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Zoubek Ready for UNC Game – Swears That Patchy Beard Will Have Grown in by Then
"Yeah, we told him chicks would totally dig a beard. What I don’t understand is how Zoub has grown an eighth of an inch of bearded patches on three spots of his face, and still manage to have his face smell like moldy pizza. The joke’s really been on us."
about 9 hours ago
T.H.
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Defense. Dee-Fense.
by T.H. on Feb 7, 2010 8:10 PM EST
in Basketball
1 comment
One thing I didn't mention in my recap of the Maryland game is that the Terps had 16 second half fast break points. After all, we've seen a lot of that sort of thing this season. It was the talk of the post-game interviews however. First Roy Williams:
How frustrating was the defensive effort?
It’s very frustrating. At times it is effort, and at times it’s just execution. It’s not a big play in the game, but near the end of the game Dexter [Strickland] dribbled the ball to the right side and John Henson went down to screen for David Wear, and Sean Mosely didn’t allow himself to be screened, deflected the ball and went in for the dunk. It is execution and getting in the right spots.
Then Marcus Ginyard:
They had 16 fast break points in the second half. How were they able to get on the run like that?
We weren’t doing a good job of getting back. We had all five guys looking at the ball, and it wasn’t a priority for us to get back. That’s the way we played out there, and it wasn’t a big deal for everyone to sprint back on defense, and it killed us.
Will Graves:
They had 16 fast break points in the second half. Why was that?
We just didn’t get back on defense. It’s simple; we just got to get back and have defensive balance and do what we’re supposed to do on offense.
Deon Thompson:
How do you guys get back on defense better?
We've just got to get back. We can’t leave our point guard back there in 3-on-1. If we score the ball, it lets us get back, but if you have turnovers and have guys running ahead, it’s hard to get back. We just need to not turn the ball over and score.
Well, if you wanted senior leadership and the calling out of what the problems are, there you go. Of course, the fast break that stuck with me the most was when Will Graves slacked off on Dino Gregory right before he got a pass fro Vasquez on the break, and had to commit a bad foul to stop the easy bucket. Gregory made both free throws. Identifying the problem and actually fixing it are two different things.
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Jeff Saturday and the Other Big Game Today
by T.H. on Feb 7, 2010 4:37 PM EST
in Football
0 comments
Don't have a rooting interest in today's football game? Happily, I can just republish what I wrote the last time the Colts hit the Super Bowl:
I am by no means a faithful Colts fan - you'll want to go here if that's what you're looking for - but I, and most of the folks at the party I was attending, were cheering on the Indianapolis contingent. Part of that was because I actually like Peyton Manning. I figure if you're going to be that talented and that wealthy, you at least should have the common courtesy to be incredibly goofy, which Manning is. But mainly I chose the team to cheer for on Sunday the same way I often pick sides in professional games I don't have an interest in. I root for the team with the most UNC alumni.
This year that was the Colts, with starting center Jeff Saturday. And it's worth pointing out that the same guy who bashed Saturday a couple of weeks ago in Slate has credited the center with the Colts' Super Bowl victory.
(Saturday is apparently Slate's new poster boy, as frequent contributer Gregg Easterbrook thinks he's the most valuable player in the NFL. Unfortunately, Gregg Easterbrook is wrong about pretty much everything he writes outside of football, so I never know how much faith to put in his NFL thoughts. But congratulations, nonetheless.)
Saturday is still under center for the Colts, and has now been to four pro bowls and is on the Executive Committee for the NFLPA. Not bad for a guy who went undrafted and was cut from the first team that signed him before the season started.
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Maryland 92, UNC 71
by T.H. on Feb 7, 2010 4:25 PM EST
in Basketball
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Tar Heels vs Terrapins boxscore
This was a three point game at one point in the second half. No, really. Carolina had battled back from ten down at half to twice cut it to three, the last time with a Will Graves two with 14:34 remaining. They had the momentum, and they had the crowd out of it.
And then they proceeded to make six shots from the field the rest of the game.
There's been two constants in UNC conference play this season. First, they'll fall behind early. That's a given. Most of the time they'll fight back though, which brings us to the second constant. UNC will get within spitting distance in the second half, give up one bad play, and then just absolutely panic. You can see it on their faces, the moment they go from "coached by Roy Wiliams" to "haven't played a game of organized basketball in their life." The tempo goes from fast to breackneck, the passes either stop all together or are flung wildly without any idea if they'll be caught, and the shots will be either drives in triple teams or long threes will a defender in their lap. The other team starts getting fast breaks, the panic deepens, and the next thing you know it's a twenty-one point loss.
At least this game was something you could have expected to happen at the season's start. When panic set in, it was mostly freshmen on the floor. Marcus Ginyard and Deon Thompson, on the bench at the time, both played like seniors, with 17 and 16 points respectively, and Ed Davis had another double-double despite a pretty poor performance that had him benched occasionally for poor defense. With this team you can never say anyone has turned a corner – Virginia heroes Henson and David Wear combined for 6 points and 2 rebounds tonight – but Ginyard had his best game since the December injury. Henson had a good defensive stretch as well, and was key in getting UNC back within three.
But the Maryland big men stepped it up late, holding the Heels to a single offensive rebound over a nine minute stretch where the lead went from 5 to 23; they also pushed the UNC post men out almost to the free throw line, giving them no chance to get a close bucket. Vasquez even dished the ball more than he had this entire calendar year, racking up 11 assists and spreading the wealth around to a team that shot 51.5% from the field.
So now the Heels get to dig out of the snow, plug their phones back in, and shuffle back home to meet Duke in three days. I've given up looking for signs of life in this team and just treat every game as it's own separate season. I just wish so many of them weren't 0-1 losing seasons, though.
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Game Thread: Maryland
by T.H. on Feb 7, 2010 2:00 PM EST
in Basketball
13 comments
This is what College Park is digging itself out of today. Actually, it's probably worse – my neighborhood apparently got off easy.
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Ight I get the point Maryland fans y'all kno what hotel and room we are staying at
Ed Davis, on Twitter. You stay classy, Maryland fans.
2 days ago
T.H.
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Dashing Through the Snow, Just to Play the Terps
by T.H. on Feb 6, 2010 1:02 PM EST
in Basketball
10 comments
UNC has had a lot of problems with opposing teams this season, especially ones with quick point guards who can both penetrate and shot the three. Which is why my advice for this weekend's game at Maryland is going to seem a little odd, but nonetheless here it is.
If UNC wants to win on Sunday, they're going to want Greivis Vasquez taking the shots.
That won't be a difficult thing to accomplish. Vasquez – last seen complaining about opposing fans at FSU in what, given the fans on his side, is the most brazen disconnect from reality since J.J. Redick first complained to the media – likes to shoot the ball. He's 20% more likely to shoot than the next most prolific shooter on the team, Landon Milbourne. And he's the worst shooter in the starting five.
Really. For twos? The worst. Threes? The worst, unless you count center Jordan Williams, who hasn't tried one. Effective field goal percentage? Still the worst. The fact that he still manages to be in the ACC's top five in scoring average shows just how many shots he launches in a given game. He's a much bigger threat when passing it inside to Milbourne or freeing up perimeter shots for Hayes or Mosely; the more Vasquez is baited into trying to carry the team himself, the better off the Heels are.
Of course, to do that, it would help if Carolina could jump out to a decent lead early, something they have failed to do this conference season. And I don't expect that to happen Sunday, either, as Maryland is very suited to capitalize on UNC flaws. They have two of the conference's leaders in steals on their team in Vasquez and Mosely, and excel at pushing the tempo in the same sort of manner Wake did. If there's one place where UNC can grab an advantage, it's on the offensive boards. If UNC hits them hard like they do on their best days, and deny the Terps the rebounds on the other end as well, they have a chance of pulling off the upset. It'll take better play than we've seen from them this year, though, and a lot of bad shots from Greivis Vasquez.
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Virginia Tech 74, UNC 70
by T.H. on Feb 5, 2010 12:04 AM EST
in Basketball
5 comments
Well, it wasn't a disaster. And it definitely had the potential to go that way, after a first eight minutes where the Heels went 3 for 13 from the field and fell behind by ten. They fought back though, helped by early foul trouble from Virginia Tech and strong play from John Henson (14 pts), Ed Davis (15) and David Wear (12), and managed to go into the locker room at halftime with the lead for only the second time in conference play.
They soon lost that lead to the same problems we're all used to seeing: turnovers (19), poor shooting, and a lapse in rebounding. It was the last that was especially excruciating to watch. UNC's defense played unusually well, denying the Hokies the dribble penetration so many teams had used to great effect, and forced ridiculously poor three-point shooting. But they couldn't control the boards, giving up 11 offensive rebounds in the second half. 10 points and Deon Thompson's fifth foul came on those second chances; not to mention that minutes that drained away under Tech's slow pace. That, plus UNC's inability to get the fifth foul on any Tech player, despite five of them having four, allowed the Hokies to keep their talent on the floor when they could have been so easily disrupted.
So where does this leave Carolina? I'm worried that the disappointment will just have them lapsing back into the play that torched them against Virginia. Starting Strickland over Ginyard didn't change anything – Ginyard had the majority of minutes, and the two combined for 7 points and 7 turnovers – and I've seen too many strong one-game performances from this team to declare it a new day for Henson and Wear, who played 14 and 16 minutes, repsectively. The bad news is, until now has been the soft, gentle part of the ACC schedule. From here on out, the Heels have a game every three days until the 24th, including road games against most of the top of the conference. Of course, the last win didn't actually change UNC's fortunes, so perhaps a near-loss will have a better effect.
It's amazing the rationalizations you can come up with to keep hope alive with this team.
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