I always thought the KenPom "Luck" index was ridiculous--not anymore.
Coach K said in November that there shouldn't be a season, he knew what was coming.
The individual parts of this team never jelled all season.
Except for Matt Hurt's shooting and Mark Williams' development it was a lost year.
Our freshman guards were correctly benched tonight by K; both need to grow up in the off season.
Sorry to say, this team has no business going to any postseason tournament.
Just not physically strong enough to win against competition like this when the game is this physical. Roach and Steward got bullied again tonight. Both of them needs to get stronger this offseason and learn to play through more contact. Wendell had a good night, be he needs to be a lot stronger at the rim in traffic as well.
Really, the whole darn team needs to get stronger and learn to play and finish through contact.
At least Mark Williams is getting real minutes and is developing. That’s encouraging for next year — or it will be until he gets beaten into submission by Louisville or Michigan State or someone else who embraces the more physical game that I despise.
I agree that our freshmen guards have not been good these past two games, but DJ Steward is the leading freshman scorer in the ACC and they both played solid against Virginia and great against Syracuse. I feel very good with them in the backcourt next year, I think they are going to be very good.
I feel bad for these guys. They've been bringing it and fighting their butts off, they just cant quite get over the top in close games. Not enough stops and not enough from our guards.
I hope these guys stick with it and come back next year!
It was the Syracuse game two years ago when Tre Jones got hurt. A 3/4 court heave before halftime. And yes, I thought about that, too, tonight.
A stuffed layup by Brakefield on one end, and a desperation three by their center on the other to end the half. A five point swing. They went into the half down 3 rather than down 8. Definitely made a difference. And gave them momentum when we had outplayed them in the first half. Although, once again, we had failed to take advantage of it.
Mark kept us in the game in OT, but had he made even one more in regulation, we'd have a drastically different tone on this board. He'll learn to make those for the team in the future, but FT futility really hurt us.
Also, Hurt has to learn how to stop fouling out.
Williams is the only Freshman that hasn't hit the wall. Brakefield looked lost tonight along with Roach and Steward. This was another game like so many this year that we had a chance to win at the end.
The Basketball Gods hate this team. They've been good to us for a long time, but this year has been excruciating.
I wouldn't be surprised if the team struggles to bounce back from two straight crushing defeats. We can still play spoiler and inflict some pain on the Heels Saturday night.