John Wall

[Biggin]

You gotta remember, this team starts 3 frosh, and its still really early.

by the end of the season, the kids should be used to playing big time ball and perform better at teh end.

and its not like UNC is a scrub team, they have tons of talent.

[CP7]

Dude if you read the OP you would see that I said "in the first 7 minutes" not the whole game.

UNC jumped out to a 9-2 lead, then Wall basically took over and UK went on a something like a 20-2 run and lead at the half by 15 or so.

Early in the second half Wall left the court with cramps and had to go back for an IV. That is the only reason UNC made it a game. Props to UNC for fighting back though.

The reason I'm so impressed with Wall is because he has played 8 games and he is the clear leader of this team, and it was very apparent during his absence.

[CP7]

A few quotes from Roy Williams after the game and one from Larry Drew II.

Roy Williams:

"In Roy Williams' coaching time, he's the best point guard out of high school since Jason Kidd," said North Carolina's Roy Williams,

"I recruited Jason Kidd after the '91 Final Four, so that's [18-19 years]," Williams said. "He's 6-4, he's got blazing speed and he's going to be a vicious defender. He will start stealing the ball two or three times a game. His biggest weakness is his outside shot. What's the easiest thing to change? Your outside shot."

"He's so athletic," Williams said. "I just think he has a sense of when to push it and he thinks like a point guard. He knows when to slow it down, to get them into a set. He's the best point guard since Jason."

Larry Drew II:

"He's so good in the open court," Drew II said. "He can do just about anything he wants in the open court. Our game plan was to build a wall around him once he got the ball, but he got out in the open court and got a lot of fast-break points going one-on-one. He's hard to stop when it's you and him in the open court."

Andy Katz: John Wall shines in first big test - ESPN

[gcdevil22]

John Wall is easily the most talented PG in the nation right now. He may very well be the #1 pick in next year's draft (Nets?).

I haven't seen anyone with the size, speed and body control like John Wall. Derrick Rose had the size and the speed, but Wall's body control in unmatched.

With that said, here's why UK won't be in the Final Four. UK is really young and it's easy for them to get hyped about playing UNC, but how about a first or second round team in March? They've shown early that they can let teams stay in the game...they just haven't played anyone who could make them pay for it.

You even saw some of it today, they go on a 26-2 run and then jack up some bad shots and turn the ball over 9 times in 12 minutes and allow UNC back in the game, UNC was just too far behind. On a neutral floor, I can't say that I'm certain UK would have even won the game, though they were clearly the better team.

Don't take this as an ACC homer, because I don't think UNC is even an Elite 8 type of team. They're also young and forced WAY too much early.


As a side note, I was pretty disappointed in the adjustments (or lackthereof) to Calipari's dribble drive motion...if you're going to defend someone like Wall and Bledsoe in the DDM, you HAVE to go under all ball screens and have the screen defender flatten and get his teammate through...if you get caught on a ballscreen in the DDM, the ballhandler is running downhill with numbers in what is essentially a fast break...UK got a bunch of 3's during their run early in the game because of this. UNC switched and went to a zone, but that's only going to patch the problem and not cure it

on the other hand UK had a great gameplan against UNC that I think you'll see a lot of teams use from here on out. UK dug down and sunk ballside help defenders on UNC's post to negate their obvious strength on the inside. Every time Ed Davis, Deon Thompson or John Henson got it inside there were at least 2 defenders digging at the ball forcing UNC to kick it out....UNC was impatient and started to jack up contested jumpers due to a lack of an inside game and it made them fall deeper in the hole...Zeller did a good job in the second half of making his move early and quick before secondary defenders got to him and it caused UK to slowly start playing out of position away from the ball, which freed up some shooters and cuts down the lane

I'll quit there, I could talk for hours about it...but it was an excellent game to watch...only one I'd like to break down more would be UK-Kansas

[Biggin]

The Nets will probably end up with the #1 pick, but do you really think they will take a PG?
That is maybe the only position they are really set on.

I could see them trading the #1 for a top 5 pick and another player.

[MikMo]

John Wall's game against NC was clearly a tale of two halves. He was clearly not as effective after he came back from the cramps. Now Eric Bledsoe's only saving grace was his ability to hit his free throws down the stretch. Before that, he was going to the basket out of control....he also missed a wide open path to the basket late in the game. They have another big test coming up tomorrow on the neutral floor, UConn.

[CoeburnCane]

UK doesn't bother that much, the constant talk about Wall and Calipari is what is annoying.

OH PUHLEAZE!!!!

This coming from the guy who worshipped Hansblow & Roy-Boy as much as UF fans worship Sperman Cryer & Timmay! Tebag. Gimme a break.

We put up with you singing the praises of Hansblow since you joined this board, you can deal with one year of people saying Wall's a **** good player, especially since it's more true for him than Hansblow. I'd wager a pretty penny that Wall will not only get drafted higher next year than Hansblow did (13th), but that he'll start almost immediately and have a better NBA career than the blinkless dog-rescuing anointed one.

You're bitter b/c UNC dropped that game, and your response is to deny that a dude as talented as Wall has some major ability and talent? You're nuts and in denial.

[burton2019]

lmao at all your unc hate

[R13]

Hansborough performed, all-time leading scorer of the ACC and a title. And Roy isn't up for debate, you really comparing him to Calipari? The guy that has done nothing but get his appearances taken away. Thing is, both Hansborough and Roy could be praised last year and lived up to everything that they were supposed to...on the other hand, Calipari had done nothing and Wall hadn't played one minute in a game, but both were being crowned as some kind of all-time greats or something. Yeah, really, give me a break. I'm not too fond of 1 and done players, well not as much as the ones who get so high on them when they are using their team as a place to practice because of the rule.


Here's the NBA argument, waiting for it. I don't care if Hansborough got drafted dead-last last draft, unless he's going to the Suns, I don't care the least bit. I'm not a Pacers fan, not a Nuggets fan with Lawson either, I don't care and it has nothing to do with college ball right now. If he does #1, good for him, hand-clap for Wall. It's what (insert player) is doing for UNC RIGHT NOW and what (insert player) is doing for the Suns RIGHT NOW....I don't give two ****s what Hansborough is doing for the Pacers, what Ed Davis and Deon Thompson or any UNC player does in the NBA unless they go to my team in the NBA.


Where did I deny him? What did I say about his abilities? I talked about what happened in that game, which every single bit of it was true, what part wasn't? I'd talk about bitter, with the Hansborough rant, guess it's because he went 4-0 at Cameron.

[Dr. Goochie]

Some talk about UNC being young this year. Well ,the top 7 in minutes played were:
Ginyard RS SR 37 min.; Davis SO 34 min.; DrewII SO 25 min.; Thompson SR 24 min.; Graves RS JR 20 min.; Strickland FR 16 min.; Zeller SO 14 min.

UK had 3 FR, 1 SO, and a JR playing the dominant minutes with a SR Harris, FR Orton, and a SO Dodson getting the next most minutes.

UNC doesn't look like an inexperienced team to me. Less talented maybe, but not less experienced.