It’s over! Run for the hills! Cancel the reservations for Detroit!
Not really.
I have not decided if this game was simply a perfect storm of crapitude that put UNC on the short end or something more that should concern us. Certainly the matchup is one that will give UNC trouble. BC plays good interior defense and has a great point guard who can make life difficult for Ty Lawson on both ends of the floor. In this game BC also did a great job of hustling after the ball and controlling the boards, at least early on. In concert with this, the Eagles hit shots time and time again while not turning the ball over. This is the formula for putting yourself in a position to beat UNC. Those aspects in particular are things that could crop up again but only if the matchup is right. That in itself does not necessarily beat UNC.
I still think, even after watching this game, UNC has to help you out some and they most certainly did by only posting 78 points, shot 38% from the floor including 29% in the 2nd half. UNC was 13-29 on layups, 2-6 on dunks and 13-40 on jumpers. In other words the Heels shot like crap all game which can be owed some to BC’s defense but also to the fact players miss shots, a lot of them, at bad times. UNC came in averaging 93 ppg which means they still should have been able to win the game even with BC scoring 85. Yes, due respect to BC for how well they played but UNC did not play a good game. You also have an element in college basketball where a game will snowball against you on the basis of a handful of plays. That seemed to happen tonight and UNC could not get out from under it.
The question is why were the Heels so flat? Theories abound. Everything from the undefeated/close game talk in the media to looking ahead to Wake Forest next week. Those certainly could have played a role but I am not convinced those were it. Some of you might recall that in the 2007 season UNC went to Arizona one Saturday and kicked the crap out of the Wildcats on their homecourt. It was a great game making that team look every bit the contender. A week later UNC went to the RBC Center and lost to NC State. Roy basically said no one was giving out trophies for beating Arizona. I think we are seeing the same version of that incident again this season. UNC started out a little out of sync with Hansbrough missing games but when they got him back healthy the Heels put together a three game stretch against Notre Dame, UNCA and Michigan State that was everything we thought this team would be. Then exam break came and after that the Heels have been somewhat out of kilter.
It is painfully obvious that the Heels stopped playing at a high level after the MSU game. Breaks in the schedule happen and December is tough because you toss in holiday breaks with trips home and what not. This is part of the season and something a veteran coach with an experience team should handle without an issue. In this case, I think this has less to do with Roy than this particular group of players having a predilection for losing focus. The win at Michigan State was so dominant that it would appear the Heels let off the accelerator. The problem with this particular group is they should play games by coming out and hitting a certain level of play regardless of the opponent but instead the are all over the map with their intensity and execution. Roy bears some responsibility for how the team approaches games but in the end the players have to decide whether or not they are going to bring it every time out. So far that appears to be a 50-50 proposition.
No one expects perfection in every game. You also expect some teams will play their best game of the season versus the Heels. Those two expectations along all the other strange occurrences that come from 18-22 year old college basketball players going against one another means some games will be tough. The key for a team with the experience and talent UNC has it to simply bring it. UNC needs to raise their game and keep it there. This Tar Heel team is in dire need of finding a groove and come hell or high water staying in that groove. This is not to say some games will not be a complete struggle but approaching games with a killer instinct afford a greater margin of error given the caliber of this UNC team.
At 13-1 in early January this is not the end of the world, not even close. There is still plenty of season left which hopefully this team will approach with their heads on straight.
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Thank you THF for delivering a clear summation and call to action. Lets hope it is heard. Something coach has probably already done.
Something that all of us go through in life is that we tend to overestimate the positive attributes of people close or dear to us, whether children or spouses or ourselves, or even our university.
Often we tend not to see defects that are apparent to others, so we might be wondering if that is what happened here. Are we Tar Heel fans simply so biased that we thought this team better than it was?
I am not sure that is the case here. First of all, it was the entire media, not just Carolina fans, who were over-hyping. Second, UNC went 36-2 on the way to the Final Four last year and 36-3 overall, so it didn’t seem as though it would take that much improvement to be perfect. The team really lost almost no scoring and added several key players.
The only thing that I can really see is that UNC has not added anyone who has fundamentally altered the way we play or the way teams play us.
This is why it is such a shame for Brandan Wright to be sitting in the NBA, because he was a fundamentally different player from any of the other low post players we have and he could have been an all-time great Carolina player. He complimented Hansbrough perfectly inside and was an excellent shot-blocker on defense. But he chose not to be a part of it after one year.
Davis and Thompson are both nice players but they do not take enough of the pressure off Tyler. I thought maybe with improvement by Thompson and the addition of Davis that Carolina could transcend some of the problems they had against Kansas last year and they still might but it won’t be a cakewalk, and this squad has a long way to go to be considered an all-time great team or even to win the NCAA championship.
I am a greedy observer. It is hard enough to win any championship and me, I am holding out for an all-time great title winner, when many already think the 1982 Tar Heels were that. But as great as the 1957, 1982, 1993 and 2005 Heels all were, they all needed substantial good fortune to win it all. So did the 1974 Wolfpack and the 1992 Blue Devils. I was just hoping we could be like the 1973 UCLA Bruins or 1976 Indiana Hoosiers and win the title easily, undefeated, but obviously that is not happening.
Going back to THF’s example of the 2007 year, I would point to the first Virginia Tech game. We had most of the same players and after an early upset to Gonzaga, Carolina was 14-1 and beating other teams down just like this year. UNC then laid an incredible egg against VPI, trailing by more than 20 before a furious comeback made it close, at 94-88, but like tonight, the Heels never really had a good chance to complete their comeback because they started just a little too late.
Obviously, the 2007 team was less seasoned, but it was the same core group of guys and possibly more talented with Reyshawn Terry and Brandan Wright.
Probably the main difference between the 2008 team and the 2007 team was that the 2007 Heels lost most of their close games. Last year’s squad won most of its close games, including two it probably could have lost to Clemson, a game at GIT, a game at FSU, a game at Virginia and a game against VPI in the ACC tournament. If you figure those were coin toss games, then Carolina’s real (sort of like the pythagorean adjustment in baseball) record last year was 33-6, and about 11-5 in the ACC, which is pretty much identical to the 31-7 and 11-5 from the year before.
So what is my conclusion? Carolina has not improved very much season to season since Tyler’s freshman year. We have had three excellent teams in a row, reaching the Final 8 after losing in over-time, then reaching the Final Four and playing terribly against Kansas and now starting off this year, 13-1. Last year, we started off 18-0, but we would have been 14-1 if we had not been incredibly fortunate to beat Clemson.
Many people on the site want to point to last year’s Maryland game and forget about the Georgia Tech and UVa games last season where Carolina may have arguably played even worse but squeezed out victories.
So, we are pretty good, Final Four quality good. That has not changed, but I am not certain that the current UNC squad is better than either the 2007 or 2008 squads. I just don’t see any real difference in the quality of play. Apart from seasoning, if I really had to pick, based on talent, I think the 2007 Tar Heels were better than the past two additions.
Can Carolina improve? I don’t think Hansbrough or Lawson or Green can improve much more. Ellington seemingly should be able to up his three point percentage some but I guess that remains to be seen. We can talk about effort and defense and all, but these guys are all juniors and seniors. They should know the defensive techniques by know.
If this Carolina team is going to exceed the previous two squads, it is going to be due to improvement by Davis and Thompson and Drew. Those three had miserable outings tonight against BC and Carolina simply cannot have Drew being loose with the ball in a close game. Otherwise, prepare for a season like the last two, where it took every bit of UNC’s will to edge out NC State and VPI and Clemson to win the ACC tournament.
Please, please, please don’t ban me from ever coming back and seeing a live game!!!
I have to say the seats were great, of course, closer would be better, but I thought the view (minus the poor performance by the Heels) was great. I miscalculated the time, and after we went through the museum, I had 2 hrs to kill before the will call window opened. Plus, the slight confusion getting out of Chapel Hill and back to the hotel in Durham. Once I got inside, I took maybe 50 pictures before the game even started. I didn’t leave my seat the entire time.
I did enjoy being here, seeing the Dean Dome, the town, and everyone I met was extremely friendly. I hope to come back again, if I am allowed!
Luckily all my ku fans back home are not being too harsh in their messages they have sent, I think they understood how excited I was to come here, and don’t want to rub salt in it, unlike last year after the final four, when I had barrels of sea salt from them.
I just hope this loss wakes this team up. The effort wasn’t there tonight, and maybe the guys were reading their press clippings. I totally agree this was a perfect storm in that if we hit half of the missed free throws or half of the missed layups, we win. Defense can’t account for missed dunks, free throws, or layups. But that is just part of the game. We need to crush Charleston, then get a solid win at Wake, and people will start to forget about this loss.
Dominic, I hate that your first visit to Blue Heaven had to end up with the Heels playing so crummy. I’m glad you had a good time though, you’ll just have to plan to come back so you can see a win. Now, if we lose the next time you come, we may not let you back in the state
Glad to hear it Dominic, just sorry it had to be this one.
Interesting take as usual william, and some good points, but I believe this team is in fact better than 07/08 squads. The most disturbing thing to me tonight was the last 90 seconds where they were jacking up desperate 3’s, when, with a little appropriate patience, they would’ve given themselves a very good chance. Uncharacteristic of a good veteran team, with a veteran coach. I’ll chalk it up to your jet-lag theory (to ALL of them).
credit where credit’s due–you called it Russ.
I think sometimes the excessive analysis obscures the basic points. Here’s a few basic points, in my humble opinion.
1. Roy Williams didn’t lose this game tonight.
2. Groups of great players sometimes don’t play like a team and lose games. (Georgetown/Villanova, Houston/NCState, Princeton/UCLA, tonight’s game)
3. Groups of mediocre players sometimes play like a really good team and win games (David Noel’s group)
4. Tyrese Rice can play basketball really well.
5. The Tarheel players were overconfident prior to this game
and forgot to play like a team.
We have two kinds of quotes from our guys. First, we have the throwaway quotes where they say that BC just wanted it more than we did.
Well, I don’t know what causes a group of players who don’t want “it” enough. Is that coachable?
But I am really not thrilled to hear our players say that they were surprised by BC’s flex offense. Was it some kind of secret? Hasn’t BC given us fits since they came into the conference?
“It’s difficult guarding the flex,” said Tyler Hansbrough. “They run everything so tight, they keep the ball in and use all those screens and you have to be in the right position. We weren’t in the right position all the time.”
“Their offense creates a lot of problems,” said Lawson. “In the lane there is so much traffic, and it’s easy to get screened.”
Dominic, glad you had a good visit. Wished the game would have gone better and that you could have witnessed another Carolina comeback. Must not be easy being a UNC fan in KU country but I respect Kansas and their fans. Hope you get a chance to return some day.
Sometimes you come out flat, and this was one such time. When it became quite clear that we might actually lose, however (at about the eight minute mark), we fought back effectively. But the deficit was large enough, and BC good enough, so that we couldn’t make it all the way back.
There were several things going on that others have mentioned. The perimeter defense was poor, and BC, having quite a good day, cashed in. The usual plan is for us to overwhelm the opposition with scoring regardless of defensive lapses, but our shots wouldn’t fall today.
Second, our free throw shooting was fatal. We missed 12. If we make eight of those, we win.
Third, Deon is, I’m afraid, backsliding. He just doesn’t look like the player he was at the start of the season. He simply has to become a more consistent rebounder, among other things.
Fourth, BC is better than advertised. They knew their gameplan and executed it. And they were tough — tougher than we were, at least today.
Lastly, there’s Tyler. As anyone who has been reading my stuff here knows, I basically idolize him. But in fact he is not an idol. He’s a human being and has the frailties thereof.
It’s not that he didn’t produce. He certainly DID produce. I think he had 22 points, which is right on his average, and I had the impression his rebounding was better than it has been recently. But here’s the problem: Today we didn’t need 22 points from him. Today we needed 29.
Tyler cannot lead just by example. When the team is off, as it was today, and defeat is looming, he’s going to have to put it on his back and carry us over the finish line. He is the senior, the POY, the backbone and the leader. He returned to school primarily to win the national championship. He’s on a team that can do it. But his team, like every team, is going to have off days. When that happens, we need for someone to seize victory by going beyond even his usual All-America play, and that person’s name is Tyler Hansbrough.
Ahhh…for whatever reason, i was unable to access the site last night. That was a good thing, in that I had planned on dropping a three-letter acronym and leaving it at that.
This morning, I have showered off the loss and had my coffee. Despite a backlog of things that I need to do at work, I want to throw in my 2-3 cents.
Yesterday’s loss was the kind of loss that has had us true fans scratching our heads ever since we can remember (collectively). You can throw out any year and point to a game where we had a huge advantage in both talent and coaching, only to see an apparently less-talented team play their butts off and beat us. I chalk it up to the let-down factor. I still think that the Heels are, by far, the best team in the country. The ‘05 team had some dissapointing losses (Wake and Duke were top 10, but I think we lost to Georgia Tech somewhere in there, and of course, Santa Clara). The problem is that, in back-to-back years, ‘05-’06, the Heels set such a rediculous precident by winning with the team expected to win, and then winning with a team not expected to win. Both are examples of what UNC basketball is all about. However, the program has gone 80-11 since, 7-2 in the NCAA tourney, and 6-0 in the ACC tourney. If you would have told any of us that our record would look like that (up to this point) we all would have been so giddy that we would have pulled a Bobby Frasor off the nearest balcony (given that a pool was somewhere underneath). My point is that our team, this program, is back to that level where a loss is going to make front-page news anywhere. When we lost games in ‘05, ‘06, and even ‘07, it wasn’t a huge buzzkill because we were still rising back to the mountain top. Now, in the past two years, we have to accept the consequences and enjoy the fact that being elite warrants such disection and/or scrutiny.
Sure, I am dissapointed, but this game does ease the pressure (for all of us) of a potential undefeated season, which could have been a media blizzard come late-February. The Wake game will be the barometer, and Duke will be the true test. My guess is that, come early March, we’ll be talking about our team looking great, Duke losing steam, and that will be that. Keep those heads up!
A very tough loss to take. We lose to an unranked team that’s in our conference, at home. I credit this lose mostly to the cupcake schedule in November and December. I know ND and MSU were there but we need more. Get rid of Ketucky and UNC-Ashville and schedule Kansas, UConn, Georgetown, Davidson. I don’t care if we lose before Jan. Conference and Tournament games are what matter.
I think at the start of the season everyone hoped this team would achieve something historic. This is a championship caliber team, final four at least but maybe even an undefeated season given the overall lack of competition. The stars do not aline like this very often. Now we see how easily the Heels could lose. And it only takes one lose in the Dance.
Everyone shares the blame for this lost. I agree with William, it starts with the Coach. The team did not look prepared. I thought they pressed too much. It wasn’t working and BC was getting too many easy looks. Frasier looked awful. Ginyard needs more time. Graves scares me. Will someone please box out and grab a rebound. Please help out on defense.
I am not jumping ship. We all know that this team is capable of playing great and its just painful to watch them play poorly. I give BC alot credit. They hit some tough shots and never gave in but the Heels did not help themselves with the missed free throws, turnovers and poor shooting and shot selection.
Heelyeah mention the BC 10 second violation. I noticed that too. No call, the announcers never said anything. Are we wrong. That could have been a big turnover. Was Roy right to complain about the number of fouls on D Green?
I now the Heels will bounce back and I am still confidant they will win it all. I knew it would be hard to match last year’s run but given what we have it hard to expect anything less than everything. I like the close games but not the poor play.
Win 13, lose 1. Win the next 13, lose at home to GT on 2/28. Win the next 11. I’ll take that…
Yes, but handling pressure is one of the marks of greatness, DeanForever. Previously undefeated Illinois lost its last regular season game in 2005 and losing that game did not seem to help them any in the tournament, nor did Memphis losing to Tennessee appear to give them any edge when they choked away a sure thing last year.
I think it would have been an amazing treat to see if a team could go undefeated from the ACC for the first time since 1973 and win it all undefeated for the first time since 1957. Every game would have had that extra edge.
And you are right, Carolina fans are spoiled, but that is the framework that the players themselves know exists when they enter the program. It is not easy to distinguish oneself or one’s team at Carolina given its great history. The 2005 team did, by making clear that UNC’s program was back, and with vigor. As you said, that is old hat now, after four more years and 120 or so more wins.
Now, this year’s Heels are sort of in the same position as Florida was in 2007, where Florida coasted through the regular season and lost several games in an ugly fashion, but it didn’t matter because the Gators knew they were going to the tournament anyway and they knew they were at least as talented as any other team in the country that year, so why struggle for that last bit of excellence?
Certainly winning a title is reward enough, but now with the prospect of a perfect season gone, where is the motivation for this current group of players to perform at their peak during the rest of the regular season?
And when members of our team admit that BC wanted this game more, where is the motivation for us fans, at the margin, to pay attention to the rest of this regular season? Maybe we should just tune out until the post-season, which is presumably when Ty and the guys will start wanting “it” as much as their less talented opponents.
Lack of effort and intensity is really something that I cannot stomach. I would rather see guys like Wes Miller, David Noel and Mike Copland, or teams like the Davidson Wildcats, who might have less talent but always give their utmost than watch a bunch of supremely talented but indifferent guys waltz around the court. I’ve got the NBA for that.
william (and others) - I think the players saying BC ‘wanted it more’ is just media speak. I think BC played loose since they had nothing to lose. We, on the other hand, caved to the pressure, manifested by all the misses at the FT line.
The flex is tough to defend, and our main defensive weakness is getting off screens, off and on the ball. The players saying they run it “tight” means that that flex screen (coming across the lane from weak side to strong) is quickly followed by the down screen. If your man is setting the flex screen, you have to help/bump the cutter across the lane, then find the down-screener, get off that screen and find your man. It’s tough to defend. The best way is to switch, but that leads to mis-matches.
One of the things we’ve been touting is UNC’s balance, but last night Lawson and Tyler had off games, and no one else stepped up. We needed Wayne and Danny and Deon, and they were a combined 12-of-32 (37.5%). Ouch.
I think, as william noted, we fans tend to see only the good in our teams and gloss over the bad. The media feeds into this, and it was hard not to with so much returning from last year’s FF team, but we had, and continue to have, major defensive issues. It’s one of two things–lack of coaching or execution. I strongly think it’s the latter. We lose focus on basic defensive principles, and until that changes were are susceptible to these types of games where the offense struggles. No one has really talked about this, but we really missed a 100% Ginyard last night. He could have stopped Sanders, and I actually thought Lawson did a decent job on Rice.
It’s disappointing that a perfect season is no longer possible. I think these next two games will tell a ton, though. Wake certainly presents more challenges than BC–can we respond? I think they match up with us perhaps better than anyone in the country.
Finally, a good post by the guys over at Rush the Court (http://tinyurl.com/75uyhk) about why it was tough to go undefeated. Basically, we’re hunted every night, we play in a tough conference, and while we’re very talented, it’s not like we’re stacked with 5 lottery picks or anything.
We’ll be fine. I just think many Carolina fans thought this was a season for the ages. A national title would certainly lessen the sting, and I think heading into the NCAAs undefeated could be a negative anyway.
william — I think you’re being too hard on them. I have never seen a team “always give their utmost,” nor is it fair to view our players as “talented but indifferent guys [who] waltz around the court” a la’ the NBA.
We had an off day against a team that, while less talented, matched up well, was brilliantly led by its senior star, and played hard (yes, harder than we did). We woke up, but too late.
A wise man once told me that “experience” is what you get when you don’t get what you want. Yesterday, we saw some college kids get experience. Perhaps they won’t learn from it, but their improvement from last season, and the Kansas disaster in particular, suggests to me — although it does not prove — that they will. Every team in America is going to lose this year, and I’d bet a lot that a chunk of those losses are going to be inflicted by inferior opponents.
Nothing is guaranteed in college basketball, just as nothing is guaranteed in life. We were never a sure thing to win the national championship, but no sensible person thought otherwise. What we were — and, yesterday’s poor performance notwithstanding, what we are today — is the team with a better shot to win it than any other. And the team with a player like no other. For that we can, and I believe should, be proud and grateful, even in the aftermath of a very disappointing defeat.
Also, in regards to strategy in the final minutes, I thought Roy was nearly perfect (I disagreed with subbing Green and Ellington out for defense with 1:30 left… we needed them for offense). If we make FTs or one of those 3’s goes down (Ellington or Graves from corner was dead on, just back rim, and Green’s from left wing was just short, but again dead on) Roy comes out looking like a genius. I thought he waited until the appropriate time to spring the FC press, and BC’s nerves showed with numerous unforced turnovers. Our guys just didn’t hit the shots to complete the comeback… it had nothing to do with strategy.
One thing I though we could have done is change up our zone offense. Maybe try Green at the high post, or move Tyler up there and let Deon go down low. They were collapsing on Tyler so much there was no room to operate. He (Tyler) also made some poor decisions vs. zone/double teams. We never ‘hit the gaps’ well against the zone. Drive, kick out, reverse the ball, then go inside.
Also, some said we should have played zone on defense. Wouldn’t have mattered. If you don’t have good man principles, you can’t make a zone work, either. Plus, it’s tougher to rebound out of the zone (which is partly why we had 20+ offensive rebounds).
Check the tape-the comeback in the last couple of minutes was fueled largely by going down low to Tyler, which was working. BC was logging fouls, and although UNC did miss some ft’s, they were chipping away. Those 3’s were all challenged relatively well, which is also probably why they didn’t “go down”.
I never expected us to go undefeated, but I sure as hell didn’t expect a 1st loss (spanking) at home to BC either. We have the talent, but this week will tell a lot about whether this team has the mental toughness. Like it or not, the wolves are at the door and they smell blood.
I understand that maybe we might have come back if we had hit free throws down the stretch (or Deon at all) and three pointers down the stretch, but the goal in March is not to put yourself in a position where a few three pointers by either team can make or break your season.
Up to now, Carolina had not had a team closer than 11 points to us in the second half. You obviously are not going to maintain that the whole year, but that is one key. Generally, leads of over four to five possessions are safe in the final four minutes regardless of what the opponent does.
What really bothers me is looking at three similar games, the Georgetown game from 2007, the Kansas game from last year and the BC game and seeing how similar the stat lines are for Lawson and Ellington in all three games, on both offense and defense. In all three games, our guards almost completely disappeared on offense, while allowing the opposing guards to torch us with over fifty percent shooting.
I am looking at the box scores from the Georgetown-UNC game in 2007, the Kansas game and last night’s game and they all look disspiritingly similar. Lawson, 2-9, Lawson, 2-11, Lawson 3-13, with very poor assist to turnover ratios. Ellington wasn’t much better in those games, especially from three point range, going 1-6, 1-9 and 2-7 last night. All three squads had equal or superior guards to UNC. Georgetown’s starting guards went 12-20 from the floor; Kansas’s went 16-27 and BC’s last night went 16-28 from the floor, overall and 6-13 from three point land.
Obviously, stats are going to be worse when you lose, so maybe the positive thing to take away is that we need good play from our guards to win, and perhaps that our opponents need both Ellington and Lawson to be off to beat us, but what really concerns me is that our guards weren’t just off, they basically melted down in all three of these games. Perhaps bad shooting is something you can’t control, but all three of these losses saw Carolina’s getting smoked on both ends of the court by the opponent’s guards.
We are looking at games over three years and these guys are all juniors and seniors for the most part now. I am not sure this group of guys either wants to play defense or is willing to learn. Wake Forest fans are familiar with this phenomenon back from the Chris Paul days. Those Wake teams could look spectacular one day, while beating UNC and look pathetic the next, getting torched by Illinois and then getting lit up by FSU and West Virginia for more than 100 points.
I will say that UNC had a chance to just quit and take their beating when they were down 15, the way that UConn did, and in spite of the huge odds against them, they made a game out of it. I will have to look again but my recollection is that they never got closer than four, but even if they had pulled the game out, it wouldn’t change anything. The issue is how they played, not merely whether they won or lost.
Has anyone breached the subject of Roy’s teams consistent inability to play well vs. the Flex offense? My goodness we are horrible at defending the flex.
at one point last night I yelled out - Hell if that’s the best you can defind go zone!
Indeed I was rooting all the way!
Everyone please step away from the ledge for a dose of common sense.
1. All of the “can UNC go undefeated” tripe was media-driven, depsite what the ABCers say. Usually the undefeated talk begins about the first of February when someone looks around and a team is 22-0. To saddle this team with this idea in December and early January was ludicrous and unfair to the team.
2. There’s a reason why the NBA is best-of-7. In college, one team plays well, one team plays awful, and you get beat over a 30-game season. Add to the fact that we missed a thousand chippies and a hundred free throws and were still within 4 in the last minute against a team that traditionally plays well against us. You don’t think Duke sweats when Virginia Tech comes in the gym? It’s because VT has shown they can beat Duke, and BC has shown the same against us.
3. Let’s call it what it is - this team hasn’t played a terribly good basketball game since Michigan State. Deon is regressing into, well, Deon and the chemistry just doesn’t seem right. Was anyone else uncomfortable with Graves in at crunch time last night?
A season is a marathon, not a sprint. When Florida returned practically everyone from the NCAA champs, not even then did someone suggest an unbeaten season. I’m not one who believes in “good losses”, but at least that glass slipper is broken and we don’t have to deal with it anymore. Now we have CofC to work out some kinks and get ready for Wake. I predict things will be just fine.
We won’t know what this loss means until Sunday. Wake is good. If we get beat by them (an athletic team), we know we have problems.
It was somewhat media driven but two teams came close to going undefeated in the last five years, Illinois and Memphis, and both could have with just a bit more luck. Indiana State and UNLV both made it to the Final Four undefeated.
UNC only lost three games last year so it didn’t seem such a stretch when they had everybody back and a top recruiting class and were beating teams by thirty points. Of course, it may be turning out that the Ginyard and Zeller injuries are much more important than previously thought and that the other freshman are less ready to step in.
It is definitely doable in the way that going undefeated in the NFL is doable–very, very hard but far from impossible, unlike say, going undefeated in the NBA or the NHL.
My goodness… I have been looking for the right place to post this. I’m just an old fart that loves Heel’s basketball, but these guys are just kids. No disrespect.. they are hard working dedicated young men, and have my upmost respect, but please guys, give them some room to be GUYS playing a game at age 23 (AND YOUNGER). We’ll be OK and whatever happens… happens! Go Heels and kick some butt, I love these guys and so does the crew that hangs out with me and watches the games. Get it together and make us proud!!!
I said guys too many times, but what the hey….