reclegend22;1363361 wrote:Lol.
On a serious note, what the hell is going on in Chapel Hill, and are we nearing the end of Roy's career? I'm not sure if it's his health or what, but Williams has seemingly lost his touch. It's quite weird for a Hall-of-Famer of his status -- a two-time national champion and Final Four regular -- to all of a sudden drop off the face of the earth during the peak of his powers. I mean, North Carolina is in jeopardy of heading back to the NIT for the second time in four years. Unreal.
I don't even know where to begin. I've calmed down quite a bit since earlier, but this might still be pretty long. lol
First of all, there are players on this team who should never be at Carolina in the first place. Desmond Hubert, who starts for some reason, has no business on a Carolina basketball team. I'm sure he's a good kid, but he doesn't have the ability to play at this level. He's in Chapel Hill because the Wear twins abandoned the program and left Roy scrambling to find a big man. Hubert was basically all that was available, and honestly, Roy should've just saved the scholarship. Joel James is the second result of the Wear twins running home to mommy and daddy. He might end up being a good player eventually, but he hasn't played basketball very long and is very raw.
Brice Johnson is the best post player, and his offensive game is very efficient, but he doesn't have enough muscle to defend in the post yet. Because of his defensive deficiencies, Roy isn't playing him that many minutes. Honestly, he needs to bite the bullet and keep him on the floor because he's the only player on the roster that can score down low. That brings me to McAdoo. He looks absolutely lost out there. Instead of just calming down and executing, he's always trying to play too fast, and as a result, he turns the ball over constantly and takes terrible shots. McAdoo is very talented, and has a ton of potential, but his game is more finesse than power, which also hurts Carolina down low. Basically, the Heels have gone from being unstoppable in the paint, to getting minimal production from the post.
Bullock and Hairston are the only players that can score from the perimeter, and they can't even do that consistently. Teams key on Bullock because they know that no one else is an offensive threat, which makes it hard for him to get going. Hairston simply doesn't get enough minutes to ever find a rhythm. If he got to play more, he might be able to show his potential. PJ does get lazy on D sometimes, though, so that's probably why his minutes haven't increased. The problem with that, though, is that Dexter Strickland can't shoot the basketball. In 26 minutes of play tonight, Dexter didn't score, didn't grab one rebound, or dish out one assist. All zeros in 26 minutes. I don't even know how the hell that happens. The knee injury last year has taken away his explosiveness and he has no confidence. He's not half the defender he used to be, and as a result, he basically serves no purpose when he's on the court. Dex is a good kid, but his game is just a mess right now. McDonald is basically the same...a marginal player with a bad knee. Leslie can really shoot the ball when he's in a good rhythm, but that just doesn't happen every often.
Marcus Paige really has no business running this team as the PG. Roy obviously thought Kendall Marshall would still be in Chapel Hill, allowing Paige to learn and play back-up minutes at PG rather than running the show. Marshall's departure really hurts Carolina, and it shows. Paige may eventually be a really good PG, but he's not ready...not at all.
All those deficiences and what does Roy do? He tries to run the same system that relies on a superior PG to be successful. He doesn't have a superior PG. No one can create their own shot, the shooters are inconsistent because of the lack of an inside game, and as I just mentioned, there's really no post game to speak of at the moment. Couple that with the fact that Roy refuses to change his defensive philosophy, and just begs teams to nail three all night long, and you have an absolute train wreck.
Roy Williams is a great coach, but he's also a stubborn coach. I really think he's trying to force this team to be what he wants, rather than attempting to play to their particular strengths. The kids don't have much confidence, they're thinking too much instead of just playing, and that's leading to really, really bad basketball. There are several tough games coming up, and unless things change, this team is gonna be around the .500 mark in the next couple weeks. I hope that Roy and his guys get it figured out, because this is painful to watch. I'll still be watching, though, and rooting hard for my team. These guys
ARE talented and Roy
IS a great coach. Hopefully we start to see that soon, or it's NIT (maybe) again.
