UNC overrated??

[Wannabe Actuary]

UNC men's basketball had a 20-9 lead at one point in the first half. They let Santa Clara come back and take a 29-26 half-time lead.

Granted, the game is far from over, but a number 3 (USA Today/ESPN) or 4 (AP) ranked team can't give a run like that up to Santa Clara!

Anyone else think UNC is overrated like I do?

Can you say Roy Williams gets to continue his 'best coach without a title' designation?

[Wannabe Actuary]

Ok, so the game is over, granted it's only one game, but they plain old got smoked by Santa Clara.

Last time Santa Clara knocked off a ranked opponent was during the Steve Nash era of 1996.

77-66 the final, UNC goes down.

[Hagbard Celine]

Eh.

Every team has a bad game now and then. Remember when UConn got SMOKED by St. Boneventure? Did that make them overrated? Maybe in the eyes of the rest of America, but never in my eyes.

Don't put too much credence in one game. They're still a team to be reckoned with. I can't wait 'til they come to Hartford (I have season tickets to the Civic Center)!

[Wannabe Actuary]

Originally Posted by Hagbard Celine

Eh.

Every team has a bad game now and then. Remember when UConn got SMOKED by St. Boneventure? Did that make them overrated? Maybe in the eyes of the rest of America, but never in my eyes.

Don't put too much credence in one game. They're still a team to be reckoned with. I can't wait 'til they come to Hartford (I have season tickets to the Civic Center)!

I thought UNC was overrated to begin with, this game was just a confirmation of it.

The Bonnies beating UConn hurt, I'm a UConn grad, but to me it was more of a wake up call.

UNC was picked by 3 of the 5 CNN Sports Illustrated writers as their 'flop' prediction.

I think they get too much credit for returning their starters. The talent is there, the experience is there, but they're lacking winning experience.

Like I said, it's only one game.

I'm jealous that you have tix for the HCC, I loved going to the games at Gampel and occassionally the HCC when I was a student (graduated this past May - yes, campus was nuts in April). Now I live in Penn, so I'll miss most of the games, <sigh>

[quentin cassidy]

Kansas almost lost to Vermont too.

'Cuse sure looks good though (beating 2 ranked opponents by double digits in the Coaches vs Cancer). With 4 players from the national championship team still around, this team shows so much composure, it's just a joy to watch them. Both games were close for about 25-30 minutes, but Warrick, Pace and McNamara keyed second half runs in both games that turned these into relatively easy wins.

Remember this name: Rodney Carney on Memphis. Never heard of him before tonight, but he was spectacular.

[Wonder Boy]

UNC may or may not be overrated, we'll know in a few weeks, but it's fairly important to note that Raymond Felton did not play in this game.

he was suspended for one game:

Felton played one game in the Chavis League, a summer basketball circuit in Raleigh. Felton thought the league was certified as in past years, but the NCAA had not certified it, according to the school.

[Purple Monkey Dishwasher]

Originally Posted by Wonder Boy

UNC may or may not be overrated, we'll know in a few weeks, but it's fairly important to note that Raymond Felton did not play in this game.

he was suspended for one game:

This is an important point, but in Wannabe's defense, my guess is that he didn't know enough about Carolina's team to recognize this fact.

As far as whether UNC is overrated at #3, time will tell. Since wannabe didn't provide any actual reasons for questioning their ranking (except that he read that someone else said it), here are some factors voters probably considered in ranking them this high:

1) They returned all 5 starters. Also, a bunch of their players transferred 2 years ago, leaving them with a very young team the last 2 years as well as a new coach last year. So, this is their first year in a while they will have significant experience and any type of continuity in their program.

2) Two of their biggest weaknesses from last year were defense and lack of depth in the middle. Sean May's conditioning has been suspect in the past and they haven't had a lot of interior support when he's out of the game. Marvin Williams supposedly could have been a 1st rounder in the draft last year, so the voters probably suspect he will contribute in the middle this year. The quality of their defense is still up in the air.

3) In McCants, Felton, and May, they have 3 potential all-americans.

[Wannabe Actuary]

Originally Posted by Purple Monkey Dishwasher

This is an important point, but in Wannabe's defense, my guess is that he didn't know enough about Carolina's team to recognize this fact.

As far as whether UNC is overrated at #3, time will tell. Since wannabe didn't provide any actual reasons for questioning their ranking (except that he read that someone else said it), here are some factors voters probably considered in ranking them this high:

1) They returned all 5 starters. Also, a bunch of their players transferred 2 years ago, leaving them with a very young team the last 2 years as well as a new coach last year. So, this is their first year in a while they will have significant experience and any type of continuity in their program.

2) Two of their biggest weaknesses from last year were defense and lack of depth in the middle. Sean May's conditioning has been suspect in the past and they haven't had a lot of interior support when he's out of the game. Marvin Williams supposedly could have been a 1st rounder in the draft last year, so the voters probably suspect he will contribute in the middle this year. The quality of their defense is still up in the air.

3) In McCants, Felton, and May, they have 3 potential all-americans.

I did in fact know that Felton wasn't playing, I didn't know why he was suspended, but I knew he was since I WATCHED the game on the channel InHD.

As you noted, I did read that others felt they are overrated. But my reasoning is that they haven't proven anything (either sweet 16 or elight 8 last year, I can't recall), and right now all they are is potential. As I previously said, they have experience, but not winning experience.

Returning all 5 starters from a team means nothing unless the players won something.

If you look back in the sports threads about last years NCAA tournament, you'll find threads where I talk about UNC being overrated because they aren't a deep team, and anyone can beat them if they get in foul trouble, which May usually does. He didn't this game, but Felton was out. So what it shows is that with one player gone, they aren't nearly as strong. Last year, UConn played a handful of games without Okafor because of his back, and they still won. So if UNC loses a player to injury or suspension, or foul trouble, they drop in ability too much to be rated #3.

So in my opinion, they are overrated. You need more than 5 players.

[Wannabe Actuary]

Also, I don't appreciate being told I don't know what I'm talking about.

College Basketball is one thing I absolutely love to watch and follow. Next time, find out more info on where I'm coming from before you tell me I don't know enough about a team to know they're #1 player was suspended.

To add more information to my previous post....Okafor sat out three games last year, Quinnipiac, Notre Dame, and Villanova....the team won all three of those games.

And Notre Dame was one of the teams that beat them last year (they lost to 6 different teams - G. Tech, @UNC, Providence, @Notre Dame, @ Pitt, @ Syracuse)

[Purple Monkey Dishwasher]

Originally Posted by Wannabe Actuary

Also, I don't appreciate being told I don't know what I'm talking about.

College Basketball is one thing I absolutely love to watch and follow. Next time, find out more info on where I'm coming from before you tell me I don't know enough about a team to know they're #1 player was suspended.

You started a thread and made three posts without a single reason you felt they were overrated except that they hadn't won anything and someone else said they were overrated. If you want to prove you know what you are talking about, bring something stronger than nothing next time.