SleepHawk Worldwide
SleepHawk Worldwide
UNC Basketball: How We're Feeling After The Phog
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In this episode of the podcast, Brandon Staton and Tyler Hansbrough dive deep into the recent matchup between the North Carolina Tar Heels and the Kansas Jayhawks. They analyze the team's performance, highlight key players, and discuss the valuable lessons the Tar Heels can take away from this challenging early-season clash. From defensive intensity to player development, the hosts provide insightful commentary on how UNC can build upon this experience and continue to grow as the season progresses. Whether you're a die-hard Tar Heel fan or a basketball enthusiast, this episode offers a comprehensive look at the state of UNC basketball and the team's promising future.
and now the sleepwalk worldwide podcast. Here are your hosts, brandon staton and tyler. What's up everybody. Welcome to the to the Sleephawk Worldwide Podcast. This is Sleep Dog with the Big Hawk.
Speaker 2What's up everybody? It's the Big Hawk. It's getting kind of colder outside, but a few games. We're going to talk about that, but hey, you know what? We're back in the studio, we've got a great podcast for you and I'm ready to go.
Speaker 1A little nippy out there. We're finding our cadence here, guys, as we get back into basketball season. It's really hard. Big Hawk and I are just talking about it. Who are we? What do we talk about? I think that sounds pretty natural when basketball comes around, but it can be a little difficult to figure out some of this other stuff and what you guys are interested in. Good to figure out some of this other stuff and what you guys are interested in. So good news is this solves a problem for itself. Right now we're going to get into mainly in the Kansas game. We're going to take a look ahead at American as well.
Speaker 1Obviously, big matchup for the Tar Heels on Harwood football team was idle this week. So going down to Fog Island, probably probably the biggest like god I don't know, maybe the biggest opener, regular season opener a long time. I mean, if ever, if not ever. Um or or or start to the season. Maybe not the opener, but uh, that game lives up to its hype.
Speaker 1I mean, I'm be honest, I texted big hawk at a certain point and I was like buddy, we might lose by 40. Then next thing, I know we're just chipping away, chipping away. I turn on an NBA game at halftime and then I let it bleed over just a hair. I looked at the score and very early in the second half we were chipping away even more and me being extremely superstitious, I was like, all right, maybe I just kind of, you know, not turn it back on quite yet, cause I'm a little. And then next thing I know we were up by three. And then, uh, next thing I know I turn it back on and and that was that. But I thought it was a great game, great sort of comeback for Carolina. Stunk that we couldn't pull it out, but I didn't think we necessarily played the best game and still had a shot at beating the number one team in the country. I thought Kansas looked great in the first half. So I don't know, what did you think, big Hawk?
Speaker 2I thought it was a if you're lose one you know early in the season, I think you can live with that one. Yeah, I mean you know it's. I think every unc fan, every tar hill out there. You know they kind of went to the nightmare scenario during the first half and you got to remember there's a lot of history between these programs.
Speaker 2We have not beat them since Coach Williams was coaching at Kansas, so they've had it out for us. I've been involved with that and I was hoping we'd walk up there and smack them on their home court Still would make up for some of the stuff they beat us in the tournament with. Home court still would make up for some of the stuff that beat us in the tournament with. But listen, my first thought is I think this is the toughest environment in college basketball.
Speaker 2Fog Allen, a lot of people think Duke is no, a lot of people that go into fog. They leave saying this is the best home court atmosphere in college basketball. And you know it was a. You know you've got to give the kids a lot of credit because they did give themselves a chance to win, but I would have liked to see us get off to a better start. You know and you know it's a tough place to play and you've got say, uh, a lot of people go into fog and a lot of teams when they get down that big, they probably would have just give in, but they fought back. They fought back hard in the second. Uh, but um, just my initial thoughts are kansas is a little bit of an older team. They've been playing with each other for a minute.
Speaker 2They've added some new pieces. The Zeke Mayo kid was unbelievable. Looks like he's going to be a huge factor. He's going to be one of those guys that a lot of people are talking about here in the next few weeks, once he gets in the spotlight a little bit more. I will want to say, though, that I believe that North Carolina will be a much different team here in about a month or so, and the reason why I think that is because I think Drake Powell and N Jackson are going to evolve, and I think for us to be really good, they have to be big-time contributors, and I think that we're going to have a lot of growth from them and we're going to see these freshmen develop, and I think that they're going to give this team a huge spark, and I just think that we're going to be a much different team.
Speaker 2Now, if you look at it, you know RJ Davis didn't have his best shooting night three for 15, one for seven from the three but the Harris kid for Kansas arguably the best defender in the country. They did a very good job on RJ. You have to give them credit, and you know we've been concerned. One of our biggest concerns for UNC is rebounding. I've talked about it. You know Armando's not here. Harrison Ingram cleared up whenever he was gone. Who's going to be that guy that steps in and is going to grab a lot of those rebounds? We have not been out-rebounded any of the first two games. We out-rebounded Elon and we out-rebounded Kansas. Now it wasn't by a lot, but you know what? We're not getting killed on the boards right now. You know, rim protection is still a little bit of a concern. I would like to see Jalen, you know, protect the rim a little bit more. But after the first two games, a big bright spot that I see on this team and I've talked about it Jalen Withers. I think that he can provide a huge lift for this team and I think actually you could find him playing the center position a lot. I think he has it athletically. Yeah, he'll be a little undersized, but this team likes to run, they like to get up and down the court. That's a style they're going to have to play, and so I think Jay Witt would fit perfectly for that. But you know, the first half was so bad, we'll go ahead and fast forward to that second.
Speaker 2I thought we came out with more intensity. I felt like we really brought it to them. You know we withstood their haymaker in the first half and I felt like we came out swinging and I love that mentality. You know, as you look at it, you know I really felt like. You know, vin Allen Lubin came in. He provided us a huge spark as well, gave us some good, solid minutes. I really like what I see from him.
Speaker 2I do like the fact that he's using fouls. I love it when bench players come in there and use those fouls because they don't get rollover minutes with those things. If you have them, might as well use them. Use them to protect the paint. There's nothing wrong with playing physical knocking and bumping some people. If you're a bench player, pick up those fouls. There's nothing wrong with that. Now we're talking about good, smart fouls. Not all the way at the other end of the court. That's never good.
Speaker 2But, yeah, I, the bright spots were Jay Witt and Vin Allen Lubin. I thought they get provided us a huge spark. And when Jay Witt hit those two threes late in the game, I have never in my life ever thought I'd be screaming at the TV for Jalen Withers to shoot another three when he was wide open in the corner. I thought he was going to throw it up. He had a little bit of a heat check in the corner. I thought he was going to throw it up, he had a little bit of a heat check, but I loved what he did and I thought he came in. I think he's going to be a player that continues to progress. I like what I'm seeing from him.
Speaker 2But, you know, at the end of the day, I think the thing that really kind of got after us was Hunter Dickinson. He just kind of came up for him big when they needed, you know, big shots. He was able to get a rebound, get their boards, control the paint and whenever they needed a bucket, they found a way to get him open and went inside the Hunter and he delivered. He's arguably, you know, one of the best players in the country. Uh, there's going to be a, you know, I think there'll be, you know, a good argument between him and RJ, maybe when it's all said and done.
Speaker 2But the Zeke Mayo uh, kid came in and played unbelievable, hit some big shots for Kansas. And also, um, the DeJuan Harris Jr kid who played defense on RJ uh, two years ago. Kid who played defense on RJ. Two years ago he was defensive player of the year in the Big 12. So you got to give him credit. He did it. And you know, rj is not an easy guy to guard. He has a torch and he can get hot. He did a good job on him.
Speaker 2And you know, I said before the game I really felt like RJ had to go off because if he went off and he had a big scoring night, I really felt like that's, that was almost our only way we could win at Kansas. But it turns out, you know he didn't have a, you know he didn't really go off and we still had a chance to win. Uh, so I was excited about that. Um, the one thing I will say is you know, the one thing I will say is you know, late game execution we need to tighten that up just a little bit. And you saw that with Elon, rj kind of bailed us out there, hit some big shots late in the game when Elon got the lead and then RJ kind of like no, this is my house, went off. Now at Kansas, that last possession. I really wish RJ would have had a chance to shoot the shot.
Analyzing North Carolina vs. Kansas
Speaker 2But you know, you got to give them credit. They didn't allow him to get the ball. They played great defense. I thought we could have got a little better look, but you know, sometimes, no, that's the way it goes. But overall I'm satisfied and you know, I think this team is going to continue to grow and at the end of the day, I think they will be one of the best teams in the country. So I'm happy. I'm happy that they went down swinging Um, you know they, they didn't. They didn't roll over which you know it's. You know to to go to fog and take a haymaker like they they hit us with and then come back and almost beat them. I got to give them a lot of credit.
Speaker 1Yeah, absolutely. I think the biggest thing that jumps off the page at me on the stat sheet is you know, your three primary offensive weapons go 10 for 36, and you lose to Kansas at Kansas by three and you have a shot to tie it at the end of the game. That was a relatively solid look. You mentioned it. You know the Kansas, kansas defense had a lot to do with that, I mean, and that says a lot. I mean, like you scored 90 points against a team that's hounding you defensively, you know, and the thing I like most about how they kind of operated was they got to the free throw line and they made their free throw. I mean, 28-31 from the line is going to get you out of some challenging shooting nights. So I mean, look and you typically are going to see older teams shoot better from the line be smarter about getting to the line, shots not falling, getting to the bucket, that kind of thing. I think you saw a lot of that for Carolina. It's a bummer, because you'd love to come in and have a statement win early in the season and say, hey, you guys forgot about us, right, going to have more chances. You've got Alabama coming up, I think on the schedule here soon and some other big games. We talked about that a couple pods ago. So look, I mean I'm not sitting here thinking it's okay, right, like I mean you don't want to lose, clearly you want to win this game, but you didn't. So you know, evaluating it for what it is, I think, in the way that a loss goes to your point, you get down 20. I mean we've seen it happen. You know that that can snowball, that can, that can damage morale early in the season.
Speaker 1If you go in and start maybe second guessing, like I mean, just think about it, these kids are human beings. Right, some of these kids made choices to go to carolina over other places. Transfers made choices and it could start creeping in like man, should I have gone to this place or that place? Right, it's just, these are, these are, you know, um, very logical things that people would start asking if you had, you know, letting them, if you'd let them just continue to truck, stick you, but to get back into the game like they did, I thought was a very positive I think to the contrary, as a dude that's on a podcast and peaked in high school in terms of basketball, but I think this actually did the exact opposite, for that, like you get down and then you sort of have that realization that yeah, dude, we belong here. Maybe you have a little self-doubt in the first half Shots aren't falling, wondering what's going on. Getting there at halftime, make some adjustments, make some changes and essentially do the exact same thing to Kansas that he did to you in the first half and, you know, you just wind up on the losing end.
Speaker 1I thought Bill Self put it very well at the end of the game. You know he had a quote, something about you know how the teams really just seem to be cheering for themselves and not, you know, trash-talking each other. It really seemed like it was a, you know, sort of a class act game. From that perspective. There's a ton of respect there from both programs. Before the game, during the game, after the game, bill Self won 590 games. Dudes won more games than the same amount of games Fog Allen, the stadium he was named after. So the game had a lot to offer and I think you've got to look at it. As you know, I think the last thing I'll say about it is as a fan. You really love to see him play Kansas in the beginning of the season. You really love to see him put real hard games on the schedule early on.
Speaker 1Um, and two out of three things that can happen are positive. You win, you lose a game like this, or you get doors blown off and realize maybe you're going to be that good. So look, obviously, and in that order in terms of preference, from what I saw, rj's not going to go three for 15 every night. Seth Trimble's been fantastic. He's not going four for 10. Elliott's not going to go three for 15 every night. Seth Trimble's been fantastic. He's not going four for 10.
Speaker 1Elliott's not going to go three for 11, right, you see, you mentioned Withers nine rebounds. Jalen Washington probably going to play a little better over time, right? I think you're going to see this game be something that we look back on as a very mediocre game for him. Nine boards, seven points. I think he's going to be a fixture, especially as we get into conference play. You mentioned it too the young guys, powell, jackson, some of those guys getting in rhythm and getting some more minutes and experience under their belt. Yeah, I'm not real worried about it. This is another game we might see again sometime this season and I think we'll fare better, should that happen.
Speaker 2Yeah, and I think if we see Kansas and North Carolina, we look at these two teams here in a month or two, I think Carolina is going to have the most growth and I think that Ian and Drake are just going to be totally different, better players. They're going to be a lot more comfortable and I really feel like they're going to really evolve. They're very talented. I love their games. I thought N Jackson played well on the road in a tough environment, so that's pretty promising for a freshman. You know a couple things that I'm looking at from the game if I want to be critical. First of all, you can't allow a team to shoot 48% Most of the time. When you allow a team to shoot 48% from the field, you're not putting you know. The odds aren't in your favor. Basically, you've got to tighten that up. And when I look at points in the paint, you look at 32 for UNC, 50 for Kansas. Now you could say, yeah, they got Hunter Dickinson. You know we talk about our style.
Speaker 1We want to run and we want to get out and really push the ball.
Speaker 2That is supposed to promote easy buckets, layups, fast break points, which we got.
Speaker 2We got 17 of those, but you'd like to see us not settle so much for outside jump shots and get to find ways to get easy buckets, and we're going to have to figure that out in the half court and somehow we're going to have to design.
Speaker 2Guys are going to have to cut, move better, but we're going to have to get better looks. Sometimes and a lot of times, and you know a lot of times, you know a lot of these guys are kind of you know, uh, you know they're outside of rj says starting to show a lot of promise, but a lot of these guys aren't really proven players. They haven't had this amount of you know playing time or you know they're starting to get, you know, a be a bigger piece of this team and you're going to have to earn the defense to come out there and guard you on the outside shooting. You're going to have to draw them out, okay, and you're going to have to do that. First of all. You just can't come down and start shooting like that. You've got to find ways to get easy buckets and get the ball inside and not make it so difficult and so far outside jump shots all the time.
Speaker 1Yeah, I figured you were going to go to the outside and I was going to ask you about it.
Speaker 1You know whether you felt like I felt like in the first half, especially what really Kansas just looks so athletic, so fast, so under control, right, I mean they turn the ball over four times. I mean, that's you shoot 48% as Kansas at home and only turn the ball over four times Like you're going to win a lot of games. I just felt like they maybe were sharper early. I feel like my question, I guess, to you is is that a natural place? Is that a natural sort of danger, when you get behind in a game like that early big, that you feel more pressure to start looking for three-point shots, to draw back even? Hey, you get a stop in a couple of threes and all of a sudden a 20-point lead is 14. Hell, I couldn't subtract there for a second. You know, is that something that comes into play or is that just more of a? You know, is that just more? Do you think the fact they got behind have nothing to do with it?
Analyzing Carolina vs. Kansas Game
Speaker 2Well, I mean, sometimes, whenever you get a lead like that late in the game, you play not to lose the game instead of playing to win the game. It's a mentality shift. I think at times we got a little hesitant. I really feel like you know some guys caught the ball that you know that corner shot where Jay Witt had just hit two, threes and then he caught it on the corner and kind of hesitated a little bit.
Speaker 2It looked like he was a little bit looked like he was a little bit surprised. He's that wide open but I was screaming at my tv for him to shoot it and uh, you know the reason I say that is because jay witt's not like. You know his jump shots, you know not the smoothest, but he had just made a couple uh, and he had given us a big boost and um, I think one of those shots was from the corner three in the corner. Three is one more easier threes. You can take a much shorter distance than any other three and I like my percentages there.
Speaker 2But you know, late in the game, when you get a low lead, I really believe in not settling so much. Once you move you get some easy looks. It's not. You know, you're not always out there trying to find you know the home run play. You're not trying to search that out, you're trying to take care of the ball. You're trying to get a good look and extend that lead.
Speaker 2But you know Kansas only having four turnovers. I mean that's very impressive and that's a sign of an older, more veteran team also. But you know the way that carolina likes to push in the style that they want to. You know, play at you know four turnovers. I mean, to be honest, it might be too conservative, because if you push the ball and you promote that pace, uh, it's just gonna naturally bring on some more turnovers because there's gonna be so many more possessions versus, like you, look at virginia and they don't have a lot of turnovers usually, uh, it's because they place, yeah, they play so slow and they're so disciplined, yeah, uh. But you know when you when get out and run, sometimes you're bringing on that reckless style of play. But you know, we saw some different lineups. We saw some you know different, you know rotations.
Speaker 2Then Alan Lubin's a guy that has kind of come in and I really feel like he's got a lot of things around the rim. He's got some offensive rebounds, he finds ways to put himself in position to score. I really like his off-the-ball movement. But one thing he does do is he is a heck of a screener and he really screens RJ's man really well, which allows, you know, any time that Van Allen Luma is going to set a screen on RJ. You know his man. If he hits that screen, van Allen Lubin's man is going to have to help on RJ and he's been rolling really well towards the rim and they found him a few times. He's just been putting himself in good position and you know We've talked about the bench in the past and needing players to step up.
Speaker 2I think Vin Allen Lubin he has been a bright spot. Honestly, I didn't see him coming in and playing like this. I just like his style. He's a little undersized. He doesn't always have to be pretty, but he gets the job done. I feel like he's been a good add. He's provided a spark. But you know, I think this team has a lot of growth to do. They're still, you know, finding rotation, finding guys, what works, what doesn't, and I think here in a month or two all that will start to come together a little bit more. But you know, the last thing you got to give hubert davis a lot of credit for taking this game a lot of a lot of coaches at big time schools.
Speaker 2They play these cupcake games. Uh, you look at duke played army. Um, smash them by like 50. Um, you know it's in you know.
Speaker 1How does that come about tyler? How does that come about Tyler? How does that come about? How does this game get proposed? How does this wind up on the schedule?
Speaker 2From what I understand, Hubert Davis pushed this. He was like, hey, let's get a home-and-home with Kansas. And what I really love about this is I'm not the biggest fan of the neutral site games. I like bringing these games right to the students at the university.
Speaker 2Have the crowd, have the atmosphere. I like bringing these games right to the students at the university. Have the crowd, have the atmosphere. I just love that, and I love the fact that they did this, because a lot of people you know these, you know a lot of Carolina fans would be like to travel. We want to go check out fall gallon. You know a lot of history in that place, and kansas is going to travel here, and the one thing that you've got to look at, though, is I was laughing in my mind is because, man, these students and kansas fans they are still not over coach williams like they, a lot of them have a ton of hatred for unc. Yeah, so this would be like in my mind. I was thinking this is like a dream scenario for hardcore Kansas fans. Carolina comes in there, and then they just like. I just felt like the atmosphere was going to be absolutely crazy.
Scheduling and Game Preparation
Speaker 1It was. They said something on the broadcast that was crazy to me. They drew this line. I can't remember who was doing the game, but Hubert Davis played for Dean Smith, dean Smith played for Fogg Allen, fogg Allen played for James Naismith. Oh yeah, invented basketball. I mean, that's pretty wild to think about Four guys from Hubert Davis and you're at the invention of basketball. Kind of cool. A lot of history with Kansas and yeah, I was just curious about that and like. So one other question to kind of dig a little deeper on this. I understand, all right, you know Hubert lobbies for the game and I agree with you completely. Like boss move there. Yeah, getting that one on in the format it is. But then how do they determine how it fits on the schedule? Like who sits there and says you know what, we'll play this?
Speaker 2game right at gate instead of at like Christmas or whatever. I think you have a little more leeway with your schedule. Early on Got it, because mid-year you kind of get the conference play and then you always kind of schedule around like we have the Maui coming up, but you know, I have to look into that. I think we have the Maui coming up, but you know.
Speaker 1I have to look into that.
Speaker 2I think we have the SEC ACC challenge now, so I'm guessing that's how you know.
Speaker 1Alabama games coming up yeah, the Alabama game.
Speaker 2You know, I do like how some of these people, or whoever selects these games. I always like when they're like Alabama knocked out UNC, let's have them go to Chapel Hill because it's so smart and it's one of the more common sense things to do, and I can't wait for that atmosphere. A lot of people think Alabama is the number one team in the country, so that's going to be a big-time game.
Speaker 1Yeah, no, that's cool, I just figure you know, never really thought about it, but you know what actually goes into getting some of these games landed and where they occur on the schedule is kind of interesting, especially to your point when you don't have the sort of promotional thing Maui, the jump man, this, that, and the third ACC SEC or ACC Big Ten, like they used to have sort of guiding it. It kind of makes sense when those are the situations. But I mean, this one kind of came out of left field and I'm with you, man, I'm here for it. I almost feel like dude, I don't know. A whole episode on scheduling would be kind of interesting. But anyway, speaking of schedule, coming into Friday we'll be playing american.
Speaker 1Uh, obviously this is sort of like look we, we. We think most fans are probably like a little leery. Uh, after the the first game against elon, I mentioned earlier that I thought kansas was a home opener. I forgot that elon wasn't even a exhibition game, right, and that wasn't the most convincing first game of season, the season, nobody cares. Coming back to American, like what you know, obviously you know Carolina is like a billion and one favorite here. So where, from your perspective, does a team leave a game like they just played, knowing they have an opponent coming up that they are heavily favored on. How do you prepare for this game? What role does this game play for the development of the team? And, I guess, what are you looking for and how are you looking for the Tar Heels to respond?
Improving Defensive Intensity and Communication
Speaker 2First of all, American had a lot of injuries last year. They have a young team so a lot of the guys haven't played that much with each other, so there's not a lot of scouting to be done. But I'm a big believer in these early games, especially against teams that you're going to outmatch talent-wise, athleticism-wise, size and height, all that stuff I always believe it's better to focus internally and try to sharpen what you do best, really try to focus on yourself a little bit more than scouting. But I think what you do is you go back, you look at the film, you look at what you need to improve on and Coach Davis has said from the beginning this team needs to bring it defensively and anytime that they've stepped up their defensive intensity or mentality, this team has gone on big runs and you can see that and that's something that Coach Davis has harped on and says hey, when we come out here and we play hard defense, we get in people, we make it tough for them. Then our offense we start to run at the pace we want to play at. Things really start to open up and that's when we go on these runs. So I would look at what I'm guessing is Coach Davis going back and preaching defensive principles, trying to really get after mix it up and trying to focus on what we can do better defensively, because we allowed Kansas to shoot 48% from the field. We've got to be a little bit better than that and this team's capable of it. They have the talent to get out there and be one of the better defensive teams in the country. So I believe that that's what they'll do. They're probably looking at different lineups too. Who plays well with each other.
Speaker 2We've had some guys come in, show some bright spots and you know, and uh, I, I think that's what they'll focus on sleep and uh, hopefully they come out and they really, um, you know, come out with the chip on their shoulder. They just lost a big game. Uh, they didn't really. You know, the win against elon wasn all that sexy. So I would come out with the mentality like hey, you know what?
Speaker 2First of all, if I was a player, I'd be a little upset that everyone's happy that we, you know, played Kansas close and I'm not really big on you know. Good job, you did well. You know you, almost we got down 20. We got to come out with a better mindset from the start and this team's capable of that, and I would focus on coming out the right way and starting the game with the defensive intensity and really pushing that and maintaining that. Because another bright spot is the chemistry on this team is really well, the body language. The kids are pulling for each other and I really like that and this team is capable of that and that's what I like to see.
Speaker 1So how does the communication work, like you're getting ready for this game or any other game, right, and how does it get communicated through practice and then really, like, measured in the game?
Speaker 1Like, for example, my mind as you go through that immediately wanders to like, how do you quantify sort of a performance? And let's just use this game as an example. Do you go in and does the team have a goal that says, hey, right, we're not, because obviously, letting a team shoot a high percentage is not really sort of a quantifiable thing in the sense that that's more of a symptom of poor defense, right? So is it, hey, we're not going to let these guys score 20 points in the first half, or hey, we're, we're not going to turn the ball over? Are there, are there? Are there measuring sticks that the coach comes to the team and sort of challenges them with, or is it more? You know, when you mention, like, the defensive intensity, right? I wonder as a as a fan, um, you know, how do you measure that? Right? It's one thing to get them hyped up, and I think everybody that's a fan is like you know.
Speaker 1You feel like that with the right pre-game speech, like everybody's gonna run through the brick wall and just guard the heck out of everybody but but? But what are the tangible things that people do or say or talk about to, like you know, sort of get everybody, um, invested in in what the team's trying to accomplish?
Speaker 2yeah, well, you know, first of all you watch the game film and one thing I would you know look at um is you want to make sure that you're doing your defensive principles right. What I mean by that? We have a game plan defensively. Obviously at kansas we wanted a front hunter, sometimes okay, so fronting him and not allowing him to have the ball in the post. Fronting is where his defender gets directly in front of him and the basketball. That way they can have a direct pass into the post at Hunter and a good scoring position. The problem with that is, I felt like there's a few letdowns where you need the guy guarding the ball. You need him to step up and pressure the ball handler, because if you allow him to make an easy pass, he can make that lob right over the front defender of Hunter and it really puts Hunter in good position. Just catch and go right up and score. I felt like we could have pressured the ball a little bit better.
Speaker 2And then you look at your defensive rotations and see how sharp they were, who missed some defensive rotations.
Speaker 2And then you look at your defensive rotations and see how sharp they were, who missed some defensive rotations.
Speaker 2And then you would you know, like you know typical Carolina practice, you'd have an offensive um uh, offensive uh quote.
Analyzing Basketball Strategy and Player Development
Speaker 2You have a quote of the day and you have an offensive emphasis of the day, then you have a defensive emphasis of the day, then you have a defensive emphasis of the day and then, in particular, sometimes it was just run or help the helper and so basically you would have you know you're going to do drills a shell drill make sure everybody's in good help side position, uh, everyone's, you know, basically you know intertwined or you know connected whenever one guy rotates, the other guy's got to slide over and help him. So you want to make sure, especially for a younger team and the guys who haven't played much, you just want to make sure that your defensive principles and your help side defense, you want to make sure all that stuff is sharp, especially going into conference play, uh, and really honing that in in the beginning of the uh the year yeah, that's interesting because I think you know it's funny because, as we're talking, I'm sitting here thinking to myself.
Speaker 1I'm, like you know, we do a lot of like what is our opinion of this, that and the other, and, you know, sometimes I forget to just ask you questions about, you know, some things that you kind of take for granted. I mean, we see the product on the floor. As a fan, you're just sort of like what the hell, right? Like why didn't this guy do this? Or how could he miss the guy like me sitting on the couch? Like how do you miss that shot, brother? I'd take that shot 40 times. I don't need it. So, uh, it's just it's interesting to see, like you know the how and the why and and what goes into actually, um, you know communicating what the? I mean. Look, if you let a team shoot 48, or you lose, or you don't score, like at some point, it's pretty simple. Like you got to defend, or you got to score more points, you got to make shots, you got to do all these things. But, okay, Like, how, right, and and and how does a coach come in? Because I think you know, I think that you were guilty of this as fans. In every sport it's just like well, they're losing. But I often wonder whether coaches are really that bad or really that good, or whether players are as good. Sometimes it's athleticism.
Speaker 1And another thing that I think is you're responding to that is instinct, right, because you mentioned a pressure in the ball, all right. Well, obviously one of the things that comes with pressure in the ball is that guy has the ability to dribble the ball around you, right? And so now how does that throw everything out of whack? And then you got a guy that you don't get the pressure, and so the lob does come in. So now you have a help side guy come in, and how does he respond? And then you got the other guy on the other team that sees that help side guy leave him, and how does he respond?
Speaker 1Right, so it's sort of all interconnected, and that's the fascinating thing to start to think about and unpack is the cause and effect of each decision on the court at any given time. And I think that my guess would be that when teams start really clicking, when the chemistry gets good, when the momentum starts rolling, the kids start to anticipate a little of these things and sort of the fringe pieces of all right maybe I overpressured just a little bit here or their ability to react to the changes to the variables, the time it takes to react and react correctly to those shortens, and that's when you start seeing. I would imagine teams just really get out and run and play and defend and win.
Speaker 2Yeah, sleep, and you know I've always talked about that's why you know these more veteran teams in college basketball, or these guys, these, you know these teams that somehow they find guys to stay at the school now for three or four years. That's why I like veteran players are so important is because they know the right spots to be in on the court and they know, uh, you know, good, I always say like, winning, playing, winning basketball, you know, boxing out, putting yourself in the right positions, running, taking smart shots. All that stuff comes with experience and knowledge. And, uh, you know, I just feel like kind of in the new era of basketball, where you know it's everyone's leaving, it's it's getting harder to teach that and the product is getting not as good, you know, or it's not as developed as it once was. But you know you're talking about. You know a team loses by 20 and they've got to play better defense. What is better defense?
Speaker 2You know, that's a great statement, because I've always watched games and happens in every sport. You know, post game press conference of coaches. We've just got to decide if we're going to come out here and be a good team. You know, it's all about effort and attitude. And how many times can you say that?
Speaker 1over and over before it's not always effort and attitude maybe it's something else.
Speaker 2It's just like how many times can you say that? And I always laugh when coaches do that. I was like yeah dang. You're trying to put your players under the bus a little bit. I mean I, I you know I don't well sorry, go ahead rarely do you find the? I'm just gonna half-ass it today, yeah exactly, yeah, we've seen it.
Speaker 1We've seen it.
Speaker 2But it's not an everyday occurrence. It's less likely than it is likely.
Speaker 1Yeah, the one play at a time thing. It's like okay, but like yeah, what? What are the okay?
Speaker 1at some point you got to break this down and understand what the play is yeah, yeah, watch guys run around like they don't know where the ball's at, so, uh, I don't know, man, that's fascinating and I think it's one of the things that, as a carolina, I think we do have the benefit of, because you see a lot of guys that you can point to and say, hey, I'll watch this person get better over time.
Speaker 1You were one of them, luke May was one of them, rj Marcus, page, armando it's hard to really remember how they were in the beginning versus how they are in the end, because all you see is the game they played yesterday, but it would be a fascinating exercise to go back and check that out.
Speaker 1Anyway, I just think that it's interesting and fascinating to see where the team will tighten, make some calibrations, tighten the screws, and that's one of the things I think we should get into and probably will. Probably we'll get into, uh, this season that we haven't before is, you know, the how and the why, and that way, you know, when people are listening to this podcast, they can then go in and watch the next game and say, you know they were talking about that and, um, you know, I can kind of see that and, uh, I almost said a little bit smarter, but that's a high standard. I mean you ain't going to get much smarter listening to us two, but anyway, yeah, I mean I think you got American and I think we'll be back on before they play again, because we were just looking at it before they got. After American, they will have Hawaiiaii on uh on saturday, november 23rd, so we got sleep, god.
Speaker 2Where's that game?
Speaker 1at that, I don't know well, hawaii is the home team, so I'm guessing that that's in, uh, hawaii. And then they play dayton on the 25th. This is, uh, dangerously close to thanksgiving. I think this is the week before Thanksgiving. Yeah, that's at Maui.
Speaker 2Yeah, all this is going to happen in Honolulu. Then we head on over to Maui. All right, I'm going to get you out of here.
Speaker 1I'm going to get you out of here on this one, because you went there. You guys did Hawaii, right? Oh yeah, how many times did you do it? Do they do it every season? I think it's once every four years. Once every four years, okay, wow, I mean like.
Speaker 2Oh no, no, the tournament happens every year.
Speaker 1Sorry, but yeah, carolina only goes every few years. Yeah, so I mean, dude, what is that like? Well, we'll talk about that next episode. We can save that for next episode because we're previewing up to it Te, we're previewing up to it teaser alert. Um, that'll be a great rabbit hole to go down. A big hawk in hawaii, um, anyway, so you know, tar heels, uh, like I said, idol in football. Uh, I like this man, I like this basketball. You know who cares about anything else. Jonathan coming is getting getting a raw deal. But hey, we'll unpack that later when we don't have anything else to talk about. Um, sleep dogs. Fantasy dude chris, that's like christian caffrey comes back. I'm like, finally, dude, we'll get on a. We'll unpack that later when we don't have anything else to talk about. I think Doug's fantasy dude, christian Caffrey, comes back. I'm like, finally, dude, I'm going to get on a run here. Guy has 39 yards rushing today. My football team's done. I'm in just very real danger of having to attend a WNBA game next year.
Speaker 2I'm going to fire myself. You got anything else. Big Hawk, Stay safe.
Speaker 1Stay safe, stay safe.