North Carolina At Chapel Hill

@Lets_go_Duke says:

Wow JJ, you and I both know I said McCain could easily be a 1 and done before the season even started. No one was higher on McCain than me.

There are some VERY VERY clear differences between UNC and Duke as to why UNC is better. Carolina is better coached!!! I really hate to say it but it's true. Look Duke is a very good team, Scheyer does a great job developing talent, he's an incredible human being, amazing recruiter and he will develop the guys that come in next year no doubt, but it's his offensive and defensive scheme that's to blame. I will give you specific film by film breakdown of how he utilizes his players to prove it.

Jordan Mann, I know you like Jordan Sperber on Hoop Vision, Go Watch the video he did on Danny Hurley's Offense and then re-watch Duke's offense. It's quite Basic. Also, I disagree about Ryan Young giving Sean Stewart a bounce pass at 11:40 in the 2nd half. The best play would have been to throw it over the top for a Crowd-Erupting Dunk whereas a bounce pass may end up out of bounds off his knee. Either way, Ryan Young had the right idea and overall I really liked what I saw from him. The last 2 minutes of the first half he gave Duke extra possessions with OREBs, but Proctor and McCain just couldn't hit them. He also set the most effective ball screens for perimeter shooters (Go to 7:15 in 2nd Half right after the commercial break for reference – SCREEN AFTER SCREEN!!!). Jordan, isn't that why you love his Plus/Minus??? Sure he has his usual head-scratching/typical Ryan Young moments (and I can tell you at what time during the game each of them occurred), but he provided the 50-50 hustle plays that was completely absent from players like Jeremy Roach and Mark Mitchell, or how about the bad box out from Proctor that you mentioned that led to Withers scoring on an OREB in the last second of the first half? Overall though, Proctor gave great defensive intensity.

The key difference to me in this game was coaching strategies not individual players. To blame Kyle on his poor 3PT performance throughout the year is totally fair! But…. Aren't you missing the fact that THIS IS AND WAS JON SCHEYER'S OFFENSIVE STRATEGY FROM THE BEGINNING!!!!!!!! HELLO! ANYBODY HOME???? I promise I didn't mean that to be disrespectful, but rather to catch your attention and highlight a point I am going to elaborate on.

You guys are too caught up in the players and not enough on the coaching. And to be fair, Duke still had a chance to win this game and there was a lot of plays I really liked from Scheyer. Speaking of Kyle Filipowski, how about Jon Scheyer's 2nd half adjustment by feeding him the ball? It was a great adjustment! What about Jon substituting T.J. Power in for a 3PT shot with 1 minute to go??? Great decision. How about the very last play of the game???? Talk about an incredible last second, out of bounds play call….

And Jon can continue to get better, I really believe it. But it comes down to how he runs his offense and defense. Remember a recent podcast I told you SWITCHING was the biggest weakness I was noticing from Duke? Weeks before that I said Setting Tough and Effective Ball Screen Action? In the UNC-Crossover Podcast (JJ you did a great job BTW, I actually thought you would be a better analyst than the people you bring on your show lol) I told you UNC's Transition Offense needed to be a priority along with limiting TO's?

Before the first 5 minutes of the game is even over UNC scored 5 PTS on TO's (one was indirectly related to a TO as Bacot got an OREB which led to a score off a continued possession from the initial TO), 6 PTS from Transition, 4 PTS from Mismatches, and 2 PTS from Bacot in the post. There you have it, 17 Points for UNC at a blistering pace from obvious pre-game analysis.

Truth of the matter is THE VERY FIRST POSSESSION EXPAINS EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT DUKE'S DEFENSE. Let's watch together but look closely as these plays unfold quickly….

McCain points Mark off of Ingram to switch onto Cormac Ryan, Jeremy finds it more convenient to stick with Cormac Ryan and let Mark switch onto Cadeau. Cadeau brings the ball back around the wing for Ingram to go 1vs1 in a mis-match over McCain. And as much as Duke switches, the most perplexing part about all of this is that when Cadeau brings the ball over to Ingram, Mark was there guarding him – meaning Mark could have forced himself back onto Ingram and McCain onto Cadeau but this didn't happen. It's almost as if Duke wants to lose. Ingram is now matched up against McCain in which he back's him down, using his size for a turn-around 2.

But what else did UNC do to Duke in this one play (or should I say DUKE DO TO ITSELF)??? One, WHY OH WHY is Mark Mitchell guarding Elliot Cadeau????? Two, Cadeau brings Mark to the perimeter OUT OF THE BOX, Mark sags on Cadeau but you still get the point – he should be banging and rebounding with the big boys. This is partly why McCain was outrebounding Mark earlier in the season – Mark gets caught out in the perimeter with a guard (sometimes stretch 4's).

Now go to UNC's possession at 17:18. You just saw Deja-Vu with Cormac Ryan scoring in transition. Now it's Deja-Vu with Mark Mitchell getting switched onto Elliot Cadeau again. Proctor switches off Cadeau to Ingram and it doesn't make any sense… Why??? Completely unnecessary. How is Mark on Cadeau being out of the paint and around the perimeter advantageous???? Result of the play: Ingram shoots and scores over top of Proctor. HE THEN RUNS DOWN THE COURT AND TAUNTS HIM SAYING "Too Small!!!" with his hand to the floor.

Compare UNC's defense. MAN TO MAN. MINIMAL SWITCHING. Play after play their guards STICK WITH THEIR MAN AND FIGHT THROUGH SCREENS. Another bad defensive coaching decision and I get why Scheyer did it, but it's so baffling. Why are you putting Sean Stewart on Bacot??? Why not Mark Mitchell who has more size? In the NCST game Jon didn't have a choice. This game he did. Ingram also exploited Kyle when he matched Kyle at the 4. Having to get back in transition, defend Bacot bodying you 1v1 in the post, now try to guard a stretch 4??? Not enough energy.

Go to 16:36 in the 2nd Half where Duke quickly comes up court after a UNC miss. You will need to pause the game and go slowly to understand my point of emphasis here. When Roach drives to the basket, Mark Mitchell should NOT BE HIDING IN THE CORNER. All year long we have seen this over and over again. You are not implementing a spread offense if the defense doesn't care about defending you!!! Spacing Mark Mitchell in the corner or on the perimeter anywhere makes Duke play 4vs5 rather than 5v5. Space Mark AND KYLE (when Kyle isn't effective from 3) now your essentially playing 3v5, good luck getting a rebound on that packed paint!

Now watch the play unfold…. Roach drives to the basket. McCain converging to the corner to create space for a potential kick out. RIGHT THERE and as soon as Jeremy gives the appearance he's going to drive the lane, Mark should be in the act of setting a screen on Cormac Ryan so McCain can be open for a kick out 3. In fact, Mark should be screening relentlessly on offensive possessions to help exploit Duke's perimeter shooting rather than hindering the offense by standing around doing nothing. Don't Blame Mark, Blame Coaching strategy.

Fast forward to 15:51 in the 2nd half. Here is another example where once again Mark is just standing around adding no benefit to the offense and finds himself in the corner as the play unfolds. He could have set multiple screens in this offensive possession to help alleviate the guards who are working tirelessly to create space (which has been all game long). The most obvious screen could have been at 15:41 where McCain is fighting/running around a screen set by Kyle and Proctor is moving near the top of the key for a bail out option. Right there you see RJ Davis whose guarding Proctor close down the space, but having awareness of the situation, Mark could have set a screen on RJ that could have created an open 3PA for Proctor. He could have also followed it up by setting another screen on Elliot Cadeau who was sagging off Roach in case RJ closed the space on Proctor and Jeremy had a better shot.

To me, this is why implementing the horns offense adds more complexity and exploits your biggest strength (perimeter shooting). I'm not saying Jon HAS TO run horns, but he's awfully familiar with horns. Furthermore, if Mark is not going to be a difference maker offensively by getting to the rim, he has to be a deference maker when he's playing away from the rim and off the ball. Again, go to 13:17 in the 2nd Half where Duke desperately needs a score down by 9 (54-45). Mitchell does an excellent job securing the OREB from Kyle's missed 3PA. After that, Mitchell is hiding in the corners once again!!! The 2nd chance opportunity ends with a fade away shot from Kyle with 3 UNC defenders in the post which was AN UNDERLYING THEME (Go to 9:36 in the 1st Half, after a bad ball screen from Mitchell for TJ Power, you will hear the announcer say "Roach driving into a trio of defenders." Terrible play by Roach, but once again, more cause and effect). This isn't solely on Mark, but clearly everyone can see that this is an offense that needs a better strategy.

If you skip through the commercial, Cooper Flagg on the sidelines, and Kyle's FT's to the very next offensive UNC possession (15:31 second half), once again you will see Mark not run with Withers to the post, switching onto Cormac Ryan on the top of the key. Bacot scores inside anyway, but if Bacot misses Withers still had McCain bullied in the post for an easy put-back dunk because Mark didn't stay with the more important match-up. Repetitive right? Duke can get away with this against a lot of teams, but not teams fighting for a Final 4.

@justentime4U says:

From a Die hard Dukie, I borderline hate Carolina #GTHC…but they have played better than us both games plain and simple. Let’s just be honest, We gotta be tougher from the jump in big games. ITS MARCH!!!

@johncramer1783 says:

Flip flop is a punk cry baby always doing shit then faking a injury dude if soft as drug store cotton !!!!

@gregoryjohnson9508 says:

Maybe Carolina’s defense caused Duke to press .

@gregoryjohnson9508 says:

Carolina doesn’t totally rely on one player to win . The hot hand gets the shots . Nobody trying to prove they’re a lottery pick .

@iggynotpop4138 says:

1. Of course Dookie V promotes this show.
2. Should've been a blow out. Refs kept tripowski in it after 9 fouls. Gave EC the 2 when it was clearly a 3.
3. Tripowski clearly tripped Ingrim. Then faked another injury then lied again about his not knowing where he was. Ref Teddy V denied seeing it then went over to counsel Trip.
4. In spite of all this and more UNC dominated both games leading for 77 + minutes and losing for 16 seconds for both games.
5. Finally I'm not in support of the UNC players not shaking hands going directly over to the fans. Getting water slung on them by the fans is the least that could've happened. Hubert should have dragged them away by their ears.

@fleurybreedin3682 says:

You don’t think Harrison Ingram played well? Oh that’s rights not good to bring him up since Flip tripped him.

@jasonallred244 says:

DUKE HAS NO INTERIOR DEFENSE. AT ALL. GO DOWN HILL ON THEM AND YOU BEAT THEM. Done less with more for a decade. I feel a mercer defeat in dukes future.