Some random thoughts on UNC game

Now that I'm recovered from my Vodka Sour induced Martian hangover celebrating the big win last night, some things stood out to me:


1. UNC is really soft...I mean Mother Teresa soft. That team would get absolutely punished in the Big 10.
2. Tubby out-coached Ole Roy badly. Better adjustments, better scheme and better defensive strategy. The few times they actually pressed us it was very effective yet UNC never went back to it. Why the hell not when they were supposed to have the better athletes and deeper bench? Nice move, Roy...thank you.


3. Great, great game by Nolen. He doesn't need to score a point to be our most important player on the court. Can't wait to have Devoe back to fill in at PG for 10 minutes a game to keep Al fresh.


4. Trevor is a monster...enough said on that.


5. The Hoff has been the Team MVP thus far (it's early) with Mbakwe and RSIII close behind.


6. UNC fans are a bunch of pansies. Their message boards are filled with "the refs this" and "the refs that". The Gophers manned up on their soft a$$es and they couldn't handle the heat. The aggressive teams will always earn calls from officials and last night, the Gophers were Tarzan and the Tarheels were our Jane.


7. We will lose at least 2-3 games we should've won this season if we don't improve our Team Free Throw shooting unless Blake is the only one that ever goes to the line.


We're all in for a fun ride this season and I'm prepared to deal with a few more killer hangovers in the process!

Good Points

Nice summary of key points.

Slim Tubby said:

1. UNC is really soft...I mean Mother Teresa soft. That team would get absolutely punished in the Big 10

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Couldn't agree more. Shocked at this from UNC although maybe I shouldn't have been based on last year's results.

Mother Teresa had more nuts than the "Class of North Carolina" showed last night. What our guys did was simply say..."Wanna beat us? Show some nuts!" We did, TarHeels didn't. Go Gophers!!!

UNC soft

I agree that they may be a bit soft. But were they just beaten to a pulp by a very athletic physical team last night?

When the Gophers are playing well, they are a load.

Every shot inside challenged by big, athletic guys.

Mbakwe and Iverson are very physical

Nolen is a Tazmanian devil on defense, every possession.

Just when UNC relaxes on a 6'11 center, he steps out and slushes a trey. If I were a UNC fan, I would have thought "are you kidding me?"

Blake is open for a millisecond and he's jogging back having just knocked down a three.

Offensive rebounds galore.

They can be a very physically and mentally demoralizing team to play against. The early matchup at Michigan St. should be fun.

balds said:

I agree that they may be a bit soft. But were they just beaten to a pulp by a very athletic physical team last night?

When the Gophers are playing well, they are a load.

Every shot inside challenged by big, athletic guys.

Mbakwe and Iverson are very physical

Nolen is a Tazmanian devil on defense, every possession.

Just when UNC relaxes on a 6'11 center, he steps out and slushes a trey. If I were a UNC fan, I would have thought "are you kidding me?"

Blake is open for a millisecond and he's jogging back having just knocked down a three.

Offensive rebounds galore.

They can be a very physically and mentally demoralizing team to play against. The early matchup at Michigan St. should be fun.

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Outstanding reference, Balds...there isn't a team in the Big 10 that I'm "afraid" of including MSU. Izzo is a great Coach and he'll have his hands full. My reference to "soft" was related to their team as a whole but more so about how their fans thought we "manhandled" them. I agree with your post, though.

The only things missing from this team are a go-to-guy & a back up PG, both roles Devoe should fill.

I agree

Not having Maverick on the floor for 6 minutes, will be huge. No offense to Mav, but he should have red-shirted (can he still?). Nolen or Devoe will have to be on the court at all times this year. I love Hoffarber, but can you see him bringing up the ball vs. Kalin Lucas or Demitri M. at Illinois?

I hate to get ahead of ourselves, but this team really does remind me of 97. They have everything and go avery solid 8-9 deep.

Al is Eric Harris
Trevor is Courtney James
Hollins is Quincy Lewis
Rodney is Sam Jacobson
Colt and Trevor are Thomas/Winer
Hoff is Charles Thomas


The big X factor is Bobby Jackson. Devoe? A combo of Devoe and Hoff?

balds said:

Not having Maverick on the floor for 6 minutes, will be huge. No offense to Mav, but he should have red-shirted (can he still?). Nolen or Devoe will have to be on the court at all times this year. I love Hoffarber, but can you see him bringing up the ball vs. Kalin Lucas or Demitri M. at Illinois?

I hate to get ahead of ourselves, but this team really does remind me of 97. They have everything and go avery solid 8-9 deep.

Al is Eric Harris
Trevor is Courtney James
Hollins is Quincy Lewis
Rodney is Sam Jacobson
Colt and Trevor are Thomas/Winer
Hoff is Charles Thomas


The big X factor is Bobby Jackson. Devoe? A combo of Devoe and Hoff?

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This post shows just how good that 97 team was. Every matchup you show is a win for 97 with the possible exceptions of Trevor but you can only use him once. Charles Thomas was every bit the shooter that Hoff is but he got limited minutes due to the team having other players to keep him on the bench. Then there is the Bobby Jackson factor.

balds said:

Not having Maverick on the floor for 6 minutes, will be huge. No offense to Mav, but he should have red-shirted (can he still?). Nolen or Devoe will have to be on the court at all times this year. I love Hoffarber, but can you see him bringing up the ball vs. Kalin Lucas or Demitri M. at Illinois?

I hate to get ahead of ourselves, but this team really does remind me of 97. They have everything and go avery solid 8-9 deep.

Al is Eric Harris
Trevor is Courtney James
Hollins is Quincy Lewis
Rodney is Sam Jacobson
Colt and Trevor are Thomas/Winer
Hoff is Charles Thomas

The big X factor is Bobby Jackson. Devoe? A combo of Devoe and Hoff?

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Maverick could only RS if an injury were to keep him out of action the rest of the season.

You can't redshirt once you've played otherwise.

KGdaBom said:

This post shows just how good that 97 team was. Every matchup you show is a win for 97 with the possible exceptions of Trevor but you can only use him once. Charles Thomas was every bit the shooter that Hoff is but he got limited minutes due to the team having other players to keep him on the bench. Then there is the Bobby Jackson factor.

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I agree with the first sentence. Regarding Charles Thomas - he was only a freshman and did very nice in limited minutes. Hoffarber as a senior is a much better rounded player than CT was as a freshman. Don't think CT would have done very well running the point as a freshman.

To put it another way:

Blake >> CT

As far as Bobby Jackson- I agree, he was an unbelievably good player. No guard we have right now even comes close.

I think you guys are under rated and poised for a pretty big year. This is the kind of team Tubby can win a lot of games with. Backup point guards are over hyped as long as you have a good one(and you do) and your guys stay out of foul trouble. In the money games Nolen, Joseph and Hoff will play 30 plus minutes. You can rotate Sampson, Iverson, Mbakwe, Williams, Hollins and Walker. Hollins and Walker won't get many minutes but you can keep your bigs fresh and Hollins is good enough to come in and knock down some 3's. His role will be energy and offense.

It's a sneaky good team that will fly under the radar but I think it's a sweet 16 or better type of team. If you get #4 or #5 seed and the easy bracket like Duke had last year maybe even final 4.