http://www.angelfire.com/nc/ezyduzits12steptools/3_2_zone.html), but it does have a place in the strategy of the game.

Accordingly, Roy needs to install AND BE WILLING TO USE something else when the ship is sinking. My preference is straight man-to-man, because you won’t need slow motion replays to figure out who is getting beaten. I suppose we could at least have a version of zone on the clipboard, since there will probably be situations in which it will work, and there will certainly be situations in which it will throw a wrinkle in the other side’s offensive set-up’s, particularly with inexperienced point guards.

As THF has noted, one of the problems this year has been lack of defensive focus and intensity. This has been lingering in the background for some time, largely obscured by blow-out wins against second tier competition. But it’s out in the open now, and the way to address it, I think, is less to use the old things that haven’t succeeded (practicing without rims, for example), but simply, and more or less ruthlessly, to hand out playing time based on defensive results.

Chris’s last point about the exhausting nature of a good man-to-man defense is certainly worth noting, but so is his observation that Dook has used it successfully. And we can use the depth that Dook simply doesn’t have to ameliorate the fatigue factor.

One reason why the four corners did work amazingly well at times was that under the rules existing then, teams had to defend the four corners using a man to man defense. Some teams seldom even practiced man to man defense back then. USC under Frank McGuire always played zone and the first time Carolina used the four corners on McGuire’s team in 1971, the Heels ran circles around them. Donnie Walsh then schooled the Gamecocks in man to man during the next two months and USC ended up beating Carolina during the last two match-ups that year, most importantly in the ACC title game.

Did you mean Derrick Phelps in 1993 and not Ed Cota?

BC got several lay-ups out of its halfcourt offense during the last 15 minutes and each time I went back and watched in slow motion and at least three times, it appeared to be Wayne Ellington’s man scoring. I understand that they do switches and things, but Wayne seemed to either have problems covering his guy or making proper switches. One of the worse lapses resulting in a lay-up was by Drew. He simply looked clueless about who he was supposed to be guarding. Maybe this is what the guys meant when they said they had trouble guarding the flex.

BC had several open looks from three point range during the game that were essentially 20 foot free throws, i.e., nobody guarding the shooter for as long as three to four seconds, or at all. BC missed a couple such shots down the stretch, or UNC wouldn’t even have had the slim prayer it had. We keep seeing this game after game, where our opponents are getting four or five uncontested three’s per game. Most teams are going to make at least two of those and some guys might hit all five.

I think Carolina might have won if they had played a zone defense in this game, but I understand why Roy doesn’t want to do this. It is sort of like papering over broken drywall. Bobby Knight never played zone either. He simply refused and actually got made at K once when Duke played zone in a game. Dean Smith was more likely to use a zone, although Carolina did go zone against Illinois to my recollection, at least for a while, so I am not sure exactly what the Roy Williams position on zone is, except that he hates to use it.

Carolina made several dumb fouls on Rice down the stretch. There is no point in fouling Rice if you blow the coverage. You just get a foul and he makes free throws. At least when Hansbrough fouled him, it prevented a basket. Lawson fouled him a couple of times when he was just dribbling for four automatic BC points. Another time, Lawson obviously fouled him when Rice was shooting but the ball went in and the officials didn’t call it, maybe payback for the block of Ellington’s dunk where the guy clearly hit Wayne’s wrist.

Honestly, the rebounding and intensity during the last eight minutes were pretty good, but this is too late to start. Yes, the Heels shot a lot of three’s but most of them were decent looks. Lawson, however, took one from NBA three point range and also took a terrible 17 foot twisting two-pointer, that hit only the backboard. Lawson also did not seem to be distributing the ball as well as he could have down the stretch, but then again, the Heels couldn’t make any shots anyway.

I do wish Lawson wouldn’t do that thing where he lets the ball roll up the court when there are still over two minutes left. It saves very little time and I think it is psychologically harmful because it leads the team to think they have to throw up the first shot they get. Lawson’s job is to keep the team calm, a la Ed Cota back in 1993.

The free throw shooting down the stretch really didn’t lose it for UNC because BC also missed a pair and also because Carolina kept getting the rebounds when we missed. What hurt was that we couldn’t score on the putbacks after the rebounds.

Carolina did shoot poorly from the line though, at 15-27, which should actually be 15-28 in a sense, to indicate that we also blew an opportunity at a rebound due to a lane violation in the last minute. So, in essence, Hansbrough went 9-13 from the line, with one of them being a one and one, but the Heels did get the rebound when he missed.

You also have to give credit to BC for knowing to foul Deon Thompson. Thompson has become an excellent inside shooter (although not in this game) and BC knew that and wisely decided to make him earn his points from the line. Even mediocre free throw shooters usually make four out of six free throws, but Thompson left at least two or three points on the line.

To me, the bottom line is that this was a two point game with about 13 minutes to play and then Carolina made several defensive lapses in the half-court game resulting in lay-ups, uncontested three point shots and free throws for Rice. Three lay-ups and two three-pointers and you are looking at 11 easy points and by the 8 minute mark, Carolina is down 15 and it was more BC’s lapses and bad luck down the stetch (three marginal calls that went our way on Hansbrough rebounds) than our good play that made it close, unfortunately.

I know people on here have wondered about the importance of steals for guards. Both Lawson and Ellington are in the top 8 in the ACC in steals, with Lawson leading the conference. I am not sure how important steals are. It seems like it might be more important defensively to guard one’s man tight and prevent him from scoring as opposed to getting a couple of flashy steals, particularly when the opponent doesn’t turn the ball over much.

I guess we will see against Wake. Wake is supposed to have pretty good guard play, although Ishmael Smith has a bit of the Quentin Thomas style in him. Jeff Teague is even bigger than Rice, and like Rice, there is no point in fouling him, as he makes over 84% of his free throws.

I do think the Zeller injury set us back a notch as Deon seems to be regressing again. Go figure!

I liked the high/low with Tyler passing to Ed. Tyler passing, what a concept (as addressed by THF).