By Ian Hanford
After a historically bad season for Coach Roy Williams, lofty hopes for a big bounce-back season in Chapel Hill seem to already be questionable as the Tar Heels fell for the second straight game. Two unranked opponents, the Minnesota Gophers and the Vanderbilt Commodores handed Carolina two consecutive unexpected losses in the Puerto Rico season tip-off. The Tar Heels haven’t lost two of their first four games since they went 8-20 in 2001-02. This sends Roy Williams back to the drawing board again after a 20-17 season last year in which Williams missed the big dance for the first time since 1986, his first year as a head coach. Everyone knows the Tar Heels are struggling, the real question is why? On a team littered with Mcdonald’s All American’s, how do they not have the talent to win at least the games they should? I will tell you why, because as the Miami Heat can tell you right now, it is not all about talent. As talented as North Carolina is, they are equally as inexperienced. Couple the inexperience with the lack of a gritty, emotional leader for this team to rally around, and you find yourself at 2-2 to begin 2010.
In terms of experience North Carolina has one senior on its roster, Justin Knox, who transferred from Alabama so not the guy Roy Williams would probably turn to in a pinch. The other senior would have been Will Graves but he was dismissed from the team before the season began for violating team rules. That leaves junior’s Larry Drew, who tends to give the ball to the other team, and Tyler Zeller as the elder statesmen of this squad and considering Zeller’s injury history, he hasn’t played as many games as his junior standing may lead you to believe. That leaves a large responsibility on the shoulders on a player like John Henson who hasn’t shown he is the type of player to take a game over yet. Henson still has a very raw skill set on the offensive end and relies on his length and athletic ability to rebound and block shots but as a big man you will get fouled and you must convert, Henson is shooting a measly 26.3% from the charity stripe. That is a very obvious problem.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the freshman trio of Harrison Barnes, Kendall Marshall and Reggie Bullock as much as every other concerned Tar Heel fan but these guys aren’t going to be leaders from day one. No matter how talented a player, freshman carrying a team to the title as Carmelo Anthony did for Syracuse in 2003, doesn’t happen every day. Barnes is among the most talented in the country but he needs some help, he has shown his talent but has also struggled to get himself open at times, going 0-12 from the field against Minnesota. Marshall is your typical pass first point guard, reminding me of former Uconn PG Marcus Williams, but again he needs time to get acclimated to the college atmosphere. Bullock seems as advertised as well, a great shooter reminiscent of Wayne Ellington or Rashad McCants but again he is an 18 year old kid being asked to do a lot for one of the most prestigious programs in basketball history. What Carolina lacks is that emotional leader, the passion of a veteran that has won and knows what it feels like to do so consistently. This is through no fault of their own but is still a very tough situation to overcome.
Carolina needs to get back to the basics. The same issues from last year have carried over to this season, make your free throws, rebound the ball, and most importantly take care of the basketball. Roy Williams is a winner and this team will win games but they need to get a grip on this early before this team loses all confidence much like what happened last season. They will have chances to prove themselves with a tough matchup coming up with Illinois and the always rigorous ACC conference slate ahead. The question lies not in the talent for this team but how fast they can grow up and learn from last year's mistakes. Sooner rather than later is the hope in Chapel Hill or come March, they will be left on the outside looking in once again.
Don't you think the at least some of the blame should be placed on Williams? Obviously he is an excellent recruiter and coach once he has developed, talented players. But maybe this just shows that he struggles in developing younger players that need an extra boost. Still think he's a great coach, but you can't just praise him for what he does well and ignore the aspects of coaching that he obviously is lacking in.
ReplyDeleteGrant, I do agree to a point but the bottom line is team's will have down years. Sometimes its not really anyone's fault just a tough situation. William's can't accelerate aging or they would be ok right now. Williams is a great teacher and has won in situations with a lot less talent, for example the 2006 team. They lost Felton, Mccants, May, and both Williams boys and had a great year because of two leaders, Reyshawn Terry and David Noel. Leadership is vital especially at the college level. You can have all the talented freshman you want, but without mixing in veteran players you will lose eventually, ask Kentucky last year. When the chips are down, you have to have a guy you can turn to for that one shot to change the game and 18 year old kids are not generally the answer. I do think Williams needs to re-examine some things starting with benching Larry Drew in favor of Kendall Marshall. Drew turns the ball over way to much and Marshall seems to have a good grasp of the flow of the offense so far. Other than that though I think it is mostly a waiting game for the Heels right now. I would think a young team would improve as the year moves along, if they don't then I will place the majority of blame on the coaching.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback.
This sucks. Do better.
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