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UNC is still the team from most of last year

Still, if a team was 23-10 (15-5) at the end of the regular season - removing the championship appearance - and returned such prominent pieces, I think they’d warrant a very high ranking on that alone. I’d say they’re still disappointing regardless of if the hot run last year happened or not.
 
Losing Manek was a pretty big loss.
Disagree. Nance comes close to filling that void. Along with the growth of the returning players, this team will be just fine come March.

Nance 6'11 230 - 50%, 35%, 12.3 pts, 5.9 reb, 2 assists, 1.4 blks
Manek 6'9 230 - 49%, 40%, 15.1 pts, 6.1 reb, 1.8 assists, 0.7 blks
 
Disagree. Nance comes close to filling that void. Along with the growth of the returning players, this team will be just fine come March.

Nance 6'11 230 - 50%, 35%, 12.3 pts, 5.9 reb, 2 assists, 1.4 blks
Manek 6'9 230 - 49%, 40%, 15.1 pts, 6.1 reb, 1.8 assists, 0.7 blks

Correct. This team is better than last years but also will take time to gel as we aren’t going to be playing 5 guys 38+ minutes a game
 
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Or maybe they are just coasting in regular season, and will turn it on when it comes to March? Who knows?
 
Disagree. Nance comes close to filling that void. Along with the growth of the returning players, this team will be just fine come March.

Nance 6'11 230 - 50%, 35%, 12.3 pts, 5.9 reb, 2 assists, 1.4 blks
Manek 6'9 230 - 49%, 40%, 15.1 pts, 6.1 reb, 1.8 assists, 0.7 blks
I would say, make this comparison toward the end of the year. Nance has played mostly cupcakes while Manek's stats are for the entire season. Nance could fill the void that Manek left, but when Manek found his role on the team, UNC was much different and tougher to beat.

Nance hasn't played enough games to determine that, so it's possible that he does. But Nance could also be worse against strong competition. His best games so far are against mediocre teams.
 
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Some times teams get hot in march and it is not indicative of who they really are.
Yep. Just as a great regular season team can choke in the Tourney (know all about that as an Illini fan), sometimes a mediocre team gets hot or gets a great string of matchups and makes a run. Obviously, UNC is probably better than "mediocre," but I do not think they were one of the two best teams last year, and I certainly don't think they were this year.

"The Tournament is all that matters" is an understandable idea, but at the end of the day good regular season results put you in the best position for the awesome crapshoot that is March Madness ... and UNC does not look like a team who can make a deep run. Like I said, things can change and the Tournament can be chaos, but you have to treat each new year as a blank slate. And UNC is not very impressive.
 
Carolina ain’t gonna be in contention for much of anything if Nance and Bacot are the only two playable bigs on the roster.

Gotta have someone on the bench that can come in and do something when Nance/Bacot are in foul trouble or tired.
 
There is a lot of parity this year.
.
UNC is a good team and having that experience of going on a heater in March is still probably a good thing.

They still have very solid guards and that can get you through those close games.

Every team has weaknesses.
 
Disagree. Nance comes close to filling that void. Along with the growth of the returning players, this team will be just fine come March.

Nance 6'11 230 - 50%, 35%, 12.3 pts, 5.9 reb, 2 assists, 1.4 blks
Manek 6'9 230 - 49%, 40%, 15.1 pts, 6.1 reb, 1.8 assists, 0.7 blks

I don't know a lot about Nance, but it doesn't seem that he's the same level of shooter as Manek. Plus, as the other guy said, he's played mostly scrubs so far. And does he have the same knack for hitting big shots?
 
I don't really think it should take time for this team to not suck. They are the 13th most experienced team in all of college basketball. Every year shouldn't be like starting over when you bring back basically the same group. Unless you think Manek was THE difference, the argument that this team is more what it was most of the regular season versus the late run is a reasonable one. It isn't like they are kind of struggling. They are not good. Their offense is terrible and the bad defensive principles on this team have been pointed out by everyone from the announcers watching to ex players who are frustrated as well.
 
Some times teams get hot in march and it is not indicative of who they really are.
Losing Manek was HUGE...

SO no, they're not the same team.

UNC finished the reg season 12-2. That could be "getting hot"---SOme might call it "getting better".
 
The way they played the Baylor game without Manek versus how they played the rest of the tournament would be a good argument for Manek being a pretty big key. If one guy means that much that is a problem though.
 
The way they played the Baylor game without Manek versus how they played the rest of the tournament would be a good argument for Manek being a pretty big key. If one guy means that much that is a problem though.
Meh.......Not really.

Take Oscar off UK...
Take TJD off Indiana
Take Edey off Purdue

Losing those guys changes those teams dynamics exponentially..
 
Meh.......Not really.

Take Oscar off UK...
Take TJD off Indiana
Take Edey off Purdue

Losing those guys changes those teams dynamics exponentially..
To be fair, those three are arguably the best players on those teams. Was Manek UNC’s best last season ?
 
I mean, one guy can't mean that much unless he is a ball dominant star IMO. Losing Manek was big, and I said as much in the offseason so agree, but they shouldn't look like one of the worse P5 teams in the country, unless the argument is all the rest of those guys kind of suck.
 
To be fair, those three are arguably the best players on those teams. Was Manek UNC’s best last season ?
I mean..............................He did average 15 and 6. I point less than Bacot/Love. I get what you are saying....My point is, sometimes a guy, rather the best player or not, is simply THAT important.

Good example would be IU with Xavier Johnson. Remove him, and even though JHS is solid for a freshman, Indiana is a much, much different team.
 
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I mean, one guy can't mean that much unless he is a ball dominant star IMO. Losing Manek was big, and I said as much in the offseason so agree, but they shouldn't look like one of the worse P5 teams in the country, unless the argument is all the rest of those guys kind of suck.
I think one issue with UNC is they have two , ball dominant guards in Love/Davis. Bacot only 10 shots should not happen. Plus, Indiana is not a team you wanna go one on one against---just to good defensively. On the ball and with their help.
 
It's not how hard you can hit. It's how hard you can get hit and still keep moving forward. Right?
 
People can downplay the loss of Manek, but he averaged 19 ppg in their last 10 and shot an insane percentage from three down the stretch. Not hard to see how that guy might be missed.
 
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People can downplay the loss of Manek, but he averaged 19 ppg in their last 10 and shot an insane percentage from three down the stretch. Not hard to see how that guy might be missed.

Yeah, I agree with that. I said all along this team wouldn't be nearly as good without him. However, they should be able to dribble the ball and pass it and move it around a bit to get something other than a jacked up wild ass three. They should also be able to play defense as that certainly was not a strength for Manek. But they can't do much of anything so that is why I think it's more than just missing Brady.
 
I would say, make this comparison toward the end of the year. Nance has played mostly cupcakes while Manek's stats are for the entire season. Nance could fill the void that Manek left, but when Manek found his role on the team, UNC was much different and tougher to beat.

Nance hasn't played enough games to determine that, so it's possible that he does. But Nance could also be worse against strong competition. His best games so far are against mediocre teams.
We haven't faired very well against the best teams we've played, so maybe they should think a tick more about Nance, not less. Like you said, time will tell.
 
Yeah, I agree with that. I said all along this team wouldn't be nearly as good without him. However, they should be able to dribble the ball and pass it and move it around a bit to get something other than a jacked up wild ass three. They should also be able to play defense as that certainly was not a strength for Manek. But they can't do much of anything so that is why I think it's more than just missing Brady.
Yep. Our woes don't have much to do with Manek being gone at this point. What I see is correctable, and like any Roy-coached team (or Hubert, even though the sample size is one) our best teams peak in March, not November. This team has the talent, for days. Not worried.
 
Yep. Our woes don't have much to do with Manek being gone at this point. What I see is correctable, and like any Roy-coached team (or Hubert, even though the sample size is one) our best teams peak in March, not November. This team has the talent, for days. Not worried.

I can get down with it being correctable. I can't get down with their being any excuse for them playing like this right now. They are one of the more experienced and talented teams in the country. Why are they struggling so much more than most every other team relative to experience and talent? That shouldn't be just a 'eh, it will be fine in a few months' deal to me.
 
Everything changes for UNC last year when Love was moved off the ball. They are already playing that way this year. I do think there is a toughness issue
 
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Everything changes for UNC last year when Love was moved off the ball. They are already playing that way this year. I do think there is a toughness issue


Hell no it's not a toughness issue. Turning the ball over and taking ill advised shots are the main issues. Defensively UNC is playing ok.
 
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I disagree on UNC's defense playing well. Teams know exactly what the UNC D will do in every situation and just work them over for good shots over and over. It isn't toughness though. It's just bad defensive principles. Poor philosophy. Poor positioning. But like some former players have said, it's easy to get what you want against them because the bad things they will do are predictable and don't really change.
 
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Hell no it's not a toughness issue. Turning the ball over and taking ill advised shots are the main issues. Defensively UNC is playing ok.
Unc may not make the tourney. They are awful. The fact KU only beat them by 3 is the most embarrassing KU moment since bucknell in 05. Your team is trash.
 
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