Originally Posted by
Boozer
I am amazed that people continue to put all of this on Drew. There is a heck of a lot more going on that is causing this 2 year train wreck, than just bad play from Larry Drew.
It starts with coaching. Ga Tech started 4 guards last night. They have zero inside play. For large stretches of the game, Henson was being defended by 6'6 Brian Oliver yet UNC rarely attempted to get the ball in the post. They should have abused the Oliver/Henson match up all night long, as well as getting the ball to Zeller. Instead, Henson played 25 minutes and took 9 shots. Zeller played 20 minutes and took 6 shots.
You are playing the smallest team in the league and you play right into their hands. Meanwhile, Justin Watts gets 15 minutes at the PF spot, and Roy decides that subbing in and out 5 man rotations is somehow helpful. Even there though, he out smarts himself. 3 different times the starting 5 fall behind by 10 and the 2nd team comes in and either ties it back up or cuts it to 1. Roy then goes right back to the 5 starters who once again gets down 10 or more.
Just bizarre. They did not play with passion and they did not match Tech's intensity, and having no leader on the floor definitely hurts, but Roy did them no favors with his coaching either.
Drew is not a great player but he alone is not the issue. Barnes is an issue, the wings are an issue, and coaching is a huge issue. Marshall has played well on the offensive side of the ball, but he is a huge liability on the defensive end, so while he makes the offense better, he makes a bad defense even worse.
They need to shorten the rotation, slow the game down, and pound it into the paint. On the defensive side, with their quickness and length, there is no reason why they are not one of the top defensives in the league beyond Roy not giving a crap about playing defense.
It will be interesting to see if they bounce back from this and get it together or if they repeat last year and fall apart.