Very quick stuff (UVA game)...

[gary-7]

...and it was all about the start.

Yes, this is a game we should win, but what you look for at the outset is effort and urgency from the tip, and in that sense we got it. That staked us to a big lead, and frankly, it's a damn good thing, as some inexplicable moves kept letting UVA hang around.

So, some very quick stuff:
- from the positive aspects, the new starting lineup seems to work --- we're bigger and match up better. Powell, Withers and Lubin are energized in their new role, while Seth, Ian and JWash seem to be thriving as a "bomb squad" of sorts (with Cade finally getting into the act a bit).

- That size set the tone on the boards vs a typically "physical" UVA bunch, and we impressively outboarded them by 14, including 11 offensive rebounds.

- speaking of "physical", yeah --- grabs and head-butts and screens that looked like bouncers escorting drunks outta the bar... and of course, pretty-boy Cassell and his robots were numb to it. On that note, that "flagrant" on Wash was utter bullshit. Friggin #4 had his damn head buried in Wash's chest, so wtf do they expect is gonna happen?

- with all that said, it's a damn good thing we got those offensive rebounds and 2nd chances because during all the too damn many minutes EC was on the bench (seriously, WTF?) our offensive continuity would predictably stall, and only the board-work and guys inventing shots gave us points.

- On the invented shot front, thankfully Ian was feeling his offensive mojo again, as that bailed us out of more than one of those bad possessions.

- On the clunky side, geez we are bad at post entries. Rust, I suppose, huh? And when your 6'10 guy is being fronted in a mismatch, throw it in HIGH! Sheesh....

- Finally, we didn't see much multplicity on defense, but once we got the cushion, we were able to keep enough distance without it. Really think we're gonna need it Monday in a tough road game.

Anyway, that's it. Early effort allowed us to have a TCB game, but there was too much unevenness thereafter for my blood. Again, we better bring it in Tallahassee on the stupid short turnaround, as they're always dangerous down there. Starting off the way we did today would be, well, a good start...

 

[r_u_worthy]

Good summary, G. The quick start was reallly the story of this one. The lead flexed between 20 & 7 from that point. 81 points against the bump & grind is certainly good enough. If Withers can bring that on a consistent basis. I’m not talking about the 4 or 5 treys, I’m talking about the hustle, rebounding and edge. I think this team needs that. If Coach can keep that in the positive direction, I love it frankly.
EC is such a home run hitter. So much talent and he sees the game better than most. If he just starts accepting some singles and doubles a bit more often and cuts down on the strikeouts he will be all he can be.
I really like Ian and Drake taking the ball at the end of the clock. That was something that stood out to me. I like them in the closer role. I’d rather have 6’6” and 6’4 taking their man as opposed to 5’10 or 6’ against length.
I know these are not great teams the guys are going against of late, but it is nice to see them taking the game in the first 10 minutes.
Big one on Monday in a place that is always tough it seems. I hope we can get up and down a bit and not walk it up and go at that length. Need to be multiple and not let them get comfortable on O.

 

[Goheels83]

How about Withers turning into Brady Manek! Lol!

 

[gary-7]

How about Withers turning into Brady Manek! Lol!

Don't jinx it....

 

[dtodd4475]

Took care of two of the dregs of the league handily at home. Nice to see. Jumped on both early, and cruised, withstanding some mild runs, that were quickly pushed back to 14/15 whenever they broke single digits.

Cap Jack and Withers shooting it like they did at Syracuse makes for a much easier afternoon. Finally got back to a good % from the charity stripe as well.

Virginia still rarely sends people to the offensive boards, which is nice for our front line. Virginia is a really bad team, handled them as such.

Quick turnaround for middling Florida State, huge game to not let slip away, with a couple more cellar dwellers to follow before the dook finale of the regular season, all are must wins up to the finale. SMU, Wake, and Pitt going down helps as well. Finish strong fellas !!!!

 

[gary-7]

Good summary, G. The quick start was reallly the story of this one. The lead flexed between 20 & 7 from that point. 81 points against the bump & grind is certainly good enough. If Withers can bring that on a consistent basis. I’m not talking about the 4 or 5 treys, I’m talking about the hustle, rebounding and edge. I think this team needs that. If Coach can keep that in the positive direction, I love it frankly.
EC is such a home run hitter. So much talent and he sees the game better than most. If he just starts accepting some singles and doubles a bit more often and cuts down on the strikeouts he will be all he can be.
I really like Ian and Drake taking the ball at the end of the clock. That was something that stood out to me. I like them in the closer role. I’d rather have 6’6” and 6’4 taking their man as opposed to 5’10 or 6’ against length.
I know these are not great teams the guys are going against of late, but it is nice to see them taking the game in the first 10 minutes.
Big one on Monday in a place that is always tough it seems. I hope we can get up and down a bit and not walk it up and go at that length. Need to be multiple and not let them get comfortable on O.

Thanks, but I do hafta inject one crucial thing here --- and PLEASE do not take this is in any way as negative towards you or your post:
As for EC, while I get what you're trying to say, I cringe at the same time. Last week the ACCN ran several classic UNC-dook games, and I rewatched Ed Cota and Kendall Marshall throw several errant passes, that if Eliot had thrown them, would have elicited absolute howls from this board. Yet, back then we didn't so much as blink an eye.

Y'see, like Eliot, they were both great PGs trying to make plays, so sometime there will be TOs, PLUS... both Eddie and Butter were passing to guys who were WAYYYY better at receiving than our current bunch (who too often can't seem to catch a damn cold). I mean, let's get real --- can you imagine EC having the likes of Jamieson or Z or HB or Henson or Reggie or VINCE MF-ing CARTER on the receiving end?

So, what I am saying is, let's get real. We've seen this all season --- when Eliot is out, our offense stagnates. Fortunately, tonight we had some guys bail out bad possessions with created shots or put-backs, but as we know, that hasn't always been the case.

So yeah, I'll say it without mitigation: Barring injury or foul trouble, EC not playing 30+ minutes is simply malpractive.

 

[gkss]

Not a lot to add to gary-7, as he spot on with the breakdown. I didn’t see a lot of emphasis on the concepts that I think makes us a complete basketball team-defensive pressure with more pressing and trapping, more ball movement with a commitment to feeding the post and vertically attacking the rim, getting some easy buckets with a secondary break, and limiting our “one on one” play. Another member of our forum noted that we attempted to press and trap and that Virginia got a couple of layups off of it. I must of stepped away briefly and missed that, but I have witnessed how it has been a positive for us in limited usage. I also feel we gave Virginia too many layups and open threes. EC has to be on the floor to keep our offense in a flow and attacking the defense with vertical action. I want and expect EC to be creative. I like seeing Cade out there some. He seems to be gaining some confidence. We need to utilize all of the tools in our belt, and we’re going to need them to finish strong. We don’t need to worry about getting into the dance. We need to execute one possession at a time on both ends. Can’t have a letdown against the Noles. Going to need to play 40 minutes of good basketball on the road. Thanks to gary-7 for the time and analysis, and input from posters on our forum. As always, Go Heels!

 

[big_deez]

Overall it's a win and it's much better to see these guys playing with some effort and having fun. I actually like the lineup changes, HD mixing it up seems to help.

 

[39 Feet Above Sea Level]

On an afternoon when RJ’s shots aren’t going in (except free throws), it’s gratifying to see Ian, Jae’lyn
and Cade hitting from outside. Ven-Allen has been giving us some big minutes over the last few games as well.
As gkss stated, we gotta use all the tools in our belt against the Noles on Monday. Go Heels!

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

Loving the big lineup. I wouldn't mind seeing a little more of Ian (shooting well) and Elliot (under control), but the recent results make me wonder how many more games we might have won if Hubert had committed to going big earlier in the season.

So . . . how much bigger are we?

Pomeroy's usage-weighted height stat ranks us #314 in the nation (last in the ACC) with an average height of 76.3 inches. That's 3.5 inches shorter than Duke (79.8), on average. Three inches shorter than our next foe, FSU (79.3).

If I calculated correctly, yesterday's minutes-weighted lineup had us averaging 78.9 inches. That's 3rd in the conference, after only Duke and FSU, and tied for 9th in the nation.

Huge difference.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

RJ has been one of my favorite players for the last 5 seasons. I think I was the first person on this board to advocate that we should recruit him. I preface my question with those observation because this is not an attack on RJ. With that preface, here's my question: Do we really need Elliot and RJ on the floor together so much?

Elliot no longer needs training wheels. And RJ's shot continues to suffer (I thought he was finally back a couple of weeks ago, but apparently I was wrong).

Yesterday's lineup worked quite well. But I suspect it would have been even more convincing if Hubert gave Elliot and Ian a couple of RJ's minutes each. Just a few, not a lot.

 

[RP12]

RJ has been one of my favorite players for the last 5 seasons. I think I was the first person on this board to advocate that we should recruit him. I preface my question with those observation because this is not an attack on RJ. With that preface, here's my question: Do we really need Elliot and RJ on the floor together so much?

Elliot no longer needs training wheels. And RJ's shot continues to suffer (I thought he was finally back a couple of weeks ago, but apparently I was wrong).

Yesterday's lineup worked quite well. But I suspect it would have been even more convincing if Hubert gave Elliot and Ian a couple of RJ's minutes each. Just a few, not a lot.

No way to run the counter factual but I will always believe this team would have been better by March without RJ returning. That said, yes the ball being in his hands so much will be their downfall when they regress to the mean shooting 3s and/or play decent teams. RJ is a great scorer for his size and plays as hard as anyone but he is in no way a PG, way to often stopping a break by himself, missing easy scoring plays for others inside (rewatch his best dump off yesterday and it took 3 beats too long) and dribbling the air out of possessions. The self inflicted stagnant stretches have kept and will continue to keep this team from winning tight games against plus competition.

 

[DSouthr]

Got to get this off my chest right now, we were on the verge of blowing this game out, until the refs decided they needed a closer game and robbed, yes robbed the Heels of their momentum. That T on JWash, he was simply trying to spread out and the defender held his head in such a way that Jalen could not avoid him. Apparently it is totally fine to head butt a player, as RJ was head butted, but don't try to spread out when your defender decides to tuck his head in to your body? That T on JWit, so the other teams bench can say or motion in any way they want but JWit was not allowed to say something back to them? No warning, just blow the whistle? IN a physical game that the refs allowed, emotions get ramped up and I could live with the Ts if we got the pay back calls on our end, that didn't happen. I saw and heard the arguments from the commentators, I strongly disagree with them.

Amazing what happens when you try to match up size as best you can, when you do not have to begin every game in a hole due to being so small. I do strongly believe that our back court needs to get bigger and the way to do that is starting Jack at the 2 and either Cadeau or RJ start at the 4 while the other comes off the bench. I have said several times, I don't really care which one starts and which one doesn't and I don't care which one is which.

Back to back big time games from JWit, I don't know how long he can keep this up but gosh darn it has been huge for us these last 2 games. Cappy Jack, when that kid can see his shot drop you can see the confidence grow in his face and he seems able to carry it from 1 half to the next. He relies a bit to much for my confidence on that step back trey from deep corner but when he hits one he hits more. Still like to see him hunt the big men out in space for those drives and maybe work some 2 man game when he does. And talk about a 2 man game, Cadeau executed a wonderful opps to Lubin, had to re-watch that a couple times. Lubin sets the screen and rolls for the sweet opps from Cadeau, work of art!

 

[tarwhiz]

I am with you.
Who is on the floor at pg doesn't matter nearly as much to me, as NOT having them both on the floor together .
I think Hubert has made this adjustment in the last few games and the scores have reflected that.
There will be people from both camps saying EC needs more minutes or that R.J needs more min.
I am in the camp that them playing together should be limited like this going forward and Ian should play 25 plus min per game.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

Back to back big time games from JWit, I don't know how long he can keep this up but gosh darn it has been huge for us these last 2 games.

He'll have an off game at some point and all the JWit bashers will be back in force in a flash. But it's been nice to see him get some praise for a change.