OK, I\'ve watched a couple of NC games now and listened to their last press conference and am beginning to get a feel for what is coming.
Their "ideal" possession consists in grabbing a defensive rebound, throwing a 30\' outlet pass downcourt, then passing again to someone sprinting to the basket or open for a 3. They hate dribbling the ball down the court if there is an alternative.
As their players and coach put it, even if they are not successful scoring, they wear down the other team by making them sprint back on defense over and over again.
When stuck in the half court they do a lot of very high entrance passes since they are used to having taller bigs who can go up high to get the pass. I even saw them deliberately bounce it off the backboard a couple times--a kind of artificial O-board strategy?
Their coach and players are convinced that they are finally playing their best basketball of the year, in the ACC tournament and now the NCAAs. They commented on their earlier inconsistency but think they are now in synch. Â Let\'s hope that is wishful thinking.
Their "ideal" possession consists in grabbing a defensive rebound, throwing a 30\' outlet pass downcourt, then passing again to someone sprinting to the basket or open for a 3. They hate dribbling the ball down the court if there is an alternative.
As their players and coach put it, even if they are not successful scoring, they wear down the other team by making them sprint back on defense over and over again.
When stuck in the half court they do a lot of very high entrance passes since they are used to having taller bigs who can go up high to get the pass. I even saw them deliberately bounce it off the backboard a couple times--a kind of artificial O-board strategy?
Their coach and players are convinced that they are finally playing their best basketball of the year, in the ACC tournament and now the NCAAs. They commented on their earlier inconsistency but think they are now in synch. Â Let\'s hope that is wishful thinking.