Oh, there was a game?
Strange timing on the redshirt/suspension announcements, almost like they did not want to deal with it beyond tonight. Now it gets wrapped up in the game and on Friday when Roy has his weekly press conference it will be hashed out more. By then it will be three days old so obviously they were looking to deal with it almost as a side story.
As for this game, it was one of those incredible offensive performances but the defense sucked so bad it is hard to be excited about it beyond being happy the Heels won. It is a bit sobering when you understand that had UNC shot their average from beyond the arc they lose this game by one. Giving up 91 points to a bad Maryland team is simply unacceptable. The Terps came in averaging 71 ppg and had not broken 90 points in a game this season until this one.
Of course I don’t really have anything to offer in terms of potential solutions. With Marcus Ginyard now out for the season, we know a top rate perimeter defender is not walking through that door. We know that somehow, some way Danny Green or Wayne Ellington or Ty Lawson or Bobby Frasor will have to step up their defense in such a way as to compensate for the loss. You also have Will Graves gone which introduces all kinds of depth questions.
It is amazing that a team we all had pegged in June as being the prohibitive national title favorite sits before us now still looking to define itself. We are very much at a point where a lot of these players are going to have to reach into the deepest recesses of themselves and muster a level of play probably not seen before, especially on defense. There is a saying: “Whatever does not kill you, only makes you stonger.” I guess we are about to find out if this is true of the 2009 Tar Heels.
