2014-2015 Observation Deck

[west_tip]

I am a Hoosier.... Indiana has done really really good so far this season, even with the problems they have had and the suspenstions. 2-0 so far, and honestly I think they could be a huge sleeper this year.

James Blackmon Jr, balling thus far I see. With all the heat Crean was getting before the season started I hope Indiana do well this year.

[qrich]

Bryce is balling, UCLA steamrolling the cupcakes.

CSUN gets our first win, should take the next one as well, get back to .500. In Theus I Trust.

[Charlie Sheen]

Keep an eye out for WVU especially Holton and Macon coming off redshirt years. Team is deeper than last season even tho all you probly heard til now was about the transfers of Harris and Henderson. Everyone already knows about Staten

never too early to toot my own horn

[KG215]

Butler is handing UNC their ass. Looks like another season where UNC is severely over-ranked to start the season. Roy seems to always get them going by conference play, but right now UNC is nowhere close to a top 5, 10, 15, or 20 team.

[KG215]

Unless this game was an anomaly, UNC f***ing sucks...again. Well, at least "sucks" relative to normal UNC standards. It'd be nice if Roy would recruit a f***ing shooter or two. Enough of this bullshit where we've only got one 3P threat. Gave up 29 f***ing offensive rebounds to a much less athletic, talented, and smaller Butler team. Bunch of f***ing entitled softies wearing Carolina blue right now.

[IGotACoolStory]

I'm so tired of a team that can't shoot. It's been how long? 2009 was our last above average shooting team (they were great). 2013 was decent in the latter half, but we played a gimmick small-ball lineup with PJ at the 4, and that lineup had no chance of doing damage in the tournament.

Overall disappointing loss, although not surprising. The blueprint has always been there on how to beat the recent UNC teams: hope the only shooter on the squad is off/box and one or zone/make him work all game, play very physical, keep UNC off the glass, and try like hell to dictate tempo. Usually the physicality, rebounding, and tempo go hand in hand... in hand.

It's not a coincidence that Barnes' Texas teams and Larranaga, wherever he's been, has always given us trouble. Said it before when Stevens was there and it remains true with Butler's new coach. They really play the dook foul 250 times and get called for 25 type of defense. And in particular, that seems to frustrate the heck out of our bigs.

And let's be real. Zeller and Henson were my guys. Hubert, Hicks, and the rest of them all seem like nice guys and talented players. But we recruit soft big men. Even our NBA talent, and they get called out about in once they reach the pros. The last starter-quality, non-soft, big we had was Hansbrough, and he was recruited in 2005.

But even after that butt-whopping Butler gave us, we still had the ball, down 4, with about 30 seconds left in the game. A game in which the best free throw shooter in school history was 5-9 from the line.

This team has a lot of work to do. I still think the ceiling this year is an Elite 8. Overall, however, there's a championship core in here. Just need a few pieces to come together (another consistent shooter, Brice to mature or Hicks to play well enough to bench him, and the freshman to improve like they should).

[qrich]

I'm really liking this Powell-Bryce duo, need to keep this going and blow out Oklahoma and run the table in the OoC until the Kentucky game. Zaga is the only real challenge.


As far as the 'Dors go, a double overtime loss, on the road, with four guys fouling out sucked, but think we should take care of the 3-0 Portland State squad at the Matadome tonight.

[Burgz V2]

I'm so tired of a team that can't shoot. It's been how long? 2009 was our last above average shooting team (they were great). 2013 was decent in the latter half, but we played a gimmick small-ball lineup with PJ at the 4, and that lineup had no chance of doing damage in the tournament.

Overall disappointing loss, although not surprising. The blueprint has always been there on how to beat the recent UNC teams: hope the only shooter on the squad is off/box and one or zone/make him work all game, play very physical, keep UNC off the glass, and try like hell to dictate tempo. Usually the physicality, rebounding, and tempo go hand in hand... in hand.

It's not a coincidence that Barnes' Texas teams and Larranaga, wherever he's been, has always given us trouble. Said it before when Stevens was there and it remains true with Butler's new coach. They really play the dook foul 250 times and get called for 25 type of defense. And in particular, that seems to frustrate the heck out of our bigs.

And let's be real. Zeller and Henson were my guys. Hubert, Hicks, and the rest of them all seem like nice guys and talented players. But we recruit soft big men. Even our NBA talent, and they get called out about in once they reach the pros. The last starter-quality, non-soft, big we had was Hansbrough, and he was recruited in 2005.

But even after that butt-whopping Butler gave us, we still had the ball, down 4, with about 30 seconds left in the game. A game in which the best free throw shooter in school history was 5-9 from the line.

This team has a lot of work to do. I still think the ceiling this year is an Elite 8. Overall, however, there's a championship core in here. Just need a few pieces to come together (another consistent shooter, Brice to mature or Hicks to play well enough to bench him, and the freshman to improve like they should).

people calling this one an upset but I really don't see it that way. Butler is a damn good team and they work their asses off in every game. If I didn't know any better I would have thought Kelan Martin was an upperclassman, the way he played last night.

29 offensive boards for Butler. +17 rebounding differential. If either of those numbers are single digits, UNC takes this one, but it seemed every time Butler got an offensive board they hit a three or got an easy layup or something. As a player that's extremely deflating and they just didn't respond well. It happens, these guys are barely men after all.

It's early. Better to go through growing pains than crush every team from the outset and not know what your weaknesses are going into conference play.

[KG215]

people calling this one an upset but I really don't see it that way. Butler is a damn good team and they work their asses off in every game. If I didn't know any better I would have thought Kelan Martin was an upperclassman, the way he played last night.

29 offensive boards for Butler. +17 rebounding differential. If either of those numbers are single digits, UNC takes this one, but it seemed every time Butler got an offensive board they hit a three or got an easy layup or something. As a player that's extremely deflating and they just didn't respond well. It happens, these guys are barely men after all.

It's early. Better to go through growing pains than crush every team from the outset and not know what your weaknesses are going into conference play.

UNC knows their weaknesses. This is the 6th straight season they've been the same: no/terrible shooters and really soft bigs. I'm hoping this game was an anomaly, but it's really worrisome that we're still a TERRIBLE FT shooting team and our bigs can be extremely soft. I thought Elite 8 was probably our ceiling going into the season, Final Four with a favorable draw or some upsets in early rounds to set up favorable matchups; now I'm not sure if our ceiling is anything more than Sweet 16 or Round of 32.

Of course I generally way, way overreact after losses, but seeing the same discouraging bullshit that cost us games the last few years again today, when I thought we might finally have a team that would be a little bit different than the last 5 UNC teams, is pretty disheartening.

[KG215]

people calling this one an upset but I really don't see it that way. Butler is a damn good team and they work their asses off in every game. If I didn't know any better I would have thought Kelan Martin was an upperclassman, the way he played last night.

29 offensive boards for Butler. +17 rebounding differential. If either of those numbers are single digits, UNC takes this one, but it seemed every time Butler got an offensive board they hit a three or got an easy layup or something. As a player that's extremely deflating and they just didn't respond well. It happens, these guys are barely men after all.

It's early. Better to go through growing pains than crush every team from the outset and not know what your weaknesses are going into conference play.

UNC knows their weaknesses. This is the 6th straight season they've been the same: no/terrible shooters and really soft bigs. I'm hoping this game was an anomaly, but it's really worrisome that we're still a TERRIBLE FT shooting team and our bigs can be extremely soft. I thought Elite 8 was probably our ceiling going into the season, Final Four with a favorable draw or some upsets in early rounds to set up favorable matchups; now I'm not sure if our ceiling is anything more than Sweet 16 or Round of 32.

Of course I generally way, way overreact after losses, but seeing the same discouraging bullshit that cost us games the last few years again today, when I thought we might finally have a team that would be a little bit different than the last 5 UNC teams, is pretty disheartening.

[IGotACoolStory]

And a nice response with a 20+ beatdown on UCLA.

Don't think they can win it all this year unless we get a little luck in the bracket and Paige goes Kemba Walker during March, but this team is fine.

The only major question mark I have is Brice Johnson. I don't think he has the motor, nor basketball IQ to be what we need from him. Hicks isn't near the offense talent, but at least he plays hard. He's certainly not lacking talent either, just a little raw right now.

It's really concerning how Brice played poorly again, after getting benched for this game. Most of his problems are mental mistakes. He doesn't get it, yet.

[KG215]

Unless UCLA just completely tanks the rest of the season, UNC still ended up leaving the Battle for Atlantis with two solid resume wins. I know Florida doesn't have some healthy players, but come March all it's going to say on UNC's resume under key wins is "Florida" if Florida goes on to be a top 10ish team once they get everyone back. Still frustrated they came out flat and just got outworked for 40 minutes against an inferior Butler squad, but it is what it is. Wish we could've gotten a Wisconsin/UNC final. Maybe a more focused UNC comes out and we get a Final Four-esque game in November.

[Jailblazers7]

This feels like the beginning of the end for Pitt. Pretty soon we will be buried in the ACC and become irrelevant like Virginia Tech.

[Jailblazers7]

I really like D'Angelo Russell on Ohio State. His game seems really poised and in control which is fun to watch.

[IGotACoolStory]

And I thought the 2010 team couldn't shoot the ball. It's staggering how bad these recent teams are at making open shots. The earlier teams of this decade set records (school RECRODS!) for how bad their shooting was. This team is somehow looking worse right now.

Between that, the wine and cheese crowd, the Wainstein report getting misreported again, and those hideous recycling green shirts, kind of wishing this wasn't on national tv.


re: D'Angelo Russell

He was my favorite recruit in this last class. Smooth, but real herky jerky type game. He reminded me a lot of Ginobili in high school, although I haven't seen him play for Ohio State yet. Love his game.


Good lord, that was one of the worst games I have ever watched. Horrible basketball. That looked less like a wakeup call (like they needed one after Butler) and more like "you suck". Assuming this team can manage to beat ECU at home, UK is up next and they will beat us by about 50. So bad about to become worse.

I still have hope for this season, but that was 8-20 season bad.