In the first meeting between Duke and North Carolina, the Tar Heels blew a late 10-point lead and lost on a last-second buzzer beater by Austin Rivers. There would be no such comeback for the Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium Saturday for the regular-season finale, as UNC destroyed Duke from start to finish, winning 88-70 and taking home the ACC regular season title.
Three Tar Heels finished with double-doubles on the day, as Tyler Zeller more than likely solidified his ACC Player of the Year award with 19 points and 10 rebounds on 9-11 shooting, John Henson added 13 and 10, and Kendall Marshall was magnificent, scoring a game-high 20 points and dishing out 10 assists.
Carolina did what it was unable to do in the Dean Dome, suffocating Duke at the three-point line and forcing the Blue Devils to beat them inside. Even with the Plumlee brothers playing pretty well, that's a mismatch that no team in America can win. The front court of Zeller, Hanson and Harrison Barnes is the best in the country, and UNC displayed that Saturday.
However, the dominance is best encapsulated by two plays from UNC freshmen James McAdoo and P.J. Hairston.
Those plays displayed the utter dominance UNC had on the boards, hauling in 13 offensive rebounds and out-rebounding Duke 42-22 for the game. If the Heels play that kind of defense, especially at the three-point line (Duke was just 6-21 from beyond), you could just see UNC end up where it started the season — the No. 1 team in the country.
Showing posts with label tyler zeller. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tyler zeller. Show all posts
Monday, March 5, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Anatomy of a Meltdown: Poor Coaching, Poor Foul Shooting, Poor Decision-Making
With 2:38 remaining in the first of two meetings between Duke and North Carolina, the Tar Heels held a 10-point lead on their home court and looked to have the game in hand. After a slow start, they stormed back to take the lead before halftime and led for every single moment of the second half … until this happened:
So how exactly did this happen? A combination of poor coaching, poor foul shooting and poor decision-making on the part of Roy Williams and his squad. Just take a look at the key plays in the final 2 minutes and 38 seconds of the game. Following a jumper by Harrison Barnes to give the Heels an 82-72 lead, Williams took a timeout to set up his defense, and at the same time, he took out his team's second-leading rebounder, Tyler Zeller, who had four fouls. Williams had to make the choice between risking Zeller picking up a 5th foul on defense and being lost for the final moments or risk taking out one of his best rebounders when possessions were at a premium. He chose to sit Zeller so he'd have his big man on offense.
It's definitely hard to argue with that line of thinking, but it didn't help that following a block by John Henson on a Ryan Kelly three, Duke nabbed the ball and then got a surprising three by Tyler Thornton to make it an 82-75 game.
Roy then used another timeout, bringing Zeller back and presumably setting up a play that would both bleed the clock a bit and get a good shot. Instead, the normally sure-handed Kendall Marshall, who had only turned the ball over twice all game up until that point, turned it over immediately. That's when Duke took advantage of a break the way North Carolina seemingly couldn't all game long, even as they were leading by double digits for most of the second half.
Thornton threw a skip pass to Seth Curry, who blatantly walked but was not called for it and then proceeded to drain a huge three, 82-78, 1:48 remaining.
To compound that, Harrison Barnes, who had exploded in the second half to help UNC surge to a double-digit lead, made a boneheaded decision, trying to drive through the teeth of the Duke defense, essentially going it alone way too early in the shot clock, and turning it over with a deadly charge. I didn't want to even talk because you could see what was coming. North Carolina was choking after controlling things for more than half the game, and Duke was feeding off it.
Ryan Kelly then followed his own miss, hitting a jumper to suddenly cut a lead that was once as big as 13 points down to 2, 1:10 remaining.
And the meltdown just continued. Zeller, who was a man's man in the first half turned forgotten man in the second half — something of a regular occurrence for UNC — was fouled. The normally excellent free-throw shooter missed the first, ensuring the game remained a one-possession contest. After making the second, the Heels held a three-point advantage with 44 seconds remaining.
Duke used its remaining timeout and executed, with Kelly hitting yet another big shot, making it 83-82 with 14 seconds remaining. Once again, Zeller was fouled, and once again, he went just one of two from the line, now not only leaving the door open yet again for Duke, but giving them a huge opportunity given the way Duke was shooting the ball from deep.
And finally, to cap things off, Reggie Bullock, who had been making Austin Rivers work hard for every incredible bucket he hit, switched off on a screen, handing Rivers over to Zeller. Zeller never stood a chance, and even though he did all he could, putting his hand in Rivers' face, Doc's son drilled the game-winning three to cap off his dominant, impressive night, scoring a game-high 29 points and only turning the ball over three times, to give Duke the stunning 85-84 win.
It was a meltdown of epic proportions: missed free throws, rushed shots, horrid turnovers and a coach just sitting there on the sidelines watching it all unfold.
Truth of the matter is, the Tar Heels could have put this game completely away earlier in the half, as both Jay Bilas and Dick Vitale mentioned. Out of the break, Barnes and Marshall took over and helped UNC build a 13-point lead. But as Barnes began to cool a bit and uncharacteristically struggled from the foul line — missing four freebies on the night — and Marshall's driving lanes weren't quite as gaping as before, the Heels failed to get it to Zeller. It's something that's driven me crazy for years now with Roy. As things start to go south, most coaches will call a timeout or at least drive the point home that things have to run through the best, most reliable player on the team. For Carolina, that is Zeller, no matter how good Harrison Barnes is. When Zeller is getting the touches and making things happen, UNC is nearly unbeatable. And while he did have 23 and 11, Zeller was ignored for much of the second half. By the time Carolina remembered the big guy was on the floor, the game was close, Zeller was cold and he was not able to convert critical free throws in the waning seconds.
Conversely, Mike Krzyzewski got the ball in his best player's hands time and time again. Austin Rivers was simply remarkable last night, so Coach K kept making sure Rivers got his looks. He put the ball in his best player's hands and lived and died with the results. That's what you expect a coach to do. Krzyzewski did, and he stole a victory. Williams didn't, and he gave away what looked like a sure win.
That's the most maddening part. This was an ending that never should have been allowed to happen. It's an embarrassment. And surely, it is on guys like Zeller, Barns and Marshall for coming up small in the final three minutes, missing free throws and turning the ball over at the most inopportune times, but it's also on the coach who failed to rein in his players and make sure they put a very good Duke team away.
Don't get me wrong, Roy is a great coach. He was incredibly successful at Kansas, and since he's returned to his alma mater, he's won two national championships and reestablished the Tar Heels as the cream of the crop along with Duke in the ACC. But he is no Mike Krzyzewski. He showed that last night. And Duke showed its mental make-up, led by a fearless freshman who was cherishing the moment.
Hats off to Austin Rivers for his brilliant performance and stunning buzzer-beater. But it should have never come to that had it not been for some poor coaching, poor foul shooting and poor decision-making by the Tar Heels.
So how exactly did this happen? A combination of poor coaching, poor foul shooting and poor decision-making on the part of Roy Williams and his squad. Just take a look at the key plays in the final 2 minutes and 38 seconds of the game. Following a jumper by Harrison Barnes to give the Heels an 82-72 lead, Williams took a timeout to set up his defense, and at the same time, he took out his team's second-leading rebounder, Tyler Zeller, who had four fouls. Williams had to make the choice between risking Zeller picking up a 5th foul on defense and being lost for the final moments or risk taking out one of his best rebounders when possessions were at a premium. He chose to sit Zeller so he'd have his big man on offense.
It's definitely hard to argue with that line of thinking, but it didn't help that following a block by John Henson on a Ryan Kelly three, Duke nabbed the ball and then got a surprising three by Tyler Thornton to make it an 82-75 game.
Roy then used another timeout, bringing Zeller back and presumably setting up a play that would both bleed the clock a bit and get a good shot. Instead, the normally sure-handed Kendall Marshall, who had only turned the ball over twice all game up until that point, turned it over immediately. That's when Duke took advantage of a break the way North Carolina seemingly couldn't all game long, even as they were leading by double digits for most of the second half.
Thornton threw a skip pass to Seth Curry, who blatantly walked but was not called for it and then proceeded to drain a huge three, 82-78, 1:48 remaining.
To compound that, Harrison Barnes, who had exploded in the second half to help UNC surge to a double-digit lead, made a boneheaded decision, trying to drive through the teeth of the Duke defense, essentially going it alone way too early in the shot clock, and turning it over with a deadly charge. I didn't want to even talk because you could see what was coming. North Carolina was choking after controlling things for more than half the game, and Duke was feeding off it.
Ryan Kelly then followed his own miss, hitting a jumper to suddenly cut a lead that was once as big as 13 points down to 2, 1:10 remaining.
And the meltdown just continued. Zeller, who was a man's man in the first half turned forgotten man in the second half — something of a regular occurrence for UNC — was fouled. The normally excellent free-throw shooter missed the first, ensuring the game remained a one-possession contest. After making the second, the Heels held a three-point advantage with 44 seconds remaining.
Duke used its remaining timeout and executed, with Kelly hitting yet another big shot, making it 83-82 with 14 seconds remaining. Once again, Zeller was fouled, and once again, he went just one of two from the line, now not only leaving the door open yet again for Duke, but giving them a huge opportunity given the way Duke was shooting the ball from deep.
And finally, to cap things off, Reggie Bullock, who had been making Austin Rivers work hard for every incredible bucket he hit, switched off on a screen, handing Rivers over to Zeller. Zeller never stood a chance, and even though he did all he could, putting his hand in Rivers' face, Doc's son drilled the game-winning three to cap off his dominant, impressive night, scoring a game-high 29 points and only turning the ball over three times, to give Duke the stunning 85-84 win.
It was a meltdown of epic proportions: missed free throws, rushed shots, horrid turnovers and a coach just sitting there on the sidelines watching it all unfold.
Truth of the matter is, the Tar Heels could have put this game completely away earlier in the half, as both Jay Bilas and Dick Vitale mentioned. Out of the break, Barnes and Marshall took over and helped UNC build a 13-point lead. But as Barnes began to cool a bit and uncharacteristically struggled from the foul line — missing four freebies on the night — and Marshall's driving lanes weren't quite as gaping as before, the Heels failed to get it to Zeller. It's something that's driven me crazy for years now with Roy. As things start to go south, most coaches will call a timeout or at least drive the point home that things have to run through the best, most reliable player on the team. For Carolina, that is Zeller, no matter how good Harrison Barnes is. When Zeller is getting the touches and making things happen, UNC is nearly unbeatable. And while he did have 23 and 11, Zeller was ignored for much of the second half. By the time Carolina remembered the big guy was on the floor, the game was close, Zeller was cold and he was not able to convert critical free throws in the waning seconds.
Conversely, Mike Krzyzewski got the ball in his best player's hands time and time again. Austin Rivers was simply remarkable last night, so Coach K kept making sure Rivers got his looks. He put the ball in his best player's hands and lived and died with the results. That's what you expect a coach to do. Krzyzewski did, and he stole a victory. Williams didn't, and he gave away what looked like a sure win.
That's the most maddening part. This was an ending that never should have been allowed to happen. It's an embarrassment. And surely, it is on guys like Zeller, Barns and Marshall for coming up small in the final three minutes, missing free throws and turning the ball over at the most inopportune times, but it's also on the coach who failed to rein in his players and make sure they put a very good Duke team away.
Don't get me wrong, Roy is a great coach. He was incredibly successful at Kansas, and since he's returned to his alma mater, he's won two national championships and reestablished the Tar Heels as the cream of the crop along with Duke in the ACC. But he is no Mike Krzyzewski. He showed that last night. And Duke showed its mental make-up, led by a fearless freshman who was cherishing the moment.
Hats off to Austin Rivers for his brilliant performance and stunning buzzer-beater. But it should have never come to that had it not been for some poor coaching, poor foul shooting and poor decision-making by the Tar Heels.
Monday, December 5, 2011
The Best College Basketball Game We May See All Season
Saturday in Rupp Arena, No. 1 Kentucky defeated No. 5 North Carolina 73-72 as freshman shot-blocking phenom Anthony Davis gave junior shot-blocking sensation John Henson a taste of his own medicine as the seconds ticked away.
Our friend Ed broke down the excitement in depth, but I wanted to add a few of my own reactions.
For starters, I was watching the game with my roommate, and just witnessing the sheer athleticism and high level of play for a college game made us both take notice that something was different about this one. Sure, there were still plenty of mistakes that college players make, particularly in the early season, but there was a level of intensity combined with skill in this one that put it on a different plain.
Heading into the season, these were perhaps the two most hyped teams in the country, and as the game approached, many pundits were projecting anywhere from nine to 12 NBA players might be taking the court in this one. After watching the contest, those proclamations are easy to understand.
As Ed noted, highly touted sophomores Harrison Barnes and Terence Jones went toe-to-toe, with Jones getting things started in the first half and Barnes, after a slow start plagued by foul trouble, hit big bucket after big bucket in the second half to keep UNC in it. Tyler Zeller was having his way in the first half before being constantly doubled in the final 20 minutes. Doron Lamb showed a killer instinct, dropping clutch shots for the Wildcats. John Henson and Anthondy Davis used their go-go gadget arms to bother and block shots.
P.J. Hairston showed the shooting stroke he displayed in high school, while Kendall Marshall showed he has an outside shot too. Darius Miller quietly did his thing, and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, one of the top recruits in the nation, exploded for a game-high 17 points and 11 rebounds, becoming the true difference-maker in the 2nd half.
It was an incredibly exciting, fun game to watch. The only thing I didn't like was the outcome — and the final possession for UNC. I know that I just preached to the Tar Heels to get Tyler Zeller the ball, but you absolutely have to put the ball in Harrison Barnes' hands there at the end. He's the team's best shot-maker, he had hit some huge threes in the 2nd half, he has a penchant for hitting game-winning shots, and Kentucky was swarming Zeller every time he touched the ball.
Regardless, it was easily the best college basketball game so far this year, and it very well may be the best one we see all season. As Ed said, we would be lucky as hell to get a national championship game like this one.
Our friend Ed broke down the excitement in depth, but I wanted to add a few of my own reactions.
For starters, I was watching the game with my roommate, and just witnessing the sheer athleticism and high level of play for a college game made us both take notice that something was different about this one. Sure, there were still plenty of mistakes that college players make, particularly in the early season, but there was a level of intensity combined with skill in this one that put it on a different plain.
Heading into the season, these were perhaps the two most hyped teams in the country, and as the game approached, many pundits were projecting anywhere from nine to 12 NBA players might be taking the court in this one. After watching the contest, those proclamations are easy to understand.
As Ed noted, highly touted sophomores Harrison Barnes and Terence Jones went toe-to-toe, with Jones getting things started in the first half and Barnes, after a slow start plagued by foul trouble, hit big bucket after big bucket in the second half to keep UNC in it. Tyler Zeller was having his way in the first half before being constantly doubled in the final 20 minutes. Doron Lamb showed a killer instinct, dropping clutch shots for the Wildcats. John Henson and Anthondy Davis used their go-go gadget arms to bother and block shots.
P.J. Hairston showed the shooting stroke he displayed in high school, while Kendall Marshall showed he has an outside shot too. Darius Miller quietly did his thing, and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, one of the top recruits in the nation, exploded for a game-high 17 points and 11 rebounds, becoming the true difference-maker in the 2nd half.
It was an incredibly exciting, fun game to watch. The only thing I didn't like was the outcome — and the final possession for UNC. I know that I just preached to the Tar Heels to get Tyler Zeller the ball, but you absolutely have to put the ball in Harrison Barnes' hands there at the end. He's the team's best shot-maker, he had hit some huge threes in the 2nd half, he has a penchant for hitting game-winning shots, and Kentucky was swarming Zeller every time he touched the ball.
Regardless, it was easily the best college basketball game so far this year, and it very well may be the best one we see all season. As Ed said, we would be lucky as hell to get a national championship game like this one.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
For the Love of God, Get Tyler Zeller the Ball
Roy Williams is an excellent basketball coach and his North Carolina Tar Heels are a very good basketball team. However, there is one thing that has been bothering me for quite some time when it comes to Roy and his UNC teams, and really it's about coaching.
Since returning to his alma mater in 2003, Williams has certainly done a masterful job, winning two national championships and maintaining the historic excellence Dean Smith created. However, there are spells where Roy's teams have bafflingly and inexcusably ignored their best, most efficient interior players — Tyler Hansbrough excluded.
For instance, take Williams' first national championship team from 2005, a team that included Jawad Williams, Rashad McCants, Raymond Felton, Marvin Williams and Sean May. We all remember the controversial one-point Sweet 16 victory over Villanova in the NCAA Tournament and the infamous phantom traveling call on Allen Ray.
What everyone seems to forget is that that game should have never been that close to begin with. Don't get me wrong, Villanova played incredibly well with an awesomely talented team that included Ray, Randy Foye, Mike Nardi and Kyle Lowry, and there was no way they were going to make things easy for the Tar Heels. However, if you recall, Sean May was literally dominating inside, scoring every time he touched the ball on the extremely undersized Wildcats. No one on Nova could stop him — yet May only managed to hoist 9 shots despite making six of them, hauling in 10 boards and completely abusing Villanova inside.
The entire game, I was screaming at Felton and Roy Williams to demand May get a touch inside on every position, and each time my pleas went unanswered. As a result, Villanova played their tremendous perimeter defense and almost pulled off the upset. In that game, had Roy simply demanded his players to feed May the ball, that game most likely would not have been as close as it was, seeing as Nova had absolutely no answer inside for May. But Williams didn't, and it nearly cost his talented team the national championship it ultimately won.
Fast-forward to last season. All the hype that surrounded the Tar Heels was in large part due to the highly touted freshman Harrison Barnes, a freshman so highly regarded that he was the first-ever to be named Preseason All-American. As we know, it took Barnes a while to fulfill that promise, but he did eventual turn into the player people expected. However, as the Tar Heels had a bit of a roller-coaster season, the one steady hand had been Tyler Zeller.
Plain and simple, Zeller has been without question UNC's most efficient player, if not its best, for the past few years. As great as Barnes is, no one has been more reliable on a nightly basis than Zeller. If you've watched North Carolina the past few seasons, you know that if Zeller has a big game, the Tar Heels win.
And yet, there were stretches of games where Zeller would be ignored for large portions in the first half of last season. It wasn't until Kendall Marshall took over at point that Zeller really began to get the ball consistently, and uncoincidentally, that's when UNC took off.
I was hopeful that the late-season surge from last year would make Roy Williams and the Tar Heels realize that Tyler Zeller has to get more touches more consistently for this team to realize its full potential — much like everything ran through Tyler Hansbrough during his days in Chapel Hill. Yet in this early season, Roy's blind eye toward demanding his players to feed his talented, efficient center has already cost the preseason No. 1 team to lose embarrassingly to UNLV and allowed Wisconsin to keep the game close throughout last night.
In the 90-80 loss to the Runnin' Rebels, Zeller took just six shots. And while he only made one of them, you know that low percentage wouldn't last. Zeller is a career 52 percent shooter from the field and coming off a career-best season of 54.7. The man knows how to score and score efficiently. Yet in that loss, he was essentially ignored.
And last night, as Wisconsin did an incredibly effective job of slowing down the pace and making the Tar Heels play Badger basketball, Zeller was largely ignored again. He only had five field goal attempts — though he did get to line six times — despite this being a half-court game for the most part. That makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever, and it really comes down to coaching.
I know Roy likes to push the pace and have his team get as many offensive possessions as possible. He likes to score quickly and make it a track meet. But when the opposition effectively slows the pace and your squad isn't the best shooting bunch, you go down low to your most reliable player. That guy is Zeller. The game flow dictated him getting a lot of shots, yet it didn't happen. And that's why Wisconsin was able to keep it close and actually take a second-half lead before Harrison Barnes took over with some remarkable shot-making and Dexter Strickland shut down Jordan Taylor with tremendous defense.
But like in that Sweet 16 game in 2005, last night's contest should not have come down to that, just as the loss to UNLV probably should have never happened. Those games were the pressure-cookers they were because Williams and his Tar Heels ignored their efficient big men who very rarely could be stopped.
It is his one coaching flaw that I have noticed over the years, but a big one. I'll concede that at a school with so much talent, it can be difficult finding enough shots for all the McDonald's All-Americans on the roster. But it's the job of the coach to put his team in the best position to succeed. For the most part, Roy Williams does that. But when his teams ignore their big men, especially when those guys are as good as Sean May and Tyler Zeller, he's not doing his job.
If North Carolina wants to hoist its third national championship banner under Roy Williams this season, they have to stop ignoring their big man and — for the love of god — get Tyler Zeller the damn ball.
Since returning to his alma mater in 2003, Williams has certainly done a masterful job, winning two national championships and maintaining the historic excellence Dean Smith created. However, there are spells where Roy's teams have bafflingly and inexcusably ignored their best, most efficient interior players — Tyler Hansbrough excluded.
For instance, take Williams' first national championship team from 2005, a team that included Jawad Williams, Rashad McCants, Raymond Felton, Marvin Williams and Sean May. We all remember the controversial one-point Sweet 16 victory over Villanova in the NCAA Tournament and the infamous phantom traveling call on Allen Ray.
What everyone seems to forget is that that game should have never been that close to begin with. Don't get me wrong, Villanova played incredibly well with an awesomely talented team that included Ray, Randy Foye, Mike Nardi and Kyle Lowry, and there was no way they were going to make things easy for the Tar Heels. However, if you recall, Sean May was literally dominating inside, scoring every time he touched the ball on the extremely undersized Wildcats. No one on Nova could stop him — yet May only managed to hoist 9 shots despite making six of them, hauling in 10 boards and completely abusing Villanova inside.
The entire game, I was screaming at Felton and Roy Williams to demand May get a touch inside on every position, and each time my pleas went unanswered. As a result, Villanova played their tremendous perimeter defense and almost pulled off the upset. In that game, had Roy simply demanded his players to feed May the ball, that game most likely would not have been as close as it was, seeing as Nova had absolutely no answer inside for May. But Williams didn't, and it nearly cost his talented team the national championship it ultimately won.
Fast-forward to last season. All the hype that surrounded the Tar Heels was in large part due to the highly touted freshman Harrison Barnes, a freshman so highly regarded that he was the first-ever to be named Preseason All-American. As we know, it took Barnes a while to fulfill that promise, but he did eventual turn into the player people expected. However, as the Tar Heels had a bit of a roller-coaster season, the one steady hand had been Tyler Zeller.
Plain and simple, Zeller has been without question UNC's most efficient player, if not its best, for the past few years. As great as Barnes is, no one has been more reliable on a nightly basis than Zeller. If you've watched North Carolina the past few seasons, you know that if Zeller has a big game, the Tar Heels win.
And yet, there were stretches of games where Zeller would be ignored for large portions in the first half of last season. It wasn't until Kendall Marshall took over at point that Zeller really began to get the ball consistently, and uncoincidentally, that's when UNC took off.
I was hopeful that the late-season surge from last year would make Roy Williams and the Tar Heels realize that Tyler Zeller has to get more touches more consistently for this team to realize its full potential — much like everything ran through Tyler Hansbrough during his days in Chapel Hill. Yet in this early season, Roy's blind eye toward demanding his players to feed his talented, efficient center has already cost the preseason No. 1 team to lose embarrassingly to UNLV and allowed Wisconsin to keep the game close throughout last night.
In the 90-80 loss to the Runnin' Rebels, Zeller took just six shots. And while he only made one of them, you know that low percentage wouldn't last. Zeller is a career 52 percent shooter from the field and coming off a career-best season of 54.7. The man knows how to score and score efficiently. Yet in that loss, he was essentially ignored.
And last night, as Wisconsin did an incredibly effective job of slowing down the pace and making the Tar Heels play Badger basketball, Zeller was largely ignored again. He only had five field goal attempts — though he did get to line six times — despite this being a half-court game for the most part. That makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever, and it really comes down to coaching.
I know Roy likes to push the pace and have his team get as many offensive possessions as possible. He likes to score quickly and make it a track meet. But when the opposition effectively slows the pace and your squad isn't the best shooting bunch, you go down low to your most reliable player. That guy is Zeller. The game flow dictated him getting a lot of shots, yet it didn't happen. And that's why Wisconsin was able to keep it close and actually take a second-half lead before Harrison Barnes took over with some remarkable shot-making and Dexter Strickland shut down Jordan Taylor with tremendous defense.
But like in that Sweet 16 game in 2005, last night's contest should not have come down to that, just as the loss to UNLV probably should have never happened. Those games were the pressure-cookers they were because Williams and his Tar Heels ignored their efficient big men who very rarely could be stopped.
It is his one coaching flaw that I have noticed over the years, but a big one. I'll concede that at a school with so much talent, it can be difficult finding enough shots for all the McDonald's All-Americans on the roster. But it's the job of the coach to put his team in the best position to succeed. For the most part, Roy Williams does that. But when his teams ignore their big men, especially when those guys are as good as Sean May and Tyler Zeller, he's not doing his job.
If North Carolina wants to hoist its third national championship banner under Roy Williams this season, they have to stop ignoring their big man and — for the love of god — get Tyler Zeller the damn ball.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Vets in Revolt
Friday afternoon, I took a little break from work and went for a walk to hit up the ATM and buy some lottery tickets. When I returned, there was an email from Adam EatShit inviting me to go to the Sixers game along with his girlfriend, uncle jellyfish and a few other friends. I gladly accepted, and believe it or not, I was looking forward to seeing the remains of Tracy McGrady, who has been playing pretty good basketball lately, in person.
I decide to duck out of work about 20 minutes early, throw on some more comfortable clothes and down a few drinks before the game. So I get to my house and turn on ESPN as I get ready, and what do I see? That Tracy McGrady, Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Rodney Stuckey, Ben Wallace and a slew of other Pistons didn't show up to the shootaround (or showed up insanely late), apparently as a protest aimed at coach John Kuester. Awesome.
Then I heard Kuester had said he'll go with the guys who showed up for the game. Great. Not only was I going to see the Sixers play a terrible team, but I was probably going to have to see them play a terrible team without most of its best players and a short roster. Fantastic.
Even though the Sixers could pull to .500 on the year — honestly an impressive feat when you consider where this team was a month into the season — I wasn't overly excited to watch them play a disinterested, overmatched, shorthanded squad. So I got loaded as I waited to meet up with uncle jellyfish, hopped on SEPTA and got to the game.
It was exactly as expected. There were McGrady, Rip, Prince, Stuckey, Wallace along with Austin Daye and Chris Wilcox, glued to the bench with their warm-ups on, never once moving from their seats. The Pistons played just six players on the night. Six. The Sixers played 9.
Unsurprisingly, the game wasn't even close, and honestly, it wasn't all that interesting either. Yes, the Sixers took care of business against an inferior, depleted opponent to pull to .500 on the season, winning easily 110-94, and the Sixers got great performances from their four best players this season: Jrue Holiday (12 and 10), Andre Iguodala (21, 11 and 7) and Elton Brand (20 and 17) all had double-doubles, and Thaddeus Young led the Sixers with 24 points off the bench, making 12 of his 15 shots. But beyond a few exciting defensive plays and dunks, I was more excited that it was Friday than I was at this game. The Detroit veterans in revolt sort of spoiled my mood.
However, I do have to give the Sixers their due. They followed up the win on Friday by holding off the Cavaliers yesterday — though they did blow another big third-quarter lead to make it closer than it should have been. Regardless, Holiday nearly had another double-double, leading the way for Philadelphia with 13 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds, and six Sixers in all scored in double figures. Under the first-year tutelage of Doug Collins, your Philadelphia 76ers are now officially a winning basketball team, at least for the time being (they take on the Mavericks tomorrow night).
The most impressive and potentially important thing about the Sixers of late is that they are taking care of business and beating the teams they should beat. In February, the Sixers went 9-3. Those three losses came at the hands of the Knicks, Magic and Grizzlies, three teams with winning records and in position to make the playoffs if the season ended today. In that time frame, they've disposed of all the bad teams they played: New Jersey, Minnesota, Washington, Detroit and Cleveland. You can throw Houston in there too if you'd like — the Rockets are a game under .500 right now.
The fact that the Sixers have handled every bad team they've played of late is a really good sign. Then you factor in wins against the Knicks, Hawks and Spurs this month, and you can see why the Sixers stood pat at the trade deadline. You don't have to agree with it — personally, I don't, but I do understand why they did — but you can't deny that this team is looking much better than anyone could have hoped coming off a horrific 2009-10 season.
I'm not about to fool myself into thinking this team can win a playoff series, but I'm starting to suspect the Sixers will give Miami, Chicago, Orlando or whoever they end up playing more than a handful. The same way they did a few seasons ago against the Pistons.
As for this current incarnation of the Pistons, I have to admit, I understand the frustration of an incompetent coach. Kind of makes me wonder why no Sixers revolted against Eddie Jordan last year.
And I'm about to lead a revolt against Tim Curley and the Penn State athletic department. Why, you ask? Because after I watched every second of St. John's knock off fledgeling Villanova Saturday, I go and read that Steve Lavin wanted the Penn State job back when he was fired by UCLA. But Penn State didn't even contact him back, mainly because they didn't want to shell out the kind of money Lavin would command.
Are you kidding me? The same school that doesn't shy away from hiring the best of the best in virtually every other sport on campus — like shelling out huge bucks to get Cael Sanderson for wrestling — wouldn't even talk to a proven coach from a big-time program that is renowned as an excellent recruiter. Instead, they opt for the incompetent Ed DeChellis, a guy I wouldn't feel comfortable having as the coach of my high school alma mater's basketball team.
Now all Lavin has done is transform St. John's into one of the best teams in the Big East in his first year that is surely headed to the NCAA tournament, and has one of the nation's best recruiting classes coming in. Penn State meanwhile has not made a single NCAA tournament under DeChellis, has been a bottom dweller for most of his tenure, and even with this season's strong showing, Penn State is an NIT team that loses its best player to graduation and will most assuredly drop back down to the basement of the Big Ten in 2011-12.
I'm sorry, but that's just unacceptable, and the athletic department is to blame. We've been hearing forever that all Penn State needs is that one big recruit or one big coach to make something of the program. Seven years ago, a big-time coach who brings in big-time recruits went out of his way to show interest in the job, and Penn State gave him the cold shoulder. No wonder so many students there return the favor. That sort of indifference and stupidity in regard to the basketball program is why people like me, who have roots outside of Penn State, spend infinitely more time consumed with Temple and Villanova and other higher profile programs. Because those schools care about putting a good product and reputable basketball program together. Penn State doesn't.
As for Lavin, I'd say things have turned out pretty good for him. St. John's continued its surprise season by beating Villanova at the Wells Fargo Center Saturday, and they did it leading pretty much from start to finish.
I know a lot has been said about Dwight Hardy lately, especially when discussing Big East Player of the Year candidates, and Saturday was exactly why. Hardy was unbelievable. He scored a game-high 34 points. He was 9-16 from the field, 5-9 from three and 11-13 at the line. And he made some truly remarkable shots, a couple in big moments to stave off a Nova run. It was an impressive performance to say the least, and proof that he definitely belongs in the POY discussion.
For Nova, the slide continued. It was their third straight loss to a ranked opponent, all at home, and now a team that was expected to contend for the Big East title is 9-7 in conference play, with two very difficult games — at No. 9 Notre Dame and at No. 4 Pittsburgh — to wrap up regular-season play. The way the Wildcats are playing, they could very easily be staring at a .500 conference record when it's all said and done.
Lately, the reason has been simple: Nova hasn't had its two best scorers, its two senior guards, play well at the same time in forever. When the slide began, Corey Stokes couldn't throw a beach ball into the ocean. Then he got hurt. Corey Fisher did all he could, carrying the offensive load, but it wasn't enough.
On Saturday, Stokes finally showed up again. He scored a team-high 20 points, going 7-11 from the field and 6-10 from three. It was just what Nova needed … except that as Stokes re-emerged, Fisher fell off a cliff. Nova's leading scorer finished with just 2 points. He went 1-10 from the field. And no matter what kind of performance the team gets from Stokes and Maalik Wayns (10 points) and anyone else, Nova will not win with Corey Fisher netting just 2 points. If he's not in double digits, the chances are Villanova will lose.
It was the second straight game Fisher failed to reach double digits. Stokes finally got out of his funk against the Orange last week, scoring 24 points, but Nova lost largely because Fisher shot 3-16 and finished with just 8 points. Same thing happened Saturday. In his last two games, Fish is 4-26 from the field and has scored a combined 10 points. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Villanova needs Fisher AND Stokes to play well in order to win. And that's been the root cause of this skid. The fact that the two senior guards have not been able to play well at the same time has crippled the guard-oriented offense of Jay Wright, and Nova has struggled because of it.
Just take a look at the numbers. Since January 17, when Nova lost at UConn, the Wildcats are 5-7. In those seven losses, Fisher and Stokes failed to both score in double digits five times (one of those games, against Pitt, Stokes did not play). Only the losses at Providence (Fisher, 15; Stokes, 13) and Rutgers (Fisher, 23; Stokes, 10) saw Nova lose when both scored in double figures, and the Rutgers game had the combination of that absurd ending and Stokes barely reaching double digits.
On the flip side, Nova has only won two games in which either Stokes or Fisher failed to reach double digits. One was the victory against West Virginia, in which Antonio Pena, Mouphtaou Yarou and Maalik Wayns each picked up Stokes' slack by scoring in double figures. Then came the win at Depaul with Stokes inactive, but Nova needed 34 points from Fisher and overtime to beat a really, really bad Depaul team.
The formula for Nova is simple: If Fisher and Stokes score, Nova wins. If one of them fails to show up, they lose. The solution is not so simple. Because lately, every time Stokes has a good game, Fisher struggles, and vice versa. All I know is these seniors better figure it out if they expect to make any sort of run in the Big East and NCAA tournaments.
Lavoy Allen, meanwhile, is a senior who is most definitely figuring things out when his team needs it the most.
The Owls came out insanely flat against a game George Washington team Saturday and found themselves getting blown out in the first couple minutes. Then Temple put the vice grip on GW defensively, and worked all the way back to get within three by half. From there, it was the Lavoy Allen show.
Temple's all-time leading rebounder was everywhere, altering a shot and hauling in a board on one end, then finishing around the rim — and even once from deep — on the other. He put forth a 6-minute spurt where he made every damn play. A block here, rebound there, pass here, bucket there. He looked like the player many expected heading into the season, when he was a preseason favorite for A-10 Player of the Year.
His performance turned what at one time had been a huge lead for George Washington into a 16-point blowout win for Temple. Allen was dominant with 19 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks. He didn't have a single turnover, only committed 2 fouls and shot 8-12 from the field. It was the type of performance you expect from a senior leader when his team truly needed it. And Lavoy answered the call.
The other good news for Temple is that Juan Fernandez seemed to get rejuvenated in the second half. His numbers overall weren't good — 2-8 from the field for just 6 points and 2 assists — but he hit two big three-pointers and looked confident taking them. And if there was any question about those shots jolting him back into feeling good about himself, he fired a one-handed, behind-the-back pass for a bucket, the type of pass we saw him make from time to time the past two seasons but has been conspicuously absent this year.
Hopefully it's the game that gives Juan his confidence back and lets him find his game again. Because if Temple can get Fernandez playing good ball, the Owls can be a legitimate Sweet 16 team. If not, it would take a Herculean effort by Allen, the kind he put forth Saturday.
Finally, I wanted to give Tyler Zeller and John Henson more praise for their performances last night in the 87-76 win over Maryland.
Zeller was outstanding. He scored 25 points on 10-16 shooting, and the best part about it was Kendall Marshall kept feeding him the ball. The biggest frustration last year was watching the UNC guards ignore Zeller time and time again, despite the fact he is this team's best player. Not last night. Marshall saw Zeller was scoring at will, and he kept feeding him. Marshall, by the way, had 10 assists, 6 boards and 3 steals. Something tells me this team doesn't miss Larry Drew.
For his part, Henson had a near triple-double: 10 points, 15 rebounds and 7 blocks. The way he and Zeller control the paint has me thinking the Tar Heels may do more damage than anyone expects come tourney time. Of Henson's 7 blocks, 5 of them were spectacular. He just seems to be able to reach heights most shot-blockers can't because of his freakish length.
When you add the interior dominance of Zeller and Henson to the increasingly stellar guard play from freshmen Harrison Barnes (21 points and 6 boards last night) and Marshall, not mention better play from Dexter Strickland and Leslie McDonald, you have a legit threat in the tournament. The Tar Heels can score and rebound, always a dangerous combination. And you know they'll be well-coached.
Unlike the Pistons. And Penn State.
I decide to duck out of work about 20 minutes early, throw on some more comfortable clothes and down a few drinks before the game. So I get to my house and turn on ESPN as I get ready, and what do I see? That Tracy McGrady, Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Rodney Stuckey, Ben Wallace and a slew of other Pistons didn't show up to the shootaround (or showed up insanely late), apparently as a protest aimed at coach John Kuester. Awesome.
Then I heard Kuester had said he'll go with the guys who showed up for the game. Great. Not only was I going to see the Sixers play a terrible team, but I was probably going to have to see them play a terrible team without most of its best players and a short roster. Fantastic.
Even though the Sixers could pull to .500 on the year — honestly an impressive feat when you consider where this team was a month into the season — I wasn't overly excited to watch them play a disinterested, overmatched, shorthanded squad. So I got loaded as I waited to meet up with uncle jellyfish, hopped on SEPTA and got to the game.
It was exactly as expected. There were McGrady, Rip, Prince, Stuckey, Wallace along with Austin Daye and Chris Wilcox, glued to the bench with their warm-ups on, never once moving from their seats. The Pistons played just six players on the night. Six. The Sixers played 9.
Unsurprisingly, the game wasn't even close, and honestly, it wasn't all that interesting either. Yes, the Sixers took care of business against an inferior, depleted opponent to pull to .500 on the season, winning easily 110-94, and the Sixers got great performances from their four best players this season: Jrue Holiday (12 and 10), Andre Iguodala (21, 11 and 7) and Elton Brand (20 and 17) all had double-doubles, and Thaddeus Young led the Sixers with 24 points off the bench, making 12 of his 15 shots. But beyond a few exciting defensive plays and dunks, I was more excited that it was Friday than I was at this game. The Detroit veterans in revolt sort of spoiled my mood.
However, I do have to give the Sixers their due. They followed up the win on Friday by holding off the Cavaliers yesterday — though they did blow another big third-quarter lead to make it closer than it should have been. Regardless, Holiday nearly had another double-double, leading the way for Philadelphia with 13 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds, and six Sixers in all scored in double figures. Under the first-year tutelage of Doug Collins, your Philadelphia 76ers are now officially a winning basketball team, at least for the time being (they take on the Mavericks tomorrow night).
The most impressive and potentially important thing about the Sixers of late is that they are taking care of business and beating the teams they should beat. In February, the Sixers went 9-3. Those three losses came at the hands of the Knicks, Magic and Grizzlies, three teams with winning records and in position to make the playoffs if the season ended today. In that time frame, they've disposed of all the bad teams they played: New Jersey, Minnesota, Washington, Detroit and Cleveland. You can throw Houston in there too if you'd like — the Rockets are a game under .500 right now.
The fact that the Sixers have handled every bad team they've played of late is a really good sign. Then you factor in wins against the Knicks, Hawks and Spurs this month, and you can see why the Sixers stood pat at the trade deadline. You don't have to agree with it — personally, I don't, but I do understand why they did — but you can't deny that this team is looking much better than anyone could have hoped coming off a horrific 2009-10 season.
I'm not about to fool myself into thinking this team can win a playoff series, but I'm starting to suspect the Sixers will give Miami, Chicago, Orlando or whoever they end up playing more than a handful. The same way they did a few seasons ago against the Pistons.
As for this current incarnation of the Pistons, I have to admit, I understand the frustration of an incompetent coach. Kind of makes me wonder why no Sixers revolted against Eddie Jordan last year.
And I'm about to lead a revolt against Tim Curley and the Penn State athletic department. Why, you ask? Because after I watched every second of St. John's knock off fledgeling Villanova Saturday, I go and read that Steve Lavin wanted the Penn State job back when he was fired by UCLA. But Penn State didn't even contact him back, mainly because they didn't want to shell out the kind of money Lavin would command.
Are you kidding me? The same school that doesn't shy away from hiring the best of the best in virtually every other sport on campus — like shelling out huge bucks to get Cael Sanderson for wrestling — wouldn't even talk to a proven coach from a big-time program that is renowned as an excellent recruiter. Instead, they opt for the incompetent Ed DeChellis, a guy I wouldn't feel comfortable having as the coach of my high school alma mater's basketball team.
Now all Lavin has done is transform St. John's into one of the best teams in the Big East in his first year that is surely headed to the NCAA tournament, and has one of the nation's best recruiting classes coming in. Penn State meanwhile has not made a single NCAA tournament under DeChellis, has been a bottom dweller for most of his tenure, and even with this season's strong showing, Penn State is an NIT team that loses its best player to graduation and will most assuredly drop back down to the basement of the Big Ten in 2011-12.
I'm sorry, but that's just unacceptable, and the athletic department is to blame. We've been hearing forever that all Penn State needs is that one big recruit or one big coach to make something of the program. Seven years ago, a big-time coach who brings in big-time recruits went out of his way to show interest in the job, and Penn State gave him the cold shoulder. No wonder so many students there return the favor. That sort of indifference and stupidity in regard to the basketball program is why people like me, who have roots outside of Penn State, spend infinitely more time consumed with Temple and Villanova and other higher profile programs. Because those schools care about putting a good product and reputable basketball program together. Penn State doesn't.
As for Lavin, I'd say things have turned out pretty good for him. St. John's continued its surprise season by beating Villanova at the Wells Fargo Center Saturday, and they did it leading pretty much from start to finish.
I know a lot has been said about Dwight Hardy lately, especially when discussing Big East Player of the Year candidates, and Saturday was exactly why. Hardy was unbelievable. He scored a game-high 34 points. He was 9-16 from the field, 5-9 from three and 11-13 at the line. And he made some truly remarkable shots, a couple in big moments to stave off a Nova run. It was an impressive performance to say the least, and proof that he definitely belongs in the POY discussion.
For Nova, the slide continued. It was their third straight loss to a ranked opponent, all at home, and now a team that was expected to contend for the Big East title is 9-7 in conference play, with two very difficult games — at No. 9 Notre Dame and at No. 4 Pittsburgh — to wrap up regular-season play. The way the Wildcats are playing, they could very easily be staring at a .500 conference record when it's all said and done.
Lately, the reason has been simple: Nova hasn't had its two best scorers, its two senior guards, play well at the same time in forever. When the slide began, Corey Stokes couldn't throw a beach ball into the ocean. Then he got hurt. Corey Fisher did all he could, carrying the offensive load, but it wasn't enough.
On Saturday, Stokes finally showed up again. He scored a team-high 20 points, going 7-11 from the field and 6-10 from three. It was just what Nova needed … except that as Stokes re-emerged, Fisher fell off a cliff. Nova's leading scorer finished with just 2 points. He went 1-10 from the field. And no matter what kind of performance the team gets from Stokes and Maalik Wayns (10 points) and anyone else, Nova will not win with Corey Fisher netting just 2 points. If he's not in double digits, the chances are Villanova will lose.
It was the second straight game Fisher failed to reach double digits. Stokes finally got out of his funk against the Orange last week, scoring 24 points, but Nova lost largely because Fisher shot 3-16 and finished with just 8 points. Same thing happened Saturday. In his last two games, Fish is 4-26 from the field and has scored a combined 10 points. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Villanova needs Fisher AND Stokes to play well in order to win. And that's been the root cause of this skid. The fact that the two senior guards have not been able to play well at the same time has crippled the guard-oriented offense of Jay Wright, and Nova has struggled because of it.
Just take a look at the numbers. Since January 17, when Nova lost at UConn, the Wildcats are 5-7. In those seven losses, Fisher and Stokes failed to both score in double digits five times (one of those games, against Pitt, Stokes did not play). Only the losses at Providence (Fisher, 15; Stokes, 13) and Rutgers (Fisher, 23; Stokes, 10) saw Nova lose when both scored in double figures, and the Rutgers game had the combination of that absurd ending and Stokes barely reaching double digits.
On the flip side, Nova has only won two games in which either Stokes or Fisher failed to reach double digits. One was the victory against West Virginia, in which Antonio Pena, Mouphtaou Yarou and Maalik Wayns each picked up Stokes' slack by scoring in double figures. Then came the win at Depaul with Stokes inactive, but Nova needed 34 points from Fisher and overtime to beat a really, really bad Depaul team.
The formula for Nova is simple: If Fisher and Stokes score, Nova wins. If one of them fails to show up, they lose. The solution is not so simple. Because lately, every time Stokes has a good game, Fisher struggles, and vice versa. All I know is these seniors better figure it out if they expect to make any sort of run in the Big East and NCAA tournaments.
Lavoy Allen, meanwhile, is a senior who is most definitely figuring things out when his team needs it the most.
The Owls came out insanely flat against a game George Washington team Saturday and found themselves getting blown out in the first couple minutes. Then Temple put the vice grip on GW defensively, and worked all the way back to get within three by half. From there, it was the Lavoy Allen show.
Temple's all-time leading rebounder was everywhere, altering a shot and hauling in a board on one end, then finishing around the rim — and even once from deep — on the other. He put forth a 6-minute spurt where he made every damn play. A block here, rebound there, pass here, bucket there. He looked like the player many expected heading into the season, when he was a preseason favorite for A-10 Player of the Year.
His performance turned what at one time had been a huge lead for George Washington into a 16-point blowout win for Temple. Allen was dominant with 19 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks. He didn't have a single turnover, only committed 2 fouls and shot 8-12 from the field. It was the type of performance you expect from a senior leader when his team truly needed it. And Lavoy answered the call.
The other good news for Temple is that Juan Fernandez seemed to get rejuvenated in the second half. His numbers overall weren't good — 2-8 from the field for just 6 points and 2 assists — but he hit two big three-pointers and looked confident taking them. And if there was any question about those shots jolting him back into feeling good about himself, he fired a one-handed, behind-the-back pass for a bucket, the type of pass we saw him make from time to time the past two seasons but has been conspicuously absent this year.
Hopefully it's the game that gives Juan his confidence back and lets him find his game again. Because if Temple can get Fernandez playing good ball, the Owls can be a legitimate Sweet 16 team. If not, it would take a Herculean effort by Allen, the kind he put forth Saturday.
Finally, I wanted to give Tyler Zeller and John Henson more praise for their performances last night in the 87-76 win over Maryland.
Zeller was outstanding. He scored 25 points on 10-16 shooting, and the best part about it was Kendall Marshall kept feeding him the ball. The biggest frustration last year was watching the UNC guards ignore Zeller time and time again, despite the fact he is this team's best player. Not last night. Marshall saw Zeller was scoring at will, and he kept feeding him. Marshall, by the way, had 10 assists, 6 boards and 3 steals. Something tells me this team doesn't miss Larry Drew.
For his part, Henson had a near triple-double: 10 points, 15 rebounds and 7 blocks. The way he and Zeller control the paint has me thinking the Tar Heels may do more damage than anyone expects come tourney time. Of Henson's 7 blocks, 5 of them were spectacular. He just seems to be able to reach heights most shot-blockers can't because of his freakish length.
When you add the interior dominance of Zeller and Henson to the increasingly stellar guard play from freshmen Harrison Barnes (21 points and 6 boards last night) and Marshall, not mention better play from Dexter Strickland and Leslie McDonald, you have a legit threat in the tournament. The Tar Heels can score and rebound, always a dangerous combination. And you know they'll be well-coached.
Unlike the Pistons. And Penn State.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
It's Not How You Start …
… It's how you finish. Anyone who's been associated with sports, no matter at what level, has heard the cliche. Last night was a prime example how and why that cliche came about.
All three basketball teams I was watching and rooting for last night started strong and jumped out to nice leads … and all three of them finished poorly and ended up losing. It began with the Sixers playing a nearly flawless first quarter against the Magic, taking a 27-18 lead after 12 minutes of play only to get eaten alive by Dwight Howard and lose 99-95. Shortly thereafter, Villanova took a seven-point lead into the half and went up by double digits with just minutes remaining before self-destructing in the final moments … missed free throw, not fouling, then the dreaded four-point play to lose by a single point.
Then everything came crashing down to make my night a total loss. North Carolina went out and completely dominated Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium in the first 20 minutes, going up by as much as 16 and taking a 14-point lead into halftime … only to get blown out by 20 in the second half to lose 79-73.
When it was all said and done, it didn't matter how great the Sixers, Wildcats and Tar Heels started. All that mattered was how Orlando, Rutgers and Duke finished. And I hated every second of it.
As for the Sixers, their loss was a little easier to swallow. When Dwight Howard goes 14-19 from the line, there's not many teams in the NBA that can beat the Magic, especially a team like the Sixers that really can't match up inside with Dwight. You have to give credit where credit's due. Howard was an absolute monster: 30 points, 17 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks while going 8-13 from the field and 14-19 from the line. There's just no way Spencer Hawes, Tony Battie and Elton Brand can stop this man, especially when he's connecting on his free throws.
When you add the three-point shooting of Ryan Anderson (4-6), Jason Richardson (2-5), Hedo Turkoglu (2-4) and J.J. Redick (2-4), it's kind of amazing they only lost by 4. A lot of that can be attributed to Andre Iguodala's excellent game: 21 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals. He clearly was desperate to make up for his own 4-point play blunder the last time these two teams met.
Sadly for Philadelphia, it didn't turn out that way. And as it happened, the mere fact that the Sixers were taking on the Magic proved a bad omen … the four-point play cursed another local team on the same night the Sixers tried to exercise their own 4-point play demons.
That the Nova-Rutgers game was even close in the final minutes is absurd. Villanova was up by 10 with less than three minutes to play, up by 8 with just 2 minutes to go. They looked to be in complete control. They're an excellent free-throw shooting team. But then they completely fell apart. I went to the kitchen to get a drink and a snack, and next thing I know it's a two-point game.
Turns out that back-to-back turnovers by Antonio Pena and Maalik Wayns turned into five points for Rutgers, and suddenly it was a two-point game with 99 seconds to go. Then this happened:
What seemed like a huge, game-sealing three by James Bell with 11 seconds left to go up 5 was answered by a stupid, ridiculous banked three by James Beatty just four seconds later. Then Corey Fisher, who had been the man all night for Villanova, had a chance to ice the game at the line with just 6 seconds left. Fisher is a 78.7 percent foul shooter this season and a career 77 percent shooter from the line. He's made numerous clutch freebies in his career. And he was having an outstanding game — he finished with 23 points, 10 assists and 5 steals.
The only other Wildcat you'd want in that situation more than Fisher is probably Corey Stokes, who is among the leaders in the nation in free throw shooting at 93.5 percent. Yet Fisher plain choked, missing the first shot. He hit the second to put Nova up 3 with just 6 seconds left, but it was still just a one-possession game, and I immediately said, "Foul! Foul! Foul!"
To me, it only made sense for Nova to foul so Rutgers couldn't tie it and just turn the game into a foul-shooting contest with seconds left. After all, Nova is one of the best free-throw shooting teams in the country, Fisher's huge miss notwithstanding. Jay Wright elected to just play straight-up defense instead, and it backfired. Big time. Fisher, who went from hero to potential hero to choker, went to complete goat. Jonathan Mitchell, who had been Rutgers' most lethal scorer all night, rose for a three. And he nailed it, right in Fisher's grill.
I couldn't believe it and was ready for overtime. Only I realized the official called a foul. I was stunned. Fisher hadn't run out on Mitchell, hadn't left his feet, and all he did was have his hand in the air. Sure, the hand was close to the elbow, but to me it didn't look like Fisher actually touched Mitchell at all. And if he did, Mitchell was the one who moved his elbow into Fisher. Corey was stationary and had his hand up before MItchell even shot the ball. But the foul was called, and it was disastrous. Mitchell nailed the free throw and gave Rutgers the improbable one-point win.
I really hate four-point plays.
I also hate Duke. I hate Duke with every ounce of my being.
For a while last night, it looked like I was going to be able to revel in a UNC victory. North Carolina came out and played a nearly flawless first half. They dominated Duke on the Blue Devils' home court in every facet of the game during that first half. John Henson and Tyler Zeller were completely dominating inside, grabbing every rebound, scoring in the paint and physically abusing Duke's front line. Harrison Barnes started out hot, hitting an early three, and Kendall Marshall was a magician with the ball. I cannot tell you how fun it is to watch this guy play. You really have to see him for yourself.
His court vision is out of this world. Playing for the first time at Cameron Indoor Stadium as a freshman, I expected some jitters from Marshall, but he had none. At all. He was calm and collected right from the start, making passes that honestly remind me of a young Jason Kidd. And he showed no signs of being overwhelmed. He still has a long way to go with his scoring, missing a few shots around the hoop that he should finish, but the way he commanded the game in the first half reminded me of Raymond Felton dominating at Cameron Indoor as a freshman. The future is insanely bright for Marshall and the Tar Heels.
The way North Carolina dominated in the first half gave me more than enough hope that they could pull out the victory. Tyler Zeller was unstoppable, Henson was making gorgeous moves and flying all over the court, and Duke seemed stunned. The only player who looked alive for the Blue Devils was Nolan Smith, who simply could not be stopped. If it wasn't for him, Carolina would have been up by 30 at half, and truthfully, they should have been up even more. There were at least 2 or 3 charge calls on Carolina that absolutely should have been blocks on Duke, the most egregious one called on Dexter Strickland. Kyle Singler slid under as Strickland was in the air and finishing, still moving on top of that. It should have been a three-point play opportunity for Strickland, only it was called a charge. It was awful, the type of call that only the Dukies get.
Regardless, it wasn't the referees that decided the game. Not in the least.
Being at home, you knew Duke was going to make a run in the second half. I just hoped Carolina could weather it and regain their form. For a moment, that happened. Duke came out and scored the first eight points thanks to Nolan Smith continuing to dominate, and I started to get a really bad feeling. Roy called timeout and UNC went back up by 10, but Duke had already regained its confidence. All they needed now was someone to help Smith out.
Kyle Singler wasn't that guy. He and Harrison Barnes completely canceled each other out. After Barnes' three early in the game, he went silent. Singler simply wouldn't let him get the ball. I hate Kyle Singler with a passion, but I have to say, I've never seen him play better defense than he did last night. He simply wouldn't give Barnes any room to breathe. Ultimately, that made him ineffective offensively. Singler scored just 10 points last night and shot a ghastly 3-17 because he expended all his energy defensively. His efforts did not go for nought though, because Barnes was held to just 9 points himself.
So with Singler out of the equation, Seth Curry filled the other scoring void. For a stretch of about seven and a half minutes, Curry went the hell off. In that time frame, he scored 14 points, and suddenly the game was tied. In that second half, Seth Curry looked every bit like his older brother. He was unconscious.
Right then and there, you just knew UNC wasn't going to win. Duke was feeling it, and Carolina had gone away from what was working in the first half. John Henson picked up his third foul early and had to sit. To make matters worse, Carolina stopped going inside to Zeller, who was completely dominating. In the first half, Zeller had 13 points and 9 rebounds. Henson had 10 and 6. But when Henson went out, the Tar Heels barely even looked to get the ball down low. Zeller was working and calling for the ball but was simply ignored. It was like watching Carolina last year, when their best players were Zeller, Ed Davis and Deon Thompson, all interior guys, yet the guards would go on long spells of jacking up jumpers and ignoring the big men. It happened again in the second half last night.
A large reason for that was Duke kept running two guys at Marshall, forcing him to give up the ball. That meant guys like Leslie McDonald, Reggie Bullock and Dexter Strickland had the ball in their hands, and that often meant they were shooting. That didn't work out too well. Bullock couldn't buy a bucket, missing all five shots he took last night. McDonald made just 3 of 7 attempts. And Barnes was nowhere to be found, either glued to the bench because he couldn't get open, or invisible on the court because Singler was glued to him.
Everything fell apart. Zeller, who finished with a team-high 24 points and a game-high 13 rebounds on 10-14 shooting, simply didn't get enough touches. Duke began to rebound better, and Seth Curry and Nolan Smith were unstoppable.
Honestly, I'm not sure I've seen a more impressive performance this year than Nolan Smith last night. He scored a career-high 34 points and did it in all ways — threes, drives, tough shots, getting to the line, you name it. He was awesome. Carolina had absolutely no answer for him.
This year, he has simply taken his game to whole new level. There's no doubt he has the ACC Player of the Year all sewn up. Last night he put to rest the doubts if there were any. And Duke made a statement that they are still the class of the league this year, blowing away Carolina by 20 in the second half.
But as painful as the loss was, it's not all bad news for the Tar Heels. Last night definitely proved they aren't far away from being back where they were a couple years ago, and they certainly have found a special talent in Kendall Marshall. The kid just impressed the hell out of me last night — six assists and just one turnover. Zeller and Henson are a formidable duo inside … so long as their teammates don't forget about them. And Harrison Barnes, while quiet last night, is going to really be something special if he sticks around.
They're not quite there just yet as last night's second-half collapse shows, but you best believe that the Tar Heels are coming. Now they, along with Nova and the Sixers, just have to figure out how to finish.
All three basketball teams I was watching and rooting for last night started strong and jumped out to nice leads … and all three of them finished poorly and ended up losing. It began with the Sixers playing a nearly flawless first quarter against the Magic, taking a 27-18 lead after 12 minutes of play only to get eaten alive by Dwight Howard and lose 99-95. Shortly thereafter, Villanova took a seven-point lead into the half and went up by double digits with just minutes remaining before self-destructing in the final moments … missed free throw, not fouling, then the dreaded four-point play to lose by a single point.
Then everything came crashing down to make my night a total loss. North Carolina went out and completely dominated Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium in the first 20 minutes, going up by as much as 16 and taking a 14-point lead into halftime … only to get blown out by 20 in the second half to lose 79-73.
When it was all said and done, it didn't matter how great the Sixers, Wildcats and Tar Heels started. All that mattered was how Orlando, Rutgers and Duke finished. And I hated every second of it.
As for the Sixers, their loss was a little easier to swallow. When Dwight Howard goes 14-19 from the line, there's not many teams in the NBA that can beat the Magic, especially a team like the Sixers that really can't match up inside with Dwight. You have to give credit where credit's due. Howard was an absolute monster: 30 points, 17 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks while going 8-13 from the field and 14-19 from the line. There's just no way Spencer Hawes, Tony Battie and Elton Brand can stop this man, especially when he's connecting on his free throws.
When you add the three-point shooting of Ryan Anderson (4-6), Jason Richardson (2-5), Hedo Turkoglu (2-4) and J.J. Redick (2-4), it's kind of amazing they only lost by 4. A lot of that can be attributed to Andre Iguodala's excellent game: 21 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals. He clearly was desperate to make up for his own 4-point play blunder the last time these two teams met.
Sadly for Philadelphia, it didn't turn out that way. And as it happened, the mere fact that the Sixers were taking on the Magic proved a bad omen … the four-point play cursed another local team on the same night the Sixers tried to exercise their own 4-point play demons.
That the Nova-Rutgers game was even close in the final minutes is absurd. Villanova was up by 10 with less than three minutes to play, up by 8 with just 2 minutes to go. They looked to be in complete control. They're an excellent free-throw shooting team. But then they completely fell apart. I went to the kitchen to get a drink and a snack, and next thing I know it's a two-point game.
Turns out that back-to-back turnovers by Antonio Pena and Maalik Wayns turned into five points for Rutgers, and suddenly it was a two-point game with 99 seconds to go. Then this happened:
What seemed like a huge, game-sealing three by James Bell with 11 seconds left to go up 5 was answered by a stupid, ridiculous banked three by James Beatty just four seconds later. Then Corey Fisher, who had been the man all night for Villanova, had a chance to ice the game at the line with just 6 seconds left. Fisher is a 78.7 percent foul shooter this season and a career 77 percent shooter from the line. He's made numerous clutch freebies in his career. And he was having an outstanding game — he finished with 23 points, 10 assists and 5 steals.
The only other Wildcat you'd want in that situation more than Fisher is probably Corey Stokes, who is among the leaders in the nation in free throw shooting at 93.5 percent. Yet Fisher plain choked, missing the first shot. He hit the second to put Nova up 3 with just 6 seconds left, but it was still just a one-possession game, and I immediately said, "Foul! Foul! Foul!"
To me, it only made sense for Nova to foul so Rutgers couldn't tie it and just turn the game into a foul-shooting contest with seconds left. After all, Nova is one of the best free-throw shooting teams in the country, Fisher's huge miss notwithstanding. Jay Wright elected to just play straight-up defense instead, and it backfired. Big time. Fisher, who went from hero to potential hero to choker, went to complete goat. Jonathan Mitchell, who had been Rutgers' most lethal scorer all night, rose for a three. And he nailed it, right in Fisher's grill.
I couldn't believe it and was ready for overtime. Only I realized the official called a foul. I was stunned. Fisher hadn't run out on Mitchell, hadn't left his feet, and all he did was have his hand in the air. Sure, the hand was close to the elbow, but to me it didn't look like Fisher actually touched Mitchell at all. And if he did, Mitchell was the one who moved his elbow into Fisher. Corey was stationary and had his hand up before MItchell even shot the ball. But the foul was called, and it was disastrous. Mitchell nailed the free throw and gave Rutgers the improbable one-point win.
I really hate four-point plays.
I also hate Duke. I hate Duke with every ounce of my being.
For a while last night, it looked like I was going to be able to revel in a UNC victory. North Carolina came out and played a nearly flawless first half. They dominated Duke on the Blue Devils' home court in every facet of the game during that first half. John Henson and Tyler Zeller were completely dominating inside, grabbing every rebound, scoring in the paint and physically abusing Duke's front line. Harrison Barnes started out hot, hitting an early three, and Kendall Marshall was a magician with the ball. I cannot tell you how fun it is to watch this guy play. You really have to see him for yourself.
His court vision is out of this world. Playing for the first time at Cameron Indoor Stadium as a freshman, I expected some jitters from Marshall, but he had none. At all. He was calm and collected right from the start, making passes that honestly remind me of a young Jason Kidd. And he showed no signs of being overwhelmed. He still has a long way to go with his scoring, missing a few shots around the hoop that he should finish, but the way he commanded the game in the first half reminded me of Raymond Felton dominating at Cameron Indoor as a freshman. The future is insanely bright for Marshall and the Tar Heels.
The way North Carolina dominated in the first half gave me more than enough hope that they could pull out the victory. Tyler Zeller was unstoppable, Henson was making gorgeous moves and flying all over the court, and Duke seemed stunned. The only player who looked alive for the Blue Devils was Nolan Smith, who simply could not be stopped. If it wasn't for him, Carolina would have been up by 30 at half, and truthfully, they should have been up even more. There were at least 2 or 3 charge calls on Carolina that absolutely should have been blocks on Duke, the most egregious one called on Dexter Strickland. Kyle Singler slid under as Strickland was in the air and finishing, still moving on top of that. It should have been a three-point play opportunity for Strickland, only it was called a charge. It was awful, the type of call that only the Dukies get.
Regardless, it wasn't the referees that decided the game. Not in the least.
Being at home, you knew Duke was going to make a run in the second half. I just hoped Carolina could weather it and regain their form. For a moment, that happened. Duke came out and scored the first eight points thanks to Nolan Smith continuing to dominate, and I started to get a really bad feeling. Roy called timeout and UNC went back up by 10, but Duke had already regained its confidence. All they needed now was someone to help Smith out.
Kyle Singler wasn't that guy. He and Harrison Barnes completely canceled each other out. After Barnes' three early in the game, he went silent. Singler simply wouldn't let him get the ball. I hate Kyle Singler with a passion, but I have to say, I've never seen him play better defense than he did last night. He simply wouldn't give Barnes any room to breathe. Ultimately, that made him ineffective offensively. Singler scored just 10 points last night and shot a ghastly 3-17 because he expended all his energy defensively. His efforts did not go for nought though, because Barnes was held to just 9 points himself.
So with Singler out of the equation, Seth Curry filled the other scoring void. For a stretch of about seven and a half minutes, Curry went the hell off. In that time frame, he scored 14 points, and suddenly the game was tied. In that second half, Seth Curry looked every bit like his older brother. He was unconscious.
Right then and there, you just knew UNC wasn't going to win. Duke was feeling it, and Carolina had gone away from what was working in the first half. John Henson picked up his third foul early and had to sit. To make matters worse, Carolina stopped going inside to Zeller, who was completely dominating. In the first half, Zeller had 13 points and 9 rebounds. Henson had 10 and 6. But when Henson went out, the Tar Heels barely even looked to get the ball down low. Zeller was working and calling for the ball but was simply ignored. It was like watching Carolina last year, when their best players were Zeller, Ed Davis and Deon Thompson, all interior guys, yet the guards would go on long spells of jacking up jumpers and ignoring the big men. It happened again in the second half last night.
A large reason for that was Duke kept running two guys at Marshall, forcing him to give up the ball. That meant guys like Leslie McDonald, Reggie Bullock and Dexter Strickland had the ball in their hands, and that often meant they were shooting. That didn't work out too well. Bullock couldn't buy a bucket, missing all five shots he took last night. McDonald made just 3 of 7 attempts. And Barnes was nowhere to be found, either glued to the bench because he couldn't get open, or invisible on the court because Singler was glued to him.
Everything fell apart. Zeller, who finished with a team-high 24 points and a game-high 13 rebounds on 10-14 shooting, simply didn't get enough touches. Duke began to rebound better, and Seth Curry and Nolan Smith were unstoppable.
Honestly, I'm not sure I've seen a more impressive performance this year than Nolan Smith last night. He scored a career-high 34 points and did it in all ways — threes, drives, tough shots, getting to the line, you name it. He was awesome. Carolina had absolutely no answer for him.
This year, he has simply taken his game to whole new level. There's no doubt he has the ACC Player of the Year all sewn up. Last night he put to rest the doubts if there were any. And Duke made a statement that they are still the class of the league this year, blowing away Carolina by 20 in the second half.
But as painful as the loss was, it's not all bad news for the Tar Heels. Last night definitely proved they aren't far away from being back where they were a couple years ago, and they certainly have found a special talent in Kendall Marshall. The kid just impressed the hell out of me last night — six assists and just one turnover. Zeller and Henson are a formidable duo inside … so long as their teammates don't forget about them. And Harrison Barnes, while quiet last night, is going to really be something special if he sticks around.
They're not quite there just yet as last night's second-half collapse shows, but you best believe that the Tar Heels are coming. Now they, along with Nova and the Sixers, just have to figure out how to finish.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
The Tar Heels Are Coming
Two seasons ago, Roy Williams was cutting down the nets for the second time as head coach of his alma mater. Then, just like the first time around, he lost damn near every major contributor to the team. In 2005, it was Jawad Williams, Sean May, Raymond Felton and Rashad McCants who went on to the NBA.
In 2008, it was Tywon Lawson, Wayne Ellington, Danny Green and Tyler Hansbrough who won their title and pursued the riches of the NBA.
North Carolina was able to weather the storm from losing a quartet of NBA players in 2005-06 thanks to talent that was still in place and a trio of freshmen that came in and contributed right away. David Noel provided senior leadership, juniors Wes Miller and Reyshawn Terry steadied the hand, and freshmen Tyler Hansbrough, Marcus Ginyard and Danny Green proved the Tar Heels were in good hands. They finished 23-8, 2nd in the ACC and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before getting upset by Final Four-bound George Mason.
Last year they couldn't handle things the same way. For the first time under Roy Williams, the Tar Heels really struggled, so much so that they didn't even make the NCAA Tournament. There was no Tyler Hansbrough to inject new blood into the roster. There were no David Noels or Reyshawn Terrys to show the guys the ropes. Marcus Ginyard, the player expected to be that guy, spent nearly the entire year hurt. That left Deon Thompson, a role player on the national title team, and Will Graves, a player who spent his entire career in and out of Roy's doghouse, as the senior most members of the team. And Graves did such a great job as a leader that Roy Williams dismissed him from the team this year, when he would have been a fifth-year season.
The rest of the team was composed of incredibly young players not quite ready to take on such a heavy role. The season was a disaster. UNC finished 20-17 overall. They went just 5-11 in ACC play. And things were so bad that the Wear twins, David and Travis, transferred after the season.
Things were supposed to be different this year. North Carolina had the top-ranked high school player in the country coming in, a player so highly regarded that he was named to the preseason All-America team, coming in along with highly touted recruits Reggie Bullock and Kendall Marshall. Tyler Zeller was now a healthy junior looking to lead, and John Henson expected to take the next step.
But when the season kicked off, the Tar Heels stumbled out of the gates, and expectations were tempered again. Harrison Barnes struggled mightily to adjust to the college game to the point that he couldn't even hit a shot. The rotation looked stodgy and unimpressive. Carolina lost back-to-back games to Minnesota and Vanderbilt. They lost by double digits at Illinois.
But then something happened. They beat a talented Kentucky team that was ranked 10th in the nation and a few games later lost by only two to a Texas team that is now ranked third in the country. After that loss, they rattled off five straight wins, albeit against weak opponents. But that gave a young team confidence.
Still, it looked like it meant nothing after they got embarrassed by a bad Georgia Tech team, losing on the road by 20. However, as embarrassing as that loss was, it looks like it could be the turning point in North Carolina's season.
The very next game, Harrison Barnes hit the go-ahead 3-pointer late, and including that game he's averaged 18.8 points per game while shooting 51.5 percent from the field since. That includes 25 and 26 points in back-to-back games, and a game-high 17 in a 20-point win over Florida St. Sunday. It took him a little while, but lately he looks every bit like the player he was expected to be.
Complementing Barnes has been fellow freshman Kendall Marshall. Seeing that Larry Drew simply wasn't the answer, Williams turned the reigns over to Marshall. All he's done since is turn into Jason Kidd 2.0. He's provided such a steady hand while taking Drew's starting job that Drew has decided to leave the team. Marshall responded by handing out 16 assists Sunday and now leads the ACC at 6.3 assists per game.
All the sudden, North Carolina has won five straight and 10 of their last 11. They are very quietly sitting at 17-5 on the season, and just a half game behind Duke for the ACC lead at 7-1 in conference play. A win tonight at Cameron Indoor Stadium, and the Tar Heels will be in sole possession of first in the ACC.
Suddenly this game doesn't look like it will be as lopsided as we once thought. Duke, who many were talking about going undefeated this season, lost their freshman phenom point guard Kyrie Irving and have since lost to Florida St. and St. John's. Meanwhile the Tar Heels are in the midst of a hot streak, and just came off a demolition of the same Seminoles that were the first team to knock off the Blue Devils.
North Carolina is the No. 1 rebounding team in the ACC. That's largely due to the interior presence of Tyler Zeller, who has been UNC's best player all year, and John Henson's length. They also have the highest field goal percentage in the conference, with Henson leading the entire ACC shooting 58.4 percent. Henson also leads the conference in blocks at 3.1 a game.
Dexter Strickland has continued to improve in his sophomore season, and Justin Knox and Reggie Bullock have given UNC some quality bench minutes. This young team is finally coming into form. And if they can somehow manage to steal a victory tonight in one of the toughest places in the country to play, you better take notice.
No matter what the outcome tonight — victory or blowout defeat — it's safe to say the Tar Heels are coming. March is right around the corner, and this young team is playing its best basketball of the year. With a little more seasoning and a little more experience, they're only going to get better.
In 2008, it was Tywon Lawson, Wayne Ellington, Danny Green and Tyler Hansbrough who won their title and pursued the riches of the NBA.
North Carolina was able to weather the storm from losing a quartet of NBA players in 2005-06 thanks to talent that was still in place and a trio of freshmen that came in and contributed right away. David Noel provided senior leadership, juniors Wes Miller and Reyshawn Terry steadied the hand, and freshmen Tyler Hansbrough, Marcus Ginyard and Danny Green proved the Tar Heels were in good hands. They finished 23-8, 2nd in the ACC and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before getting upset by Final Four-bound George Mason.
Last year they couldn't handle things the same way. For the first time under Roy Williams, the Tar Heels really struggled, so much so that they didn't even make the NCAA Tournament. There was no Tyler Hansbrough to inject new blood into the roster. There were no David Noels or Reyshawn Terrys to show the guys the ropes. Marcus Ginyard, the player expected to be that guy, spent nearly the entire year hurt. That left Deon Thompson, a role player on the national title team, and Will Graves, a player who spent his entire career in and out of Roy's doghouse, as the senior most members of the team. And Graves did such a great job as a leader that Roy Williams dismissed him from the team this year, when he would have been a fifth-year season.
The rest of the team was composed of incredibly young players not quite ready to take on such a heavy role. The season was a disaster. UNC finished 20-17 overall. They went just 5-11 in ACC play. And things were so bad that the Wear twins, David and Travis, transferred after the season.
Things were supposed to be different this year. North Carolina had the top-ranked high school player in the country coming in, a player so highly regarded that he was named to the preseason All-America team, coming in along with highly touted recruits Reggie Bullock and Kendall Marshall. Tyler Zeller was now a healthy junior looking to lead, and John Henson expected to take the next step.
But when the season kicked off, the Tar Heels stumbled out of the gates, and expectations were tempered again. Harrison Barnes struggled mightily to adjust to the college game to the point that he couldn't even hit a shot. The rotation looked stodgy and unimpressive. Carolina lost back-to-back games to Minnesota and Vanderbilt. They lost by double digits at Illinois.
But then something happened. They beat a talented Kentucky team that was ranked 10th in the nation and a few games later lost by only two to a Texas team that is now ranked third in the country. After that loss, they rattled off five straight wins, albeit against weak opponents. But that gave a young team confidence.
Still, it looked like it meant nothing after they got embarrassed by a bad Georgia Tech team, losing on the road by 20. However, as embarrassing as that loss was, it looks like it could be the turning point in North Carolina's season.
The very next game, Harrison Barnes hit the go-ahead 3-pointer late, and including that game he's averaged 18.8 points per game while shooting 51.5 percent from the field since. That includes 25 and 26 points in back-to-back games, and a game-high 17 in a 20-point win over Florida St. Sunday. It took him a little while, but lately he looks every bit like the player he was expected to be.
Complementing Barnes has been fellow freshman Kendall Marshall. Seeing that Larry Drew simply wasn't the answer, Williams turned the reigns over to Marshall. All he's done since is turn into Jason Kidd 2.0. He's provided such a steady hand while taking Drew's starting job that Drew has decided to leave the team. Marshall responded by handing out 16 assists Sunday and now leads the ACC at 6.3 assists per game.
All the sudden, North Carolina has won five straight and 10 of their last 11. They are very quietly sitting at 17-5 on the season, and just a half game behind Duke for the ACC lead at 7-1 in conference play. A win tonight at Cameron Indoor Stadium, and the Tar Heels will be in sole possession of first in the ACC.
Suddenly this game doesn't look like it will be as lopsided as we once thought. Duke, who many were talking about going undefeated this season, lost their freshman phenom point guard Kyrie Irving and have since lost to Florida St. and St. John's. Meanwhile the Tar Heels are in the midst of a hot streak, and just came off a demolition of the same Seminoles that were the first team to knock off the Blue Devils.
North Carolina is the No. 1 rebounding team in the ACC. That's largely due to the interior presence of Tyler Zeller, who has been UNC's best player all year, and John Henson's length. They also have the highest field goal percentage in the conference, with Henson leading the entire ACC shooting 58.4 percent. Henson also leads the conference in blocks at 3.1 a game.
Dexter Strickland has continued to improve in his sophomore season, and Justin Knox and Reggie Bullock have given UNC some quality bench minutes. This young team is finally coming into form. And if they can somehow manage to steal a victory tonight in one of the toughest places in the country to play, you better take notice.
No matter what the outcome tonight — victory or blowout defeat — it's safe to say the Tar Heels are coming. March is right around the corner, and this young team is playing its best basketball of the year. With a little more seasoning and a little more experience, they're only going to get better.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Youth vs. Experience
This weekend, I watched my two favorite college basketball teams pull out tightly contested victories. North Carolina edged out Kentucky 75-73 at the Dean Dome on Saturday, and Temple held on for dear life in DC to beat Maryland 64-61. Both games were an exercise in youth vs. experience, ultimately with the most experienced players making the biggest plays while the youngsters never shied away from the competition.
On Saturday, the marquee matchup was supposed to be a battle of highly touted freshman for two historic basketball powers — Harrison Barnes for UNC and Terrence Jones for Kentucky.
Things didn't go quite as planned. Barnes came to the Tar Heels as the program's savior. Following a season full of struggles that saw Roy Williams' squad miss the NCAA Tournament just one short year after winning the National Championship, things were going to be different in 2010-11 thanks largely to Barnes. He was widely considered the No. 1 player in the class of 2010, and his high school dominance led some to believe he could start in the NBA right now. Hell, Barnes was evened named to the Preseason All-American team, the first time in history a true freshman made the list.
Expectations were sky high. Attainably high, in fact. And Barnes has failed to even approach those expectations through 8 games this season. Including the win on Saturday, the 6'8 freshman out of Ames, Iowa is averaging 11.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists, not altogether alarming numbers when taken in isolation. But when you add to that that he's shooting an abysmal 34.4 percent from the field, turning it over 1.9 times a game and struggling to create his own shot, it's clear that Barnes should not have been anywhere near the Preseason All-America team.
On Saturday, Barnes started out hot, scoring 12 points in the first half on 4-5 shooting. But he got in foul trouble and had to sit extended minutes, and that proved costly. From then on, Barnes looked like he has most of this season — unimpressive. He missed all five of his attempts in the second half, getting shut out, and finished with 12 points on 4-10 shooting, had three turnovers and looked overmatched time and time again.
Barnes is only freshman. He has plenty of time to develop into the player people thought he would be. And he'll most assuredly be better come March than he is right now. But for being touted the same way John Wall and MIchael Beasley and the like have been before him, I just don't see it. Harrison Barnes was supposed to be a difference-maker from day 1, an all-everything, can't-miss stud who would immediately change the fortunes of North Carolina. Those lofty expectations are unfair and unreasonable, but that doesn't make Barnes' play any less disappointing.
Not only does Harrison Barnes not look like an All-American right now; he doesn't even look like a capable starter. To be frank, he sucks. Do I think he will continue to suck? No. Do I think he'll be a pretty good player sooner rather than later? Yes. But through 8 games, he's been terrible. Saturday was more of the same.
On the other side, Terrence Jones has had no such struggles. Through Kentucky's first seven games, Jones has been the catalyst. He leads the Wildcats in scoring and rebounding at 19 points per game and 9.6 boards per game, almost averaging a double-double, all while shooting 45.6 percent from the floor and 36.8 percent from three. And he's not just an offensive talent. Jones also leads Kentucky in blocks (2.3) and is second in steals (1.4) per game.
He's been everything for the Wildcats that Barnes has not been for the Tar Heels. But on Saturday, he struggled. Jones had by far his worst came as a collegiate athlete, scoring just 9 points on a horrific 3-17 shooting performance, nabbing 6 boards before he fouled out.
Needless to say, the duel between Jones and Barnes took a back seat. Of course, with Kentucky being a John Calipari team, there are no shortage of talented freshman to rise to the occasion. Out go DeMarcus Cousins, John Wall and Eric Bledsoe, in come Terrence Jones, Brandon Knight and Doron Lamb.
Knight was other headliner with Jones in yet another top-ranked recruiting class for Calipari, and he certainly put his imprint on the game Saturday: Knight had 15 points, 4 assists and 3 steals. But he also contributed to Kentucky's loss, shooting just 5-12 from the field and turning the ball over six times.
It was neither Knight or Jones who led the way for the Wildcats, rather the third wheel of the touted freshman, Doron Lamb. The 6'4 shooting guard out of Oak Hill lit it up Saturday, scoring a team-high 24 points on 7-12 from the field and 3-4 from three. He added two boards, three assists and a steal, and unlike Knight had no trouble holding on to the ball, not turning the ball over once all game. That's largely due to the fact that each time he touched it, he had the green light to shoot.
Lamb gave UNC fits, and he was the biggest reason Kentucky almost pulled out a road win. This is nothing new for Lamb. In case you haven't been paying attention, Lamb has been every bit as impressive as his fellow freshman. On the season, he's averaging 13.3 points in 26 minutes, shooting the lights out of the ball. He's connecting on 52.5 percent of his shots from the field and an absolutely absurd 58.3 percent from beyond the arc. To all Kentucky opponents, take note: Do not leave Doron Lamb open. The man is an assassin.
While it was the freshman guards leading the way for Kentucky, it was a pair of big men doing the heavy lifting for North Carolina. Sophomore John Henson had a relatively disappointing 2009-10 season, getting off to a slow start much in the same way Barnes has this year. But Henson has taken a step forward this year.
Desperately needing to gain weight, he added a little bulk to his still light frame, and it's paying off. So far this season, he's seen his numbers jump from 5.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocks as a freshman to 11.4 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.9 blocks in his sophomore campaign. And his shooting percentage is up from 48.6 last year to 53.4 this year.
Henson had another stellar game on Saturday. He was UNC's second-leading scorer with 13 points, and he used his length to control the paint, hauling in a game-high 12 rebounds and blocking three shots. However, there was one key downside to Henson's performance: He went just 3-7 from the line, and in one embarrassing trip airballed back-to-back attempts. It's not the first time he's come up completely empty from the charity stripe.
For all the progress he has made, Henson has somehow been even worse than he was last season at the line. As a freshman, he was a disgraceful 43.8 percent foul shooter. In 8 games this year, he's in all-time worst territory, shooting just 35.1 percent from the line. Saturday's 3-7 didn't help, and foul shooting was a big problem for the Tar Heels in the game. In all, they missed 11 free throws, which is just inexcusable.
The one standout at the line, however, was the best player in the game. In a contest that featured a seemingly endless display of freshmen and sophomores, junior Tyler Zeller was a man amongst boys, literally. He scored a game-high 27 points, shot an incredibly efficient 8-13 from the field, went 11-12 at the line, grabbed 11 rebounds, blocked a game-high 5 shots and didn't turn the ball over once. He dominated in the way Tyler Hansbrough did during his time at UNC.
Zeller was the reason North Carolina was able to pull out a win against the then 10th-ranked Wildcats. He is far and away UNC's best player. In fact, he's really their only complete player right now. There aren't any weaknesses in the 7-footer's game. He has great touch around the rim, can hit the outside shot, is a good free-throw shooter, can run the floor, rebounds and defends. He leads North Carolina in scoring and is having a very good start to the year: 16.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.6 blocks, 52.8 percent from the field, 75 percent from the line.
The fact that Zeller is playing at this type of level makes the Tar Heels even more maddening. The reason this team is 5-3 is very simple: the guard play is atrocious. Dexter Strickland and Larry Drew are awful, players that should never start in the ACC. Then you combine that with the fact that Kendall Marshall is a freshman who isn't ready to play major minutes, Leslie McDonald is nothing more than a bench scorer and Barnes has struggled, and you have yourself the achilles heel of North Carolina for the second straight season.
Neither Drew or Strickland can consistently knock down a jumper, neither is a great finisher, and most troubling of all is that neither one is a good passer. Time and time again I watch Drew and Strickland force plays that aren't there, look for their own shots and completely ignore the bigs. They did it for stretches on Saturday, making Clark Kellogg almost have an aneurysm.
Strickland and Drew have to realize that UNC's best two players are Henson and Zeller. The ball should be thrown to them in the post every single possession. And Zeller should be getting up 15 to 20 shots a night, because he's the guy that can actually carry the team. But they don't because they are terrible, stupid basketball players. It's so depressing to see North Carolina have no guards to speak of.
At least Zeller is good and Henson is improving. If Barnes can turn it around, this team just may be able to do something come March. Because even with no one but Zeller and Henson showing up Saturday, they were still able to beat an extremely talented Kentucky squad. It was Zeller's experience that made the difference.
As for the Temple-Maryland game last night, we knew going in it would be the battle of youth vs. experience. The Owls are led by senior Lavoy Allen and junior Juan Fernandez.
The Terrapins are led by sophomore Jordan Williams and relying on a slew of freshmen.
In the victory for the Owls, it was the upper classmen that led the way. Lavoy had a double-double, scoring 13 points and nabbing 10 rebounds before fouling out at the end of the game. He was a big reason why Temple was about to dominate the paint and outrebound Maryland 39-30. Juan Fernandez scored 14 points and had three assists, really providing the only offense in the second half for Temple as Maryland made its run. And another pair of juniors contributed mightily to the cause: Michael Eric had seven rebounds to help Lavoy down low, and Ramone Moore led Temple with 16 points, hitting some key free throws late and playing a solid all-around game — 5 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals.
With Allen and Eric controlling the paint, Temple playing great defense and the offense making enough plays, the Owls took a 32-21 lead into halftime. They built that up to a 40-25 lead to start the second half. Then Eric got and Lavoy got in foul trouble, Gary Williams subbed in three freshmen and a sophomore to join Jordan Williams, and the game turned just like that.
Especially with Allen and Eric hamstrung by fouls, Williams really became an unstoppable force. The sophomore who is averaging a double-double (17.1 points and 11.7 boards) took over. He wound up scoring a game-high 17 points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
But Williams wasn't alone. Freshman Terrell Stoglin came in and gave Maryland a different dynamic. The speedy point guard put pressure on Temple's defense and changed the tempo of the game, finishing with 16 points. And fellow freshman Pe'Shon Howard helped break down the defense, handing out 6 assists. Just like that, a 15-point temple lead shrunk to a five-point lead, then a tie game.
As the Terps heated up behind their youth, Temple went ice cold. Ramone Moore started to try to do too much, driving recklessly to the lane. No one could finish around the rim. Only Fernandez was able to stop the bleeding.
The game got way too close for comfort, but ultimately the Owls prevailed. And the biggest play of the game came from a sophomore. With 1:52 remaining, the game was tied at 56. That's when Allen scored on an and-1 layup, hit his free throw and put the Owls up by 3 with 1:41 left. Temple got a stop, and Rahlir Jefferson came down with the board. But then he turned the ball over, and Lavoy Allen fouled Williams, his 5th foul, and was out of the game.
Luckily Williams missed both free throws, Fernandez got the board and Temple had a chance to make it a two-possession game. After a miss by Moore, Jefferson got another big rebound. But again, he turned it over. That's when sophomore Khalif Wyatt came up huge, jumping into the passing lane as Dino Gregory, who made the steal on Jefferson, looked for an outlet pass. Wyatt got the steal and in one motion laid in the ball, 61-56 Temple.
The game then simply came down to making some free throws, and Ramone Moore hit 3 of 4. That was just enough for Temple to get by, though his miss did give Maryland a chance to tie. Thankfully Stoglin's heave came up short and Temple held out, with the veteran Owls besting the youthful Terrapins.
There were plenty of contributions from the youth in both contests, but ultimately it was the more experienced players and teams that made the difference.
On Saturday, the marquee matchup was supposed to be a battle of highly touted freshman for two historic basketball powers — Harrison Barnes for UNC and Terrence Jones for Kentucky.
Things didn't go quite as planned. Barnes came to the Tar Heels as the program's savior. Following a season full of struggles that saw Roy Williams' squad miss the NCAA Tournament just one short year after winning the National Championship, things were going to be different in 2010-11 thanks largely to Barnes. He was widely considered the No. 1 player in the class of 2010, and his high school dominance led some to believe he could start in the NBA right now. Hell, Barnes was evened named to the Preseason All-American team, the first time in history a true freshman made the list.
Expectations were sky high. Attainably high, in fact. And Barnes has failed to even approach those expectations through 8 games this season. Including the win on Saturday, the 6'8 freshman out of Ames, Iowa is averaging 11.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists, not altogether alarming numbers when taken in isolation. But when you add to that that he's shooting an abysmal 34.4 percent from the field, turning it over 1.9 times a game and struggling to create his own shot, it's clear that Barnes should not have been anywhere near the Preseason All-America team.
On Saturday, Barnes started out hot, scoring 12 points in the first half on 4-5 shooting. But he got in foul trouble and had to sit extended minutes, and that proved costly. From then on, Barnes looked like he has most of this season — unimpressive. He missed all five of his attempts in the second half, getting shut out, and finished with 12 points on 4-10 shooting, had three turnovers and looked overmatched time and time again.
Barnes is only freshman. He has plenty of time to develop into the player people thought he would be. And he'll most assuredly be better come March than he is right now. But for being touted the same way John Wall and MIchael Beasley and the like have been before him, I just don't see it. Harrison Barnes was supposed to be a difference-maker from day 1, an all-everything, can't-miss stud who would immediately change the fortunes of North Carolina. Those lofty expectations are unfair and unreasonable, but that doesn't make Barnes' play any less disappointing.
Not only does Harrison Barnes not look like an All-American right now; he doesn't even look like a capable starter. To be frank, he sucks. Do I think he will continue to suck? No. Do I think he'll be a pretty good player sooner rather than later? Yes. But through 8 games, he's been terrible. Saturday was more of the same.
On the other side, Terrence Jones has had no such struggles. Through Kentucky's first seven games, Jones has been the catalyst. He leads the Wildcats in scoring and rebounding at 19 points per game and 9.6 boards per game, almost averaging a double-double, all while shooting 45.6 percent from the floor and 36.8 percent from three. And he's not just an offensive talent. Jones also leads Kentucky in blocks (2.3) and is second in steals (1.4) per game.
He's been everything for the Wildcats that Barnes has not been for the Tar Heels. But on Saturday, he struggled. Jones had by far his worst came as a collegiate athlete, scoring just 9 points on a horrific 3-17 shooting performance, nabbing 6 boards before he fouled out.
Needless to say, the duel between Jones and Barnes took a back seat. Of course, with Kentucky being a John Calipari team, there are no shortage of talented freshman to rise to the occasion. Out go DeMarcus Cousins, John Wall and Eric Bledsoe, in come Terrence Jones, Brandon Knight and Doron Lamb.
Knight was other headliner with Jones in yet another top-ranked recruiting class for Calipari, and he certainly put his imprint on the game Saturday: Knight had 15 points, 4 assists and 3 steals. But he also contributed to Kentucky's loss, shooting just 5-12 from the field and turning the ball over six times.
It was neither Knight or Jones who led the way for the Wildcats, rather the third wheel of the touted freshman, Doron Lamb. The 6'4 shooting guard out of Oak Hill lit it up Saturday, scoring a team-high 24 points on 7-12 from the field and 3-4 from three. He added two boards, three assists and a steal, and unlike Knight had no trouble holding on to the ball, not turning the ball over once all game. That's largely due to the fact that each time he touched it, he had the green light to shoot.
Lamb gave UNC fits, and he was the biggest reason Kentucky almost pulled out a road win. This is nothing new for Lamb. In case you haven't been paying attention, Lamb has been every bit as impressive as his fellow freshman. On the season, he's averaging 13.3 points in 26 minutes, shooting the lights out of the ball. He's connecting on 52.5 percent of his shots from the field and an absolutely absurd 58.3 percent from beyond the arc. To all Kentucky opponents, take note: Do not leave Doron Lamb open. The man is an assassin.
While it was the freshman guards leading the way for Kentucky, it was a pair of big men doing the heavy lifting for North Carolina. Sophomore John Henson had a relatively disappointing 2009-10 season, getting off to a slow start much in the same way Barnes has this year. But Henson has taken a step forward this year.
Desperately needing to gain weight, he added a little bulk to his still light frame, and it's paying off. So far this season, he's seen his numbers jump from 5.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocks as a freshman to 11.4 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.9 blocks in his sophomore campaign. And his shooting percentage is up from 48.6 last year to 53.4 this year.
Henson had another stellar game on Saturday. He was UNC's second-leading scorer with 13 points, and he used his length to control the paint, hauling in a game-high 12 rebounds and blocking three shots. However, there was one key downside to Henson's performance: He went just 3-7 from the line, and in one embarrassing trip airballed back-to-back attempts. It's not the first time he's come up completely empty from the charity stripe.
For all the progress he has made, Henson has somehow been even worse than he was last season at the line. As a freshman, he was a disgraceful 43.8 percent foul shooter. In 8 games this year, he's in all-time worst territory, shooting just 35.1 percent from the line. Saturday's 3-7 didn't help, and foul shooting was a big problem for the Tar Heels in the game. In all, they missed 11 free throws, which is just inexcusable.
The one standout at the line, however, was the best player in the game. In a contest that featured a seemingly endless display of freshmen and sophomores, junior Tyler Zeller was a man amongst boys, literally. He scored a game-high 27 points, shot an incredibly efficient 8-13 from the field, went 11-12 at the line, grabbed 11 rebounds, blocked a game-high 5 shots and didn't turn the ball over once. He dominated in the way Tyler Hansbrough did during his time at UNC.
Zeller was the reason North Carolina was able to pull out a win against the then 10th-ranked Wildcats. He is far and away UNC's best player. In fact, he's really their only complete player right now. There aren't any weaknesses in the 7-footer's game. He has great touch around the rim, can hit the outside shot, is a good free-throw shooter, can run the floor, rebounds and defends. He leads North Carolina in scoring and is having a very good start to the year: 16.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.6 blocks, 52.8 percent from the field, 75 percent from the line.
The fact that Zeller is playing at this type of level makes the Tar Heels even more maddening. The reason this team is 5-3 is very simple: the guard play is atrocious. Dexter Strickland and Larry Drew are awful, players that should never start in the ACC. Then you combine that with the fact that Kendall Marshall is a freshman who isn't ready to play major minutes, Leslie McDonald is nothing more than a bench scorer and Barnes has struggled, and you have yourself the achilles heel of North Carolina for the second straight season.
Neither Drew or Strickland can consistently knock down a jumper, neither is a great finisher, and most troubling of all is that neither one is a good passer. Time and time again I watch Drew and Strickland force plays that aren't there, look for their own shots and completely ignore the bigs. They did it for stretches on Saturday, making Clark Kellogg almost have an aneurysm.
Strickland and Drew have to realize that UNC's best two players are Henson and Zeller. The ball should be thrown to them in the post every single possession. And Zeller should be getting up 15 to 20 shots a night, because he's the guy that can actually carry the team. But they don't because they are terrible, stupid basketball players. It's so depressing to see North Carolina have no guards to speak of.
At least Zeller is good and Henson is improving. If Barnes can turn it around, this team just may be able to do something come March. Because even with no one but Zeller and Henson showing up Saturday, they were still able to beat an extremely talented Kentucky squad. It was Zeller's experience that made the difference.
As for the Temple-Maryland game last night, we knew going in it would be the battle of youth vs. experience. The Owls are led by senior Lavoy Allen and junior Juan Fernandez.
The Terrapins are led by sophomore Jordan Williams and relying on a slew of freshmen.
In the victory for the Owls, it was the upper classmen that led the way. Lavoy had a double-double, scoring 13 points and nabbing 10 rebounds before fouling out at the end of the game. He was a big reason why Temple was about to dominate the paint and outrebound Maryland 39-30. Juan Fernandez scored 14 points and had three assists, really providing the only offense in the second half for Temple as Maryland made its run. And another pair of juniors contributed mightily to the cause: Michael Eric had seven rebounds to help Lavoy down low, and Ramone Moore led Temple with 16 points, hitting some key free throws late and playing a solid all-around game — 5 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals.
With Allen and Eric controlling the paint, Temple playing great defense and the offense making enough plays, the Owls took a 32-21 lead into halftime. They built that up to a 40-25 lead to start the second half. Then Eric got and Lavoy got in foul trouble, Gary Williams subbed in three freshmen and a sophomore to join Jordan Williams, and the game turned just like that.
Especially with Allen and Eric hamstrung by fouls, Williams really became an unstoppable force. The sophomore who is averaging a double-double (17.1 points and 11.7 boards) took over. He wound up scoring a game-high 17 points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
But Williams wasn't alone. Freshman Terrell Stoglin came in and gave Maryland a different dynamic. The speedy point guard put pressure on Temple's defense and changed the tempo of the game, finishing with 16 points. And fellow freshman Pe'Shon Howard helped break down the defense, handing out 6 assists. Just like that, a 15-point temple lead shrunk to a five-point lead, then a tie game.
As the Terps heated up behind their youth, Temple went ice cold. Ramone Moore started to try to do too much, driving recklessly to the lane. No one could finish around the rim. Only Fernandez was able to stop the bleeding.
The game got way too close for comfort, but ultimately the Owls prevailed. And the biggest play of the game came from a sophomore. With 1:52 remaining, the game was tied at 56. That's when Allen scored on an and-1 layup, hit his free throw and put the Owls up by 3 with 1:41 left. Temple got a stop, and Rahlir Jefferson came down with the board. But then he turned the ball over, and Lavoy Allen fouled Williams, his 5th foul, and was out of the game.
Luckily Williams missed both free throws, Fernandez got the board and Temple had a chance to make it a two-possession game. After a miss by Moore, Jefferson got another big rebound. But again, he turned it over. That's when sophomore Khalif Wyatt came up huge, jumping into the passing lane as Dino Gregory, who made the steal on Jefferson, looked for an outlet pass. Wyatt got the steal and in one motion laid in the ball, 61-56 Temple.
The game then simply came down to making some free throws, and Ramone Moore hit 3 of 4. That was just enough for Temple to get by, though his miss did give Maryland a chance to tie. Thankfully Stoglin's heave came up short and Temple held out, with the veteran Owls besting the youthful Terrapins.
There were plenty of contributions from the youth in both contests, but ultimately it was the more experienced players and teams that made the difference.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Ginyard Joins Zeller
The news in North Carolina is a little grim today. Sure, the Tar Heels rolled past Maryland last night, but it's official, (via The Big Lead), Marcus Ginyard is done for that year.
Ginyard, the lone true defensive stopper on UNC's roster, joins freshman Tyler Zeller on the out-for-the-year list, meaning the Tar Heels are without two players they expected to play huge roles on the team.
This is not good news for their potential title run. At the beginning of the year, UNC was virtually everyone's pick to win it all. Now, things aren't so certain. Sure, they're still one of the best teams in the country even without Ginyard and Zeller, but it's hardly inconsequential when any team loses two of its main players.
Yes, they still have Tyler Hansbrough, Wayne Ellington, Ty Lawson, Danny Green, Bobby Frasor and Deon Thompson, and Ed Davis and Larry Drew have shown some nice flashes this year, but when North Carolina struggles, it is usually because they lack defensive intensity. That was something Ginyard always brought. Now, the Heels have to find a way to bring that every night without the hopes that Marcus will come back and fill the void.
The good news is UNC has played virtually the entire season without him, so they're used to it by now. Hopefully they can find a way to put it all together defensively. If so, they're still one of the favorites with the gluttony of healthy talent on that roster. If not, an earlier than expected exit in the big dance would not be shocking.
Ginyard, the lone true defensive stopper on UNC's roster, joins freshman Tyler Zeller on the out-for-the-year list, meaning the Tar Heels are without two players they expected to play huge roles on the team.
This is not good news for their potential title run. At the beginning of the year, UNC was virtually everyone's pick to win it all. Now, things aren't so certain. Sure, they're still one of the best teams in the country even without Ginyard and Zeller, but it's hardly inconsequential when any team loses two of its main players.
Yes, they still have Tyler Hansbrough, Wayne Ellington, Ty Lawson, Danny Green, Bobby Frasor and Deon Thompson, and Ed Davis and Larry Drew have shown some nice flashes this year, but when North Carolina struggles, it is usually because they lack defensive intensity. That was something Ginyard always brought. Now, the Heels have to find a way to bring that every night without the hopes that Marcus will come back and fill the void.
The good news is UNC has played virtually the entire season without him, so they're used to it by now. Hopefully they can find a way to put it all together defensively. If so, they're still one of the favorites with the gluttony of healthy talent on that roster. If not, an earlier than expected exit in the big dance would not be shocking.
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