Having to play without Ty Lawson was bad enough for North Carolina’s basketball team.
Having to play without Lawson and without Danny Green was lethal for the Tar Heels in Saturday’s ACC semifinals against Florida State.
Unlike Lawson, who was sidelined for the second straight game with an injured toe, Green was on the court during most of the 73-70 loss. But the senior wingman and second-team all-ACC pick is in such a miserable shooting slump that FSU’s defense had the luxury of playing 5-on-2, the two Heels being Tyler Hansbrough and Wayne Ellington. That math never computes, even for the No. 1 team in the nation.
As losses go, however, this was one was fairly harmless for Carolina. At 28-4 overall, the Heels will still be a No. 1 NCAA seed and open the tournament Thursday in Greensboro against a No. 16 seed that will be identified Sunday.
Between now and that NCAA opener, there’s a lot of pressing business on Roy Williams’ day planner. A fix has to be found for Lawson’s toe, of course. Then, there’s the matter of Green, who missed 22 of his 25 field-goal attempts in the two ACC games at the Atlanta Georgia Dome.
With Lawson in the lineup and at full speed, Williams has the option of changing Danny Green into Danny Red and put him a strict diet of 4-5 shots per game until his touch returns. But if Lawson remains below par, Green’s entire offensive game needs emergency rehabilitation. Without Lawson and with Green in such a royal funk, the Heels are still a good team but hardly a national championship contender.
The base lineup of Hansbrough, Deon Thompson, Ellington, Bobby Frasor and an impotent Green could lose again next Saturday in a second-round NCAA game.
Comments
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Mon, 08/31/2009 - 06:35 — krisroferLooks like the author has massive awareness in the subject. Thanks you for the info. London Flats Rentals
Some good points raised in
Mon, 08/31/2009 - 05:58 — adenrichardsSome good points raised in that post. Will be back to check for more.
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Roy needs to do better too....
Sun, 03/15/2009 - 08:01 — asartainSo one of your players is having an off shooting day......no biggie.....make adjustments during the game and work around it.....just my opinion, but I don't think Roy has ever been a great coach when it comes to "managing" a game.....(e.g. no timeout during the Kansas game last year)
What about the teams defense that has not shown up
Sun, 03/15/2009 - 06:42 — dhutch2007Defense is what wins championships. Forget about Greens slump. What about the Carolina defensive slump. How many more times do we have to watch Bobby Frasor get sucked in to help defend a player on the drive, only to have it kicked out to a sharpshooter who drains the trey? How many more freaking times??? Carolina MUST defend against the "three" much better. Ol' Roy has got to forget telling players to help prevent the drive to the basket. Tell them to defend against the kick. Make a shooter drive to the basket. Pressure, whoever has the ball. Make him drive. Prevent the kick for the trey. If Carolina does that better, they won't have to worry about anyone's scoring slump, 'cause Carolina will win. Defense wins championships.
Danny
Sat, 03/14/2009 - 21:43 — gvillegatrI dont believe it, but he played like he owed a bookie money friday and saturday. both games. obviously, going to the dogs.
how many lay-ups did he miss ... three or four?? maybe five?
dude, you were my mid season POY for UNC and the conference. get it back. I know you can. WE know YOU CAN! just concentrate! get "R" done!
Well yeah...
Sat, 03/14/2009 - 21:36 — tarheelfanblogSay UNC needs Green to play well is like saying the economy is not good. Everyone knows it's bad and no one knows how to really fix other than to say(and hope) it cycles out of the recession soon. Same is true for Green. His slump started at Blackburg and has persisted. I think he will shake it off so tell Caulton he can come off the ledge.
What can you say about
Sat, 03/14/2009 - 17:45 — legend47What can you say about Green...he's play bad at the wrong time of the season! But you can't stick with B. Frasor playing point either! He can't my a shot,too slow on defense and can't handle the ball. Fla. State went after him in the second half and he didn't or couldn't answer. You go w/the guy who is playing best that day. (Drew) But COACH ROY make that call! Now, I see why he never Won a Championship at Kanas !!!
It makes you Say...
Sat, 03/14/2009 - 17:35 — jeromfitzWhat in the World is going on with Danny Green? It's obvious the height they play against won the game from height alone. I guess it distracts the shooters a lot. I just think Danny need go back to the basics and keep working on his techniques in release but inside the arc back to outside the arc. He didn't even attempt a fake dribble to basket and bank off the glass. Danny needs something to get his final year a spark for his draft chances and play basic basketball. He may have shot too far out of his range for a college game. The next game just asks for a new basketball in the middle of play. Any thing to get you motivated to hit a jump shot. The back court was really down today in the play except for Ellington. It takes a team to win games. I’m not just calling out Danny. The others like Frasor seem intimidated from the height and uncanny release with his shots also. I guess that makes Lawson the true MVP of the team because he calibrates the offense. It was close game and any body ball game. The last couple of plays just flopped out and Carolina lost. If you get triple team in the post somebody outside is open. Basic game plan to me is to pass the ball to the open man and not into a junk zone like FSU plays. Their arms are too long to pass through at times. Let’s forget about the icing on the cake ACC Tournament play for the real icing in the NCAA. Don’t forget UNC Regular Season Champions!!!!!!!!
As usual, there's more to the story...
Sat, 03/14/2009 - 16:22 — billayI guess its too much to ask that you acknowledge a very gutsy performance be the Heels today Toots. FSU deserves credit. They are a well balanced team and they played well. Kudos to them. But instead of describing how the Heels fought hard, and stayed in the game, despite shooting 37%, and missing their ACC player of the year, starting point guard, all you can do is prognosticate (and hope for) another UNC loss. It doesn't take a whole lot of basketball knowledge to predict losses for a team missing players, against solid competition. Is that all you are going to write all this week? "UNC might lose again, and if they do, how smart does that make me?"
Carolina's lack of players
Sun, 03/15/2009 - 07:33 — campreelsYeah, losing Lawson really shuts down everything when you only have nine other Mcdonald's All-Americans on the bench.
Loosing him is really shame.
Wed, 05/06/2009 - 07:51 — tolo87Loosing him is really shame. Mike Geary