UNC thread

I like this team.

 

friggin all business 3 game road trip, fun having a team full of dogs

 

he's so damn good at putting those little touches on his passes and it makes me cream

 

not gonna lie, this makes me happy, it's been a while



you gotta think Cormac finds his rhythm at some point, and Elliot's only gonna continue finding ways to affect the game despite his shot

strong proof of concept Hubert

 

can see the english Cadeau puts on that pass here

 

this is how you make a Corey Alexander broadcast palatable

 

…it feels good to watch actual Carolina basketball again.

 

some really sexy ball movement today

 

Cuse desperately staying in this zone they apparently haven't worked much on is hilarious, guess we should've seen this coming when UVA of all teams dropped 80+ on them

 

feels like Jalen hasn't missed one of those 10 foot baseline pull ups all year

 

I blew it

 

will be a travesty if biscuits aren't acquired

 

sense a little frustration in Ted over only being able to make suggestions last year

anyway, it all sounds nice, there's still enough untapped talent to have some hope for a respectable defense, for once, please for the love of god

 

good read about Marcus in his new role with some Cadeau insight

Spoiler

About halfway through his first season on North Carolina’s coaching staff, Marcus Paige already has provided a unique perspective for the Tar Heels.

An All-ACC guard who quarterbacked UNC during his playing days, Paige is Carolina’s director of team and player development. That’s the position on coach Hubert Davis’ staff formerly held by Jackie Manuel, before he took an assistant coaching job at American.

“In the past, this role has sort of been almost more focused on off-the-court things,” Paige said Monday night, while filling in on Davis’ weekly radio show. “But the rules shifted a little bit over the summer that allowed myself and Coach (Pat) Sullivan to take a more if a bigger on-court role. I’ve been able to actually do a lot more stuff on the court. The main thing I do in my day-to-day is film and teaching, so I cut the film from the practices and the games to show the guys individually.”

Davis missed Monday night’s show due to travel-related conflicts. After the Tar Heels blasted Syracuse on Saturday, Davis went recruiting in Springfield, Mass., at the Hoophall Classic event.

When asked what he likes about his new coaching role, Paige simply replied “everything.” He added that he has had to adapt to the many adjustments that come with being on the coaching end of basketball. After four standout seasons at Carolina from 2012-16, Paige played professionally for seven years. He spent two seasons in the NBA’s Development League (now known as the G-League), and played overseas in Serbia, France and Spain.

“I thought I spent a ton of time on my game and on prep work and being ready to go as a player,” Paige said. “And then I get to this side and it’s like, I feel like I’m working like 20-hour days.

“I also like learning how to help guys get better, pouring a lot of my time into watching somebody’s individual film. Like if it’s RJ (Davis), watching every single pick-and-roll he’s coming off. Left, right, against aggressive defense, against drop coverage, so that I can help him maybe with one or two possessions. Help him read something and that can win us a game. Just the little details.”

Paige’s in-game role also has increased during the season. During UNC’s trip to the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis, Paige said he proposed a potential move up Carolina’s bench to Hubert Davis. The move was approved by Davis and put into place during the early season tournament. After the Tar Heels beat Arkansas there in the Battle 4 Atlantis third-place game, UNC forward Harrison Ingram said that Paige’s pointers while using an iPad for instruction on the bench helped him dish out six assists (still a season high for Ingram).

At first, the shift felt a “little bit like musical chairs,” with Paige noting he struggled to pick out the best times to talk with players. But over the past few weeks, Paige said he’s getting used to his new seat, pointing out that he has settled in two chairs over from assistant coach Jeff Lebo, which provides a space on the Carolina bench for a player to sit between the two coaches.

Of all the players on this season’s roster, Paige particularly pointed out his relationship with freshman guard Elliot Cadeau. Amid UNC’s six-game winning streak, the Tar Heels have cranked up things defensively, holding six straight opponents under 70 points and the last five opponents below 40-percent shooting from the field.

Cadeau’s defensive improvements have stood out, as the former five-star recruiting prospect has avoided picking up unnecessary fouls. After committing 30 fouls across UNC’s first 13 games, and fouling out of twice, Cadeau has been whistled for just four fouls in the last three games.

“One thing I challenged him, or the staff especially challenged him, early on was (for him) to raise his level defensively,” Paige said. “Because when you’re the best player on your high school team, you might take a play or two off. Earlier in the year, I don’t think he quite understood the level of engagement it takes defensively. In the last three or four games, he’s been awesome on defense and that’s one thing that he’s grown a lot with.”

Cadeau also has found ways to become more of a threat on offense. In UNC’s win last week at rival NC State, Cadeau reached double-digit scoring for the third time this season, finishing with 11 points. He added a game-high six assists and performed assertively in the open court, something Paige said he discussed with the young point guard prior to that defeat of the Wolfpack.

“One interesting thing before the NC State game, Coach Davis kind of met with me and we were trying to figure out ways to kind of get him going,” Paige said. “And (Davis) was like, ‘can you make a playlist, make a tape of all the point guards that Coach (Roy Williams) had. You, Coby (White), Cole (Anthony), Joel (Berry), and just show you guys attacking in secondary break to give him an idea of what I want from him.’ … It was very Coby White-centered because I think they have similar burst in their ability to just like hit that gear that very few people have. And (Cadeau) said it helped him a lot to kind of understand that we want him to attack. We want him to turn secondary break into primary and to be aggressive, because we trust him to make good decisions.”

Similar to Cadeau, the lefty Paige was a starting guard at UNC as a freshman, when he effectively took the reins after Kendall Marshall’s departure for the NBA. That freshman season proved to be a work in progress, and Paige averaged 8.2 points per game and handed out 4.6 assists. Through 16 games this season, Cadeau is contributing 7 points per game on 45.5-percent shooting from the field, while supplying 3.5 assists per game.

“There wasn’t really someone in this sort of role when I was here as a freshman,” Paige said. “I’m just trying to be someone who’s a little bit closer to being a player, to kind of bridge the gap being a younger coach. To where like, I worked out with (Cadeau) this summer, and I’m on the court with him. So we kind of, we have a different type of relationship. He’s always asking me to work out, he’s always asking me to watch film. So just to be there to support him and give him confidence, because he is someone that when it clicks for him, he’s going to be fantastic.”

 

espn get your shit together

 

that smile was awesome

"didn't know I had that did ya"

 

gimme one more Cormac 3 before the half

 

ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

 

I know this UL team sucks but this is what I want to see from a UNC team. Fun game.

 

We’ve got two 11th year seniors with Bacot and Ryan, a great real senior with RJ and NBA talent who is actually living up to it with Cadeau. Fun time to be a fan.

 

you guys said it, I'm just happy to actually enjoy watching Carolina basketball again, I'll probably get a bit more intense about this when Duke comes around

 

we ruined it