Not much here. I was surprised they actually had it with Kay Yow’s funeral happening in Cary at 3 PM. Roy explained that he was unable to re-schedule practice. Roy was actually good friends with Coach Yow and told a story of how she wanted to sit and talk “Xs and Os” with him at one point. Besides that there were three items that stood out the most:
- A long discussion of Danny Green and his improved play. Roy basically said he loves his aggressiveness along as he makes smart decisions. Green is given to the occasional bad decision that drives Roys crazy but at the same time Green has also carried the team in stretches, improved his defense and shown more maturity.
- A question was raised concerning whether Tyler Hansbrough lost some explosiveness in his legs due to the early season injury as an explanation to some of the problems the reigning NPOY has had rebounding and scoring in general. Roy thinks Hansbrough is fine. Roy also said he could not say what he really thought. When asked at the end of the session if Hansbrough was not getting calls from the officials, Roy said “next question.” If I am to read between the lines here, Roy is implying that some of the issues Hansbrough has had trying to score and rebound has more to do with the way the officials are calling games than it does anything on Hansbrough’s part. A friend of mine pointed out that Hansbrough is getting knocked off the blocks on a regular basis without a foul being called. Against FSU Ryan Reid pushed Hansbrough out of bounds without nary a whistle. Of course Roy cannot make public comments criticizing the officials so he does the next best thing and alludes to it. Whoever asked the follow-up question picked up on it.
- Marcus Ginyard still has pain in his foot and the doctors will be consulted next week. I am not sure at this point where this is headed but when Roy sees the stat lines for Jeff Teague, Tyrese Rice and Toney Douglas he probably feels like Ginyard is a must have component for this team.
Also, Tyler Hansbrough is still wearing braces and Danny Green’s response to Tyler Hansbrough getting in foul trouble? Crap happens, the players know how to deal and I am really hoping that serves them well in March/April.
![[Bloglines]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/bloglines.png)
![[del.icio.us]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Digg]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Facebook]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[MySpace]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/myspace.png)
![[Technorati]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/technorati.png)
![[Windows Live]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/windowslive.png)
![[Yahoo!]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/yahoo.png)
![[Email]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)
Crap does happen. Mostly to Tyler. The refs need to get some new brains or some new eyes or it could seriously effect our season.
Doesn’t it seem as though all three of our big men tend to hold the ball a little too low when they make their move to the hoop?
Officials are not calling reaching in under the basket, even when it appears to be a foul, but they have no compunction calling pseudo-reach-ins like the foul on Danny Green which tied the game for us, or the foul on Ty Lawson, which put FSU up in the game earlier, or the reach-in by Hansbrough. Replays showed that essentially none of the three touched the other guy on these “reach-ins,” but all three got a foul called.
That’s the biggest problem I have with officials. Inconsistency. At least if you tend to call things a certain way, players can adapt. Officials don’t even call the first part of a half like the second, much less from game to game.
I’ve been thinking about the perception that Hansbrough is not a great defender, and this post brought that back to mind. Tyler doesn’t have the spotlight on him quite as intensely on that end of the court, but overall I feel that he doesn’t get a lot of credit that he deserves. He’s a fundamentally sound and extremely aware defender. He doesn’t do spectacular things all the time; his defense is not flashy in the same way that his shots are often not too pretty.
Yes, he is getting roughed up even more this season, in my eyes, and that has been the way of things for him from the beginning. Seems like he did get more fair treatment his first to years, at least from this couch.
As for Ginyard still having pain in his foot, well, that’s really not encouraging at all now is it?
Hansbrough’s freshman year, it seemed as if he was getting a lot of and 1′s. Going forward, it just seemed as if contact was something he should absorb, and the whistles stopped blowing near as much per contact. That doesn’t mean he shot more free throws his freshman year, because he has been more aggressive since then and has probably shot more free throws than his first year, it is just that per contact he did shoot more in his 1st year.
I think the refs think now that he has more experience he doesn’t react to fouls as much and he doesn’t get effected by them so they don’t call them. They think he just absorbes the foul. Which is of course wrong.
All that banging and abuse in the paint may serve UNC well in the NCAA, where you never really know what, if anything, they will call. And if UNC faces a Big East or Big 10 team somewhere important…he should be used to it.
Let em play, I say, and don’t get ticky-tacky in the last 2 minutes