"We are not provided with wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can take for us, an effort which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world." --M. Proust
Shouldn't this thread be retitled the schadenfreude thread?
This has been building.
Many seem to forget last years dumpster fire where they finished well under .500 and they bounce back with an 8 seed and a humiliating first round knockout.
Word is that Bacot felt that Roy singled him out for toughness and rode him on it unfairly. This might factor into him transferring to somewhere else.
UNC needs players who know the system. Replacing veterans with newbies is not a recipe Roy does well with. Roy also needs a high end PG, not just any PG. While there might be some out there in the portal, the competition for their services is going to be fierce. There are programs that are setup for these guys and have shown that they know how to make it all work. If UNC is the dumpster fire that it could be I wouldn't see it as an attractive option.
I can see Roy doing better than what people will expect from him when this all settles but that might not amount to much.
His games against Duke makes Caleb Love look better that he is. Good riddance from our perspective.
But the family stuff gives me pause. Maybe Roy isn't terribly sad to see Love go?
Man, if your Mom made you wear that color when you were a baby, and you're still wearing it, it's time to grow up!
More specifically, UNC needs big, strong big boys who know the system. With Kessler gone, Sharpe gone, and Bacot likely out the door, this is gonna be a weird looking UNC team next year. Maybe Duke can finally outrebound a UNC team? (and yes, someone is gonna provide data suggesting that Duke rebounds with UNC pretty well...yada yada yada)
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. - Winston Churchill
President of the "Nolan Smith Should Have His Jersey in The Rafters" Club
Welp, maybe this is the karma we were asking for.
Big news for UNC. Love returns.
But wait there's more!!!!!
They lose ANOTHER big man in Sterling Manley to the transfer portal (graduate) - leaving ONLY Brooks (and Bacot for now) in what was once probably a top 10 front court in the nation.
Bacot seems to be the only remaining question mark. Maybe Walton. If they both return then UNC will be solid, not great. This is of course pending any further pickups from the waiver wire, I mean transfer portal.
I think Love returning is really great news for them, unfortunately. And I bet Roy really worked hard this week to achieve this about face by Love.
We know Love has potential - just look at the games he had against us. If he works hard and has that same freshman to sophomore jump, that we expect from Roach and Steward, he could be really good next year. I personally really like his game.
I gotta believe Roy is working equally hard on getting Bacot to come back. If that happens, I think they’ll be good. And if Brooks returns, they’ll be even better. Things definitely look a lot better in Chapel Hill than they did 6 days ago. Unfortunately.
I still think they’ll hit the transfer market. I know they want more shooters, and possibly another big. It remains to be seen if they’ll hit it out of the park with a transfer (Cam Johnson), or ground into a double play ( Pierce and Keeling).
He was a significantly worse player in 2020-21 than both Steward and Roach. After a 36.8% eFG, an 8.8 PER, and an 88.0 oRating, he needs a gigantic freshman-to-sophomore jump just to become adequate. Obviously he could surprise me, but I think his returning is good news for the rest of the ACC.
If they get a bunch of transfers then who knows. But a team of Jr Bacot, So Love, Gr-Sr Brooks, So Walton, Sr Leaky Black, and whoever else returns plus their recruiting class to date doesn't appear to me to be much (if at all) better than their 2020 team that went 14-19.