UPDATE #2: Roy’s postgame:
-Roy loved the offense but hated the defense. Happy they won though.
-Lack of talking, communicating, getting back on defense. Too many offensive boards for MD.
-Frustrated by near steals that ended up being layups for MD.
-Wants more inside play even with the outside shots falling.
-Question about Hansbrough’s level of play this season versus last. Said he would have to think about. Said he is not sure there is much difference.
-Question on Marcus: Tipping point? Reached a point where getting him back was not the best thing for Marcus. Biggest factor: Still has pain.
-Sense of relief with the decision? Yes but more so if they could have gotten him back.
-Roy doing a little told you so about people saying they have too much depth.
-Copeland played because he is trying to develop depth.
-Graves question: Graves will come back next season.
-Last 48 hours the decision was made on Graves.
-Whatever happens with Zeller at the doctor tomorrow has nothing to do with the rest of it.
-No reason given for Graves suspension.
UPDATE: I will liveblog Roy’s postgame to see what else is said.
Just announced on the Tar Heel Radio Network.
The Ginyard situation is obvious.
The Graves suspension is out of the blue. According to the press release just read by Jones Angel, Roy said Graves did not maintain the standard expected of a Tar Heel player and would “not represent UNC in competition” again this season. His status for next season will be evaluated at a later date.
Awaiting Roy’s postgame press conference for more.
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I just heard this…. Graves suspended? DANG!!!
Rotation down to 8. Dang this is bad. We now know why he didn’t play.
WOW! Talk about thinning the bench down even further…feel terrible for Ginyard, hope he can recover fully.
Sad to hear that Marcus won’t play this year, but at least he’ll get a full senior season next year. And I guess that explains why Graves hasn’t played.
wow–good dang thing Jeff McGinnis didn’t play for Roy–for Jeff anyway.
bad luck this year. it’s a shame.
This does not put us out of the running for ANYTHING. Keep your heads up everyone!
I still think Marcus can be a beast (in the right situation). Maybe this turns out for the best for all.
Well UNC plays better when there is less to fall back on. We are down to a “normal” depth chart. Speculation is over, they can just play now.
Cant find any info on Graves situation. Im thinking its grades. Anyone else got anything?
Everything from smoking weed to academics is being batted around the message boards. Could be an attitude problem in practice. Could be cutting class. The list goes on and on what it could be. If I hear something concrete I will let you know.
I hate things that leave you hanging. Maybe it’s best we didn’t know? I would be upset if I knew it were something along the lines of not getting along with other teammates, or something of that nature. We will need to be very cohesive down the stretch.
Given Graves’ level of performance, it is a positive to be rid of him as a distraction, which is probably why Roy made the decision he did.
Carolina had depended on him for key outside shooting and last year he hit .442 from three point range. This year? .278. His offensive rating has fallen from 116 to 94.
Yeah. This year Danny knows what his role is.
I agree with william. Graves’ level of play was so poor that we couldn’t use him even if his grades would make him a Phi Beta Kappa.
Ginyard’s redshirt can’t be a surprise at this point. As I noted last week, there hasn’t been a single piece of good news about his medical situation in months.
I’m sure this will be taken as a challenge by the rest of the team to step up on defense. They have the athletic ability to do it. Now they have the necessity as well.
I look primarily to Frasor. He is the senior, and he has a Hansbrough-like heart. His offense this year has been awful, but that might be just a matter of practice. If I were Roy, I’d have him shoot 500 shots a day in practice.
Today’s game was better for us than it seemed at times. The only thing that really got my goat was Maryland’s collection of fast break baskets off made shots. That’s supposed to be OUR forte’. But there were few if any of them in the second half.
When Lawson and Ellington play as they did today, I doubt that we are beatable. We’ve been living (and living well) off an offense that barely features the three-pointer. When the three-pointer shows up, as it did today, the other team is out of options. You can’t single-team TH, but as soon as you bring over defensive help, the perimeter is open somewhere.
A lot of questions will be answered in eight days. I have a good feeling.
I thought that Frasor played his best game of the season. He came closer on his three-pointer and actually made a two-pointer and had some scrappy plays. My only critique would be his hands as he had trouble coming up with the ball on a few plays. He had a couple of rebounds, a positive A/TO ratio and was active on defense. If he can do that down the stretch, then he can be a positive factor.
I am not sure that Roy is going to be able to maintain his cryptic stance about Graves. I do find the following statement by Williams to be interesting, but he may be talking about what he sees in practice as opposed to the reality of game performance:
“Will being out obviously adds to the loss of Marcus and is huge for our team,” says Williams. “Will improved his game on both ends of the floor and he will be missed.
Has to be something ‘off the court’ then, no?
UNC is 20 – 2. Ginyard, Graves, and Zeller have accounted for less than 1% of that. This team is more than fine, and if anything this can potentially serve as a rallying point. The 2005 team only played 8, and this team may get more out its top 6 than the 2005 team did.
I think Frasor should try some more mid/long range two pointers and chill with the 3′s for a while. I believe the majority of his jumpers this year have been 3′s. I also think that earlier in the season when Wayne was really struggling on his 3′s, he was able to step inside a few feet and drain the 18 footers, and I believe it gave him confidence. Maybe Bobby can do the same.
I think that it will come down to Ed and Deon. If we can get consistent and solid play from them, we’ll be OK (assuming Wayne and Danny continue to play well of course).
Roys right, the defense was lacking last night. I mean MD put up 91 pts. and shot over 50%. Thats alot of points scored. Has any other team put that much up against UNC this year? If not for the 3′s, this would have been a touch and go game. Glad to see Copeland come in and score. He seems like a good kid. Graves situation is puzzling right now, I guess we’ll know if they want us to know.
Wake scored 92.
If the 3′s weren’t falling, UNC may have pounded it inside more, or they may have got more offensive rebounds, or they may have played defense more in-line with what we had seen the last five games. It’s not as simple as just saying if, “this wasn’t working UNC would have been in trouble.” All games are multi-variable equations…
It might be for the best, but we will seriously miss Graves on defense. It’s Bobby’s turn to step up. He is a great defensive player but we need him under the basket more and also making some shots.
“we will seriously miss Graves on defense”
You mean Ginyard, right? The next time Graves plays defense will be the first…
I like that, C. Michael. Now I know what my problem was. I was using a single variable model for my solutions!
The Graves suspension…here’s what we know it’s NOT:
Drinking and Driving
Noise Ordinance
Driving with an expired inspection sticker
Being arrested for missing a court date
Jumping off roofs of fraternity houses
Because if it’s any one of those, then Roy would have a double standard on his hands. And if there’s one thing we know about Roy, it’s that he won’t be wanting to answer questions about why those were ok for the other players to do but not Graves. Plus…if it was anything illegal, some reporter would have found the police report by now.
My guess is that Graves failed a random drug test.
Leann,
Not necessarily. All of those events occurred during the off-season. Every team that I have ever been on has conduct standards that apply while in season, but have no reach to the off-season.
It is my understanding that getting a noise ordinance violation in Chapel Hill is very easy to do. Ginyard got one, hired a lawyer to handle it then found out the lawyer never showed resulting in a bench warrant.
Lawson’s indiscretions were a tad more involved and showed poor judgment considering he was in the middle of the draft process. Still it was underage drinking, he was not drunk behind the wheel legally and see my not above about the noise ordinance. Plus he paid his fine and did what the court asked him to do. As CM points out it was the offseason and suspending him for one game would have been silly given the time that elapsed.