Which of Our Players Developed the Most Last Season? Who Will Next Season?

[What Would Jesus Do?]

I didn't see a whole lot of development. But this really isn't intended as a gotcha question. We had a lot of experienced guys and those guys were getting most of the minutes, so a lot of development probably wasn't in the cards.

Personally, I would nominate D'Marco and Puff as the guys who developed most last season. Puff's development was hindered by injury - yet again - but improvements were there to see. While D'Marco showed steady growth and became a trusted sub.

I'm sorry to see Puff leave. I know we all wanted to see how he'd perform if he could stay healthy. Not least because his brother became a late-blooming star when he finally got healthy. And frankly I'm still a little shocked that he left. Sure, Hubert was probably going to bring in competition for the SF spot, but it was still going to be Puff's to lose.

I'm glad that D'Marco is still on board, but I worry that he may not stick around if he's recruited over - something that seems rather likely.

My nominee for most improved player for the coming season is Set Trimble. He showed a lot early this year and then hit a wall. I absolutely expect him to break through that wall as a sophomore. I might have put Nickel ahead of Seth but . . . you know....

I'm a little concerned about Seth leaving, too. How do you think Cadeau reclassifying might affect him? I suppose he could just continue to back up a point, but I imagine HD will want RJ to do that to free up more PT for Wilcher at SG.

 

[Archer2]

I saw very little improvement, so little that I can’t pick someone.

 

[TPFKAPFS]

I saw improvement in RJ, Caleb, Nance (late in the season), Seth (hit a wall at UVA), Dunn, Puff, and Bacot. Unfortunately, they did not ever gel as a unit. Caleb made strides and I would have loved to see if he could continue to learn. (I admit he and UNC might have needed a breakup, though). Puff never could get an extended period of health. Nance found a niche far too late and was unfortunately playing out of position. Bacot garnered to much attention to fully realize his potential and needs a reliable backup.

Dunn improved the most and I believe that he will continue to grow. I expect him to get significant minutes next year and to challenge for starter level PT! (Assuming he is strong enough to stick it out in this era. The days of hard coaching are swiftly leaving us!)

 

[Archer2]

I saw improvement in RJ, Caleb, Nance (late in the season), Seth (hit a wall at UVA), Dunn, Puff, and Bacot. Unfortunately, they did not ever gel as a unit. Caleb made strides and I would have loved to see if he could continue to learn. (I admit he and UNC might have needed a breakup, though). Puff never could get an extended period of health. Nance found a niche far too late and was unfortunately playing out of position. Bacot garnered to much attention to fully realize his potential and needs a reliable backup.

Dunn improved the most and I believe that he will continue to grow. I expect him to get significant minutes next year and to challenge for starter level PT! (Assuming he is strong enough to stick it out in this era. The days of hard coaching are swiftly leaving us!)

So basically everyone improved? Okay. 🙄

 

[DaSheed]

Has there ever been a season of Carolina basketball where so many players regressed from the previous season? The Draft stock absolutely plummeted. Especially Caleb and Nance.

 

[TPFKAPFS]

Yup, just not enough to get where we needed them and certainly not as a unit! Do you not think Dunn was better this year than last? Did you not think Nance was much more effective close to the basket? Wasn't RJ a better PG this year than last and didn't Caleb display much better decision making than ever? The season was disappointing but that does not mean everything was bad. I also saw development in our coaching but this must develop faster as well!

 

[TPFKAPFS]

Is this line of discussion even productive? Most of the peeps are gone and we have a new team to celebrate. I believe we will see better team camaraderie and I believe we will see better coaching. I would like to find out who is even on the team before I set my expectations for wins/losses. Draft stock has never been a concern for me except for potential impact on recruiting. I believe peeps like Bacot, RJ, and Dunn will work hard this off season and be much better. If the results are not much better with Hubs getting all of his own type players, then the seat gets hotter. In the meantime, I will remain optimistic and trust in the Family!

 

[WoadBlue]

I didn't see a whole lot of development. But this really isn't intended as a gotcha question. We had a lot of experienced guys and those guys were getting most of the minutes, so a lot of development probably wasn't in the cards.

Personally, I would nominate D'Marco and Puff as the guys who developed most last season. Puff's development was hindered by injury - yet again - but improvements were there to see. While D'Marco showed steady growth and became a trusted sub.

I'm sorry to see Puff leave. I know we all wanted to see how he'd perform if he could stay healthy. Not least because his brother became a late-blooming star when he finally got healthy. And frankly I'm still a little shocked that he left. Sure, Hubert was probably going to bring in competition for the SF spot, but it was still going to be Puff's to lose.

I'm glad that D'Marco is still on board, but I worry that he may not stick around if he's recruited over - something that seems rather likely.

My nominee for most improved player for the coming season is Set Trimble. He showed a lot early this year and then hit a wall. I absolutely expect him to break through that wall as a sophomore. I might have put Nickel ahead of Seth but . . . you know....

I'm a little concerned about Seth leaving, too. How do you think Cadeau reclassifying might affect him? I suppose he could just continue to back up a point, but I imagine HD will want RJ to do that to free up more PT for Wilcher at SG.

Development can go either way. You can develop into better, or into worse. Coaches who cannot develop players for the better tend to oversee any players at least seeming to get bit worse.

 

[DaSheed]

I can’t think of one player that didn’t improve from one season to the next under Dean.

 

[DSouthr]

I honestly did not see much individual improvement, I didn't see any huge jumps in individual players game. You are not typically going to see a huge jump on a team that played that Iron 5 deal the season before, they really have to play more in order for the improvement in individual game to show through. I saw some in Dunn but that seemed to fade. It is usually your soph class that you see big jumps in their game but we only had 2 in Dunn and Styles so that was underwhelming.

Of the many things that need to change from this past season, I think we need to see the current freshmen really grow their games this off season. We need to see Seth shoot the ball much better, we need to see him play with the swagger he came in with that seemed to dwindle as the season got late. WE need to see Jalen put in the work to get stronger, especially lower body so his movements can be more definitive, he was a bit on ice skates this season, should have been considering what he is coming back from. The talent is there for both of them but now they need to work on skill level, mental approach (playing confidently) and in Jalen's case his physical development. I would also add that Dunn needs to show consistency from 1 game to the next which can come from more court time but will he get it with Wilcher on the way and very likely Cadeau joining him?

 

[midline]

I didn’t see much improvement anywhere along the line. Maybe Davis became a little more dangerous from a scoring option, but I don’t think that had anything to do with coaching. Bacot was the same Bacot we have seen his whole time since he arrived. Numbers could have been better, but that was probably due to the fact that Hubert didn’t demand that Caleb and RJ feed him the ball as the first option and at least try to play inside out. Nance was a waste. Leaky was as good as ever on the defensive side, but then he would hit a couple threes and suddenly it was like he felt he was the next Pete Maravich, and Hubert allowed it. How leaky could have been the leading shot taker against Duke still boggles the mind. The bench never improved. Styles and Nickle never really got a chance with their inconsistent time in the rotation. Dunn seemed to get more minutes the latter half of the year, but got beat often on defense and offensive game was non existent. And Puff actually got worse for some reason. It got to the point where I almost hated to see him come into the game. I said all year, and even last year, when they got hot at the end, that Hubert needed to take a long look at his staff and a long look in the mirror.

 

[TPFKAPFS]

The only thing I agree with is our youngsters need to improve and TNick and Styles (coaches should have found a way) should have gotten more burn. I find it odd that when saying a player improved one feels the need to also say it has nothing to do with coaching. Bacot was not the same since his moves were more decisive, he passed out better, and his footwork was much better. Dunn is an entirely different person. Nance didn't work out, I agree but he did find a niche late in the season. (5 not 4 and that is on him and the coaches) Puff was not healthy at any point in the season. Seth will have to work his tail off in the off season to get his confidence back. (Shooting, handles, and decision making!) Washington was exactly who we expected; a guy who was coming off multiple serious lower body injuries. He will need to hit the weight room hard and get some mental work to ensure he can trust his own body. Leaky was one of the pillars of the team and it is unbelievable that peeps can't see it! (Shutting down multiple peeps in the same game doesn't register?)

OP: The coaching staff, Bacot, Seth, Dunn, Washington develop even more!

 

[superstar57]

Dunn, he went from a guy that looked like he probably would never make an impact, to a guy you expect to piece it all together at any moment.

I guess Washington, but just getting on the court was an improvement.

I would mention Puff, but he was suppose to have a break out season, he did show improvement though. You could tell he got stronger

 

[DSouthr]

When I consider this who developed most question, I look at it like "who gave me that OMG, I didn't see him progressing this much from 1 off season". It for me has to be in your face improvement, same vibe for example I got from Bacot from freshman to soph season, Henson freshman to soph season, ect. Only guy that gave me anything close to that was Dunn and even that faded. I could see areas for most of them they had improved in but it was by much less margins, I saw it as really tiny improvements that don't really move the needle that much. This is now 2 seasons in a row that I have not been real impressed (in a positive way) with the individual development from off seasons. I actually saw more in season development from portal guys than from returning guys which has me wonder how good this staff is at taking a freshman that has talent but is raw and working with him to refine and improve his skill and we see it clearly on the court. For example, Manek was a much better player than he had shown prior to coming to UNC but was that from our development or how he was developed prior to coming to us?

I think the other question it opens is about our talent for Hubert's first couple seasons, did we simply have guys playing more toward their ceiling than we realized, if so there would not be as much in your face development, I submit Bacot and Caleb as 2 examples but others as well. With the coaching decisions that put guys in positions to have to play toward their weakness in their game rather than the real strength of their game it was really hard to know if guys were at their ceiling or not able to get off their floor. We had to many guys playing outside of their natural positions, Leaky as a 3pt shooter, Nance a center playing 3ft behind the 3pt arch, RJ as ball handler? 3 starters that were in positions to do things they just were not able to do to the level we needed.

 

[gobblercalls]

When I consider this who developed most question, I look at it like "who gave me that OMG, I didn't see him progressing this much from 1 off season". It for me has to be in your face improvement, same vibe for example I got from Bacot from freshman to soph season, Henson freshman to soph season, ect. Only guy that gave me anything close to that was Dunn and even that faded. I could see areas for most of them they had improved in but it was by much less margins, I saw it as really tiny improvements that don't really move the needle that much. This is now 2 seasons in a row that I have not been real impressed (in a positive way) with the individual development from off seasons. I actually saw more in season development from portal guys than from returning guys which has me wonder how good this staff is at taking a freshman that has talent but is raw and working with him to refine and improve his skill and we see it clearly on the court. For example, Manek was a much better player than he had shown prior to coming to UNC but was that from our development or how he was developed prior to coming to us?

So I have legit question. Who actually teaches these guys in the off season? I guess there was a time when the college coaches actually did some teaching and developing talent, but is that still the case? Don't all of these guys have their own instructors that they train with now? The coaches have to teach the x's and o's when they have practice time, so how much time do they actually have for teaching. Is HD really responsible if a player doesn't improve from 1 year to the next, or should the player and his instructor be held accountable? I honestly don't know how it's done these days.

 

[Oak ridger]

Coaching got better with the portal recruits but for the season-coaching was not good.

 

[al would]

You are either bored to tears or bored to tears to even post that thread .. there was complete regression across the board and that includes the coaching staff.