Watching Nassir Little, Leaky Black, Brandon Robinson, and Seventh Woods come off the bench and provide valuable minutes and give the North Carolina Tarheels basketball team a boost of energy against Virginia Tech the other night reminded me of Dean Smith's "Blue team" concept from the 1970's. Coach Smith would bring in five players at a time off the bench to rest his starters and play mostly defense. It was a bonus of they provided any offense but this was before the shot clock and the three point shot.
Nassir Little scored a career high 23 points, Leaky Black hit a three during that initial Blue Team run, and Brandon Robinson has become one of the defensive stoppers on the team and made a beautiful bounce pass to Kenny Williams in the second half for an easy lay up. The only player missing was Center Sterling Manley who has been out for several games with a sore knee.
Showing posts with label Kenny Williams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kenny Williams. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
A Deep Bench
The North Carolina Tarheels have a deep bench, the deepest in the Atlantic Coast conference. They have nine players that average more than ten minutes a game although those numbers are slightly skewed because of injuries to Marcus Paige and Kennedy Meeks. Throw in freshmen Luke Maye and Kenny Williams and the Tarheels can go eleven deep in a pinch. That is a great luxury to have.
I have seen the boxscores from other ACC games and there are several teams that only go seven deep. In Duke's loss to Syracuse, both teams only used seven players. The last man off of the bench for Duke only played two minutes. North Carolina State only used seven players in their loss to North Carolina. ACC leading scorer Anthony Barber only had nine points against the Tarheels, none in the second half. Barber averages over 37 minutes a game. The Tarheel defense had something to do with holing him scoreless in the second half but Barber also knew he wasn't coming out of the game.
As the season progresses, you have to worry about fresh legs especially come ACC tournament time. In a four day format like the ACC now has, that is a brutal stretch of games if you only have two players coming off the bench. Fresh legs do not guarantee wins at the end of the season but I would rather have them than not.
I have seen the boxscores from other ACC games and there are several teams that only go seven deep. In Duke's loss to Syracuse, both teams only used seven players. The last man off of the bench for Duke only played two minutes. North Carolina State only used seven players in their loss to North Carolina. ACC leading scorer Anthony Barber only had nine points against the Tarheels, none in the second half. Barber averages over 37 minutes a game. The Tarheel defense had something to do with holing him scoreless in the second half but Barber also knew he wasn't coming out of the game.
As the season progresses, you have to worry about fresh legs especially come ACC tournament time. In a four day format like the ACC now has, that is a brutal stretch of games if you only have two players coming off the bench. Fresh legs do not guarantee wins at the end of the season but I would rather have them than not.
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
The Coaching Tree
The coaching tree at North Carolina begins with Dean Smith and has filtered down through a couple of generations now. Former Tarheel player Wes Miller, coached by Roy William, is in his fifth season at North Carolina-Greensboro and has a fairly impressive track record while in Greensboro. He won Coach of the Year honors in the Southern Conference while being the interim coach in his first season there.
North Carolina-Greensboro was North Carolina's final tune up before facing Clemson in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener. UNC-G was only 4-8 coming into the game but had previously lost to North Carolina State by only six points but it was a game the Tarheels should win fairly easily. I never feel good about these types of games because if the Tarheels don't win by 30 or 40 points I am left wondering what happened.
UNC-G cut the lead down to 11 points on a couple of different occasions in the second half but North Carolina won going away 96-63. Kennedy Meeks is still out for North Carolina and I was hoping to see Freshmen Luke Maye and Kenny Williams get some quality minutes and I like what I am seeing from Maye and this was probably Williams best game as a Tarheel. Maye played 15 minutes and had five points and four rebounds and he showed off some range by hitting a three pointer from the top of the key. Williams grabbed a long rebound and took it strong to the basket for a layup. It is a long season and I am sure these two Freshmen will be counted on down the stretch to contribute key minutes off the bench. Maye was seen as more of a project coming into the seasonand because of North Carolina's depth up front, was not expected to get much playing time. Williams had a reputation for being a three point shooter in high school and while he has not yet got untracked from the three point line, he has shown the ability to take it strong to the basket.
North Carolina-Greensboro was North Carolina's final tune up before facing Clemson in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener. UNC-G was only 4-8 coming into the game but had previously lost to North Carolina State by only six points but it was a game the Tarheels should win fairly easily. I never feel good about these types of games because if the Tarheels don't win by 30 or 40 points I am left wondering what happened.
UNC-G cut the lead down to 11 points on a couple of different occasions in the second half but North Carolina won going away 96-63. Kennedy Meeks is still out for North Carolina and I was hoping to see Freshmen Luke Maye and Kenny Williams get some quality minutes and I like what I am seeing from Maye and this was probably Williams best game as a Tarheel. Maye played 15 minutes and had five points and four rebounds and he showed off some range by hitting a three pointer from the top of the key. Williams grabbed a long rebound and took it strong to the basket for a layup. It is a long season and I am sure these two Freshmen will be counted on down the stretch to contribute key minutes off the bench. Maye was seen as more of a project coming into the seasonand because of North Carolina's depth up front, was not expected to get much playing time. Williams had a reputation for being a three point shooter in high school and while he has not yet got untracked from the three point line, he has shown the ability to take it strong to the basket.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)