Update: That was bound to happen sooner or later.
Unacceptable.
It is completely beyond the pale that this UNC team should allow a Maryland team that has been a train wreck on offense all season long with losses to VCU, Ohio, American and Virginia Tech to score 41 points in the first half and take a six point lead into the locker room.
That is why the crowd is booing Brent Musberger because they are fed up with UNC giving these half hearted efforts, especially on defense. This is a prime example of what happens when UNC cannot outpace a team with their offense
Get it in gear boys.
January 19, 2008 at 4:51 pm |
still waiting for that next gear to kick in…flat-footed seems to be the order of the day
January 19, 2008 at 5:39 pm |
they had no business even being that close. Stepheson did play well at least.
January 19, 2008 at 5:45 pm |
With a gift at the end, they still could not score. Nice inbounds play, T shotting a 3. Coach has do better on the final plays of the game. Can’t get shit tonight and tomorrow. Forget working on defense, we need to work on shooting the ball. Welcome to ACC. We haven’t play one good game against them. I knew all those cakewalks were going to hurt. The ACC isn’t even very good. I think Deon needs to be benched for Stevenson. Maybe that will motivate him and others. Green needs to stay within himself. Please put the baskets back up at practice.
January 19, 2008 at 5:55 pm |
Tough end of game for the Heels, and I know you in the Carolina faithful might not enjoy hearing this right now, but this loss may actually be good for your Heels.
Sure, it will cost the #1 ranking for the time being, and it will tighten up the ACC race, but it will also serve Coach Williams well in getting the attention of the Tar Heel players. They barely escaped Georgia Tech, a then 7-9 team and had obviously lapses against Maryland. Everyone is going to take their best shot against your team and they need to come out firing on all cylinders to not give the other guys a whiff of hope. Let a Georgia Tech or a Maryland hang around and things are left to chance…not a good thing for a team as good as UNC’s.
All I can say is I’d hate to be on the schedule the next few times the Heels takes the court. They will be on a mission.
January 19, 2008 at 7:08 pm |
Come on fans. It’s ONE game! I think it will make us tougher and more ready for what is ahead. Yes, we had a tough week. It’s almost like we could all see this coming although I didn’t feel like a loss was in the air today earlier in the day. I still plan to enjoy this team for the remainder of the season no matter what. What a gift to be able to watch Lawson, Hansbrough and team. If you think we feel bad how do you think they do and Roy? Roy is a hall of famer and he will figure it out. Keep the faith!
January 19, 2008 at 7:18 pm |
I never thought I’d find myself agreeing with a State fan, but I think Alpha Wolf is right…this could be a good thing in the long run. Last year we played better in the second half when we were down at the end of the first, and we played much better after a couple of losses. At any rate, our early season schedule was VERY weak; the 18 wins he had were, with few exceptions, against very weak teams that we didn’t play well against. As much as any loss sucks (especially against a hit-and-miss team like MD), it’ll be nice to have the bullseye off of our backs, and after Miami, coach will have eight days kick the boys asses in practice.
At least we’ll have UCLA, A&M, Pitt, and Ole Miss fans to comiserate with…maybe even Duke fans with the way Clemson is playing.
January 19, 2008 at 7:25 pm |
I’m rarely in favor of playing zone defense, but the man-man D just shows too many holes. The opposition has had decent looks from 3 (Clemson, GT, Maryld) & a relative good PG can dribble-drive with occasional ease. Some option of a zone look might cover some of those deficiencies (bad switches on pick-rolls, for one). Still a very good team
January 19, 2008 at 7:35 pm |
COMMENT DELETED.
1. I am not in the mood
2. Takes a pretty classless guy to seek out a UNC blog and talk trash.
I would say “see you in the ACC Tournament” but we will not be playing on Thursday.
January 19, 2008 at 8:59 pm |
This game tears me in two. On the one hand, I agree with Alpha Wolf and Adam. This is something that was coming eventually. Whether it was Maryland, Miami, BC, or whomever, UNC was not going to run the table, and losing now takes the pressure off the Heels and puts it squarely on Memphis and Kansas, and even, to a certain degree, Puke. Losing early in ACC play may be the motivational tool Roy is always seeking and a wake up call for the boys.
At the same time, I lost a lot of faith today in this year’s Heels, and more so in this year’s sophomore class. I have no concerns about the junior class, which we all saw in 2006 has more heart, workmanship and determination than probably any team I’ve seen in many years. The sophomore class, by contrast, is as frustrating as any I’ve seen. Never have I seen so much talent, so much upside and so much potential flounder and disappoint because of what can only be character and personality problems.
Deon is, flat-out, soft. He’s got the ability and the size to be a force, but he doesn’t throw himself around enough to grab rebounds or make blocks when we need them. He’s easily pushed around. Stepheson is strong on defense and rebounding, but couldn’t score if the basket was twice as wide. I thought Wayne was finally stepping up and becoming the big-time scorer, as he showed against Clemson. But tonight, something was off and his confidence just wasn’t there. And Ty, God bless him, is faster than light, but still makes too many mental errors.
Perhaps I’m being too hard on the guys, but I feel like since the sophomores have joined this team, it’s been too prone to letdowns. When we lost to VaTech last year, I thought that would be the wake-up call. Ditto State, VaTech part two, GaTech and Maryland. And when they won the ACC tourney, I thought, “Finally, they’re putting it all together and realizing they can’t rest on their laurels.” I even excused G-town as, “Oh, they’re the number two team in the region. It was just a difference in seniority vs. youth.” And I excused last week’s weak showing at GT as a letdown after State. But now, I honestly wonder if they’ll ever “get it,” if they’ll ever figure out that talent alone isn’t enough anymore. I hope they prove me wrong, and I hope starting on Wednesday in Coral Gables, they prove once in for all that they’ve gotten the kick in the ass they need, but right now, I have a hard time believing that we’ll be in San Antonio this April.
January 19, 2008 at 9:34 pm |
Dan,
Deon is probably my biggest complaint especially since I thought after the summer he was going to be more of a force. It is not happening. I was happy with Ellington because I thought he got it rolling when the Heels needed it in the second half. As for Lawson, he just got timid. I think the foul trouble was part of that but he also made some downright stupid plays on a couple of trips down the floor. All that being said, I am not worried about the offense. They scored enough to win the game but did not stop Maryland from basically doing whatever they wanted. I cannot put a finger on what is wrong with the defense. There are some plays I think they do everything right and the ball bounces the wrong way giving the other team points. On other plays, the opposing team just ends up with nice open looks.
So I still think this team has what it takes in the chest and the head to build off this loss. What happens in Coral Gables will answer that question to some extent.
January 19, 2008 at 10:05 pm |
Tyler taking the last shot to try to win. Great plan there Roy.
January 19, 2008 at 10:27 pm |
Roy said in the postgame that Tyler was one of two options on the play and he was perfectly fine with him taking the shot.
January 20, 2008 at 1:12 am |
THF,
Yeah, I’m still concerned with Wayne this year and hesitate to anoint him, mostly because of his lack of defensive presence and the fact that he still sometimes takes shots off-balance when he has time to set his feet. That said, I agree that Deon Thompson is the most frustrating player. He’s soft and that’s killing us and really forcing me to miss Brandan Wright’s defensive presence, which I didn’t think would happen.
I hope Coral Gables helps us get over this, and I think it will. In fact, I’m even going to take the step of saying maybe this is the game I was talking about before. The one where they finally wake up and realize that the ACC isn’t a free ride like our non-con schedule.
January 20, 2008 at 8:37 pm |
Once again another team is allowed to hammer us physically. One of my wife’s friends who is a Duke fan called the house after watching the game and asked if I needed some Kleenex. I said, I need a damn cotton field! She said, you guys couldn’t buy a foul call in the second half, I said “Welcome to the Dean Smith Center in the 2000’s”. Some freaking home court advantage we have. You watch every other ACC team play and see if they get by with playing as physical as teams are able to against us. It will frustrate you to no end.