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Drew II and Strickland

For much of the season, there has been a significant debate as to whether Dexter Strickland should begin to eat away at some of Larry Drew’s minutes at PG.  In essence, this debate has boiled down to the explosiveness of Strickland versus the better assist-to-turnover ratio of Drew.  Of late, this debate has been somewhat muted, not because one player has clearly separated himself, but rather, it is because a new question has arisen: Should Larry Drew II and Dexter Strickland see more minutes together?

To start, let’s first examine each players total performance over their first 5 ACC games:

P/40R/40A/40S/40A/TFG% 3P% FT% eFG%
Larry Drew II14.1 5.0 9.7 1.42.060.459 0.429 0.846 0.541
Dexter Strickland20.0 4.2 4.2 3.3 1.290.586 0.286 0.636 0.621

My first thought after seeing these numbers is that they are not half-bad and if UNC could get that type of production every game, then they would be in pretty good shape.  This, of course, is a good example of how statistics, especially those derived from a small sample size (5 games), can be misleading, for as we all know, UNC has not gotten this type of production every night.  In fact, in five games, each player has had two excellent games, and three games that were… well… not so much.  Obviously, the topic of this team’s (in)consistency is a horse that has been beaten to a bloody mess, and my reason for bringing it up is not to discuss the litany of reasons for this inconsistency that have been suggested (inexperience, lack of leadership, lack of talent, etc.), but cannot be changed.  It is to look for something within the team that can be changed.

So instead of looking at each player’s total numbers, let’s look at how those numbers change for each player in the presence or absence of the other.  The first comparison presented is that of Dexter Strickland with and without Larry Drew:

P/40 R/40 A/40 S/40A/TFG% 3P% eFG%
w/ Drew24.0 3.4 3.45.71.500.818 0.333 0.864
w/o Drew17.3 4.7 4.71.61.200.444 0.250 0.472

And next, Larry Drew with and without Dexter Strickland:

P/40 R/40 A/40 S/40A/TFG% 3P% eFG%
w/ Strickland19.4 2.3 9.10.02.000.714 0.667 1.000
w/o Strickland12.4 5.8 9.8 1.82.080.400 0.250 0.433

Again, it is a small sample size, but even with that qualifier, the numbers are very telling, and what they are saying is that UNC is much stronger when Drew and Strickland are playing together.  Over the first five ACC games, both players are shooting better than 70% when they are in the game together, Drew has hit 4 of 6 from three (versus 2 of 8 when he is alone), and not surprisingly, their scoring rates jump significantly.

Other observations:

  • Both players see significant drops in rebounding when they play together.  I would imagine that this is partially the result of having two players on the floor shooting better than better than 70%.
  • No surprise at all that Strickland’s A/T improves when he is moved off of the ball, though it is still not very good
  • Strickland’s steal rate more than triples when he is playing with Drew.  While the magnitude might be surprising, the trend is not.  With Drew playing on the ball, Strickland is free to use his athleticism to shoot the passing lanes a grab soft and deflected passes.

The downside to all of this is that over the last 5 games, Strickland and Drew have been on the court at the same time for a grand total of 35 minutes.  While the observed performance increase certainly bodes well for next year, when the addition of Kendall Marshall will provide UNC with two true PGs for Strickland to run with, and Bullock and Barnes will add to the number of slashing guards who can play opposite of Larry Drew II, 7 minutes a game is probably not going to cut it this season, so is there any reason to believe that it also bodes well for this season?

The Tar Heels started the season with one true point guard on the roster, and as such, Roy’s early strategy to play either Drew or Strickland made sense.  While some coaches may disagree, running your point guard into the ground by playing him 35 minutes a game in November is not generally going to pay-off over the course of the season.  Roy needed to have someone who could give Drew a blow, and Strickland was the most qualified to do this.  Furthermore, Roy needed to get Strickland as much experience at running the point as he could, to serve as insurance in the case that Drew went down with an injury.

All that being said, we are now approaching a point in the season where it is customary for starters to begin logging more minutes, and while the potential for injury (especially this season) is always going to be present, Strickland has already logged nearly as many minutes this year, as Drew did all of last year, so Roy can feel “confident” that he has a backup PG in case of an emergency.  Does this mean we will see more of a Drew/Strickland backcourt?  The numbers certainly seem to call for it, and Roy generally tends to tighten up his rotation as the season ages anyway, so it is possible that this is something that we will see more of in the games to come.

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56 comments to Drew II and Strickland

  • The real hindrance to this happening is Roy feeling like he needs to give Marcus Ginyard significant minutes which stems partly from loyalty and partly from Roy’s “defense first” mentality. Then there is also what happens in practice and how that impacts Roy’s predilection to play one player over another.

    As I said before, Strickland and Ginyard should have their minutes flipped.

  • I agree, at least until we see if Ginyard can get back to the level that he was playing the first 11 games.

    UNC might also benefit by having a senior coming off the bench to go along with all of the freshmen reserves.

  • 52bgJ

    great job as usual CM.

    “The real hindrance to this happening is Roy feeling like he needs to give Marcus Ginyard significant minutes which stems partly from loyalty”………see “John Fox”

    not just the physical dynamic improves when LD & DS play together is improved, but Strick seems to impart more mental toughness to Larry also,(which LD needs). Just like in my son’s band, I watch for non-verbal communication between players, I watch for the same on the court, especially as these younger players are meshing. I’ve already seen it between LD & Davis—we should look for same between Drew & Strickland. If the chemistry develops between these two, it will be a very potent combination for the Heels imo.

  • Heel To The End

    wow. i am going through the play-by-plays, and i’ll post some more complete findings in a bit, but in the Wake game…check me on this, CM…Drew and Strick played 3 minutes together.
    from 2:02-1:05 left in the first half, down 6 points…and with 2:02 left in the game, down 17 points by then.
    THREE MINUTES! two when the game is over.

    now, the Wake game is the only game in the last 5 that Ginyard was having even a marginally decent game. 7 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, a steal and a block and no turnovers. just shows you how bad the other 4 have been. (a total of 8 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 12 TOs)

    how hard to compare Drew and Ginyard’s stats with and without each other, CM? or does it not matter, since Marcus has basically been bad, regardless?

  • franklinmanor

    I think we all can agree that Drew and Strickland together works great. But who is going to back up Drew, especially if he has foul trouble? Until he improves himself, the less of Ginyard, the better. Sorry to be so harsh.

  • HTTE,

    Officially, Drew and Strickland tallied 4 minutes together in the WFU game (2:44-1:05 in basketball math is 2 minutes), but yeah, they basically didn’t play together. The GT game was worse, they only played 1 minute together, and that was the last 48 seconds of the first half.

    As for a Marcus/Drew comparison, I haven’t tracked that, primarily because, as starters, I assume they play the bulk of their minutes together and Ginyard really hasn’t had to switch positions like Stickland has. The big shift in Marcus’ performance is really pre and post ankle injury.

  • Heel To The End

    Drew WAS in foul trouble somewhat vs State, yet they played together 7:41 in that game and the score changed to the tune of a plus 11 points in those 7plus minutes.

    4 minutes(correction) in the Wake game.

    54 seconds in the GT game (down 13 points when they did). this was the game Strickland didnt play the last 13 1/2 minutes for some unknown reason.

    so, in those two games, 4 minutes, with basically 3 of the 4 minutes being meaningless.

    2:44 in the Wake game, youre right, my bad.
    :57 to :03 in the first half of GT is what i see, but thats not meaningful. ok, so 4 of 5 minutes are meaningless minutes together for those two games.

  • scl11

    frank, Strickland still backups up Drew at the point, he just gets additional minutes at his natural position of 2 guard. You do not subtract the minutes that Strickland plays subbing for Drew, you decrease Ginyard’s minutes @ the 2 and give them to Strickland in addition to his minutes at the point.

  • Charleston HEEL

    Did you catch the comments in Saturday’s game attributed to Roy that he wants Strickland to play slower and Drew to play faster? Maybe playing them together accomplishes that.

  • Heel To The End

    ^repost from prior thread:

    from tarheelblue.com:

    The N.C. State game was the seventh this season in which UNC hoisted 57 or fewer shots. UNC is 6-1 in such contests. Last year’s more experienced unit averaged 66 shots per game; this year’s team is 6-4 when trying that many shots or more. (Two losses came in games with 61 and 63 field goal attempts.)

  • TheUNCFan

    Having 2 good ball handlers on the court at the same time has got to help this team (or any team). Last year, even Danny Green could bring the ball up on his own dribble, and both Ellington and Lawson were good ball handlers, and Frasor and Drew were each pretty good ball handlers as subs (although Drew saw so few minutes he was perpetually rusty).

    Kind of a Hobson’s choice for Roy Williams, since Campbell can’t play PG in the ACC, and Ginyard isn’t a realistic option at the point this year. Other than Strickland, who else could get backup PG minutes? When there isn’t a depth chart at a position, what can a coach do? Since the “my first sub is a walk-on freshman” Ol’ Roy ain’t that good first year, this is, as far as I can remember, the first time Roy Williams has given ANY non-garbage, non-senior day minutes to a walk-on for any reason. That isn’t pressing the panic button, but it sure makes your finger itch.

  • Heel To The End

    ok, the VT game, Strickland started for Ginyard, his first game back from ankle injury. then Strickland SAT the last 9 1/2 minutes of the game. Ginyard played the last 8, getting one stat, an assist, and the Heels only missed one shot in that last 8 minutes, sealing the game. Drew and Strickland played 9-10 minutes together at a score change of +2. you could argue, if you wanted, that the game stayed close with Strickland starting.

    the Clemson game next, its 4:36 left in the first half and the Heels are down 18 before Drew and Strickland are played together.
    they played 11 1/2 minutes together total, approx, and the net score change was a -2. but like i said, the game was out of reach before they ever got started.

    so there’s 20-21 of the 35 together minutes. almost 8 more Saturday vs. State.
    State was the earliest point in the game they were on the court together other than the VT one, with the score being 16-14 when Strickland came in. Drew and Strickland were a +11 in this game.

  • scl11

    “Kind of a Hobson’s choice for Roy Williams, since Campbell can’t play PG in the ACC, and Ginyard isn’t a realistic option at the point this year. Other than Strickland, who else could get backup PG minutes?”

    Don’t understand why some keep missing the communication who would be the backup for Drew @ point, maybe it is the way it is being typed. So let’s try this: STRICKLAND IS STILL THE BACKUP @ POINT GUARD THAT DOES NOT CHANGE. What changes is Strickland getting additional minutes at the 2 guard.

    Point Guard Minutes:
    Drew 30min
    Strickland 10min
    Total 40min

    2 Guard Minutes:
    Strickland 20min
    Ginyard 10-15min
    McDonald 5-10min
    Total 40min

    And numbers above would be adjusted up or down depending on foul trouble, injury, match ups, etc.

  • great post CM and an even better point in your comment. ginyard might do really well to be the senior leadership in our second unit…a guy to settle the young guys down and really take ownership of that group.

    now, we’re playing to be as good as we can be at the end of the season. so i don’t know what roy sees in practice or what we can ever hope of getting out of ginyard if he returns to his form in the early games (which was just less bonehead errors and some decent shooting). even with those two perfectly valid arguments (three if you include ‘saving dex’ for pg minutes), it still doesnt’ justify not starting him at the 2, moving him and ginyard around at the 1 for some spells and letting ginyard run w/ the second unit. what we see on the court is what matters, and strick has amuch bigger upside than ginyard, so i don’t know why we’re investing the time into him to get him back to “form” which was still not very dynamic.

  • AZACCFan

    Maybe the kind way to look at the Marcus Ginyard affair is simply to say that Marcus is playing less in order to continue to recover from his injuries.

    Marcus seems to be a good guy, who has been impaired by things which are out of his control. I think he has been making his best effort on the court, however it is obviously coming up short.

    The pain on his face has been clear.

  • JohnBrownsBooty

    @franklinmanor:

    you don’t happen to be the same guy formerly known as “FrankManor” who was known to inhabit area blogs/message boards in the Triangle, are you?

  • franklinmanor

    JohnBrownsBooty,
    I am not FrankManor. Last year I was MDTarheel. I lost my password and I am now logged in as franklinmanor. I would love to have a cool pic and a better name but I am too computer illiterate and lazy to change it.

  • faustus1500

    Why not have Ginyard start on the wing and have Graves come in for him?

  • scl11

    Because Graves is still more productive than Ginyard, and actually adds value to the lineup.

    No problem with Ginyard starting, just cut his minutes in half. Or how about we just put the 5 best players on the court and stop worrying about Ginyard’s ego? If Ginyard cared so much about starting or playing 30 minutes a game his senior season, then he should have developed his game over the previous 4 offseasons.

  • AZACCFan

    scl11

    Wow! I am glad I don’t work for you.

    Wait a minute. Maybe I do.

  • Heel To The End

    in short:
    in games they play together more than 4 minutes and/or arent down 18 by the time they GET to play together…
    we’re 2-0 in ACC play.
    0-3 when they don’t.

  • JohnBrownsBooty

    ^^ scl11 for the absolute win.

  • AZACCFan

    JohnBrownsBooty

    What are friends for?

  • “…then he should have developed his game over the previous 4 offseasons.”

    I think this is way too harsh. Again, look at the stats from his first 8 games: ORtg over 100 all of them and over 120 in 5 of those. He can play at the level UNC needs, the question is: is this rust, a slump, or is he still not 100%?

  • AZACCFan

    C.Michael

    I think Ginyard does not appear to be 100%. I don’t think the coaches would play him if they thought he would become worse on the court. But he has made more mistakes than anyone would want.

    Williams usually is not coy about saying that players are injured.

    I just don’t think he should be treated cruelly by anyone.

  • JohnBrownsBooty

    I don’t think pointing out the obvious about a 22-23 year old man is “cruel”. His play simply hasn’t improved over 4 years; he’s no better than he was as a freshman. I think he’s a great person and a true scholar athlete in an era where that term is mostly a joke. However, what I’ve seen this season–especially in person on Tuesday–is a 5th year senior “leader” who routinely makes poor decisions, airballs layups, can’t hit free-throws, and fails to provide the one thing he should be providing : stability and calm.

    I don’t say this to denigrate him–on the contrary, I think most highly of his character–but to emphasize that he’s clearly playing more due to loyalty than performance, stats be damned. I don’t accept that supporting your team means blowing sunshine up their rears no matter what…expecting improvement isn’t the same as expecting perfection.

    Ginyard needs to sit…he’ll be a great coach one day; he can start now.

  • agreed with above…and for the stats at the beginning of the season, that high offensive rating was because he was knocking down 3′s that he normally doesn’t hit. so my question or thought would be that his early season shooting percentage is the exception, and now he’s back to the norm. in which case…cruel or uncruel or whatever, everyone here wants the heels to put the best team on the floor. i truly believe, until i am proved wrong, that this team is best w/ strick and larry both starting w/ ginyard coming off the bench.

    dex can still spell larry and get him some rest when need be…

  • Heel To The End

    i remember saying two years ago, that Marcus was one of the worst layup shooters ever. he just isnt naturally good at handling the ball.

  • Thank the Passer

    Ginyard’s ego?

  • AZACCFan

    This is reprinted today from a chat earlier between Dan Patrick and a coach in Durham:

    “Dan Patrick took his best shot on his radio show Thursday morning to get Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski to gloat over UNC’s recent losing streak, but the former ESPN anchor couldn’t get Krzyzewski to bite too hard.

    When Patrick asked him what UNC’s current record is, Krzyzewski said he didn’t know.

    “You know they’re struggling,” Patrick said.

    “I know that they’re below us right now in the standings, but we haven’t played them yet,” Krzyzewski said.

    Broadcast locally on WDNC 620, an AM sports talk radio station, Patrick also tried to goad Krzyzewski into guaranteeing a “cakewalk” win over Georgetown on Saturday, but the Duke coach didn’t play along. Here are other highlights from their good-natured sparring:

    A conversation about “one-and-done” college players who leave school for the NBA led to the topic of Kentucky freshman point guard John Wall, a former Duke recruiting target. Although Krzyzewski said Wall is “even better than I thought he would be,” he added that you should never say that it’s 100 percent certain that any player is a guaranteed one-and-done.

    When Patrick mentioned Duke junior Kyle Singler and raised a question whether there’s a stigma attached to staying in school four years.

    Krzyzewski said Singler’s not a lottery pick “right now.” He then brought up the example of Shane Battier, a four-year Duke player and 2001 consensus national player of the year who Krzyzewski believed went from a likely second-round pick after his junior season to the sixth overall pick in the 2001 draft.

    Patrick jokingly asked Krzyzewski if he would ever consider adding Bob Knight to the Blue Devils staff should Steve Wojciechowski leave.

    “No. No. Are you kidding?” Krzyzewski laughed, after saying that Knight is already benefiting the game by educating people as an ESPN basketball analyst. Imagine telling Knight, “Hey, Coach, we wear sports coats,” Krzyzewski said of his sweater-loving mentor.

    Patrick also brought up the $25,000 fine levied by the SEC against South Carolina for allowing fans to rush the court after Tuesday’s win over No. 1 Kentucky. Krzyzewski said he would be in favor of a similar rule in the ACC.

    “You can get hurt out there,” Krzyzewski said, adding that he thinks he’s had opposing fans storm the court more times than any other coach in NCAA basketball, “by far.”

    Patrick said what’s sad is that every time that happens, Wojciechowski is still out there as an assistant coach trying to take charges from the students.

    “Tell him to stop taking charges,” Patrick said.

    “I’ll never tell a Duke player to stop taking charges,” Krzyzewski said. “

  • badbadleroybrown

    Nice post CM, when you have a chance checkout Google’s Motion Chart API – it’s pretty fantastic in terms of demonstrating statics provided you organize the data properly. If you want to see a good demo check out Hans Rosling on the TED website. It’s pretty serious. Also I’ve not seen a sports blog use the motion chart but I would be willing to bet that ESPN will eventually broadcast some stats with the application.

    Regardless, I noticed the same trend with Drew and Dex but I hadn’t considered if Ginyard was in or not. I think people are a little too tough on Ginyard, he’s proven over and over again that he has little to no ego, that’s just a garbage comment. There is a time and a place for tradition and if we are going to walk away from Dean Smith then I want out as well. At the end of the day we don’t know why Roy does anything and at best we have to take him at face value. Hindsight is helpful and it’s clear that he is more than willing to provide some misdirection, you hear that Sidney, if he feels it will benefit the UNC cause. I would tend to agree that Ginyard should come off the bench and be used as a defensive stopper, no required offense. We will need him against Maryland. Not liking how good MD is looking lately, still I could see us sweating out a victory.

    I would liked to have seen Henson get more time in the State game and I think if he hadn’t hit his head so hard on the floor in the CoC game we might have experienced a different outcome. Still I’m a Henson homer so I’m not a good judge. Looking forward to the UVA game.

  • rathskellar68

    It’s the 29th day of January. There are five more weeks left in the season. The idea that something major is going to change is in my view wishful thinking.

    I would like for Ginyard to do better. Wouldn’t we all. We desperately need something that more nearly resembles perimeter defense, because we still get burned by the opposition’s 3-point shooters. At his best, Ginyard could be the perimeter defender we need. But he’s not at his best, not by a long shot. We’ve all seen it. Continuing to hope that it will improve in the teeth of the evidence is not the path to better play, and loyalty is not the only virtue that merits reward. Contributing to team success also merits it. Although he tries, Ginyard does not contribute; Strickland does. This tells you how the minutes need to be re-arranged.

    Henson is a different story. For most of the season his play has been at best erratic. But in the State game he was important, perhaps decisive. He should get more PT, not because of what we wish for, but because the most recent evidence is that he can help the team.

    CM’s analysis has convinced me that, yes, let’s have Drew and Strickland on the court together. But scl11 is also correct that his does not pretermit Strickland’s being the backup PG. It means that Strickland is going to see a lot of minutes. So much the better. His stats are not that impressive, but what you see out there on the court assuredly IS impressive. The quickness, the fire, the audacity. I love this guy.

    As I was saying, this team can lose to anyone, and it can beat almost anyone. We still, even at this late date, have an upside, and its name is “more Henson” and “more Strickland.”

  • nick

    Thinking about the Ginyard situation….I went back and read about a couple of our big wins: Ginyard was THE story in the OSU game, given credit for forcing Evan (Lottery Pick) Turner into a ragged game with a bunch of turnovers and making him work hard for points.

    But that Ginyard is clearly no longer with us.

    It seems to me that somebody, whether it is the UNC staff or Ginyard himself, is not being entirely straight about Ginyard’s health. The current version of Ginyard is very little use; the Ginyard we had early in the year was very useful.

    If a couple weeks off might give us the old Ginyard back, he should sit, even with Zeller out. We have the depth.

    If Ginyard’s injury is not something that will improve with rest, he should be providing ball handling and 3-point shooting off the bench for 15-20 minutes a game.

  • Great post Rath. You gotta go with what you see.

  • william

    Ginyard has played in five different Tar Heel seasons. I see little evidence that he has developed any offensive skills this year that vary from those he had as a freshman. Particularly indicative is his free throw percentage which is lower now than we he arrived. He may be hurt but he is what he is.

    Ginyard is a good kid but I can’t deny that I am glad that many UNC fans are beginning to realize just how good Danny Green was and how much he improved over four years(not five).

  • LarryS

    If we approach our upcoming games in sort of a “keys to the game” fashion, like on the game broadcasts, we’ll have a different scenario each game according to the personnel matchups. Our frontcourt will have to be especially good against Ga.Tech and Wake, our backcourt against Duke and Maryland. But I think the Drew/Strickland combination, and their minutes together, is the most intriguing “success barometer” for us to monitor for the rest of the season. If Dexter plays good D it will be a no-brainer, which it seemingly already is.

    I feel this site is becoming somewhat of a model in basketball analysis, with the added contributions of C Michael and Doc. Of course when you’re devoting all your energy to one team it is easier to go further with statistics and commentary, but quantity doesn’t always equate to quality. All three of the site contributors bring an excellent balance of knowledge, perspective, and information which has helped me learn more about the game this year, and enjoy it more, than ever before.
    Again, excellent work and much appreciated.

  • OldSchool

    Marcus Ginyard is a great kid and a fantastic ambassador for Tarheel Nation. He just doesn’t seem to have the ability to play at this level anymore. He started the season strong, even hitting 3′s at a decent clip. I’m not sure what happened, but we should never give up on the kid. I have a feeling that he will make some big plays for us down the road. Maybe a game-winning tip-in or a crucial steal when we least expect it.

  • badbadleroybrown

    If you’re just starting to recognize how good Danny Green was then I’m suggesting perhaps there are more serious issues in play. Danny was an exceptional player and his energy was generally well timed to lift his team past some adversity. Kinda like the OT Clemson game in Chapel Hill – Tyler willed the win but Danny had some big stops and incredible threes in that game.

    I would agree that Henson deserves time on the court for performance, he has earned that to be sure.

    The additional statistics is powerful and I’m really enjoying that aspect of the new posts. It’s nice to work through the perception versus the reality. You’ll not see much of this on other blogs – I’m looking at you SFN. I try to check in on the guys as well via twitter to see what they are up to as well, I’m picturing some serious breakfast for Henson and maybe some snow shots later today as well.

  • william

    It only took Roy Williams three years to recognize how good Danny Green was….

  • 52bgJ

    for those interested, Louisville mixed in the 3-2 zone to good effect today against the Mountaineers.

  • eddavis32

    duke getting blownout by gtown…..

  • Duke is not even trying anymore. It’s a layup drill for G’Town.

  • LarryS

    Georgetown shoots over 70% & 3 players w/ 20 or more points. Ouch! Wojo was heard commenting that it’s just not fair that Duke has to play road games.

  • Is it just me or does it seem that when Duke does play away, it is primarily against Big East teams?

    Also, I have never seen a team more educated on how to wail limbs around like you’ve been hit by a cannon on the slightest bit of contact. While I don’t like that brand of basketball, makes you wonder if it is good to employ that kind of strategy. Think about it, you have a jumpshooting team like Duke have more opportunities at the stripe than a team like GT who is a little more aggressive. Helps to offset things a little. If we did, I wonder if Karl Hess would buy it?

  • 850inExile aka UNC RAJ

    “It only took Roy Williams three years to recognize how good Danny Green was….”

    No – Unfortunately, it took Ginyard getting out of the way for Roy to finally recognize how good Danny Green was… I fear that we won’t get to see how good Strickland can really be until graduation forces Ginyard to get out of the way again.

  • AZACCFan

    Duke had no inside game. None. They shot a lot of 3 point shots, which didn’t work out for them.

    Unless the shots are falling, that strategy has not worked for them. It seems that as the season goes on for the last few years that their team play falls apart.

    JBowling:

    You are right about the foul strategy. I am sure they are coached on that, but it is the coach himself and his antics (facial tics, etc) that are stupid. He is not entitled to more foul shots because of nice rodent imitations, facial hyperemia, or spittle dripping.

    If they coached Henderson to throw his elbow like that, well, they have something coming!

  • makeitWayne22

    Dexter’s overall game is exactly what this team is missing. He is the engine, and drew is the distributor.

  • HeelYeah

    As usual, dook’s penchant for playing their starters to death is beginning to come back to haunt them. dook relies on jump shots and aggressive D, both of which are the first casualties of tired legs. For any of you stat junkies out there, I’d love to see if dook’s shooting % drops throughout the season. I’d bet money that it does, if not only because they are playing tougher teams later in the season (versus their usual lack of tough OOC opponents). That, coupled with worn out players, means early exits in the NCAAs. Keep it up Coach K!

  • makeitWayne22

    it must be tough for the dookies, watching monroe dominate them. Oh what could of been dookies.

  • AZACCFan

    HeelYeah

    It is that simple. This year it seemed they were going to do something different.

    Singler especially is looking really tired.

    But crappy inside play doesn’t work. And how did Georgetown shoot over 70%? Lots of layups and progressively looser defense.

    Less than two weeks to Duke game. I think UNC can take them.

  • rathskellar68

    In a season not without its disappointments, it’s hearening to watch Dook get blown out on national TV. We saw again what we’ve seen many times, this season and last: the team with muscle beats the team without.

    Get those Wears to the weight room!

    P.S. Is our game tomorrow still on? Or are the Cavs snowed in in Charlottesville?

  • Heel To The End

    i heard David Glenn saying last week that the ACC has the longest active streak of having at least one team in the AP top ten, with Dook now the team alone in carrying that streak. they may, may, drop out after today. to which i say…oh well!!

    meanwhile, Dook’s big 3 get 36, 38, and 38 minutes. Yes!

    do you think Lance Thomas is Dook’s Marcus Ginyard? do you think their fans wonder why he is getting 32 minutes and one or more of the Plumlees is only getting 13? Thomas has one double figure scoring game in the ACC this year, as does Mason. Miles has two.
    i wonder if the Dook fans question that on their boards…except me visiting their message boards will never happen.

  • OldSchool

    A nice win over Virginia tomorrow would put us back to even ground (3-3 ACC) and could springboard us toward a run at the ACC title. I’m just saying…

  • 52bgJ

    “And how did Georgetown shoot over 70%? Lots of layups and progressively looser defense.”

    dribble-drive against a man defense.

  • UNC33

    While we ponder our frequent PG woes take some time to be taken back to better days with arguably the best PG UNC ever had other than Phil Ford…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzzvvfWkm8c&feature=player_embedded