Monday, January 21, 2008

more b-ball thoughts


Saturday was one of those rare, precious days when my 2 favorite teams both won - Duke and whoever's playing Carolina. :) And I know it doesn't really matter much right now, but it sure is nice to see Duke ranked higher than UNC for a change. I readily admit that we aren't as talented as UNC or about 10 other schools for that matter. And I know we shouldn't even be considered a favorite for the final 4.
But we sure are playing well as a team. Obviously, we're getting killed on the boards by bigger, physical teams. But we seem to make up for it with defense, hustle, and smart play. Coach K is really getting the most out of his roster this year. I do think that our best lineup has McClure playing center, allowing Singler to play PF. And Singler reminds of Laettner in some ways. Smart, well-rounded, nice shot. He presents a difficult matchup for a lot of teams. Plus, he's gaining confidence.
As for UNC, what's up?! This team seems to have all the pieces - a great PG, a great SG, a great C, depth, athletes, etc. Is it the coaching? I know Roy won a title a few years ago, but is he really a great coach? Shouldn't he have won at least one title at Kansas? At the least, he's a great recruiter. UNC seems to be signing players left and right lately.
What do y'all think?

8 comments:

sandra said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DMS said...

I wouldn't be too worried about UNC. They still have their pact in place with you-know-who. They have to look "vulnerable" from time to time otherwise more folks would become suspicious of what I have known for some time.

sandra said...

Dave and I enjoyed Saturday evening at Satisfaction - a GREAT, GREAT night. It was good to see us winning against a team that presented such size problems for us. Our defense made up for the rebounding. I still like our team a LOT this year.

I think one of our problems with away games is the jet company the team uses. When Dave travelled with the team for the FLorida State game, they had lots of problems with their planes and ended up coming home 12 hours later than they were supposed to. He found out that for the Pitt game, they also had airplane problems and got in at 4am game day - couldn't have helped in our loss. I'm sure everyone has travel problems and not to make excuses, but they've consistently had problems with the planes for nearly every away game and I find it very annoying.

Speaking of FSU, Dave has been impressed with the Cameron Crazies, and let's just say he wasn't with the Florida State fans. Paulus had an airball during the game in Tallahassee, so they chanted "airball" every time Paulus touched the ball. That's fine. But you shouldn't chant it when your own Florida State player shoots up an airball and Paulus grabs the rebound. HAHAHAHAHA! Hilarious.

There has been talk on sports radio around here about the coaching of Roy. They say that if Coach K had the team Roy has now, they'd be dominating. Who knows? All I know is that UNC's talent and athleticism vs. our depth and great team-playing will make for a good game feb 6th. Anyone around here want to watch it together?

paikdaddy said...

how is Dave living all of our dreams? he's not even a Duke fan!

sandra said...

because he's doing it for his wife, who IS a duke fan! the lesson he says he learned this year is that when you do something/sacrifice for your wife, God will bless you. the fellowship has been incredible for him even though it was supposed to be pretty tough. hope all you men out there are taking that to heart.

and he's definitely become a fan himself this year.

PR said...

I love how our team is playing. Everyone seems to be clicking: great d, balanced scoring, gutty performances down the stretch, and toughness on the road in Tallahassee and Vicksburg. I'm hoping of course for a deep run in March but my optimism is tempered by last year and several of the JJ/Shelden years when we played really well at this point in the year only to fatigue in March and underperform in post-season play. Hopefully with our depth, that won't be a problem.

I too was happy to see UNC fall but I was surprised to see them drop below us in the polls. I still think UNC, along with Memphis and esp Kansas, are the top teams. Despite our very good play, I think we're a half notch below those three. Still, I like how we're developing and I think we'll be competitive against anyone. Feb 6 should show us a lot.

paikdaddy said...

I agree, Peter. Our team can beat anyone on any given any night, but can also lose to anyone if we go cold. The nice thing is the balance. Any one of 6-7 guys can lead us in scoring in a game.
Did you guys see how far out King was hitting 3's last night? Crazy range. I keep thinking 'bad shot, no, no, no' but he makes a fair percentage of those bombs. He's literally in range as soon as he walks into the gym.

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