Tar Heels fine-tuning a new offense?
Posted: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 8:37 PM
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ACC
The last time North Carolina won an NCAA title and lost most of its players, it needed Tyler Hansbrough to do the yeoman’s work to ensure it remained among the NCAA’s elite.
This time, the Heels are trying something different.
Gerry Broome/AP |
Don't expect North Carolina to just dump the ball to Deon Thompson in the low post this season.
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Tar Heel Fan has extensive details from an observer who watched them practice at length a few weeks ago – length being the key word. Unlike the 2005-06 season, UNC is loaded with tall, athletic players. Shooting could be an issue, but rebounding and defense won’t be mostly because of fleet forwards like Ed Davis, Deon Thompson, Tyler Zeller and freshman John Henson.
And Roy Williams is going to put those forwards to use in a revamped offense. The days of dumping the ball into Hansbrough are over. These guys are going to run.
Roy and his staff figure the best way to do that is to play to the strength of its post players. Without question, the greatest strength of this group is their ability to handle the basketball. So, when you have good ball-handling post guys what do you do? You let them handle the ball. And that’s exactly what Roy is going to do with the new offense. Instead of trying to slam the ball in to the post to players that aren’t able to finish with defenders draped all over them, he’s going to bring those big guys out away from the basket. In the new offense – which is still driven by Carolina ’s age-old motion offense principles – the post guys will start at the foul line extended. The three perimeter players will be in roughly the same places they have been. The goal is to open up the lane to allow cutters and drivers. This should create fantastic passing opportunities for UNC’s big folks.
There’s much, much more on Tar Heel Fan and here (including early player analysis), but that’s the juicy stuff. Provided those guys can hit mid-range jumpers – Thompson’s specialty – it’s going to be a an offense that spreads out defenses and lets those big guys and point guard Larry Drew penetrate, kick and shoot.
They won’t be shooting 3-pointers, though. UNC doesn’t have any reliable long-range options, which leads me to believe teams will use lots of zone and collapse on any Tar Heel occupying the lane or low post. That can be solved with quick passing, but it’ll be an issue at the start of the season. After all, don’t expect UNC to be proficient in the new offense right away.
But it’s an exciting prospect to see Williams’ teams possibly get even more wide-open and up-tempo. They’ll still run the secondary break – always a headache for opponents because it’s so hard to keep in check – and are supposed to be great on defense. (You know, because of all those tall, speedy forwards? Though I suppose having a healthy Marcus Ginyard helps, too.)
Will it work? Get the Heels back to the Final Four? Who knows? I’m just excited to see in action.
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