Lawrence Jordan: Clemson punished the tentative Tar Heels last night at Little John Colesium, 83-64. No Tar Heel in the starting five scored in double digits and three starters turned the ball over 5 times apiece. Dexter Strickland led the team with 17 points, the only player to reach double figures. Boxscore.
The starters were so bad at the beginning of the second half, a relative term considering the play in the first half, that Roy Williams pulled all five starters and inserted all five freshman. While Williams had his back to the game, the freshman consistently broke the Clemson press and were actually able to reduce Clemson's lead.
So what does Roy do? Without any regard for the increased level of play currently on the floor Williams substitutes all five under-performing starters back in the game. Result: several immediate turnovers by the returning starters.
The end result was predictable after the first 9 minutes. Clemson ran away from this game in an embarrassing performance by the coach and team. Williams is determined to run his system, understandably after resulting in 2 National Championships in 5 years, but he needs to figure out a way to make the square pegs on this team fit the predetermined round holes in his game plan.
The frustration is mounting due to the fact that the same issues plague the '09-'10 Tar Heels currently that were evident at the beginning of the season. Turnovers, lack of composure, erratic shooting, and no real leadership on defense or offense were as visible in game 1 as they were in game 17. If team meetings, exhaustive practices, and traditional coaching motivators are not improving the team's overall play - might it be time to switch up the line-up?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comments: