Raising Carolina

In case you missed it, and I am sure most of you did, Carolina's basketball team started their 6 game road trip this weekend in Las Vegas where they won the Las Vegas Invitational by taking down Old Dominion followed by BYU in back-to-back nights. I missed the Old Dominion game on behalf of the game being broadcast on ESPN-U but I stayed up last night to watch the BYU game. Unfortunately for every pet and female in our house, I had forgotten how involved I get when watching games, especially when things aren't going well. Nonetheless, here are my top 3 and bottom three observations on the game last night:

Top 3
1. Alex Stepheson. In 16 minutes, Stepheson played great D, collected a team high 9 boards, 3 points, a pair of dimes, and a blocked shot. Not too shabby for a guy coming off the bench and a guy that most people probably haven't heard of.

2. Danny Green. He can be unnerving at times with his recklessness, especially shooting the ball awfully quick, but Danny is always busting his butt on the court and more often than not comes up with solid numbers (14 points, 3 steals, 2 boards, a block, and a dime in 21 minutes).

3. Ellington. Natalie loves the guys good lucks, Vitale loves his form, and I love that he keeps on coming through in the clutch with great outside shooting. Maybe missing that shot against G-town last year will end up being a blessing in that it has helped the maturation process of Wayne as basketball player. 15 points to go along his 6 boards is solid.

Bottom 3
1. Deon Thompson. Replacing Wright wasn't going to be easy, but in the two games I have watched Deon has not been good. He started the game well with a steal and some solid D, but it was all downhill from there. He ended up with 7 points, zero boards, 4 personal fouls in 20 minutes and was overpowered on D and looked lost at times. Maybe losing all that weight is leading to Deon getting pushed around. I just hope his sweet turnaround shot comes back and his D shapes up before the new years wraps around.

2. PG play. I'm probably nitpicking but Bobby played 29 minutes and ended up with 1 dime and Q, who I thought played well, ended up with no dimes in 11 minutes. Now, part of this was that BYU prevented the team from running for most of the game, but Roy seemed frustrated with the guards inability to drive for a good chunk of the game. Lawson is the main guy here, but it sure would be nice to get some depth here to give him a breather during tough games.

3. D is for no defense. Some more nitpicking, but it sure felt that when the team came out of the locker rooms in the 2nd half the defensive intensity was just not there. The BYU big man Plaisted ended up with 24 points and a ridiculous 17 boards and overpowered the Heels inside for a good chunk of the game. It is a good thing the team ran out of gas in the end or this could have been ugly.

In the end, I am thrilled the team pulled out a win against a solid team even though Lawson sat just about the entire game. I would also expect the Heels to have strong 2nd halves for most of the year. We saw this last year with teams that lack the depth to keep up with a very deep Heels team. However, to make a solid run in March Deon, Bobby, and Q are going to have to pitch in a little more and the D is going to have to maintain their intensity throughout the games. That said the season is young and the improved outside shooting, especially from Ellington, on top of the ability of the team to win close games is a great sign for things to come.

Next up: at Ohio St. (3-1) Wednesday November 28th at 9:00 Eastern.