You guys don’t need any deep analysis of this one. 27 FGs vs 26 turnovers usually means big freaking loss. And when the head coach has to take five minutes away from the game to instruct veteran players on how to break the press while the freshmen are on the court actually getting things done I have to wonder out loud why the heck those veterans even came back into the game. Now I know there is still value in players like Ed Davis, Larry Drew and even Will Graves. Deon Thompson and Marcus Ginyard? I am just not sure which is a shame since they are seniors. On one hand, this was going to be a hellacious game anyway given the Clemson press and the crowd. On the other hand, we have seen this move too many times already this season to simply dismiss it.
Or it is what it is and all you can do is find your happy place and stay there.
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Thompson was terrible and Ginyard was worse. You hate to embarrass seniors but I see these guys as needing to move to the bench.
The positive is that maybe UNC does actually have an impact freshman and his name is Dexter.
To be fair, Clemson looked just as bad when they played at C.I.S. against Duke. I have heard analysts say that you really can’t press a good, seasoned team, which is why you see so few presses in the NBA. Unfortunately, we need some more seasoning to be good….
At this point start Strickland and one of the Wears for Ginyard and Deon. Nothing to lose.
Next game start all the freshmen. I said that last week after COC loss.
In the same vein, I’ll bring over the last comment on the game thread:
We don’t have a prayer of winning the majority of the rest of our games playing Drew and Ginyard as much as we do. Ginyard is adding nothing, and Drew might be an adequate PG in the Big Sky Conference, but not here. It will have to be Stickland, who at least makes errors of inexperience rather than errors of flat-out incompetence. Plus Strickland adds some fire Drew doesn’t have and will never have.
The only comfort I can think of is that we don’t play Clemson in Chapel Hill this season, so our record of not losing to them there since the Eisenhower administration will remain intact.
At some other low points in our season I have said that the game was a warning or a lesson. This one was neither. This time, what you see is what you get. The season is more than half over. We are no better, and arguably worse, than we were six weeks ago. The number of turnovers alone is shocking, but, as we all saw, that’s not the half of it.
We need to change the starting lineup. I’m no longer interested in building player confidence. I’m interested in building players who EARN confidence on account of their performance in games.
Less Ginyard, less Drew, less Thompson. More Stickland, McDonlad and Wears. Maybe Zeller too. Even if only by virtue of a bum ankle, at least he’s absolved of contributing to this embarrassment.
I think Drew plays better with Strickland out there. Having both of them out there puts a lot of pressure on the defense and Strickland is more comfortable as a two guard.
I have never seen a huge amount of value in Ginyard. I think he is a decent kid and he is from our area here in DC, but I definitely thought that Danny Green deserved most of Ginyard’s minutes. Thompson, after the 2007 season, looked to me to have a lot of potential. He had great games against Arizona and against Georgetown, to the point where I almost thought we would not miss Wright.(http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=200703250413)
It really saddens me to see these two seniors who seem like good guys just stagnate. I don’t think anyone can seriously argue that Ginyard or Thompson has improved at all since 2007. They both seem lackadaisical and tentative this year and neither is a good ballhandler.
I understand how these issues work, going back to Kevin Salvadori and Rasheed Wallace, and Phelps and Mcginnis but I honestly think Salvadori and Phelps were more deserving to play in 1994 than Ginyard and Thompson are this year, and the 1994 team had more talent than the current team.
Drew is also my fave at pg. Strickland is a game changer. I like his moves. I do think our team needs to slow down, Roy likes the running game. I just don’t think at this point we have the equipment to do that for 40 minutes. Lets slow it down, heck maybe even bring back the 4 corners, if its allowed, I haven’t seen it since Dean.
Of course the 4 corners is allowed, provided you shoot within 35 seconds.
Thanks William. I’d like to see the 4 corners this year. Time to get old school. Oh, we did not get to the free throw line enough tonight. We got to get on the line and make those free throws(e-z points).
well, I did get a brief glimpse of the 3-2 tonight, and it worked, although it was hard to distinguish with the cluster-** that was going on at the start of the 2nd half. Drew & Strickland will be a nice tandem. DS has the mental toughness that Ginyard lacks.
Well, if you believe in karma, if UNC was not yet due for some bad karma, Roy Williams probably was. He had a first decade of the 2000′s similar to what K had in the 1990′s. 2 titles, 5 final fours, 1 final 8, several ACC and Big 12 regular season and tourney titles and multiple number one rankings.
Has he handled this team differently? Has he been too laid back? I could do without all the twittering and tweeting from the players. I could do without the fan ejections, regardless of whose fault it was. Williams has had a lot on his plate from losing his four best players to surgery to new grandchildren to a couple of controversies.
He has had really good fortune in terms of recruiting at UNC. Marvin Williams and Brandan Wright turned out to be much better college players than pro’s even though they only stayed one year. Tyler Hansbrough and Danny Green far exceeded projections and Ty Lawson might have as well. Williams has had several impact freshmen at UNC, one after another. In 2006, Doherty holdovers Reyshawn Terry and David Noel stepped in and played extremely well. Wes Miller had a season that no one could have foreseen.
At some time, everyone’s luck falters, even if it doesn’t disappear entirely. It is hard to begrudge Clemson this win, given that they probably should have won two of the three games we played against them in 2008. Clemson made 18-20 free throws tonight. When have they ever done that before?
Just ask Bill Belichik about the vagaries of success as a coaching “genius”. Go Ravens!
Ginyard, Thompson and Drew each had 5 turnovers apiece. Ginyard and Thompson had four points each. Ginyard had one assist and 2 rebounds. He did shoot 50% from the floor, however, making 2-4 shots. Will Graves shot 2-11, which should promptly lower his OR and Ed Davis was also a stellar 2-11 from the floor, with 4 measly rebounds.
Travis Wear, Leslie McDonald and Dexter Strickland all had good games. If Zeller isn’t able, then let’s see those three with Davis and Henson and see what they can do.
I just don’t see how we win the majority of our remaining games with Drew getting most of the minutes at PG. The PG is supposed to run the offense. We had 26 turnovers tonight and it felt more like 126. The PG is not solely responsible, but he is primarily responsible.
Frasor, like Strickland, also was not a PG in high school, but when called upon, was admirably up to the task. Strickland, who has more native ability, will, I think, do even better. Drew is good for a 15-minute-per-game sub. But his performance as a starter was exposed tonight, not that we didn’t have plenty of clues before.
The team we all saw tonight needs a major change. As I say, the season is half over — more than half, actually. We can either settle for the ballhandling we have now or try for something better. I would prefer the latter.
where do you even begin? i’d just toss it out and move on if i thought it was an anomaly. but…it isnt. and it wont be.
so, in your 5th year…is the play run like this in practice? you dribble down the right side and in a sweeping over the head motion, you whip the ball all the way across court into the nacho tray of the fat guy in Row F, Seat 11? take the ball from low…windmill it over your head…across the floor. yeah? huh.
Seniors Ginyard and Thompson had 40% of the turnovers. Seniors Ginyard and Thompson, plus your starting PG had 60%. i’m guessing thats bad. detrimental, even.
Seniors Ginyard and Thompson, starters Larry and Ed, combine for 4 of 13 on layups according to SCACC stats.
SCACC has our TO% at 33.8. … a turnover every 3rd possession. thats before you miss 34 of 61 shots. how did we only lose by 19?
Starters shoot 31.6%
Bench (4 freshmen) shoot 65.2%
Starters a combined -84
Bench (5 freshmen and a soph) -8
in closing, a jellyfish could hold a concrete block longer than Dionne Thompson could hold a basketball in a pillow fight. just sayin.
good luck in the NBA, a league of MEN, with those hands, honey.
I’ll reiterate this from the game blog. I don’t care what else they do this season, I want them to learn how to handle the ball better in every way. Dribbling, passing, catching it, and simply holding on to it, I want them to get better at those things above all else. Will they do that? Who knows. Thompson and Ginyard have had 4 and 5 years respectively to learn to handle the rock better and they are both still super disappointing in that regard.
Drew had a freshman year almost as bad as Quentin Thomas’s. I thought he had made real progress but now I am less sure. I think Jay Bilas was on to something when he mentioned how Strickland seemed to be the only guy with a competitive edge tonight and I would add Travis and McDonald to that.
Ed Davis, Deon Thompson and Larry Drew seem to rack up statistics against weaker opposition. Teams that can go strong against these three defensively make them look passive and weak. We saw Davis and Thompson again unable to finish off inside opportunities. The refs were not calling much and Clemson took advantage.
Thompson has always seemed a bit too peaceful and maybe you have to wonder about the children of NBA stars–do they have the same eye of the tiger as their fathers when they grow up rich? None of these guys, your Dunleavy’s or Collins’s or Hills seem to end up being as good as their fathers, although Hill was close, but I still give Calvin the edge as a running back.
Who knows? Hansbrough grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth and he isn’t passive and his brother Ben is just as aggressive as Tyler. This team needs some meanness.
holy crap, i didnt even realize Virginia beat GT.
Virginia turnovers? 7. Seven.
that game just became an issue. heck, theyre all an issue.
Remember Virginia is probably playing a game with far fewer possessions. I am not defending our turnovers but it is apple and oranges when you compare yourself to a Bennett team.
UVA Possessions = 21 most likely.
Deon and Marcus Have never had to worry about losing playing time if they don’t play well. There have been plenty of times in his career where Deon has played poorly and suffered no loss of playing time for it. I don’t recall Ginyard being as mistake prone as this year, but the only thing that has affected his playing time has been injuries. This year the both of them have been making way too many mistakes. Will Graves had been making plenty of mistakes this season, but he has played much better since Roy sent him to the bench a few games ago. I think it’s time to do the same thing to Deon and Ginyard. You make as many mistakes as the two of them are constantly making don’t be surprised when there’s a Wear, Henson or McDonald starting in their place. It looks like that might be the only thing that’s going to improve their decision making and attention to detail.
As for catching and holding the ball, I’d take the whole team to the football practice field and make them catch balls from the jugs machine. That could improve one aspect of the turnover problems.
dont know the number of possessions…yet…but they shot 27 of 61. we shot…27 of 61. and they shot 16 more FT attempts. and they had 15 offensive rebounds out of 36 to our 14 offensive out of 38.
“I think Drew plays better with Strickland out there. Having both of them out there puts a lot of pressure on the defense and Strickland is more comfortable as a two guard.”
And vice versa. It’s only one game, and to boot, it was a game in which Strickland was playing very well, but Strickland’s ORtg without Drew (8 minutes) was 121.2 (very good). Playing with Drew (12 minutes), it was 183.3, which is off-the-charts good.
maybe it’s just me, but I think I heard the mountains moving in Roy’s pg comments last night-a very good thing imo…we’ll see.
6’7″ Trevor Booker had twice as many points as Ed and Deon COMBINED. Good lord… Ga Tech’s forwards are going to destroy us if Ed doesn’t start making shots from less then 3 feet from the bakset and if Deon doesn’t start spending a whole lot of time on the bench. Ginyard’s play is also a mess. I don’t know if its because he’s missed so many games due to injury or what, but he rarely makes enough positive contributions to cancel out all his turnovers and lack of offense. I think we should treat this like what it is: a transition year. Lets put those freshmen out there (including MacDonald), take our lumps this year and try to build something good for next year.
PS – next time we bring in 5 recruits, lets make sure at least one of them can shoot…
(Rocking on the floor while balled up in the corner) We won a title last April. We won a title last April. We won a title last April. We won a title last April. We won a title last April. We won a title last April. We won a title last April. We won a title last April. We won a title last April. We won a title last April. We won a title last April. We won a title last April. We won a title last April. We won a title last April. We won a title last April. We won a title last April. We won a title last April.
Greg Paulus got benched last year as a senior and we all berated K for doing it. Maybe we were wrong.
My head is not buried in the sand but I’m going to try some positive spin on this. I do remember at this juncture last year the Heels were 0-2 in the conference and there was much concern about the chemistry on last year’s team. I recall Green and Thompson jawing at each other in the closing minutes of the loss at Wake.
For the record, if you have to deal with a Duke fan today, remind them they got waxed last year 74-47 in Clemson.
I posted before this season began that we should expect some major hits and not to even think about comparing this team to the juggernaut that emerged in the NCAAT last season. However, the Heels do have some problems that one could not have imagined, specifically the play of Ginyard and Thompson (at times).
I would love to see a Drew/Strickland backcourt
with heavy doses of McDonald. If good Will Graves shows up, he get’s the other minutes. If bad Will shows, let him sit. I’d use Marcus for specific matchups and ask him not to dribble.
Hey, just remember that Tyler Zeller did not play last night. Who knows what the score would have been if Zeller had notched 20 points like he did last year against Penn….
1) i didnt berate K for benching his senior PG. i think i just laughed and pointed at Paula.
2) i’m not in any way, shape or form comparing this team to last year’s. (winning the title last year is the only reason the Ale House big screen doesnt have a pint glass sticking out of it.)
the expletives hurled are completely this year’s team to own. your seniors CAN’T have 10 of your 25 turnovers. and this team has horrible decision-making and hands to this point, and APPEAR to be very slow learners.
I see I am outnumbered by the pro-Drew forces. I still don’t see how we win the majority of our remaining games with him running the show. We saw the show last night, and I’d prefer a different show. The Dookies, who cruised last night, must be licking their chops. Hansbrough Indoor Stadium no more.
Since I’m in the minority on the Drew question, let me propose a compromise: Bring back Quentin Thomas. I’m not asking for Phil Ford or Lawson or Felton or Kenny Smith, Phelps, Cota, Rice, Kuester, Steve Hale or even Bobby Frasor. Just Quentin.
Honest, guys, this has gotta stop. We have two experienced seniors off a national championship team plus a boatload of high school All-Americas. From this mix, halfway through the season, we get 26 turnovers and a grand total of 64 points. College basketball starts at the point. There has to be accountability. And in my opinion, there also has to be change.
As upsetting as Drew played last night, I’d take him over QT any day.
It’s past time for these guys to man up.
I’m going to the game this Saturday against Georgia Tech. I’ve been to 6 or 7 games and I’ve never seen the Heels lose. I hope that remains true after this weekend…
great post Heels Perspective.
I think we all love UNC in spite of having our personal favorites. Larry Drew seems like a personable, charming guy. I have always been interested in statistics and whether they can speak for themselves. Often, I think they can, but this season we are getting some seemingly strange stats that do not correspond with what our eyes tell us.
Drew has had an outstanding A/TO ratio and his offensive rating has been similar to Ray Felton’s in 2005. Obviously, Drew is not yet that kind of player. He is only a sophomore, however, and he is at least better than he was last year. This is why most do not seem ready to give up on him.
Ginyard and Davis and Thompson and Ginyard are four others who also seem to have improved based upon their stats. I guess it is arguable with Davis, who is also still an underclassman but I don’t think anyone sees it for the three seniors.
I still think we looked better last night in the first half than we did against Syracuse in the second half or against Kentucky in the first half earlier this year. It was clear to me that this team had real problems. People kept trying to point to the 2006 game against USC or whatever to disprove it, but no. The 2006 team never had such horrible stretches of play like this squad.
We hear a lot about two concepts at Carolina. We hear about the Carolina Way and we hear about the “team.” Right now the Carolina Way is impeding the success of the team, most likely this year but also for next year. The three seniors have had plenty of time to get into gear. The year is half over. Why weren’t these three keyed up and ready to go? You would think that Ginyard and Thompson had been waiting their entire careers to each be the man, so to speak, one on the inside and one on the outside.
We can look at different stages where we thought guys peaked or plateaued but for me the Kansas game was where I basically realized that Thompson and Ginyard were journeymen at best.
Look at the box score: http://espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=284000031
No one was having a particularly good game but Hansbrough, Green and Ellington were at least scrapping as best they could. Thompson gave Hansbrough almost no help at all down low in that game. Ginyard wasted 32 minutes of playing time, scoring zero points and missing all three shots, all the while getting lit up by Kansas’s guards.
Friends, if there was an answer we would have already seen it. No amount of tinkering with playing time will solve our problems. Every player on the team has played very poorly and times, and no one has played consistently well. Anybody who does that will get playing time, but no one has. Yes, Deon and, to a lesser extent, Ed, has been lousy at times, but are the Wears really ready for 30 minutes per game? Zeller can’t catch the ball or move his feet on defense. And don’t even get me started on Henson. What he needs is a redshirt year, not more playing time. I understand the frustration with Marcus, Deon and Larry, but there are no better options right now. We will win some more games, and we will have some more of these road blowouts on the way to an 11-12 loss season. The future still looks bright and you never know, the light may eventually come on for this team.
Last night was the first time I came close to turning off a Carolina basketball game since the 2001 team under Doh quit in the ACCT against Duke. And the reason I didn’t, was I wanted to see who would quit and who might have an inkling of intestinal fortitude. And I saw that both Thompson and Ginyard are both in the quit category, but was pleasing to see that the freshmen (especially Strickland, McDonald, and T. Wear) have some competitive fire.
“Thompson was terrible and Ginyard was worse. You hate to embarrass seniors but I see these guys as needing to move to the bench.”
I couldn’t agree more. These two add zero value, have horrible hands, zero toughness, and are showing zero leadership skills. Not once did either of these anointed “leaders” huddle the team together and demand that everyone man up and play smart, instead these 2 seniors decided to fold like origami.
Quote from Deon Thompson ““I could never imagine. We normally speed people up. The teams that I’ve always been on ran past everybody and Coach Williams’ style is normally faster than everybody and outscore you, but with this team we ‘re going to have to change something to find a different way,”
Hey Deon, different way #1 should be sitting your soft, sorry ****** on the bench.
As for Ginyard, where is this great defensive stopper everyone keeps promoting? All I see is a player with zero offensive game that is also a defensive liability on the perimeter.
As for Drew, I’m not ready to throw him out with the bath water yet because he is basically a freshman too. Consistency game to game and being too mechanical are the major issues for Drew. Hey Larry, just because the play is designed for a post up, you still should not throw the pass when the double team is already there. My disappointment with Drew is that he is not as savvy as I would have anticipated for a PG with a father that not only played but coaches in the NBA.
Need to see much more of the freshmen and less of the seniors the rest of the season. Move Strickland and McDonald into the starting lineup and sit Ginyard’s waste of space butt on the bench, and give more of Thompson’s minutes to Zeller and T. Wear.
If the seniors play with less poise and composure than the freshmen and have less talent then why are they garnering more minutes?
52bgj –
If I saw a leader on this team who could rally us from a bad start of the kind we had last year, that would be one thing. Or if I saw improvement. Or if I saw great native talent or quickness or strength at the key positions (PG and C), that also would change my pessimism. But seeing none of that, I cannot take solace in our recovery from last year’s 0-2 ACC start. As Heels Pespective elsewhere correctly observes, there is no comparison between this year’s team and last year’s.
Getting over a bad start doesn’t come about by magic. It has to have an identifiable source. I just don’t see what that source is going to be for us.
The issue with Drew is you only have so many guards so you are sort of stuck with him whether you like it not unless you are advocating 30 mins per game of Strickland at the one and McDonald at the two. I think Drew-Strickland still has promise and Drew needs to call Quentin Thomas up and ask him the best way to run Roy’s offense while being in control since QT apparently figured it out. Though it should be noted I think QT had like five turnovers in his first full game in 2008 when Clemson came to Chapel Hill.
tarheelblue.com saying its the first time since 1/31/2001 that no starter finished in double figures.
and, player quotes about not being focused.
and, how Roy had to pull his starters to review where to be to beat the press, something they have practiced for Roy’s entire tenure.
sometimes, you have players that just arent that smart, or are not as smart as previous players. maybe thats what we have here.
maybe things will click, the light will go on, whatever. but it might take longer than we’re used to. but frankly, the light has already been on for Ginyard and Thompson. they mustve thrown the light out. there’s really no excuse for them not playing better.
I read this blog semi-regularly and I want to address one issue with the content before I address some of the comments.
Tar Heel Fan – I really enjoy your articles and I think you have some good insight. You convey news quickly and effectively and that is the big reason I read. However, do you really expect the basketball team to win every night out? I don’t think you have predicted a loss so far this year. At some point credibility is at stake because you aren’t able to separate your support for the team from your analysis/prediction of what is going to happen. I could have seen that kind of predictions for last years team, but this year?
As for the comments, I think everyone needs to step back from the ledge and look at the season for what it is. Carolina is re-loading and five new freshmen plus four sophomores who, besides Davis, didn’t get a lot of playing time last year, are not going to gel immediately. Playing a team with Clemson’s style, experience, and home court advantage sometimes results in a loss like this. They will learn and if we know anything about Roy, they will get better. Are they going to make the Final Four? Doubtful, so don’t put your expectations there. Finally all of the hate for Deon, Larry and Marcus is really just unacceptable. Deon has progressed a lot even since last year not to mention since his freshman year. Sure, he had a bad game, but everyone does. Drew II is in the first year as The Guy running the team and he is also going to have growing pains. Ginyard is being asked to do too much. Plain and simple. The guy is not a scorer and when he is trying to be, his defense suffers. He is not a PTPer, but he is useful when utilized effectively.
Am I the only one that thinks Strickland needs to run the point over Drew? IMO Drew penetrates, then freaks out when he gets in a crowd, and then he throws the ball away. More times than not, he should just drive the basket. Strickland does that and often makes a great play. To quote Jay Bilas last night, “If you’re sitting in the first five rows, you’ve probably received a pass from UNC tonight.” Drew was the passer on many of those TO’s. Since Drew played in the Final Four and Championship game last year, he should be better. And I agree, the freshman should have just stayed in when Roy pulled the vets last night. Did anybody else sleep like crap after this game?
No one has really mentioned it, but Ed Davis has been a big disappointment in the bigger games. Sure, he puts up big numbers against many of the weaker teams but in the big games he disappears. He’s softer than a down comforter inside and appears to have a vertical leap of 1.8 inches with the ball in his hand. Heck, even without the ball at times. Stitz who appears to be 5’11′ was fouled and got off the layup against Davis at one point. At least knock the guy in the front row if you’re gonna foul him. You would think playing behind Tyler for a year would’ve rubbed off. Maybe he needs a 2 week boot camp with Rasheed on how to do a primal scream when tearing the rack down.
I also agree with the tweetering, twittering, twoootering and twattering. Enough. Before all this, I could at least pretend they weren’t 18 years old and that all they did was lift weights and dribble basketballs through their apartments while watching film.
Lastly, to put all of this in perspective, let’s pray and do what we can for the suffering in Haiti.
First off, great image at the top of the post, THF.
For those bashing Drew, see C Michael’s post comparing Drew’s sophomore year to Lawson, Cota and Felton during their sophomore year. I’d also add that those three started their rookie seasons while Drew saw very limited action. While I thought he played maybe his worst game last night, there’s really no option behind him, I think Strickland’s future is as a shooting guard, and Roy needs to stick with him for the time being.
As for Deon and Marcus, to the bench you are banished, I say. I would have liked to see a new five come into the game early as a wake-up call. Roy needs to sit guys who aren’t executing, producing, or doing what he wants. Enough with the coddling. I can’t recall being so disappointed in a half of basketball from a UNC team under Roy Williams as I was last night.
With that said, I think we were also quite unlucky last night. Some really good shots didn’t go down that looked good, many calls didn’t go our way, etc. But these are typical things that happen on the road in conference play, but couple these with our horrific, nightmarish start, and we saw the result last night.
Sigh.
t7rick,
Well…um..yeah. I do sort of expect them to win every time out. It is not like we are Wolfpack fans here.
This team just doesn’t play hard enough and smart enough to be as good as they can be. They should take a note from the 05-06 team and get some heart and toughness.
I guess Hansbrough and Lawson basically led the team from 2006-2009 and maybe the current seniors were only comfortable playing in their wake. I guess we all know that there are people who prefer to lead and others who do much better in other types of roles.
Reyshawn Terry and David Noel had played far, far less when they took over as the two starters with the longest tenure in 2006 and they both really stepped up their games.
I still think this team has more talent than the 2006 team, given the apparent emergence of Strickland, but I am beginning to wonder. It is not so much the record because records can be deceptive, as in 2004 where UNC was much better than a mere 19 game winner.
Somebody mentioned the 2001 ACC tourney final which I made a point of watching abroad and that is a good comparison. Another might have been the Maryland game away in 2003 where UNC lost by about 40 points and apparently guys were singing on the bus ride home. That team was mercurial as well, and would beat the same Maryland squad less than a week later, but in terms of focus, maybe was similar. Maybe Roy needs to stop all the tweeting and stop all the veiled threats about rough practices and simply bench some guys. Let’s face it. Thompson and Ginyard have ruined any chances they had of getting drafted, so I don’t think that aspect is even in play anymore.
I mention 2006 a lot, as does everyone just about, because the situations in terms of player loss and recruiting were similar. Obviously no two seasons are alike, but it makes little sense to me to hear some people apparently arguing that last night’s fiasco really wasn’t that bad because UNC started off 0-2 last year.
People raked Lawson over the coals for sub-par play after the Wake game and he responded. UNC had injury issues all year with Hansbrough, Zeller, Ginyard and Lawson all missing multiple games and UNC still only lost four times, all of them winnable in the final minute.
The current squad is playing the worst basketball that any of us can remember except for possibly a couple of the Doherty years (and the 8-20 season involved an incredibly difficult schedule).
For the first time since Williams has been back, we are seeing sustained questions about individual players’ commitment to working hard and achieving success. We have two seniors, Graves and Ginyard, who have become worse free throw shooters as seniors than they were earlier in their careers. That smacks of lack of effort.
In a sense, I am glad that we ended up losing by 19 instead of by say, 7 points, because the game stats will not obscure this time just how bad we were. We have the talent to hang with Kentucky and Texas. I am not sure we have either the head or the heart needed though.
So, instead of 2006, maybe we all need to point back to the 2003 team for a much better comparison. That team was also very young and could beat just about anybody and it could get annihilated as well.
“Hey, just remember that Tyler Zeller did not play last night. Who knows what the score would have been if Zeller had notched 20 points like he did last year against Penn….”
william, I’m assume your joking here because there is nothing anyone could’ve done to stop the beatdown that occurred last night. I wrote here a few days ago that this would be our worst loss to Clemson since 2001 in Doh’s first season. In the end, we are lucky it was only 19 points.
Here’s how it stacks up:
- Worst UNC loss since 2003 at Maryland in Doh’s final season (56-96)
- Worst defeat vs. Clemson since 1977 (which was — until last night — the only time a ranked Clemson team had ever beaten a ranked UNC team).
- Outside of the Doherty era, it was UNC’s biggest regular season loss vs *ANY* opponent since 1997 (to Wake Forest) in DES’s final season.
- It was Roy’s biggest loss since returning to UNC, eclipsing the 18-point Kansas debacle in ’08
Bottom line: it will go down as one of the worst losses ever at UNC (point-wise) even including the horrible Doherty years.
THF –
I would use Strickland at the point for 25 mpg, Drew for 15. I would have Graves at shooting guard, which, on offense at least, is his natural position. He is our most formidable perimeter shooter.
In the frontcourt, I feel about Thompson much as you feel about Drew: SOMEBODY has to play the position. Henson isn’t ready; indeed I agree with the poster who suggested a redshirt for him. On a team that needs points, Thompson can still score. He’s a role player, and that’s his role. The other two in the frontcourt should be Davis (our best player overall, despite the weaknesses aroung the basket that were on display last night) and Travis. I would also continue to give Zeller a chance. At times (like the VT game) he looks awful, but he does seem to me to be trying hard, and you can’t discount seven feet.
I offer no guarantee that this will work. What I can guarantee (indeed, what most regrettably any of us can guarantee) is that the present ballhandling, distribution and offensive flow are not working. As you were saying a bit earlier, at this point, stirring the pot gives us only so much to lose.
i was willing to give t7rick the benefit of the doubt til i got to the sentence that had Deon progressing a lot from last year.
show me a stat that proves that, that isnt entirely a result of him being the first option now on offense, meaning more shot attempts per game. name one area, tangible or intangible, where you go, wow, he has really improved on _____.
i dont know about everyone else, but we arent stupid here. we arent expecting another championship. this year. but as i said at that top of the thread…show me the play in Roy’s playbook that has a guard running all out down the court and throwing a 200mph windmill pass to fat guy in Row F. when is that EVER the execution? and thats a SENIOR, dude. no one’s expecting the freshmen to be perfect, or for the team to run the table, but c’mon. the players themselves are admitting they are playing dumb. my word, their implication.
TarHeelInMinny –
I agree that Strickland’s FUTURE is as a shooting guard, but we have 14 more games in the regular season, so some sort of improvement has to be attempted now. Like mcgoody, it seems to me that the offense runs better with Strickland. He can’t do all the minutes at PG, but he can do 25, and that’s what I recommend.
I do not intend to “bash” Drew. On the other hand, I see what I see. He is not without talent, but he isn’t up to the job at the level required by ACC competition. I just don’t see us going very far at all with him running the offense for most of the game. I wish it were otherwise.
The greatest thing about next season isn’t Harrison Barnes. It is the fact that Ginyard and Thompson are graduating.
Do not get me wrong – these two played in great games during a great time at Carolina, were role players on my favorite team since being a Carolina fan. But I expect two starters from a championship team – two seniors – not top make the mistakes they are making. I expect them to grab the young guys and tell them all the road stories, to prepare them for what it’s like to play on the road in the ACC. Teach them how to ignore the cat calls, to ignore the crowd, to play the game.
Roy Williams is nothing if not stubborn, and his dedication to his older players is somewhat commendable. I fully expect us to ride out the rest of the season with Ginyard and Thompson starting (remember us yelling for Davis to start over Thompson last year?). Do I like it? No. It doesn’t give us our best chance to win. I second the motion to start the freshman and sophmores, and let Graves come in off the bench as an (hopefully) added spark. Drew’s chemistry with the younger players is better than it is with the seniors. For some reason I get the idea that the upperclassmen and the younger ones just don’t hang out in their spare time.
I’m now watching this season from a future-potential standpoint. I don’t see us as a final four team, but what I want to see are the fundamentals get better so when we add in next year’s recruits, we’ve got everything in place to storm the tourney again. Get the young guys more experience, let them build some rapport, some confidence. That’s all I want to see now, but I’m afraid this is going to be the Ginyard/Thompson Senior tour – Roy rewarding two players for their hardwork and dedication over the past 4 (and 5) years.
i was tough on Deon last year til he started playing better, reducing his errors, and hopefully, he can do the same today, but until then…
in the games vs the 7 toughest opponents this year:
OSU, Syr, MSU, Ky, Tx, CLemson, and VT…
Deon is shooting 40%, 11.3 ppg 6.7 rpg(a figure that drops to 6 when you take out the 12 vs OSU) with 3 turnovers per game.
Deon has 3 games already this year with 5 turnovers. like i said, he is the first option on offense this year, so some of that can be forgiven. and tho we are hesitant to compare to He with the Iron Hands, Tyler had ONE game his last THREE seasons with 5 turnovers. and Deon is no better than Tyler at dishing the ball. someone like Trevor Booker, however, has multiple assists per game.
if Deon thinks he’s going to play in the NBA, he needs to toughen it up…like, now.
“The other two in the frontcourt should be Davis (our best player overall, despite the weaknesses aroung the basket that were on display last night) and Travis.”
Travis Wear at the 3 does not work and has not worked this entire season. He is too slow to play the wing and can’t guard on the perimeter. Stop wasting time trying to develop him into a wing player and let both him and his brother develop at the 4 and 5 positions where they can use there ball handling and ability to step out and hit a jump shot to their advantage, and having them start taking minutes from Muffins.
This team’s best lineup right now is Drew and Strickland in the back court, McDonald at the wing, Davis at the 4, and either the Wears or Zeller at center. Bring Ginyard, Graves, Henson, and Thompson off the bench to fulfill a specific need. Graves for outside shooting, Thompson for soft post offense against a non-physical team, Henson for shot blocking and athleticism, and Ginyard to talk trash to Duke (bc evidently that is the only thing he is good for).
One can only wonder whether Ginyard ever really was the same player after that horrible, horrible performance against Kansas.
I will post this from last year:
http://www.tarheelfanblog.com/2009/01/roy-discusses-ginyard-and-other-things-but-mostly-ginyard/
We have spent (wasted) more time talking about Ginyard and what could possibly be wrong with him than we should have to. Roy seemed unhappy with Ginyard in those remarks. Maybe not playing for a year and a half ended up taking away Ginyard’s game, which seems more based on effort and conditioning than raw talent. I am just tired of him being injured and of his poor play when he isn’t injured. Honestly, I don’t think his being out had any effect at all on the CoC result and that is why I was making the joke about Zeller being out last night.
Some were conjecturing that Ginyard was going to be an offensive threat and possibly even our point guard this year. Almost definitely he was seen as our team leader and someone who could be our clutch player.
I don’t think he has it in him.
Ginyard has played three times for UNC in our final game of the year, against GMU, Georgetown and Kansas. Marcus scored a grand total of 4 points in those three games, going 1-8 from the floor. Not only was his offensive performance poor, he just doesn’t have the ability or inclination apparently to score when we really need points.
Marcus is much more of a Bobby Frasor type player than he is a Danny Green or Wayne Ellington. I think everyone realizes it now, but the mere fact that Williams insisted (insists) on playing him so much makes people believe he is more talented and a better player than he really is.
“I’m not asking for Phil Ford or Lawson or Felton or Kenny Smith, Phelps, Cota, Rice, Kuester, Steve Hale or even Bobby Frasor. Just Quentin.”
Hale??? can hear the shouts throughout Teague now, “Give them Hale; no really, give Hale to them, please.”
When he passed the ball you never knew where it was going. The only reason he did not have more T.Os. was because he played on a semi-NBA team.
This sums up some feelings about last night.
http://media.scout.com/media/image/77/770381.jpg
@rathskellar68 Yeah, I agree with what you propose and that’s what I should have said. We need Drew, but we need more minutes for Strickland at the point. The only thing I was thinking, in terms of the future and specifically next year, is that with Marshall coming in and likely assuming a starting role that Strickland’s minutes will come mostly at the 2, although I could see him squeezing Drew out of the back-up point guard role and Strickland receiving equal minutes at the 1 and 2, or even going 3 guards with a combo of Marshall, Strickland, Bullock, Drew, McDonald and Graves.
@scl11 – Great point on the Wears. We fans typically forget about defensive match-ups. It scares me that we seem to have no one to guard athletic/strong/mobile frontcourt players like Booker last night. You could add Singler, Lawal, Aminu to that list as well. Could this be the role for Deon? Tell him to focus on defense and stopping guys like this and rebounding and forget about trying so hard to carry us offensively.
One positive I thought of from last night–no way is Ed Davis ready for the NBA. He struggled last night and I think Deon’s struggles means Ed is now drawing the other team’s best post defender. I know he looked bad last night, but I would love to have Ed for another year or two.
“The only thing I was thinking, in terms of the future and specifically next year, is that with Marshall coming in and likely assuming a starting role”
That’s very presumptuous, Marshall is not Tywon Lawson, John Wall, or even Kyrie Irving, he is only the 5th rated point guard in his class (similar to Drew II or Q coming out of high school), so there is no guarantee he will be a starter day one. If this year has taught us anything, it is not to assume anything from a freshman until you actually see it on the court in a college game.
That is why I was saying earlier this year that UNC’s recruiting press had gotten to be like Duke’s was circa 2005. Now, after the great run of May, MCCants, Felton, Williams, Hansbrough, Wright and Davis, people have come to expect a new All American(or more) every year and think that whoever UNC is recruiting is going to be of that caliber.
I honestly thought the Wears were supposed to be similar to the Lopez twins from Stanford in terms of dominance. They are nice players but obviously nothing like that. It is hard to know how Frasor or Ginyard might have turned out without the injuries but I sort of thought they were supposed to be closer to Lawson and Ellington rather than perhaps more like Melvin Scott and Jackie Manuel.
I am wondering what people on here actually expected from Henson and Strickland, who I guess were our two most highly touted newcomers, in terms of PPG, rebounds and assists. Did you guys expect Marvin Williams and Joe Forte, or did you expect someone more like Salvadori or Zweiker (in the case of Henson) or King Rice (in the case of Strickland).
sc11,
Using the position ranking is a bit misleading. Drew was ranked the 4th PG in the class. Marshall is ranked the 5th PG in his class. But Marshall is ranked 21st overall while Drew was 68th. QT was ranked 40th and 13th at his position. Sometimes there are a lot of players like Dexter Strickland who are combo guard and it thins out the PG ranks some given a player like Drew a much high ranking in his position.
In short, I think Marshall is going to have to adjust but at this point I think he will be better coming in as a freshman then Drew has been.
william,
Personally, Strickland is about as exactly as I expected, but without a little more of a consistent jump shot. But for Strickland I expected about 6pts and 2-3 assists pergame with a 1:1 assit/to ratio, which is basically where he is currently performing, but appears to be on a trajectory to improve those figures.
Henson on the other hand, I anticipated 10pts, 4-5 rbs, and 2 blcks per game. Besides the blocks, Henson is no where close to contributing anywhere near my expectations.
I still have high expectations and hopes for Strickland. He’s shown some things and, to me, he’s just unpolished. As for Henson, I still think he can be a phenom, but I think some of his issue is that he’s trying to establish his identity. However, I get the feeling he might not be able to establish that more until Barnes shows up on campus.
Biggest losses since 1970
40 point loss at No. 13 Maryland CmC (2003)
33 point loss at No. 4 Maryland CmC (2002)
29 point loss to No. 1 Duke at DESC (2002)
27 point loss at No. 13 Ga Tech ATL (1990)
26 point loss to No. 3 Duke in ACCT (2001)
25 point loss to No. 3 Duke at Duke (2002)
24 point loss at No. 19 Wake Forest (2002)
24 point loss at No. 2 Wake Forest (1997)
24 point loss at No. 13 Wake Forest (1996)
23 point loss to No. 1 Duke in ACCT (1999)
23 point loss to No. 7 Arkans NCAA (1990)
23 point loss at unrnkd Virginia HU (1989)
22 point loss at unrnkd NC State RBC (2002)
22 point loss at No. 3 Maryland LD (1975)
20 point loss at unrnkd Ga Tech AMC (2003)
20 point loss at No 11 Kentucky LEX (2001)
20 point loss to No. 1 Duke at DESC (1999)
20 point loss at No. 7 Vil’nova PAV (1996)
20 point loss at No 17 Georgia Tech (1994)
20 point loss to No. 1 Duke in ACCT (1992)
20 point loss at No. 19 Clemson LJC (1977)
20 point loss to No. 4 Marylnd ACCT (1974)
19 point loss to No. 24 Clemson LJC (2010) <— tied for 23rd biggest
19 point loss to No. 8 TxTech NCAA (1996)
19 point loss at No. 8 Utah (1971)
18 point loss to No. 4 Kansas NCAA (2008)
18 point loss to No. 2 Arizona NCAA (1988)
17 point loss to No. 1 Temple DESC (1988)
17 point loss to unrnkd TexA&M NCAA (1980)
17 point loss at unrnkd Clmeson LJC (1980)
—–
Biggest (regular season) losses since 1970
40 point loss at No. 13 Maryland CmC (2003)
33 point loss at No. 4 Maryland CmC (2002)
29 point loss to No. 1 Duke at DESC (2002)
27 point loss at No. 13 Ga Tech ATL (1990)
25 point loss to No. 3 Duke at Duke (2002)
24 point loss at No. 19 Wake Forest (2002)
24 point loss at No. 2 Wake Forest (1997)
24 point loss at No. 13 Wake Forest (1996)
23 point loss at unrnkd Virginia HU (1989)
22 point loss at unrnkd NC State RBC (2002)
22 point loss at No. 3 Maryland LD (1975)
20 point loss at unrnkd Ga Tech AMC (2003)
20 point loss at No 11 Kentucky LEX (2001)
20 point loss to No. 1 Duke at DESC (1999)
20 point loss at No. 7 Vil'nova PAV (1996)
20 point loss at No 17 Georgia Tech (1994)
20 point loss at No. 19 Clemson LJC (1977)
19 point loss to No. 24 Clemson LJC (2010) <— 17th (tie)
19 point loss at No. 8 Utah (1971)
17 point loss to No. 1 Temple DESC (1988)
—–
Biggest losses since 1970 (less 2001-2003)
27 point loss at No. 13 Ga Tech ATL (1990)
24 point loss at No. 2 Wake Forest (1997)
24 point loss at No. 13 Wake Forest (1996)
23 point loss to No. 1 Duke in ACCT (1999)
23 point loss to No. 7 Arkans NCAA (1990)
23 point loss at unrnkd Virginia HU (1989)
22 point loss at No. 3 Maryland LD (1975)
20 point loss to No. 1 Duke at DESC (1999)
20 point loss at No. 7 Villanova PAV (1996)
20 point loss at No 17 Georgia Tech (1994)
20 point loss to No. 1 Duke in ACCT (1992)
20 point loss at No. 19 Clemson LJC (1977)
20 point loss to No. 4 Marylnd ACCT (1974)
19 point loss to No. 24 Clemson LJC (2010) <— 14th (tie)
19 point loss to No. 8 TxTech NCAA (1996)
19 point loss at No. 8 Utah (1971)
18 point loss to No. 4 Kansas NCAA (2008)
18 point loss to No. 2 Arizona NCAA (1988)
17 point loss to No. 1 Temple DESC (1988)
17 point loss to unrnkd TexA&M NCAA (1980)
—-
Biggest (regular season) losses since 1970 (less 2001-2003)
27 point loss at No. 13 Ga Tech ATL (1990)
24 point loss at No. 2 Wake Forest (1997)
24 point loss at No. 13 Wake Forest (1996)
23 point loss at unrnkd Virginia HU (1989)
22 point loss at No. 3 Maryland LD (1975)
20 point loss to No. 1 Duke at DESC (1999)
20 point loss at No. 7 Villanova PAV (1996)
20 point loss at No 17 Georgia Tech (1994)
20 point loss at No. 19 Clemson LJC (1977)
19 point loss to No. 24 Clemson LJC (2010) <— 10th (tie)
19 point loss at No. 8 Utah (1971)
THF, either way, personally from I’ve seen of Marshall, he is not a game changer at the point guard position from day 1. He is not Lawson, Felton, Wall, Rose, etc. From what I’ve seen he appears to be a bigger point guard with a good handle and good court vision, but he does not appear to be a superior talent that will easily supplant Drew for the starting position.
Deon is lost. I don’t think I’ve ever been around a person personally who could transform themselves into a high-energy, hard-edge type when it is obviously just not their nature. Add that to the fact that Deon is really not a great athlete. His lack of toughness is inherent and he has to really get out of character to play tougher. You’ll get that effort several times a year but not consistently. Last night he just plain shrunk away from Booker and the way Clemson came after us. I’m not down on the young man as a person. As a player, he really can’t get any worse than last night. Last year Roy was quoted after a game as saying that Deon had “one more rebound that Wanda”. Last night Deon should have went into the stands and sat with Wanda!
“That is why I was saying earlier this year that UNC’s recruiting press had gotten to be like Duke’s was circa 2005.”
This may be true, but it still stands that every 5-star recruit that Roy has ever coached has gone on to become a 1st round NBA Draft pick. While that may not sound like a big deal, the list of 5-star recruits who did not become 1st Round picks is pretty long, and it is headlined by a bunch of players from 8 miles down the road.
So while the press of UNC’s recruiting may have become a bit over-hyped, I doubt that Roy has changed what he looks for in players or how he coaches them, which gives me pretty good hope for the futures of Davis, Zeller, Henson, Barnes, Bullock and Marshall.
Keep in mind that we were without Zeller, a very capable big buy who would have made a difference inside. Also, the guards are simply green, especially under ACC-level pressures on the road. This is all part of the learning curve. It will get better.
@C. Michael – Good reminders on our recruits and Roy’s obvious talents at recognizing, well, talent.
I haven’t seen Marshall as much as others, but what I’ve seen and read it’s really too bad we don’t have him this year. Solid handle, great vision. Tidbits from draftexpress.com (http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Kendall-Marshall-5095/): “The best passer in the 2010 class” and “Marshall’s feel for the game is off the charts, though, as he plays the game at an extremely unique pace, nothing like you would expect a 17-year old to. He shows outstanding court vision and creativity finding his teammates in transition and in the half-court, operating masterfully on the pick and roll, and being a very talented ball-handler. He’s a very sneaky slasher, showing very little in terms of explosiveness, but regardless able to get to where he needs to on the floor thanks to his terrific sense of timing and his understanding for how to utilize angles effectively. ” He’s not a great, or even good, shooter, which worries me. He’s also not so good that he’ll leave early, and you know he’ll only get better. With all the talk of us needing a heady, savvy, competitive player on this squad outside of Strickland, I think this kid just might fit the bill.
Would not surprise me to see spurts where Drew, Marshall, and Strickland are on the court together next year. Both Marshall and Strickland have excellent dribble-drive capabilities and that could free up Drew to get more open 3s, which he has shown to be quite capable of hitting.
Marshall is a five star rated recruit as is Bullock and Barnes. That tends to mean a little more since they only tab a couple of dozen kids as five stars while the rest of the top 100 are four star guys.
I have a good feeling about this incoming class. Marshall and Bullock have been commits since sophomores and hang around the program constantly. Barnes is a very smart kid and tabbed as the #1 overall pick in the 2011 NBA mock draft. Putting those three together with the best of the young players from this team I think is going to yield good results. Especially if the current crop of returning players puts the work in offseason.
The team is talented. This is the same team that played the second half against VT, that worked MSU, and that beat OSU. We’re quick to forget about the good things that players do when they have a terrible game like last night. That said, the good things that they can do don’t matter if they don’t stop turning the ball over like Jake Delhomme. That will obscure anything positive that you do. I think that turnovers are a fixable problem though. It takes concentration and focus. You have a pass coming your way? concentrate on the catch before you try to do something else with the ball. You’re trying to make a pass? Focus on getting the ball to a good spot where your man can catch the ball and the other team can’t steal it. You have the ball in the post? Keep the ball high and squeeze it until you plan to release it. You see a fat guy in Row F? He’s open, but concentrate on the fact that he is not in fact a player on your team.
I think anyone watching the game last night could see Dexter Strickland is a great player. I think we can all agree we would have like to see him play more in the game. It was painful to watch, but I saw every second of the game. I am a fan. I will not jump off a cliff. I will not abandon the team the rest of the season. I will not be disrespectful to the players in a mysterious blog post.
These kids are stressing too much. Strickland’s quote “It’s thinking too much,” Strickland said. “It’s being scared to make a mistake. When you play cautious you’re more likely to make a mistake.” is spot on. They play timid because they are scared to make a mistake, which in turn creates the opportunity to make more mistakes. Roy needs to take a page out of his own book and remind his kids to “get lost in the game” they don’t need to be worried about what the jackals post on blogs, or worry about trying to play up to some mythical level that fans have created. This is a team of young players. The seniors need to act like seniors they need to lead the team with actions. I have seen this from Deion Thompson, I’m not talking basketball actions, I speak of character actions. Will Graves and Marcus Ginyard need to stop laughing at everything; they play like they are at Chuckie Cheese. Nothing gets under my skin more than seeing Ginyard turn the ball over and then laugh about it. David Noel was a leader, he was not the greatest basketball player, but he was a great leader. This team needs a leader on the court. They need an emotional ringleader.
Playing hard doesn’t mean playing great, it means out working you opponent. Clemson wanted to win the game. The team has lost the motivation and will to win. They are talented, but talent alone will not win a basketball game.
Everyone on this team should want to win; they should all want the basketball. Where did the competitiveness go?
I’m not saying that Marshall isn’t a 5 star point guard or very talented, but there is a big difference between top 25 vs. top 5 when it comes to recruiting rankings. There are alot of different opinions and misses on the top 25, but usually the top 5 are can’t miss prospects in college. I’m just saying Marshall is not at the same talent level of say a Lawson or a Wall where on pure talent alone he will supplant an experienced returning point guard as the starting point.
Also, I think Drew2 is going to be a pretty good point guard next year. I think he is a good but inconsistent point guard now, with alot of his issues coming from usually being the ONLY ball handler on the court (except when he plays with Strickland) and being surrounded by players that can’t catch passes or finish plays around the basket.
@scl11 – Good points all. I agree with you on Drew, and he’s had some really good games this year. I think last night he, and all the Heels, were going too fast rather than being quick (h/t to John Wooden for that one). Maybe I was too fast;) in saying Marshall will start over Drew next year. I guess time will tell, and we’re lucky we’ll have two (or three, if you count Strickland) really good point guards. Of course, we’ve been spoiled with great point guards recently, which is why I think everyone’s so hard on Drew.
^and those great point guards had better playmakers and finishers around them than Drew currently has, Drew currently has guys around him who can’t even catch the damn ball…..
Touché.
Although I like this line-up next year :
Drew
Bullock
Barnes
Zeller (or Henson)
Davis
If Bullock and Barnes are as good offensively as advertised, that would certainly help the point guard situation, and I think Davis with another year of seasoning will be an All-American type of player.
Reserves:
Strickland (great energy/change of pace/explosiveness coming off bench)
Marshall
Henson
Graves
Wears
McDonald
I could see Graves getting squeezed out of the rotation, with Wears continuing to serve as energy/defenders/rebounders off bench.
I’m just not ready to start talking about next year.
We need more cowbell!
Ok, I spent most of last night crying and most of today walking around like a zombie so here it goes: we need help. Mental help. There is no communication, no heart, no drive.
And there is no fan support. We’re jumping ship, and I hate it. I’m doing it too. So let’s stay calm. Live for the moment, take joy in every victory, no matter how small, both on and off the court. Have faith, love this team.
We will get it done, not now maybe, we still have too many problems. We are streaky and confused. But we will pull it together.
I won’t be around for a while. I’m busy right now, and when this kind of thing happens I prefer to wallow in self pity rather than discuss it. Talk to y’all in a while.
Peace, love, Carolina,
uncgirl50