A Quality Win

Finally the North Carolina Tarheels got their first quality win of the season, 79-73 over #20 UNLV. Since it was played in Chapel Hill I don't know if you could consider it an upset or not but that puts the 'Heels at 10-3 on the season looking at 18 straight ACC games ahead of them. They open up with Virginia on the road January 6. When it comes to injuries this season, it seems that the 'Heels cannot catch a break this season. Starter Reggie Bullock missed this game with a concussion suffered a couple of days ago in practice and in my opinion, Bullock has been the Tarheels best all around player this season. His injury opened the door for P.J. Hairston to get his first career start. P.J. missed the Indiana game earlier in the season with an injury. Despite opening a 21-8 lead early in the game in which 8 different Tarheels scored, they really had to struggle to hang on. I was not happy with the officiating at all and even Dookie alumni Jay Bilas noted several non-calls, missed calls, or bad calls throughout the course of the game. I make note of that because harping on the officiating is something he usually avoids. The 'Heels did have one of their most balanced scoring games of the season putting 5 players in double figures with Dexter Strickland leading the way with 16. Hairston chipped in with 15, McAdoo had 13 points and 9 rebounds, and Paige and Brice Johnson had 12 points a piece.

Where Is The Defense?

The 'Heels 97-63 victory over McNeese State still was not the reaction from the loss at Texas that I was hoping for. Granted they had a 31 point lead at halftime, but McNeese State used the second half as a layup drill. When they weren't driving to the basket for easy shots, they were getting open for 10 foot jumpshots and wide open three-pointers. It seems that Freshman Point Guard Marcus Paige had a sit down with Head Coach Roy Williams yesterday after practice and he responded with 6 points, 9 assists, and 0 turnovers. The 'Heels were on fire from the three point line hitting 13-28, led by P.J. Hairston with 20 points and Reggie Bullock with 17. With the ACC season coming up fast, the 'Heels have problems on defense, their outside shooting is inconsistent, and they still haven't settled on a starter at Center. Desmond Hubert is a liability on offense, Brice Johnson has skills but gets pushed around because of his lack of strength, and Joel James has all of the potential in the world but not much in the way of experience (he has only played for about 4 years). This is going to be one of those seasons where the Tarheels are going to be better at the end of the year than they are at the beginning.

A Win That Feels Like A Loss

UNC's win against East Carolina on December 15th did not exactly leave me with that warm fuzzy feeling that you get when your team wins. The 'Heels blew a big lead late in the second half and only won 93-87. East Carolina had a legitimate chance to pull within one point with under a minute to go. Turnovers, lousy defense, and missed opportunities allowed the comeback to happen. The "heels have Texas coming up and Head Coach Roy Williams sounded almost despondent over the 'Heels performance against East Carolina. They seem to be developing the bad habit of playing down to the level of their competition. I can't say they are playing up to the level of their competition because of the losses to the quality competition they have played this year, Butler and Indiana.

A Work In Progress

This years Tarheels basketball team is going to be a work in progress and a learning process for the majority of the team. It is a rare occasion that you can say the Tarheels are in a rebuilding year but this may be one of those years. Rebuilding for the Tarheels and rebuilding for someone else are two different things. I believe they will still win 20 to 25 games and they will be much better at the end of the year than they are now. It will be exciting to see their development as the season progresses. They have lost to Butler in Maui and got crushed by #1 Indiana (maybe they should stay away from the state of Indiana for the rest of the year) and in the loss to Indiana only shot 10 for 36 in the second half. This is also one of those rare seasons in which the 'Heels are stronger from the outside than they are on the inside. Against UAB they were hot from the outside and it led to a 102-84 victory. Leslie McDonald had a coming out party of sorts with a career high 24 points (5 of 7 from the three point line), Reggie Bullock had 17 (3 of 5 from the three point line), and P. J. Hairston had 16, all in the second half. He hit two three pointers but drove hard to the basket and was able to put himself at the free throw line. Interior players James Michael McAdoo (15 points, 12 rebounds), Brice Johnson (11 points, 9 in the first half), and Joel James (2 points) only went to the line 3 times between the three. They should have wore out UAB on the inside. The 'Heels have some athletes this year. McAdoo is one of the most athletic inside players they have had in quite a while and you have to be excited about the potential of wing player J. P. Tokoto. His athleticism was on display before the game with a backwards shot from halfcourt and a alley oop from Leslie McDonald during the game.

A Different Tarheel Team Than Any Other

This years North Carolina Tarheels basketball team is far different from most any other team they have had in the past several years. Most of that difference lies in the Tarheels inside game. Since the early days of Dean Smith the 'Heels have always worked the inside first and that usually gave the Tarheels a big advantage in free throws attempted and made, usually at about a 2 to 1 ratio. Through 8 games the 'Heels have attempted only 10 more free throws than their opponents. This season the 'Heels are shaping up to be an outside shooting team with James Michael McAdoo manning the middle but he is not the classic Tarheels post player. He is leading the team with 3.75 Free Throw attempts per game and as a team, the Tarheels are only averaging 16.75 attempts per game. It doesn't help that they are only making 61.2% of their free throws. Their is a saying and I don't know who to credit it to, "live by the three and die by the three" and the Tarheels are not consistent enough from the outside to live by the three. Reggie Bullock needs to use his size and P.J. Hairston needs to use his thick body to drive to the basket and get to the line more. Bullock has 11 free throws in 8 games.