Missing Report: UNC Basketball

goheels.com

As a UNC basketball fan, I would like to file a missing (team) report to the authorities.  Carolina basketball has gone missing.  Now, they’ve been missing for a while, about four years now, so it might not be worth sending out a search team, but you never know.

I know I’m not alone in wishing that the Carolina basketball “ways” would come back.  It used to be so much fun to tune into the tv to watch nearly every game that I possibly could.  The fun style of play, along with the usually-positive results were must watch tv for me and any Carolina basketball fan.  I know they won the championship just 5 years ago and I may sound like a spoiled fan for writing this, but: 1. The direction the program has gone in since 2017 has been a complete 180, and 2. I am a spoiled fan.  That’s part of being a fan of a blue-blood program like UNC.

Seemingly gone are the days of consistent high-scoring offenses.  Gone are the days of EXPECTING to win every game.  And the worst part is (many would disagree, but if you do then you just don’t want to recognize it) gone are the days when it means something to the players to wear the Carolina blue and white Tar Heel uniform.  Yes, that part is absolutely true.

Now, I’m not saying that Carolina will never be successful again, or never get back to the top, because that just it’s just a matter of time before they will.  But how much time is the question.  And for that timeframe to be small, big changes need to be made.

If you are a Carolina basketball guru, then you know that the most successful Carolina teams are led by a true point guard (a facilitator of the offense) and two traditional big guys who dominate the inside.  Let’s start with the point guard.  Not since Coby White has Carolina had a point guard that fit the system.  When Cole Anthony committed several years back, I expected huge things.  We didn’t get them.  Caleb Love brought very high expectations as well, being a 5-star recruit.  We’re not getting them.  The problem with Love and Anthony are the exact same: their NBA resume comes/came before winning college basketball games.

I realize the game of basketball has changed overall to where point guards are no longer just facilitators but big time scorers now, BUT if the only tool in your arsenal is scoring the ball, then please stay out of Chapel Hill.  Basketball always has been, and always will be a team sport.  The point guard is the quarterback.  The leader.  The facilitator to get everyone involved and get them the ball at the right times.  Cole Anthony didn’t do that.  Caleb Love don’t do that.  And neither one attempted/attempts to do that.  That is the biggest problem for UNC basketball, in my opinion.

If you think back to some of the really good Carolina teams in recent years, there were two big guys who played together that could change the game.  They always dominate the rebounding category, especially on the offensive end.  At least one can run the floor and get easy baskets.  And they both have the ability to have a 20/10 night on any given night.  Oh, and they are tough.  Usually not their freshman year, or perhaps even their sophomore year, but by their third and fourth years they are tough.  Carolina doesn’t have that now.

Now, Armando Bacot has been mostly a bright spot on this year’s team.  He has had some incredible games and has significantly improved throughout his tenure so far in Chapel Hill.  However, he still lacks the consistent toughness needed to be a real threat, which is one reason he is not a legitimate NBA prospect.  He shows flashes of it sometimes, and sometimes he grabs the ball and attacks the rim softly like he’s still playing against much smaller high school opponents.

After him, Carolina doesn’t have another true big guy.  Now, it really hurt that Day’Ron Sharpe went professional and Walker Kessler transferred after last season.  Those two things really hurt.  But they also play a big part in this year’s lackluster basketball team.  Brady Manek plays the four, but is more of a modern, stretch-forward that plays on the perimeter more than in the paint.  There’s nothing wrong with that, except that’s not Carolina basketball.  I understand the game changes, but the “Carolina blueprint” shouldn’t.  So, while Hubert Davis did good to land Manek this offseason from the transfer pool to patch up the weak forward situation, I really hope he doesn’t recruit these type of big guys.

And speaking of the blueprint, whatever happened to the fastbreak?  That used to be an integral part of the offense and would lead to scoring over 100 points many games.  I have grown absolutely tired of watching the nonchalant half-court offenses that walk the ball up the court, pass it around the three-point line for about 15 seconds, before deciding what to do.  That doesn’t work unless you have a team that can really shoot it lights out, and that’s certainly not the case.  It hasn’t been in some time.

To wrap this up, everything starts with recruiting.  And Carolina has been recruiting the wrong players for the program.  They don’t need to go after the best athletes, but instead the best basketball players.  Players who are smart and students of the game.  Players who play for the name on the front of their jersey, rather than the back.  Players who aren’t totally consumed by their NBA resume before they even step foot on a college basketball floor.  Players who just want to win.  Say what you want, but the Carolina basketball team just hasn’t had that in several years now and it’s time for a change.

Garett