The IronDog Chronicles

I had a run a run-down post on yesterday’s call of the Heels clipping the Devils…

Well, here’s my response.

After the game, I ran into Howard Garfinkel, and I asked him real quick what he thought of the game. His reply. “What are you going to do…You don’t have your…Uhh…What’s his name? Your guy..the point gaaahhhd.”

Classic…And I wish that last night was that simple…

** Bad Wings- The first reaction is to look at Wayne Ellington and Danny Green. I hate to admit, but they got smoked last night.

With Green, he has been playing well enough that I would like to give him a hall pass, but I expected more from him tonight. I’m chalking the performance to a plain and simple bad game.

However, the problem that I see with Ellington are the terrible looks at the basket. The fade-aways and bad shot selection is in Cheech and Chong’s words….”Ay, Fucce Capesta.”

Someone couldn’t have written a worst script for their offensive performance last night.

Ellington 3-14FG/FGA 0-6 from Three.
Green 1-10FG/FGA 1-5 from Three.

I could crush on Ellington all day…I have to let it go.

** Paulus/Scheyer Combo - My biggest nightmare was point guard, Greg Paulus having a mediocre shooting night…He pummeled the Heels. With both of them having great shooting nights, that crushed them.

A lot of UNC pundits have defensive gripes. If there is a defensive gripe, you should look here. The Heels didn’t seem to read where they were at on the court well.

I’ll give a free hall pass a lot to Ellington because Scheyer moves so well on the ball and he receives so many picks, but damn…Scheyer got into the lane on him whenever he wanted. That has to be concerning with defensive stops.

In my last post, the guy that I anticipated having a strong night was DeMarcus Nelson. I actually think the Heels did a good job of containing him.

However, this is the first game this season when a team truly matched the Heels wing-man talent pound-for-pound, and the Heels were beaten pretty bad on those match-ups, which makes this blogger concerned

** Hansbrough Love - Unbelievably, I think that UNC fans are getting spoiled by how hard this guy works down low. His intensity is incredible, and he could have had 40 last night. Amazingly, he played most of the game with 1 Foul, and Duke had no answer for his intensity and strength.

With that said, why do the Heels pull him and our frontline guys out of the post so much with picks on top of the key?

I’m puzzled on that one, and that could lead me into a halfcourt rant. Hell, the Heels had Taylor King on Alex Stepheson, and that match-up didn’t even get a look…Oh, forget it.

** Gerald Henderson Jr. - That kid is a 12-15 year pro. He’s a great player.

However, the kid is a punk in a Kellen Winslow Jr. type of way.

Did anyone notice a feinted elbow at the end of the game?

Although feinted and light, they were pretty cheap and low grade. The shame is that he has a solid education behind him, and he’s a helluva talent with a great pedigree and knowledge of the game. From a amateur psyche level, I personally think he trying to prove that he’s a tough kid when he came up behind a ‘league’ Dad.

He better realize that he’s still a suburban privilege kid because someone is going to go off on him like Chris Childs did on Kobe.

** Letting Go - All that said, I’m letting this game go. My season prediction budgeted for this loss.

Also, despite the rant, the talent of Tywon Lawson covers up a lot of the deep blemishes.

I still think that we’ll win the ACC Tournament. Perennially, a team that is ranked within the Top 7 or 8 going into the ACC tourney and grabs the title will get a number one seed. I still anticipate that this team can still achieve a number one seed. I think the Heels are a far better team than anyone else with Tywon at the helm over three days in the ACC.

The saving grace is that these guys do play with intensity when they get knocked down. Coach Williams’s teams don’t dog on the floor.

Last night’s game should have been a 10-15 point loss, but they willed it out. I give kudos to that one, and Tywon should be back soon.

I’m letting this one go…Flush.

Beat Clemson,
BD