Where: Dean Smith Center, Chapel Hill, NC
When: Sunday, January 1st, 3:00 PM
TV: ESPNU
Records: UNC 12-2; Monmouth 2-11
Happy New Year!
And now the final installment of Games vs Teams With Former Heels on the Coaching Staff.
So far this season UNC has played games versus Appalachian St. and Elon which included former Heels Jason Capel as head coach of the Mountaineers and Jack Wooten as an assistant for the Phoenix. Now, Monmouth brings back to Chapel Hill former Tar Heel point guard King Rice in his first season in charge of the Hawks. Rice’s staff includes his successor at the PG slot, Derrick Phelps and Brian Reese both members of the 1993 NCAA title team.
And that pretty much covers the only aspect of this game that any of us will find remotely interesting. Monmouth is probably as bad as Nicholls State or whatever we are calling them nowadays. Among the exceptionally low ranking in most every major KenPom statistical category, Monmouth is dead last in the nation in effective FG defense giving up an astronomical 59.7% per game. The Hawks are ranked in the 300s for both offensive and defensive efficiency. The only thing that will keep this game anywhere close to being in check is the fact Roy Williams won’t want to totally destroy a team coached by three members of the Carolina family.
There will always be some debate as to what purpose games versus teams like this serves and the benefit may be more for the opposing team than UNC both on the court and financially. For the Heels this beats going against each other in practice and maintains the routine of playing games every few days. Otherwise this will be another exercise in 20-25 minutes for the starters and some run for the bench. ACC play starts next weekend making this the last game before this crap gets real.
UNC 105 Monmouth 60
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Speaking of alumni coaches…KButter’s gonna be the next head coach of UNC.
He’s already one of the top recruiters in the nation, he’s got the Smith/Williams system down pat, he can work players egos and pull them together, and he’s a hoops junkie. Perfect.
…J. Naismith, P. Allen, D. Smith, R. Williams, K. Marshall.
BoyWilliams -
Even more perfect: Bobby Frasor. Marshall is great, but missed out on the crucial experience of jumping off a fraternity house roof with Tyler Hansbrough.
It’s often hard for me to tell how good these guys really are in games against teams like Monmouth (though I suspect they’ve gotten better based on the Texas game) - and, yes, I’m ready for the real season to start too, or at least have some tougher challenges.
But since it is helpful to establish some improvement benchmarks for today’s game, I would just say that I’d like to see JMM start getting more decisive, and in rhythm, with his shooting. And I’d like to see PJ start hitting some outside shots again.
On a side note, I confess to never being an Indiana fan (especially when Bobby Knight was around), but I’ve kind of taken a liking to them this year, and have become a Cody Zeller fan. With his mobility and ball-handling skills, he has the potential to be a pretty special player. And that was one heckuva game Indiana had yesterday against OSU.
Maybe the Heels will have an opportunity to duplicate Indiana’s success against OSU, or Kentucky, down the line. (And I do hope UNC is spared the Zeller brothers having to go against each other.)
THAT GREEN APRIL CALL
As winter breezes, chilly do blow,
we pin our dreams to championship hopes.
But alas, may our Heels miss that green April call
unless one James Micheal McAdoo starts dunking the ball!
“ACC play starts next weekend making this the last game before this crap gets real.”
Based on BC’s performance this year, I’d say that this is the second to last game before the crap gets real. Is it too late to swap Harvard for BC??
15-1 or 16-0 is actually realistic in the ACC this year. My god there are some horrible teams this year. 10pts in a half for FSU; Maryland, Clemson, Miami are mediocre and BC, WF and UM are dumpster fires on the court.
I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the ACC competition. We will have 2-3 games outside of dook where we will be tested and could lose. NCSU, VA, and FSU are very capable of beating us. And of lower tier teams, one or two will bring their “A” game on a day we do not.
There’s only one way Coach Rice can beat UNC with his incredibly undersized line-up, and it scares me because I’ve seen it work: the Ol’ Picket Fence.
BP
The old picket fence worked for Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper but I don’t see it working for King Rice. And King Rice doesn’t have Joey Chitwood. ;^)
Well, K.R. doesn’t have Jimmy Chitwood — I’m not even sure who Joey Chitwood is . . .