Quick Thoughts from Scrimmage

[Gio2dahouse]

Fun game and environment. The team as a whole is athletic and strong. You can tell they took the off season serious as far as increasing strength. Harpring and Akot will most likely be the leading scorers. They both missed some bunnies or they would have had 25 plus a piece. 3 key players that will determine how far we go will be Reniya Kelly playing lead guard. Offensively and defensively she is the captain. Next is Gabby White. She is a I Nivar kinda guard that is probably more athletic and stronger then Nivar. But coming off the bench she will be key. And lastly Toomey. She didn't play today but the combo of her and TQ is going to a strong combination. Excited about the season and GO HEELs!!!!

 

[HOFcoachRoy]

A deep and talented team. It’s going to be a fun season, excited to watch when everyone is playing.

 

[Gio2dahouse]

A deep and talented team. It’s going to be a fun season, excited to watch when everyone is playing.

Extremely deep!!

 

[Jriv23]

Fun game and environment. The team as a whole is athletic and strong. You can tell they took the off season serious as far as increasing strength. Harpring and Akot will most likely be the leading scorers. They both missed some bunnies or they would have had 25 plus a piece. 3 key players that will determine how far we go will be Reniya Kelly playing lead guard. Offensively and defensively she is the captain. Next is Gabby White. She is a I Nivar kinda guard that is probably more athletic and stronger then Nivar. But coming off the bench she will be key. And lastly Toomey. She didn't play today but the combo of her and TQ is going to a strong combination. Excited about the season and GO HEELs!!!!

I agree with you; however, you left out Chloe C and Sophia B. Muffet stated that Sophia's height and shooting ability at 6'2" or maybe 6'3" on the wing is going to be huge. Someone stated that Sophia looked a little bit taller than 6'2" today. Both of these players did not play.

 

[tarboy]

We need to make our layups and shoot better from the FT line. This team has great potential IMO but potential is about how good you can play not how good you did play.

Coach CB has always been a great defensive coach. I think she will get us solid on that side of the ball in a few games.

I hate we have such a demanding early schedule as it might take this team a little longer to gel.

 

[Jriv23]

We need to make our layups and shoot better from the FT line. This team has great potential IMO but potential is about how good you can play not how good you did play.

Coach CB has always been a great defensive coach. I think she will get us solid on that side of the ball in a few games.

I hate we have such a demanding early schedule as it might take this team a little longer to gel.

I agree. I thought this team would be betting at shooting FT's this season and better at making lay-ups. I hope these two things does not be a problem for us moving forward like last year. I do not understand how a team or players on a team cannot shoot FT's. It is mind boggling to me.

 

[Gio2dahouse]

I agree with you; however, you left out Chloe C and Sophia B. Muffet stated that Sophia's height and shooting ability at 6'2" or maybe 6'3" on the wing is going to be huge. Someone stated that Sophia looked a little bit taller than 6'2" today. Both of these players did not play.

Agreed but our guard room is pretty full. I just dont see where Chloe can get minutes unless she plays 3 which takes from Hull or Sophia. Def think we over recruited guard position and under recruited post. But we will see

 

[Gio2dahouse]

I agree. I thought this team would be betting at shooting FT's this season and better at making lay-ups. I hope these two things does not be a problem for us moving forward like last year. I do not understand how a team or players on a team cannot shoot FT's. It is mind boggling to me.

The layups Im not worried about. First game and getting a feel for competitive action. Ish happens. FT usually depends on who is shooting them. Our guards need to be above 78% and post players above 65% and it will work out

 

[Jriv23]

This is a concern because this was the same problems we had last year. Missing layups and FT's. Our first two games are going to be against two top ten teams. Missing layups and FT's will not cut it against these two teams; especially if you are trying to win those games.

 

[3397char]

Agreed but our guard room is pretty full. I just dont see where Chloe can get minutes unless she plays 3 which takes from Hull or Sophia. Def think we over recruited guard position and under recruited post. But we will see

we have 12-13 players who can legit contribute, By definition that means we will be 3 deep in multiple spots, 2 deep in others.

I think we focused in the portal on replacing who we lost:

Grant -> Clardy
Henderson -> Burrows
Aarnisalo -> White (plus Harpring coming in)
Harris -> Akot
Astakhova -> no real match but Bofia is also a big, and Astakhova was not in the rotation.

To you point, we did not land a true big, but that does not mean we did not try. But Akot will be our post presence.

If Bofia or Thomas show good contribution this year, then a low post was not needed.

 

[Jriv23]

Chloe will come in to relieve both RK and Kate H. I am thinking mainly for Kate at the PG position. She will definitely get some PT time. Kate is young and she will be learning on the fly. If she should get rattle when she plays against Chavez and SC the first two games then this is why and when Chloe comes in. Chloe is the relieve value to take pressure off of Kate. Kate was pressing too much in the scrimmage and this is why CB had to take her out to settle her down some.

 

[Gio2dahouse]

we have 12-13 players who can legit contribute, By definition that means we will be 3 deep in multiple spots, 2 deep in others.

I think we focused in the portal on replacing who we lost:

Grant -> Clardy
Henderson -> Burrows
Aarnisalo -> White (plus Harpring coming in)
Harris -> Akot
Astakhova -> no real match but Bofia is also a big, and Astakhova was not in the rotation.

To you point, we did not land a true big, but that does not mean we did not try. But Akot will be our post presence.

If Bofia or Thomas show good contribution this year, then a low post was not needed.

Being 12-13 deep isnt a good thing. 10 deep Max because you are not going to play 12 people. You need people to have a rhythm and learn to play with certain people especially when conference play comes along. I have faith in Bofia in time. Thomas is a great team mate, seems extremely nice. But lacks a lot to get significant minutes on an elite 8/final 4 team. IMO. Addressing the post was our biggest issue. You didnt include Kelly as far as replacement. Her injury last season allowed some that departed more minutes. But still believe we are an elite post from final 4 team

 

[Gio2dahouse]

Chloe will come in to relieve both RK and Kate H. I am thinking mainly for Kate at the PG position. She will definitely get some PT time. Kate is young and she will be learning on the fly. If she should get rattle when she plays against Chavez and SC the first two games then this is why and when Chloe comes in. Chloe is the relieve value to take pressure off of Kate. Kate was pressing too much in the scrimmage and this is why CB had to take her out to settle her down some.

True but KH still lead the team in attempts and thats not going to change. She is a scorer and personally dont see her running much PG. Her handles aren't there yet to face constant pressure. But she will put points on the board. What do you see as minutes breakdown? Everyone cant play which was the issue last season with the guards but one thing is for certain RK and Harpring will get majority of minutes at guard.

 

[Jriv23]

True but KH still lead the team in attempts and thats not going to change. She is a scorer and personally dont see her running much PG. Her handles aren't there yet to face constant pressure. But she will put points on the board. What do you see as minutes breakdown? Everyone cant play which was the issue last season with the guards but one thing is for certain RK and Harpring will get majority of minutes at guard.

I need you to go back and listen to what CB said about Chloe C. Then once you listen to her exact words, you will see that Chloe is going to play a good amount of minutes. She is not coming in to not play at all. She is a senior with plenty of experience. Go back and watch the film last year when Stanford beat us and Chloe C. was killing us in our own gym. Kate will definitely start along with RK, but Choe is a combo guard who can play both guards spots. Also, go and listen to Stanford's HC about Chloe. Once you listen to both of them then there is nothing left for me to say to you about this. I told yall the same thing about Gabby and some of yall did not listen to me, but when some of yall saw Gabby against Davidson this past Sunday, people now believe me when I said Gabby is going to get a lot of minutes.

 

[3397char]

we have 12-13 players who can legit contribute, By definition that means we will be 3 deep in multiple spots, 2 deep in others.

I think we focused in the portal on replacing who we lost:

Grant -> Clardy
Henderson -> Burrows
Aarnisalo -> White (plus Harpring coming in)
Harris -> Akot
Astakhova -> no real match but Bofia is also a big, and Astakhova was not in the rotation.

To you point, we did not land a true big, but that does not mean we did not try. But Akot will be our post presence.

If Bofia or Thomas show good contribution this year, then a low post was not needed.

Being 12-13 deep isnt a good thing. 10 deep Max because you are not going to play 12 people. You need people to have a rhythm and learn to play with certain people especially when conference play comes along. I have faith in Bofia in time. Thomas is a great team mate, seems extremely nice. But lacks a lot to get significant minutes on an elite 8/final 4 team. IMO. Addressing the post was our biggest issue. You didnt include Kelly as far as replacement. Her injury last season allowed some that departed more minutes. But still believe we are an elite post from final 4 team

I agree that a rotation (averaging at least 10 MPG) is going to refine to 10 or less.

But that does not mean having 12-13 ACC quality players is a bad thing. Play the 10 best who earn it in practice and the others can either be content in their bench role or they will move on. That is how a program like UConn or UofSc does it. it also provides immunity to illness, bad behavior, and injury

As for the post, I don't think anyone believes we would have said no to an elite Center. Who specifically in this past portal cycle do you think we could have afforded and moves the needle? I would argue there weren't many.

Crooks is 6-3 but is clearly a highly productive Center. But she reportedly cost somewhere between $500K and $1.4M. I also argued at the time she is a really poor fit for UNC as a complete absentee on defense and would slow down a team built to run (not that I would tell her no.) OK State did not just commit money. They committed to completely rebuilding their program around her playing style. They will not be able to run any of the defenses we are built on.

Beyond that next best was probably Gracie Merkle, the 6-6 C at Penn State. She could also score and rebound, but she also is a bit of a lumberer. I think it is telling she ended up at Minnesota as opposed to a more established or deep pocket program.

I think the best actual fit was probably Trygger from NCSU. I certainly would not have turned her down, but that would have been quite the coup.

Koval came up in the fall. I bet we reached out. but who knows?

I think that is it in terms of true centers who could move the needle. I would certainly not add another developmental piece on top of Thomas and Bofia. Save the money for bigger fish at other positions or later.

Everyone else is more of a shorter hybrid forward like NuNu Agara. And we probably got roughly the 5th best in the nation at that position type in Akot.

 

[Jriv23]

I agree that a rotation (averaging at least 10 MPG) is going to refine to 10 or less.

But that does not mean having 12-13 ACC quality players is a bad thing. Play the 10 best who earn it in practice and the others can either be content in their bench role or they will move on. That is how a program like UConn or UofSc does it. it also provides immunity to illness, bad behavior, and injury

As for the post, I don't think anyone believes we would have said no to an elite Center. Who specifically in this past portal cycle do you think we could have afforded and moves the needle? I would argue there weren't many.

Crooks is 6-3 but is clearly a highly productive Center. But she reportedly cost somewhere between $500K and $1.4M. I also argued at the time she is a really poor fit for UNC as a complete absentee on defense and would slow down a team built to run (not that I would tell her no.) OK State did not just commit money. They committed to completely rebuilding their program around her playing style. They will not be able to run any of the defenses we are built on.

Beyond that next best was probably Gracie Merkle, the 6-6 C at Penn State. She could also score and rebound, but she also is a bit of a lumberer. I think it is telling she ended up at Minnesota as opposed to a more established or deep pocket program.

I think the best actual fit was probably Trygger from NCSU. I certainly would not have turned her down, but that would have been quite the coup.

Koval came up in the fall. I bet we reached out. but who knows?

I think that is it in terms of true centers who could move the needle. I would certainly not add another developmental piece on top of Thomas and Bofia. Save the money for bigger fish at other positions or later.

Everyone else is more of a shorter hybrid forward like NuNu Agara. And we probably got roughly the 5th best in the nation at that position type in Akot.

I agree with you totally 3397Char. I would like to add two more points to what you said. Point number 1, Akot out played Crooks both times when they went head to head. Crooks had her worst scoring games against AKot; therefore, I think I would take Akot over Crooks every time. Secondly, CB stated she wants to go beyond the sweet 16. In order to do that, you have to have at least 10 deep. With that being said, having 12 deep is a good thing because you have to factor in injuries. If you look at the elite teams like UCONN, SC, UCLA last year. They had depth coming off of the bench. If you go back and look at our teams in the past when SH was coaching when we made the final fours and won the whole thing under SH we had depth. We were at least 10 to 12 players deep. I remember when SH and UNC beat the crap out of Geno and UCONN because SH keep rotating players in and we can constant full court pressure the entire game because of the depth that we had then.