2013-2014 Observation Deck

[TheSilentKiller]

Ohio State vs. MSU right now for anyone interested in a good game. Right now a GREAT game.

Really fun game. Good win for sparty.

[Burgz V2]

Really fun game. Good win for sparty.

Yea it definitely was. Second half was crazy so many big runs for both teams. Still, very disappointed in my Spartans. Made it closer than it needed to be with TOs. Izzo's post game interview was priceless "Payne played like a man, others...they played like little boys" Obviously referring to Valentine

[IGotACoolStory]

Yep, this UNC team is bad. That's why I wasn't sure we would still make the NCAA Tournament after the MSU win. UK game fooled me.

McDonald should have left with PJ. He gives us nothing other than perimeter shooting. Who cares if you can shoot a 3 at ~35% when you can't do anything else.

Posting this with a minute left and maybe they make a miraculous comeback. Even then it would be fool's gold.

[KG215]

Yep, this UNC team is bad. That's why I wasn't sure we would still make the NCAA Tournament after the MSU win. UK game fooled me.

McDonald should have left with PJ. He gives us nothing other than perimeter shooting. Who cares if you can shoot a 3 at ~35% when you can't do anything else.

Posting this with a minute left and maybe they make a miraculous comeback. Even then it would be fool's gold.

Same here. Might not even be a 1-seed NIT caliber team, either. Gonna be a long, long year. Such an underwhelmingly untalented team (by UNC standards) and a team with an embarrassingly little amount of basketball skill.

[Jailblazers7]

Don't want to get my hopes up but I feel like Pitt could have a decent chance at winning the ACC depending on if we can sneak past Cuse, who we normally play well against because Dixon prepares well for the zone. That will be the measuring stick game @ Cuse on Jan 18.

UNC is having a bad year and we play Duke at home who isn't a great team. The rest of the ACC is a wide open field and we have one of the most well-rounded rosters from top to bottom. Patterson is having a phenomenal year as well.

We really should have beat Cincy. Terrible shooting game and Patterson just straight up choked at the end of that game. I'd rather get that game out of the way against an old Big East opponent in a non-conference game tho. We have been playing pretty damn well since that game.

Then again, there will probably be 2-3 losses that I'm not accounting for on our schedule simply because Pitt will be Pitt for a game or two and play like dog shit.

[Rose]

Memphis looking surprisingly well, props to Pastner for stepping his coaching game up this year.

he also just fired his brother in law

[Goliath Uterus]

^^ lol, Pastner a cold mf.


Selden finally had a good game, KU gonna need him in conference and tourney.


Wiggins still looking shaky tho, he's in a hurry to do everything and isn't sure of himself. it's crazy how dissapointed I am by a freshman getting 15, 5, 1, but he could be doing so much better.

[Burgz V2]

Memphis looking surprisingly well, props to Pastner for stepping his coaching game up this year.

he also just fired his brother in law

wow, reverse nepotism i guess.

[KG215]

^^ lol, Pastner a cold mf.


Selden finally had a good game, KU gonna need him in conference and tourney.


Wiggins still looking shaky tho, he's in a hurry to do everything and isn't sure of himself. it's crazy how dissapointed I am by a freshman getting 15, 5, 1, but he could be doing so much better.

Right now his numbers are almost identical to freshman Harrison Barnes who people blasted for being a huge bust and, as a result, blasted Roy for stunting his growth and whatnot. Granted, Barnes' numbers were worse at this point of his freshman season, and he raised them with a really good second half of the season.

[chips93]

how is schoolboy q and tde comparable to cj fair and syracuse? q is the second or third best on tde, with kendrick being hands down, number one, while cj is arguably syracuse's best player

really forced analogy

[KG215]

It's mind boggling how unskilled and undisciplined this UNC team is. Not to mention the collective basketball IQ is embarrassingly low. To be fair, though, if Reggie Bullock hadn't got a girl pregnant and if P.J. Hairston wasn't a colossal dumbass, UNC would have two great shooters right now that would actually make this team pretty damn good.

Got off to a good start today, up 15-9, but have been outscored 23-3 since.

[kNicKz]

UNC is frustrating to watch

UConn is keeping me up at night as well

[KG215]

Wow...UNC scores 45 points and that's only because Syracuse just quit trying in the final 90 seconds and let us have a few wide-open shots. Still, 45 points has to be the fewest or closest to the fewest points UNC has scored in the UNC era.

[IGOTGAME]

just turned on the game @ work and saw Embiid was ejected. Saw one highlight and it didnt look intentional, was it really that bad?

[IGotACoolStory]

This is recruiting catching up. That 2009 class killed us.

Henson was great. Other than that?

Strickland never developed like most thought he would (you could argue he was holding the team back when Bullock should have been starting from 2011 on). He was far from the biggest problem, though.

McDonald hasn't developed into anything more than a decent 7th man. Then add his NCAA trouble, consistent academic problems, injuries, and we are getting 5 years out of this guy. Would have been better if he was never redshirted. 4 year Leslie probably leads to an offer to Anton Gill, and he would have been ours. Possibly it sways the tables with Koenig. Maybe it forces Roy's hand because of the lack of perimeter depth and he offers Forte, which would have lead to Marcus Smart. The latter is a reach, but I would take it any of those scenarios over McDonald right now.

And then the Wear twins. Completely ruined our frontcourt depth chart. Their transfers and timing screwed us out of getting any 2010 post players. Everyone was already signed and it's near impossible for JuCo players to qualify at UNC. Thankfully we got Knox as a stopgap, or there would have been zero post bench players in 2011.

Which naturally forced Roy to be late on the 2011 post recruits. Had a chance with Cody Zeller and Angelo Chol. Had to settle for Desmond Hubert.

So between their transferring and them screwing us over for two classes afterwards, that's essentially 3 years of recruiting with only one legitimately talented post recruit: James McAdoo. Should have had junior and senior Wear twins on the roster during those times.

To make matters worse, Roy couldn't land post players in 2012 either. Missed on his top post target in Cameron Ridley and then goes in late on Tarczewski and McGary. Misses on Woodbury and only then that forces him to offer Joel James. Misses on Alex Murphy, Rosco Allen, and then lands Brice Johnson (scholarship was between him or TJ Warren). I will never understand what happened in the recruiting that year. You can say playing time with Zeller and Henson staying a little longer than many expected, but that was a senior Zeller and junior Henson (everyone had to expect he would very likely leave, based on his improvement, team hype, and his surging end to his sophomore year). Not that it matters. Tarc, McGary, Woodbury, Ridley... All of them came off the bench for most of, if not all, of their freshman year anyway.

McAdoo, around fifth option PF, around fifth option center, and a bunch of walk-on talents (Hubert and Simmons). That was our post recruiting for 4 consecutive years. For a team that heavily relies on big men.

Then I'll even add the miss on Julius Randle. Only remember Shabazz being a clear #1 target and Roy still missing. That was Roy backing out of the recruitment, too.

For whatever the reason, post recruiting hasn't been kind lately. This most recent year wasn't too bad. Hicks was a top target and Meeks isn't a terrible backup plan. Still lacking the immediate contributor like this roster needed.


As far as the lack of wing talent? I attribute that to the 2009 class (Leslie) and PJ screwing us over. I don't believe Roy did so and it would have been extremely irresponsible to expect a consensus top 15, 6-7, SG to stay 4 years in college.

Some combination of PJ, McDonald, Tokoto, and Paige would have been more than good enough to get through the season. Particularly with Tokoto's improvement.


Ugh. I'm counting down until the 2015 season begins. Lowering needs to keep the Clemson streak alive and don't get swept by dook. I think it's too much to ask for a NCAA Tournament from this team.