The Tar Heels have only played two games in this young season, but it's still not too early to analyze how the season is going so far. The Tar Heels are this season's most scrutinized team, so what's another article or two analyzing their season so far?
Only two games in, Carolina's season could be described as injury prone.
Before the season even began, their best player, Tyler Hansbrough, was on the bench, rocking a nice jacket and turtleneck combo. Their best defender and the team's overall glue guy, Marcus Ginyard, also started the season on the bench, opting instead for a classic suit and tie combo. Two-fifths of Carolina's starting five were already injured before November.
These injuries have had an impact in both of Carolina's early games.
Against Penn, the Tar Heels had a tough time on the boards, outrebounding a height-challenged Ivy League team by only 10. Last year, Carolina outrebounded the Quakers by 25.
Against Kentucky, the Tar Heels were outrebounded by two. Last season, rebounding was one of Carolina's biggest strengths, outrebounding opponents by a double digit advantage.
Wayne Ellington has most suffered because of Hansbrough and Ginyard's absence. The team's second leading scorer last season, Hansbrough's early absence increased the pressure on him to score more, and he hasn't responded well. His scoring average isn't too bad, at 14.5 a game, but he's only shooting 10 of 29 to start the season. That must change.
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about 1 month ago
Great observations regarding depth. I just finished watching UNC beat a scrappy and game UCSB team. A few things I noticed is that this was their second different starting lineup in three games. With the injuries and lineup shuffles, it will take some time before Coach Williams can get a steady rotation going in the games. Hansbrough looked rusty but still showed his usual toughness inside. Thompson played well as did Davis. Davis needs to bulk up a little more though as he was being pushed out of position down low. Lawson had a quiet 19 points but missed several free throws. Frasor did not shoot well but displayed his "in your face" defense that caused turnovers and had UCSB start their offense further out. One player I feel is overlooked is Drew II. He plays solid defense and runs the offense without making mistakes. Great addition for a freshman. Losing Zeller will hurt but once Hansbrough gets in game shape things will be okay. I feel that come late December UNC will be running on all cylinders once everyone, except Zeller, will be healthy.
I have enjoyed the observations from the UNC faithful and some of the ACC people that write articles. Of course there are the UNC haters that write articles on the UNC site that only look to bash. Petty arguments and jealousies are sad. At least they can try to be objective in their comments but that ultimately is their problem.
One final comment. Even though I am a lifelong UNC fan, I am realistic enough to know that UNC will not go undefeated this season and is one of possibly six strong teams that can win it all. Injuries and academic issues generally kill teams late in the season like last season when Frasor went down early with the ACL and Lawson was injured late. Thank goodness for depth. GO HEELS!!!!
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