UNC Basketball Update News and game summaries from a life-long North Carolina Basketball fan(atic)

UNC 79, Virginia 69   It took until 10 minutes into the second half before UNC could secure a comfortable lead against Virginia. We are definitely shaping up to be a second half team (like previous years). Reynolds and Singletary from Virginia are lights out shooters. They were knocking down everything in the first half. However, Ginyard put a glove on Singletary (the ACC's leading scorer) in the second half when we needed to shut down Virginia. Overall, we didn't play that well. My game ball would go to Quentin Thomas. Yes, that's right, Q. I thought he had a solid game (despite the stats not really showing it). Wright scored 16, but was 5-16 from the floor. He's also missed 3 dunks over the last 2 games! Hansbrough scored 18 but missed 5 straight free throws. The team shot under 40% from the field. Ellington was 2-7 and Green was 2-6. Not very crisp. Perhaps the biggest stat of the game is 21 offensive rebounds for UNC versus UVA's 7. Also, bench scoring was a big factor for Carolina. Ultimately, Virginia was overpowered and overmatched. The difference between us losing a game like this last year and us winning this year is depth. We just wear teams down. Virginia didn't mind running with us either, which didn't help their cause (though they did run a fair amount of zone). It wasn't a pretty win, but I'll take it. Speaking of things that aren't pretty, Duke lost again! Posted by Robbie Allen @ 1/10/2007 11:21:00 PM Comments: Another win for Carolina!!! But.......the weaknesses are mounting. The expression on the faces of some of the players being pulled frequently, is slowly beginning to affect the play. Ellington (one of the teams' best players)is shooting the ball as soon as it touches his hand because he knows he will be substituted for in less than 2 minutes, so he better get the shots as soon as he can. The same goes for Green........ Two weaknesses will surely cause issues later in the season when facing stronger teams that do not care how many substitutions Roy makes. One, is the very evident lack of a solid outside the lane consistent shooter. And two, the over use of too many players. Although Miller and Fraser can play at this level, the team certainly could rise to the top faster with pushing Ellington, Lawson, Terry, and Green with more playing time and encouraging them to pull up for jumpers or drive to the basket and dunk the ball. Vince Carter was the last good player to have the ability to drive into the lane and dunk from in half court offense. Also, the free shooting troubles are not getting much better and needs to improve or Wright will see alot of action at the line in late game situations. In addition, Tyler has maybe hit 3 shots in his career when facing the basket, thus encouraging a team to play a good zone and force Carolina to beat them from outside the paint. Up to this point, the competition has not been good enough to do it, but I am certainly not the only one who is watching and seeing the weaknesses as they get larger and larger. Common Roy, we do not need an early NCAA exit and an a repeat of excuses why the team was not prepared. If the team was this good they currently be unbeaten!! Oh, and if nothing else ....Please have the players stop just waving at the 3 point shooters and get off the floor in an attempt to block or alter the three point shot. Every shot should be contested......aka.. Florida, Duke, Arizona........ Roy, you have a solid chance to get to the final four if you settle down to a solid 7 to 8 man rotation and work on improving the outside game. At some point Lawson will have to either shoot the ball or drive to the basket. And if Carolina can build on the outside game, it will open up the middle even more and the score will stay consistently in the 90's to 100's. Signed::: Just a Carolina Fan tired of late season flops!! # posted by  Blue Inside : 12:31 AM   http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/sports/16432503.htm "Devils go down in Ga." Clever headline # posted by  Anonymous : 12:22 PM   Blue inside how do you call yourself a Carolina fan? You act like hurting the freshman fragile egos will be our downfall. Have a little faith in Roy and his ability to keep unity among his team. Read every press conference where people ask about chemistry and what a deep team means to a bunch of talented players. If the press and fans would leave it alone, there would be no problem according to Roy. They are young and in a college atmosphere, shooting will suffer till they get some maturity under their belt but they are having fun and are fun to watch. They also are getting the best publicity a NBA hopeful could ask for. Everything is going to be OK. On a different not, Duke is 0-2 for the season. The first time since the 95-96 season. I wonder if his back is hurting him again... hehe. # posted by  Anonymous : 12:55 PM   Ha-ha... blue inside if by late season flop you mean winning the national championship one year and going beyond anyone's expectations the next after losing your entire starting team the year before then yes, Roy tends to flop. # posted by  BB : 1:00 PM   Post a Comment << Home