I wonder whether national media writers hate doing stories on a team on which everyone has done the same freaking story and drawn a similar conclusion. Anyway, it is Mike DeCourcy’s turn to churn out the standard boilerplate on UNC Basketball: 2009-10 that can be summed us thusly:
“UNC lost players, blah, blah, blah, has talent, yada, yada and there are questions…DEAR LORD SO MANY QUESTIONS !!!! Oh yeah, it all rests on Larry Drew…in case you didn’t already know that.”
Maybe I need to cut back on the caffeine.
Drew is a former McDonald’s All-America with a year of backup experience. He is different, though. The McDonald’s game is supposed to contain the absolute best of the preps, but most scouting services rated him between 50th and 70th in the 2008 class.
Williams, though, provided a strong endorsement merely by offering a scholarship. “I think he’s a quarterback. I think he’s a PG,” Williams said. “I think he can make plays and make people better.”
A summer’s worth of training and skill work left Drew with a body that looks like it belongs in a UNC uniform. He is longer than Lawson or Raymond Felton, though not nearly as fast. He must make better decisions after penetrating and play on the run without committing an excess of turnovers. If there is a strength to his game, Drew said, it is passing skill.
“I have the ability to get the ball up and down the court,” Drew said. “More so, my way would be distributing the ball with the pass – push-aheads, drive-and-kicks. Either way it goes, we’re still going to be a fast-paced team.”
Interesting notion raised here and it is something I have heard trickling out for a few days now. Whereas Ty Lawson pushed the ball using his otherwordly speed on the dribble, Drew will rely in making passes down the court to achieve the same effect from a pace standpoint. The problem you run into there is I think the risk of turnover is greater relying on passes versus Lawson’s Well Fargo-type ball security. That and the fact Lawson could actually score on his own using his quickness, something I am not sure Drew is capable of doing until I actually see it. The “quarterback mode” if you will also relies more on teammate production just like a QB in football relies on receivers. To use a cross sports analogy, the question is whether Drew is 2008 T.J. Yates versus 2009 depends greatly on the how is teammates perform. If Ed Davis, John Henson and Marcus Ginyard(just to name three) are Hakeem Nicks, Brandon Tate and Brooks Foster then Drew is going to be an excellent PG. If not then it still won’t be as bad as Yates but it won’t be a national title winning offense either.
One other note from the article and that is Decourcy makes zero mention of Will Graves while discussing the Heels’ three point shooting. Either he knows something we don’t or he simply ignored Graves and his potential impact. If it is the latter the Duke homer accusations will come hot and heavy I’m sure.
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UNC is talented but questions remain.
I’d rather have a talented team with questions, than a team with no questions, and no talent…
UNC has never been reluctant to let other guards bring the ball frontcourt on their own dribble. I wouldn’t be surprised if the package had multiple options on inbound passes for whoever looks open. UNC definitely has more than one ball handler. When the other team starts overplaying to intercept passes, there’s always that seven-foot center to set a big pick right in the backcourt side of the center jump circle. Running into him would negate any speed advantage the other team had. Ouch!
Anyhow, yes, once a storyline develops, the media parrots it rather than does something original. Remember the Greg Maddux/Javy Lopez thing that was repeated for years by the media, even after Maddux said he won a Cy Young award with Lopez catching and didn’t care?
uncgirl50,
Shouldn’t you be moderating your “New girl in town,” thread? You’ve really stirred up a hornet’s nest! Congrats!!
It’s a very informative thread.
I agree that Lawson’s ability to dribble the ball up court as opposed to passing it was the best option – for him. Speed like that under control is a once in a blue moon kinda thing. But I’m old enough to remember when Carolina pushed the ball up court fast and sometimes the ball never touched the floor. Now THAT was a thing of beauty and was a staple of Dean’s teams. A team with 2-3 good passers that understand filling lanes and spacing along with good hands can move the ball faster (ok, as fast….nearly as fast?) as Lawson could. Either one can be productive. My point is I believe Drew II has accepted his role and knows he isn’t Lawson. If he comes close to doing what he’s told us he’s going to do then the Heels are in great shape and I see us at the top of the ACC again this year.
Can somebody post a link to said “hornet’s nest” please? I love a good debate as much as the next guy.
C.Micheal: You saw that? Wow. I did not know that simply introducing myself on IC would get that big. I mean, I’m so honored! I have a “HOT” thread!
So you are cheating on us here with IC? I see how it is.
I’m sorry! They tempted me, I couldn’t resist! But I swear, y’all will always come first!
LD2 just needs to watch a ton of Ed Cota tapes.
[on the court exclusively, no off the court stuff]
So LD2 can’t hang with Newby?
Negative Ghost Rider…
We don’t need LD2 getting popped for assault on a female.
Yup, I saw it. I usually watch the board, but rarely comment, and when I do, its with a different handle. I find the conversations here far more intelligent, civil, and sane; but you can get some good info over there, too.
As for the intended topic of this post, it looks like the coaches think UNC has MORE talent than questions: ranked #4 in the preseason poll!
Also, how about Mr. Lawson’s debut in the NBA last night!! Congrats, TY!
Ty Lawson is the real deal in the NBA and i will be the first to admit that i wasn’t so sure. way to go Ty! i think people underestimated the talent last year, as they always do, as ty is an impact player as it would appear, wayne (while on a crap team) was playing in the final minutes of the minnesota game last night, DG got some playing time on opening night for the cavs, and tyler is going to be starting for the pacers (is he hurt? haven’t followed it much but great at&t ad or whatever that is)….these guys are otu there ready and able to contribute to NBA teams, and that is more than a lot of the nay sayers thought.
anyways, LD can be different than Ty and help this team in two ways. effective 3 point shooting (that’s not a difference from ty sorry), using the pass to advance the ball, and using the pass in dribble drive and screen roll situations. Of course the PG laying it up is always option 1, but i really remember about 10 to 1 times Ty took a screen roll all the way to the paint versus actually dishing it to the screener or kicking it out when help collapsed. of COURSE we’d prefer layups, but knowing that LD is bottled lightning like Ty, there is nothing wrong w/ using your body, using the spacing on the floor, and using our talented bigs to his advantage.
Hansbrough is out until mid-November. Doubt he starts off the bat.