Texas 103, UNC-CH 90

[JasonEvans]

Currently 57-45, Texas, with about 18 minutes left.

Ummm, this is a really messy game. The Heels have real trouble controlling the ball. I am not sure what their turnover total is, but they are lucky it is not higher as several balls have been thrown away but ping-ponged their way back to a Carolina player. It's ugly.

Texas is better, though not a lot better. Both teams are playing with such pace that they are not valuing the ball.

--Jason "More later..." Evans

[YourLandlord]

Currently 57-45, Texas, with about 18 minutes left.

Ummm, this is a really messy game. The Heels have real trouble controlling the ball. I am not sure what their turnover total is, but they are lucky it is not higher as several balls have been thrown away but ping-ponged their way back to a Carolina player. It's ugly.

Texas is better, though not a lot better. Both teams are playing with such pace that they are not valuing the ball.

--Jason "More later..." Evans

A reflection on the coaching for both teams.

[DevilHorns]

zeller is much better than i thought, though his turnovers are reckless (as are the rest of the team's). texas has a lot of potential, though not playing up to it currently (even if they win by double digits).

[JasonEvans]

Texas by 10, 12 mins left.

ESPN's boxscore has Carolina with 13 turnovers so far. I would have bet you it was more.

-Jason

[Bob Green]

10 minutes to go and Texas is up 10. TV announcer just stated Texas has 24 offensive rebounds and 23 second chance points. Carolina playing out of control and turning the ball over doesn't suprise me due to their weak perimeter players, but Carolina giving up 24 offensive rebounds is suprising due to their big frontcourt.

[moonpie23]

unc closing the gap.....texas tightening up....

[jipops]

yet another predictable, inevitable unc comeback. These are excruciating. I almost didn't want to watch the 2nd half.

The Zeller kid is very, very good.

[JasonEvans]

yet another predictable, inevitable unc comeback. These are excruciating. I almost didn't want to watch the 2nd half.


Fear not, the Heels are a turnover machine and Texas is converting. The Texas lead is back out to 7 with 5 minutes to go.

-Jason "the Heels are getting pnwed on the boards" Evans

[chrisheery]

Not much commitment to defense on either side. I guess they are both so confident in their talent that they don't want to play defense.

[JasonEvans]

Dexter Pittman looks like Sean May playing against Duke a few years ago. He is getting EVERY rebound. He is a man playing with boys.

--Jason "Pittman could probably eat John Henson in one bite" Evans

[Greg_Newton]

Dexter Pittman looks like Sean May playing against Duke a few years ago. He is getting EVERY rebound. He is a man playing with boys.

--Jason "Pittman could probably eat John Henson in one bite" Evans

Plus, he's doing the Shaq-plane run back down the court thing. So you know he's a beast.

[chrisheery]

Dexter Pittman looks like Sean May playing against Duke a few years ago. He is getting EVERY rebound. He is a man playing with boys.

--Jason "Pittman could probably eat John Henson in one bite" Evans

I have no idea how we stopped that guys last year. He is a meast (man-beast).

[jipops]

Currently 57-45, Texas, with about 18 minutes left.

Ummm, this is a really messy game. The Heels have real trouble controlling the ball. I am not sure what their turnover total is, but they are lucky it is not higher as several balls have been thrown away but ping-ponged their way back to a Carolina player. It's ugly.

Texas is better, though not a lot better. Both teams are playing with such pace that they are not valuing the ball.

--Jason "More later..." Evans

Maybe not the prettiest game but there is an enormous amount of front court talent on display in this game.

[JasonEvans]

Dexter Pittman looks like Sean May playing against Duke a few years ago. He is getting EVERY rebound. He is a man playing with boys.

--Jason "Pittman could probably eat John Henson in one bite" Evans

Pittman finishes with 23 points and 15 boards, 12 of which were offensive rebounds. Dayum!

-Jason

[A-Tex Devil]

On way back from game now. Texas is going to be very very good when they figure out their best rotations , etc. They were clearly better than Unc by what I thought was a wide margin but fell asleep for 5 minutes and let the holes back in the game.

And while Texas didn't play their best defensive game today, they are going to be the best defensive team in the country when all is said and done. Check out kenpom's defensive efficiency rating for them compared to the number 2 team. Texas and Kansas are head an shoulders above everyone else that I've seen so far this year. Let's see what happens after sparty on Tuesday.

Why the Barnes hate? I am not ready to put him in hall of fame but he is more than capable.

And cowboys stadium. Is a great bball venue for a football stadium Still not ideal but I really like the setup. I did have floor seats so I may have been a little bit swayed. :D

[jv001]

On way back from game now.

Why the Barnes hate? I am not ready to put him in hall of fame but he is more than capable.

D

If you're talking about the Texas coach, I like him. Anybody that can put ole dean in his place I like them. Go Duke!

[cwaugh]

If Duke keeps up with the great defense they will force a lot of turnovers against UNC. Carolina already turns it over a lot and Duke should make it happen even more when they meet. Duke is clearly the better team right now but let's just hope it stays that way through March.

[FerryFor50]

I have no idea how we stopped that guys last year. He is a meast (man-beast).

Because he got into foul trouble, which has always plagued him.

Barnes was smart with him - rested him early and often to prevent the dumb, tired legs fouls.

[davekay1971]

Texas was very impressive offensively. They have some ability to score from the outside, their inside game is obviously very strong, and if their guys concentrate on offensive boards like they did yesterday, it gives them a huge advantage over anybody they play.

On the other side, Davis is going to be one of the best players in the ACC this year. He's got the total package, except maybe being physically not as strong as you might like. But his offensive game looks very good, he's quick, and he's incredibly atheletic. Watching him play against Texas, I found myself hoping fervently he would go pro after this year. If he gets it into his head to spend 4 years at UNC, I'll be really tired of the guy by March, 2012. UNC's backcourt is, simply, weak right now. Drew and Strickland have potential, but they're inconsistent. The other perimeter players just don't scare you. Zeller, Henson, and the Where's all have potential and combine with Davis to give UNC a respectable inside game, but that backcourt is going to let UNC down at times this season (specifically, hopefully both games against Duke, in the ACC tournament, and in the first weekend of the NCAA...)

[ForeverBlowingBubbles]

I have wondered from the beginning of the season why Zeller hasn't gotten more burn. I can't remember ever seeing a 7 footer with such a feathery touch from 6 feet and in.

[Devilsfan]

The heels played about as good as they can. The expected turnovers by their so called leaders Ginyard and Drew in crunch time we very costly. I loved the last two minutes before the half, also.

[texas]

fun times yesterday at jerryworld! i had to crack up at a few people who showed up wearing duke sweatshirts :D

UNC travels pretty well, they brought quite a few fans. the venue is pretty typical setup for a basketball game in a football stadium, not great but you deal with it. basically it was a test run for the NBA all star game coming up and the future final four. announced attendance was 38,000.

our team is legit, well, at least the best one we've had in a long time. as many commented above, the talent is very deep and we are going to wear people out this season. big dex will end up being our MVP, once he gets the ball it is trouble for the opponent and he rebounds like crazy. we had four guys score over 20 points yesterday, i like that a lot.

like barnes or not, he can recruit and one of these years we will win it all, or maybe i need to take off my orange color glasses :)

[A-Tex Devil]

fun times yesterday at jerryworld! i had to crack up at a few people who showed up wearing duke sweatshirts :D

UNC travels pretty well, they brought quite a few fans. the venue is pretty typical setup for a basketball game in a football stadium, not great but you deal with it. basically it was a test run for the NBA all star game coming up and the future final four. announced attendance was 38,000.

our team is legit, well, at least the best one we've had in a long time. as many commented above, the talent is very deep and we are going to wear people out this season. big dex will end up being our MVP, once he gets the ball it is trouble for the opponent and he rebounds like crazy. we had four guys score over 20 points yesterday, i like that a lot.

like barnes or not, he can recruit and one of these years we will win it all, or maybe i need to take off my orange color glasses :)

I was there with another Duke u-grad/texas grad school. So we were wearing burnt orange, but got a shot by the court with our 10-12 year old GTHC shirts on. Sat next to a husband/wife with 2 kids. He is a UNC grad, she a Texas grad. The son was in baby blue and the daughter in burnt orange. Nice folks. I didn't get a chance to talk to any UNC fans after so haven't heard whether they thought they played well and just couldn't hang, or had a bad game.

My impression was that Texas was just better. J'Covan Brown has been a godsend so far this year, and he's getting better.

[sandinmyshoes]

Texas isn't quite as tall across the front line as UNC, but they're very, very strong and about as quick. I don't think we're as thick as Texas, not quite as quick acros the front line, but we are thicker/stronger than UNC. They'll have a quickness edge up front on us, but hopefully we can negate that with our strength like Texas did.

UNC's backcourt is manned by good players. Good complementary players you would like to team with a star quality player. Strickland is the closest to having the physical skills for being such a player, but he's just an undersized two guard learning the point position.

Right now, we sweep them. I'm still cautious, they have a young team that's still learning, but I just don't think their backcourt can compensate when their front court is matched by another team.

They are a good team, but not scary good. Next year, depending on what happens with Davis, they could be scary good. But not this year. If we smack them around a bit this year, it could help to change recruiting perceptions.

[airowe]

http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/goodman-texas-showcases-depth-and-size-121909


It got so ugly that Pittman said North Carolina’s long and talented sophomore, big man Ed Davis, asked him at one point late in the game if he could take it easy on them in the paint.

"He asked me why we’re so strong?” Pittman said. "I told him it’s Texas. This is Big 12, bro.”

[Neals384]

Uh, shouldn't the title of the thread be "Texas 103, UNC 90". When I see UNC-CH I'm thinking UNC-Charlotte.

[DukeUsul]

Uh, shouldn't the title of the thread be "Texas 103, UNC 90". When I see UNC-CH I'm thinking UNC-Charlotte.

That would be UNC-C.

UNC-CH would be UNC Chapel Hill.

:confused:

[RainingThrees]

Avery Bradley is underrated, he was excellent during this game and I couldn't tell that he was a freshmen the way he was running the point. And does anyone think that Ed Davis is becoming the first option rather than Thompson?

[pfrduke]

Avery Bradley is underrated, he was excellent during this game and I couldn't tell that he was a freshmen the way he was running the point. And does anyone think that Ed Davis is becoming the first option rather than Thompson?

He should be. Quite frankly, Zeller might be a better option than Thompson against top competition.

UNC has played 5 top quality opponents so far this year - OSU, Syracuse, MSU, Kentucky, and Texas. Against those 5, Deon's shooting just 21-55 from the floor, averages 3 turnovers a game, and is much less of a presence on the offensive glass than usual. He really has not stepped up as any kind of go-to guy against top competition this year.

[JasonEvans]

It got so ugly that Pittman said North Carolina’s long and talented sophomore, big man Ed Davis, asked him at one point late in the game if he could take it easy on them in the paint.

"He asked me why we’re so strong?” Pittman said. "I told him it’s Texas. This is Big 12, bro.”

I would like to thank Ed Davis and the other weaklings at Carolina for making the ACC look bad. Fine work, gentlemen! :eek:

--Jason "the ACC is now #2 to the B12 in the KenPom, but not in the Sagarin where it goes ACC, BigE, Big12" Evans

[airowe]

I would like to thank Ed Davis and the other weaklings at Carolina for making the ACC look bad. Fine work, gentlemen! :eek:

--Jason "the ACC is now #2 to the B12 in the KenPom, but not in the Sagarin where it goes ACC, BigE, Big12" Evans

I thought no one else had seen that. Does this deserve it's own thread? It's more compelling to me than Roy'd Rage honestly. I can't believe this isn't getting more pub.

[RainingThrees]

Funny I don't remember UNC taking it easy on other teams last year. If anything they ran up the score and let Hansbrough get his points till the last minute of the games. Its called Karma *****.

[Highlander]

That would be UNC-C.

UNC-CH would be UNC Chapel Hill.

:confused:

UNCC is now known simply as "Charlotte" in basketball, to make matters easier (or more confusing).

Crunch UNCCH

[DevilWolf]

He should be. Quite frankly, Zeller might be a better option than Thompson against top competition.

UNC has played 5 top quality opponents so far this year - OSU, Syracuse, MSU, Kentucky, and Texas. Against those 5, Deon's shooting just 21-55 from the floor, averages 3 turnovers a game, and is much less of a presence on the offensive glass than usual. He really has not stepped up as any kind of go-to guy against top competition this year.

This is the point that everyone is missing too. Out of those 5 games, UNC is 2-3. Yet for some reason they belong in the top 10?

[UrinalCake]

This is the point that everyone is missing too. Out of those 5 games, UNC is 2-3. Yet for some reason they belong in the top 10?

It's like the pollsters want to reward you for scheduling tough opponents on the road, even if you lose.

[pfrduke]

This is the point that everyone is missing too. Out of those 5 games, UNC is 2-3. Yet for some reason they belong in the top 10?


It's like the pollsters want to reward you for scheduling tough opponents on the road, even if you lose.

I really can't object to UNC's ranking. All we've really learned about them so far is that they haven't beaten the teams they've played that are ranked above them. They have beaten two ranked teams that are ranked below them. It seems like their ranking is about right to me. Why should they be below a team like UCONN, Kansas St, or Georgetown just because they have 3 losses?

[hurleyfor3]

unc-ch's losses so far, with Pomeroy rankings:

Semi away vs. #4 Syracuse (essentially a home game for the Cuse)
@ #20 Kentucky
Semi-away vs. #1 Texas (essentially a home game for Texas)

with two wins against solid Big Televen teams. Not to stick up for unc-ch or anything, but those aren't terrible results.

[shoutingncu]

Not to stick up for unc-ch or anything, but those aren't terrible results.

Not terrible results at all, but some might argue that unc should have been closer to #10 to begin with, so Top 15 would be reasonable now.