ACC Tourney Recap
It was a painful tourney to watch. UNC has not played well for an entire game in a few weeks. They are starting to become a "second-half team" that apparently can only get motivated during the second half of games, which is troubling.
With the Clemson game, we played lethargic the whole first half. If it wasn't for Felton carrying the team on his back with 29 points, we would have lost to a overmatched opponent. For some reason after the second half started, we played much more aggressive (probably due to a good Coach Williams chewing out session). Sean May had his first down game in a while, but came out strong to start the second half. But I think the spark in the second half that got us going was when Rashad hit 2 three pointers real quick. All of the top 5 teams have at least one outside shooter that can be counted on to lite things up at some point during a game. McCants obviously did that for us all last season and not as much this year. We didn't need it as much earlier in the season because we had more talent than most teams. But when you get to the post-season and everyone is bringing their A-game, a deep threat is critical. McCants nailed 2 threes and got UNC back into the game. Then Felton led the way and made some spectacular shots down the stretch.
The Georgia Tech game was more of the same. In the first half we didn't play well. We were down most of the game. McCants had a good look at the basket to send the game into overtime, but it bounced off the rim short. I have to point out that Jackie Manuel had horrible tourney. He had 8 fouls, 6 turnovers, 5 points and 2 assists in 2 games. Yeah yeah Jackie is a defensive specialist, but he had 8 fouls, several of which weren't "good" fouls. He also had several turnovers that were unforced. Secondly, he is too much of an offensively liability. The other team is more than happy to let him take open shots. Heck, I cringe when he goes to the foul line. At this level it is hard to give up one offensive player. He wasn't driving or trying to create shots as he sometimes does. Back to the game...we had 3 players score 17 points for the game: McCants, Felton and May. McCants was a respectable 4 from 9 from three. He needs to be starting over Melvin who also didn't have a good tourney. We need every bit of McCants' firepower. But the story of the game was Will Bynum. He couldn't miss and was shooting every chance he got. He ended with a career high 35 points. This was all that much more painful as I watched parts of the Ga Tech/Duke final and Bynum couldn't hit the side of a barn. Ga Tech's Coach Hewitt made a point of saying that beating Carolina wasn't an upset, but the fact of the matter is that Carolina shot horribly (36% from the field and 33% from three) and even though Ga Tech didn't shoot much better, we had an off night shooting.
