and we kept turning them over and/or speeding them up --- and State is not a team that likes to be sped up --- and keeping that pressure on for a good part of the half was pretty much game-over.

- Again, it's not exaggerating to say that this was the story. And y'see, pressing has the added value of creating its own effort.

- The other reason that was so important is just how clunky our half-court offense can get when we're not in transition. I swear, I try to give the benefit of the doubt, but when we start running those horizontal and circular actions (with nobody within 10 feet of the damn lane) it's like WTactualF are we even trying to accomplish? You can't only rely on PnRs to get to the paint.

- Finally, I'm gonna say this since it had no impact on this game --- the inconsistent officiating just makes games hard to watch. Allowing NHL body checks or undressing guys with no whistle, but then calling phantoms or buying into fake head-whips. Again, it had no impact today (and some of that nonsense happened on both ends) but geez, just call it straight and nip the nonsense in the bud.

Anyway, it's always good to stomp State (I'm sure Roy enjoyed it), but it still begs the question of whether we'll continue to use what should be our best defensive weapons?...

Thanks gary-7. I’ll never understand why we haven’t been pressing and trapping all year, using our depth and athleticism! Every game we try it once or twice, it is positive. Also, I don’t know why we are not running a secondary break. I saw multiple opportunities early to get easy buckets, but either our bigs were not sprinting to the spot, or our backcourt didn’t have their eyes up to get them the ball when they were in position. I guess they just want to push it up the court so they will have more shot clock to do their little “circle thing” they love so much-smh. I did love the urgency and the enthusiasm inside the Smith Center. I hope our new arena will have the students in position to help our team with their energy. Our kids came out with urgency, and if we can up tempo, defend, rebound, secondary break, get vertical, work the ball inside, and play for 40 minutes, we have a real good chance to get to the dance. As always, Go Heels!

 

[39 Feet Above Sea Level]

It hurts most of our heads 🤔 to see the effort and talent and potential come together
IN THE 27TH GAME OF THE SEASON while we walk the razor-thin edge to even MAKE THE NCAAT. 🤭
But, since beggars can’t be choosers, we might as well play this rip/shit/bust style for all 40
minutes of every game we have left.
As G-7 and gk suggested, the multiple defenses and press actions create their own energy and
force the TEMPO that creates our best style of basketball.
Hubert, make certain that the guys understand that. THAT is what Carolina basketball has been
and needs to be again.
STUDENTS- great job assisting in the energization of the team.
GDTBATH 🏀⛹🏾‍♂️

 

[gkss]

It hurts most of our heads 🤔 to see the effort and talent and potential come together
IN THE 27TH GAME OF THE SEASON while we walk the razor-thin edge to even MAKE THE NCAAT. 🤭
But, since beggars can’t be choosers, we might as well play this rip/shit/bust style for all 40
minutes of every game we have left.
As G-7 and gk suggested, the multiple defenses and press actions create their own energy and
force the TEMPO that creates our best style of basketball.
Hubert, make certain that the guys understand that. THAT is what Carolina basketball has been
and needs to be again.
STUDENTS- great job assisting in the energization of the team.
GDTBATH 🏀⛹🏾‍♂️

Well said.

 

[Oak ridger]

Moved up to 45 NET ranking.

 

[gary-7]

It hurts most of our heads 🤔 to see the effort and talent and potential come together
IN THE 27TH GAME OF THE SEASON while we walk the razor-thin edge to even MAKE THE NCAAT. 🤭
But, since beggars can’t be choosers, we might as well play this rip/shit/bust style for all 40
minutes of every game we have left.
As G-7 and gk suggested, the multiple defenses and press actions create their own energy and
force the TEMPO that creates our best style of basketball.
Hubert, make certain that the guys understand that. THAT is what Carolina basketball has been
and needs to be again.
STUDENTS- great job assisting in the energization of the team.
GDTBATH 🏀⛹🏾‍♂️

Maybe the most accurate passive-aggressive sentence ever from Adam Lucas:
"... we're going to remember that first half, when the Tar Heels suddenly came out as a defensive dynamo, creating nine Wolfpack turnovers, defending all over the court, and generally looking like the breakneck Heels they appeared to have the chance to be back in the fall."

 

[NathanFielder]

Cautiously optimistic. Nice to see them put together a complete performance. Nice to see them get to the FT line again, which has been severely lacking during the conference season. And the defensive intensity and execution speak for themselves.

I'm cautious because clearly NC State is not good. If I'm seeing correctly, NC State hasn't won a single away game all season? And they've been in freefall for over a month now. I was shocked how poorly a team could defend ball screens, lol. But beggars can't be choosers so take the win and hope it leads to something they can compound going forward.

Really good to see Seth get back to his earlier season form. I know the concussion probably affected a lot of his production but I think people would be surprised how bad he's been. Between the UCLA and Syracuse games, he was shooting 33.9% FG, 43.2% from 2, 14.3% from 3. He's produced much better the last 4 games. It goes without saying but this team isn't good and deep enough to absorb anyone playing ridiculously poorly.

 

[DSouthr]

Well first, I do want to give the wuffies one piece of credit, they didn't allow a little bit of snow on the ground to stop them from playing this game...Un-like a certain team 10miles down the road did when a little bit of frost covered the ground a few years back. LOL We handled the wuffies like they are a nobody team from a extra weak conference and proof of that was Tyson, who is a constant no show against solid teams struck for a couple treys (he must have felt we were playing an old Belmont foe and know what, maybe we were)! LOL

Sadly, I missed the first half of this game, seen some high-lite clips but you can only see so much from those so I can't really discuss this game as a whole and be fair. I saw a second half where the intensity clearly lessened but that happens to every team up big at the half, happened to both duke and clemson against us. To come away with such a win against the hated wuffies is always sweet but to consider that it took a near miracle for us to beat them the first time this season and we curb stomp the life out of them in the second game tells me some one coached someone and some one learned some thing. Seems like after that clemson game the troops all lined up in mass to scream fire Hubert, his seat got red hot. Since that clemson game the fire Hubert now troops don't really have as much steam, that seat has cooled down some, dare I suggest as it did in Hubert's first season? Exactly why I am determined to not make any final decree on Hubert right now, why I am more engaged in figuring out why things went off the rails and how it can be fixed before calling for someone's head.

A few of us have been saying since before tip off of the first pre-season game that given this team's limitations there are some certain things this teams needs to do to off set those disadvantages, like using a lot of pressure defensively. To do that you must use your bench to preserve those legs and force the other team to rely more on guys that don't play a lot. Really hard nosed defense feeds a wide open running game tempo, it speeds the other team up and you want to speed up a team that wants a half court slug fest game. Big guys simply tire quicker than little guys do so to neutralize a length advantage, run em, speed them up, lead them to foul trouble.

The other thing a few of us have been screaming for is for us to play guys more at their natural positions and look to match up with size as best we can. FINALLY last couple games we are starting 2 bigs, at least big for us, and what do ya know, we see the pay off at the final buzzer. That nonsense of starting a 6'3" power forward had to stop, how that was ever seen as a good idea is beyond me. And as I said couple days ago, don't care which of Cadeau or RJ started, they just can't both continue to start, that is just to tiny a back court.

So good stuff, now lets do the same to UVa, 1 game at a time, cannot afford to look ahead at any thing right now. But it is always satisfying to see those mange filled wuffies run back to Raleigh with their tails tucked between their legs, their doing it in the snow is a cherry on top! LOL I wonder if maybe UNC can cut our a few dollars from NIL to help the wuffies pay Kevin Keats salary, could be a great investment! LOL

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

I’ll never understand why we haven’t been pressing and trapping all year

I think you speak for all of us.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

to consider that it took a near miracle for us to beat them the first time this season and we curb stomp the life out of them in the second game tells me some one coached someone

This.

This was the 2nd of 3 rematches in our regular season: Pitt, State, Duke. All home games.

I'd say it's still unclear whether Hubert and his staff are good rematch coaches. Yes, we won both rematches so far, and the State win was a blowout that, for a change, we seemed extremely well prepared for. But we only beat Pitt by 1 point. A win, and I'm sure we are all glad about that, but hardly a showcase for rematch coaching.

The tiebreaker(s) will be at Duke (and in the ACCT). I'm not saying we need to beat Duke, but let's see more of the first half of this game, please.

We started taller both of the last 2 games. How much of those wins can be attributed to that? How many more games might we have won if Hubert had played taller throughout the season?

 

[DSouthr]

This.

This was the 2nd of 3 rematches in our regular season: Pitt, State, Duke. All home games.

I'd say it's still unclear whether Hubert and his staff are good rematch coaches. Yes, we won both rematches so far, and the State win was a blowout that, for a change, we seemed extremely well prepared for. But we only beat Pitt by 1 point. A win, and I'm sure we are all glad about that, but hardly a showcase for rematch coaching.

The tiebreaker(s) will be at Duke (and in the ACCT). I'm not saying we need to beat Duke, but let's see more of the first half of this game, please.

We started taller both of the last 2 games. How much of those wins can be attributed to that? How many more games might we have won if Hubert had played taller throughout the season?

I am not real sure what the difference in re-match coaching and regular coaching is but no matter. The upcoming duke game, not gonna lie, I will be really surprised if the next game with them is not a good bit like the last one, we just are not matched up to them well at all. Duke can legit matchup with all 5 guys, their PG can legit defend our starting center, that is a scary thing. To beat duke this UNC team will have to shoot lights out for 40mins and I just don't think they can do that against that length.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

I am not real sure what the difference in re-match coaching and regular coaching is but no matter.

As we have discussed before, coaching is a multi-dimensional set of talents. A coach who's good at pre-game prep is not necessarily good at Xs and Os. A coach who's good at recruiting isn't necessarily good at making halftime adjustments. And so on.

The obvious difference between a first matchup and the rematch is that you have the experience of actual contact. Not just films. Both coaches will adjust to that, and the 2nd game can sometimes reveal which coach is better at adjusting after first contact. The rematch can also elevate elements like revenge motive - which can make rematches more fun to watch.

One of the reasons I like a smaller conference is that you get to play more home-and-away games. Consider the 11-team Big East - where they play home-and-away against every team in the conference (vs 3 in the ACC). The ACC was like that back in the day and I think we've lost something by moving away from that. It also aids the development of strong rivalries, imo. But it devalues the rematch skill among coaches - simply because there are so few rematches.

 

[gkss]

Cautiously optimistic. Nice to see them put together a complete performance. Nice to see them get to the FT line again, which has been severely lacking during the conference season. And the defensive intensity and execution speak for themselves.

Definitely played better overall.

 

[thompsjj]

Gary-7 thank you for sharing your insights and knowledge with this board. I ALWAYS look forward to you comments after the games. At times I feel like you and Elliot take a whole lot of heat on this board and yet you both continue to press on. Sorry it took me so long to say this.

 

[gary-7]

Gary-7 thank you for sharing your insights and knowledge with this board. I ALWAYS look forward to you comments after the games. At times I feel like you and Elliot take a whole lot of heat on this board and yet you both continue to press on. Sorry it took me so long to say this.

Much appreciated. With that said, this latest one was pretty easy and obvious

 

[notashelbyfan]

Like everyone else on the i can't for the life of me understand how we can do this and if it is now "fixed" why it took so long for the staff to figure it out?

Is that an indictment on the coaching staff? I feel like it is we can not afford for spend 27 games to figure it out. If this in fact a turning point for this team this would be the 2nd time in 4 years that it's took over 20 games to figure it out.

To see what we seen last night pisses me off to no end knowing that we have the talent and the size has been a really overblown excuse for lack of a better word.

I understand State sucks but it's not about the opponent it was about effort, fire and the want to compete. I saw a team that made an effort to play Carolina basketball and push the ball up the court and score before their defense was set, not walking it up and dribbling until someone had to take a bad shot.

Last night was fun to watch and there haven't been many of those this year.

 

[gobblercalls]

Like everyone else on the i can't for the life of me understand how we can do this and if it is now "fixed" why it took so long for the staff to figure it out?

Is that an indictment on the coaching staff? I feel like it is we can not afford for spend 27 games to figure it out. If this in fact a turning point for this team this would be the 2nd time in 4 years that it's took over 20 games to figure it out.

To see what we seen last night pisses me off to no end knowing that we have the talent and the size has been a really overblown excuse for lack of a better word.

I understand State sucks but it's not about the opponent it was about effort, fire and the want to compete. I saw a team that made an effort to play Carolina basketball and push the ball up the court and score before their defense was set, not walking it up and dribbling until someone had to take a bad shot.

Last night was fun to watch and there haven't been many of those this year.

for one half. The second half looked just like the rest of the year has looked.

 

[39 Feet Above Sea Level]

How about the play where Elliot touched the ball for a tenth of a second and directed a lengthy pass
to Seth (IIRC) for an easy basket. That was special.

 

[thomdrix]

Can’t believe no one has mentioned ECs turnovers, the only obvious negative. We play so many close games, and he’s just as likely to make a Magic like assist as he is a careless turnover. He’s got to correct those careless to’s and fouls. It’ll cost us because we have to be near perfect from here on out.

 

[Bubspub88]

I always enjoy a win of the woofies. The first half was probably the most enjoyable half that I have seen all year. The focus, the intensity and the effort, all the intangibles were there and the product on the court showed it.

The second half almost felt like a loss to me. I did not expect to double them up on the scoreboard for the game but the drop off in the things I mentioned above was disappointing. State is not a good team and keatts has lost that team. There was no excuse to give up close to 50, let alone be outscored by them over the final 20 minutes.

Like others I was pleased to see to see more defensive pressure but why are you just doing it in mid-February at the start of a game? I want Cadeau to be that guy but he is just too inconsistent. I hold the UNC pg to a high standard, and that position is the one I expect to be mentally locked-in from the tip every game. He has to set the tone, and you have to on the court to do that.

On to UVa where I have seen really good UNC teams struggle. Hopefully they will be able to bring that first half energy with them. The Heels have zero margin of error from here on out, and need some help from others losing to have a chance for March madness. That is just not what I expect from UNC basketball.

 

[RP12]

The Pitt and State games seem to indicate that when they have a good plan the players can execute. Would love to know how those game plans (at the start anyway) were different and who came up with them.

 

[RP12]

Can’t believe no one has mentioned ECs turnovers, the only obvious negative. We play so many close games, and he’s just as likely to make a Magic like assist as he is a careless turnover. He’s got to correct those careless to’s and fouls. It’ll cost us because we have to be near perfect from here on out.

Have you noticed how they repeat the same couple of actions over and over? EC is basically playing QB with the other team knowing the play, to the extent that there even is a play.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

Can’t believe no one has mentioned ECs turnovers, the only obvious negative. We play so many close games, and he’s just as likely to make a Magic like assist as he is a careless turnover. He’s got to correct those careless to’s and fouls. It’ll cost us because we have to be near perfect from here on out.

Will we get a big with great hands in the portal?

Whether or not we do, TOs are obviously something for Elliot to work on in the off season.

Question for our gurus: how do you work on avoiding TOs? What sorts of practice elements address that. Passing drills, obviously, but what else?

What would Mr Miyagi have Elliot doing?