Will We Be Faster This Year?

[What Would Jesus Do?]

We weren't very fast last year. We lost a couple of our quicker players (Caleb, Puff) and a couple of our slower players (Pete, Leaky).

Will we be faster with our new crew?

My sense is that Wilcher is quicker than Dunn and Withers is quicker than Nance. But that's just guessing.

I don't think Ingram is quicker than Leaky. Nor do I think Ryan is quicker than Caleb. Nor Wojcik quicker than Puff.

RJ, Armando and Seth are the same guys but they - RJ in particular - might seem a little quicker if the new guys can shoot better and spread the floor more. Not to mention if RJ and Armando can play fewer minutes so they don't need to conserve energy and won't run out of gas.

If Cadeau is here and lives up to the hype, the whole team could be faster.

The numbers below from recent years and a bunch of our best years may be interesting to some.

Year	PPG	FG%	Tempo	FGA	APG	W-L
2023	76.2	43.4	68.9 (99)	60.5	12.0	20-13 (11-9)
2022	77.6	44.7	70.2 (39)	61.8	14.9	29-10 (15-5)
2021	75.2	43.9	71.5 (43)	63.0	15.3	18-11 (10-6)
2020	72.2	42.0	70.4 (67)	64.4	14.3	14-19 (6-14)
2017	84.4	46.6	71.3 (40)	65.8	18.1	33-7 (14-4)
2016	82.8	48.2	70.5 (60)	64.0	17.7	33-7 (14-4)
2012	81.3	45.9	70.9 (10)	65.1	17.3	32-6 (14-2)
2009	89.8	48.0	72.9 (6)	66.0	18.0	34-4 (13-3)
2008	88.6	48.8	72.5 (9)	65.7	16.8	36-3 (14-2)
2005	88.0	49.9	73.1 (7)	61.1	19.1	33-4 (14-2)

 

[TPFKAPFS]

I would bet we play a bit faster from the start and ramp up as Hubs learns whether he can trust our new team to value the ball and get to their spots. I think we ramp up faster if Cadeau comes, but do it in any case. I would also bet we play a deeper bench and this allows us to play faster longer as well. I truly hope that faster play, a deeper bench, AND more aggressive and varied D are obvious from the beginning! It seems like we need to be on pace to score 80+ points a game to be at our best and I see us easily getting there. (+holding peeps to 75 or below)

What does the number in parentheses beside Tempo mean? (is it the percentile?) Since it looks like a lot of work, I'm trying to embrace these metrics, lol!

 

[gunslingerdick]

Guys can be physically quicker/faster but play slower. I think this team (with the addition of Cadeau) is built to play (and be successful) at a quicker tempo.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

I would bet we play a bit faster from the start and ramp up as Hubs learns whether he can trust our new team to value the ball and get to their spots. I think we ramp up faster if Cadeau comes, but do it in any case. I would also bet we play a deeper bench and this allows us to play faster longer as well. I truly hope that faster play, a deeper bench, AND more aggressive and varied D are obvious from the beginning! It seems like we need to be on pace to score 80+ points a game to be at our best and I see us easily getting there. (+holding peeps to 75 or below)

What does the number in parentheses beside Tempo mean? (is it the percentile?) Since it looks like a lot of work, I'm trying to embrace these metrics, lol!

It's the tempo rank out of the 360 teams, give or take, rated by Pomeroy

 

[TPFKAPFS]

If that is the case, who were the 5 teams that ranked higher than '09 and how did they do? That team flew around the court and then once their D caught up, they dominated!

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

If that is the case, who were the 5 teams that ranked higher than '09 and how did they do? That team flew around the court and then once their D caught up, they dominated!

All lower-ranked smaller schools in smaller conferences; and high tempo doesn't always translate into a good W-L record.

166 - VMI (24-8)
315 - Northwestern St (11-20)
233 - Chicago St (19-13)
208 - Texas St (14-16)
311 - Longwood (17-14)

OTOH, sometimes other good teams have high tempo ratings, too. For example in 2009, a very good Wake team (24-7) was right behind us in tempo and in 2005 a pretty good Gary Williams team at Maryland was #2 in tempo nationally.

We UNC fans like up tempo games. Not only are they fun to watch, but that style has been good for us. But without doing the work, I'd guess more top teams are on the slow end of tempo. Virginia, being an obvious example.

Looking at the top 100 in tempo for last year, only 11 of them were seeded 8 or better in the NCAAT.

 

[TPFKAPFS]

I imagine the Old Runnin' Rebels and Loyola Marymount were some of the most successful high tempo teams! The issue is it is harder to maintain this style and far easier to shoot yourself out of games than it is to win! 2009 coupled it with fierce ball protection and aggressive D. It takes a team that is in synch, and lead guards that always make the right decision at warp speed! All others have to commit to always running and always being where they are supposed to be too! It takes time to build that kind of coordination and that is why I think our team will have to build toward playing fast.

 

[DSouthr]

Lets not confuse having guys with individual quickness with our playing a faster tempo game. We have been a half court team for the last 2 seasons so the speed we did have was basically not used. It is coaching decisions that either ramp the tempo up or down, clearly you have to make solid use of your bench to play the up tempo game most of us would love to see us return to. You can settle out in to a spread if you have to go in to the half court but you can easily make full use of our primary and secondary breaking as well as settle in to a 4 out spread if the breaks are not there.

I heard from Hubert several times how he wanted us to break more but not only did that not really happen, he didn't use his bench enough to give guys a break if they did run the breaks hard. So his decisions put us in the half court more so than the players.

Yes, I do think individually as well as a team we are quicker than last season, Nance was seen being lapped by a old lady in a wheel chair that had a flat tire! LOL If we do get the strongly improved jump shooting I think we all expect then things may look like we are playing quicker than we actually are. I do want to say, I really did not see Caleb as overly quick or fast (quick and fast are 2 different things), would say Ryan is any quicker but I do think Ryan plays consistently harder, which many times looks quicker or faster than it is. Now when Cadeau and Jack gets here, totally different story, they are both so quick they are almost "sudden"! They actually look like they are playing slower than they actually are because both are so smooth in their motions. Cadeau has the quickest hands I have ever seen on a basketball court, looks like he is gliding but is pulling away from defenders and Jack's first step may be even quicker than JMM's was. But I want to assume those guys will not be with us next season, just referred to them to say if you think we will be faster next season, just wait.

 

[DSouthr]

I imagine the Old Runnin' Rebels and Loyola Marymount were some of the most successful high tempo teams! The issue is it is harder to maintain this style and far easier to shoot yourself out of games than it is to win! 2009 coupled it with fierce ball protection and aggressive D. It takes a team that is in synch, and lead guards that always make the right decision at warp speed! All others have to commit to always running and always being where they are supposed to be too! It takes time to build that kind of coordination and that is why I think our team will have to build toward playing fast.

I really like combining an aggressive defense to a high tempo offense, really love turning defense in to offense, I am more a defense first guy and when we get the ball turn the horses loose and let em run! I am the guy that is going to use 10guys with all getting decent to solid PT with the expectation being flat out effort and making good decisions while you are on the court. It is not easy to play with all out effort on tired legs and when you have starters playing nearly 40mins a game they can not play with full out effort for all of those minutes. What you want is to have your team have fresh legs while the other team is having to either play on tired legs or play guys that are not used to getting many minutes. And YES, I am that guy that would NOT reduce his bench come tourney time because I don't believe in going away from something that works, especially when the stakes are higher, do what got you there!

One issue I have noticed is I am not sure our guys sitting on the bench are really engaged and plugged in to the game and that is something I think the staff needs to address.

 

[DaveChapelle]

Put the ball in Cadeau's hands, tell everyone to run the floor every possession, and use our bench.

 

[ChiShankCity]

I honestly have no idea. Notre Dame and Stanford played at snails paces last year. And Louisville wasn’t a real basketball team but they played pretty slow too. That doesn’t mean we’re going to play slow this coming year. Ryan, Ingram and Withers probably want to play a little bit differently. But they aren’t coming from up tempo systems.

I tend to think good UNC teams play faster than worse UNC teams. If we’re efficient and shoot the ball pretty well, I’m sure Hubert will want more possessions and opportunities on offense. If we shoot like he did last year, we’re going to play slower and honestly probably should. Playing more possessions when you’re not really good is generally not a good idea.

The other question is who on our team will force tempo and set the tone that way? Doesn’t need to be a PG. Would love to have a Draymond Green type or someone who can rebound and force tempo assuming they can handle it a bit.

 

[JimmyinVA]

team speed depends more on crisp smart passing than foot speed. outlet passes are particularly important for team speed. cadeau's passing will make us a faster team.

 

[JimmyinVA]

my favorite example is the celtics dynasty in the nba, perhaps the greatest fast break teams of all time. their footspeed wasn't that remarkable, but the outlet passes by russell, havlicek et al were flat out brilliant.

 

[TPFKAPFS]

Another example is the Showtime Lakers. They did it with the bounce but also had a PG that was adept at looking ahead! Isn't it telling how fast and often peeps will run once they know they will get the ball in a place they can score easily!

 

[gary-7]

We weren't very fast last year. We lost a couple of our quicker players (Caleb, Puff) and a couple of our slower players (Pete, Leaky).

Will we be faster with our new crew?

My sense is that Wilcher is quicker than Dunn and Withers is quicker than Nance. But that's just guessing.

I don't think Ingram is quicker than Leaky. Nor do I think Ryan is quicker than Caleb. Nor Wojcik quicker than Puff.

RJ, Armando and Seth are the same guys but they - RJ in particular - might seem a little quicker if the new guys can shoot better and spread the floor more. Not to mention if RJ and Armando can play fewer minutes so they don't need to conserve energy and won't run out of gas.

If Cadeau is here and lives up to the hype, the whole team could be faster.

The numbers below from recent years and a bunch of our best years may be interesting to some.

Year	PPG	FG%	Tempo	FGA	APG	W-L
2023	76.2	43.4	68.9 (99)	60.5	12.0	20-13 (11-9)
2022	77.6	44.7	70.2 (39)	61.8	14.9	29-10 (15-5)
2021	75.2	43.9	71.5 (43)	63.0	15.3	18-11 (10-6)
2020	72.2	42.0	70.4 (67)	64.4	14.3	14-19 (6-14)
2017	84.4	46.6	71.3 (40)	65.8	18.1	33-7 (14-4)
2016	82.8	48.2	70.5 (60)	64.0	17.7	33-7 (14-4)
2012	81.3	45.9	70.9 (10)	65.1	17.3	32-6 (14-2)
2009	89.8	48.0	72.9 (6)	66.0	18.0	34-4 (13-3)
2008	88.6	48.8	72.5 (9)	65.7	16.8	36-3 (14-2)
2005	88.0	49.9	73.1 (7)	61.1	19.1	33-4 (14-2)

"Fast" is more about how you play than foot-speed. And yes.

 

[TPFKAPFS]

We have to play fast without being in a hurry!

 

[DSouthr]

"Fast" is more about how you play than foot-speed. And yes.

I differ between fast and quick in a different way, I do agree that fast as it applies to a team is more about tempo and the ability to execute with that higher tempo. But when we talk individual players there is a very strong difference between quick and fast. Fast is more a straight line speed, quick is how much time is used to get in to a motion. Good example, a sprinter, quickness is a reflection of how he gets off at the starting gun, his speed is reflected in his fastest time in that sprint, his top end speed. If say it were a 100m dash, his finish time is a function of how quickly he exploded off the line as well as his top end, quicker to the top end of course the faster the timed dash is at the finish. Great example is Ty Lawson, kid was amazingly quick but was in a class by himself when it came to the raw speed he showed with the dribble, allowed him to 1 man fast break even if defenders where ahead of him. Speed and quickness is helped by training but for the most part God either gave that to you or he didn't, it is a gift.

I took the question of this thread to be more of a question about individual players as opposed to over all team, would agree if we were talking team that it is more a function of how the team plays but for an individual God given quickness and speed are more a reason a guy is able to do things most others can not.

Team playing fast while certainly you want guys that have been God blessed with quickness and speed it is more about the coach pushing his players to up the tempo, guarding hard and forcing the other team to play faster than they are comfortable with. Vastly reducing the pounding the ball east and west when you need to be going north to south, of course breaking but in half court, how quickly do you get in to your sets, how quickly can you develop a good look for a team mate and he convert. Kendal for example was by no measure quick or fast as an individual but the way he pushed the ball his team played really fast, he processed information on the court really quickly, the speed a kid is able to process all that is going on and determine what his next move is and to be able to execute (what I refer to when I say basketball IQ) is huge. For yet another example, RJ, I think is both decent quick and has decent speed but I don't think he can see things before they develop real well and does not seem able to process all the information on the court that leads to a great decision as Kendal for example excelled at. Let me as well explain by processing all information on the court, it is knowing where all your mates are, knowing where the defenders are, realizing where a passing lane that may not be open right this second will open, where his mates like the ball as their sweet spot that they can finish from, knowing who is a shooter and who isn't, knowing who has the hands to catch a tuff pass and who doesn't, understanding game time and situation, who has foul trouble on both teams, where you are on the court, just to list a few items. All that stuff has to be processed VERY quickly by a guard with great basketball IQ and result in a great decision. Cadeau (when he gets to us), I think Wilcher has great IQ, I personally think Tremble does, I like Ingram's IQ, LOVE Ryan's, like Withers as well. I think we have some really strong IQs on the way. IN contrast Caleb's basketball IQ was some of the worst I have ever seen for a kid that was as gifted as he is. Great basketball IQ making great decisions looks like a team playing really fast where the truth is they may actually be moving slower than before, remember Roy talking aboiut Ty, slow down to play faster?