Is Larry Drew ready - and seasoned enough - to run Roy Williams' Carolina offense?
Though inexperienced in the back court, can Carolina's long and talented front line replace the scoring provided by Tyler Hansbrough, Wayne Ellington, Ty Lawson, and Danny Green?
Can Dean Thompson and Marcus Ginyard lead a young team the way David Noel and Tyler Hansbrough did in 2006?
The clear answers, writ large tonight in another embarrassing home loss this time to FSU, are no, no and no. That's been evident all season, at least this calendar year, but it saddens nonetheless.
Against FSU tonight Larry Drew looked clueless, seemingly unaware that his number one job is to push the ball up court and get the ball down low. But in addition to initiating Carolina's offense, a Tar Heel point guard is supposed to disrupt the other team's offense. Drew was horrible at both tonight (as was his back up, Dexter 'Sloppy' Strickland).
Our most reliable low-post scorer, Dean Thompson, barely touched the ball and ended up only taking 6 shots. Deon should assert himself more, so it's not completely Drew's fault. But after almost a full season at the point he still seems incapable of regularly initiating Carolina's offense.
Carolina's injury-depleted front court was overmatched by a more physical opponent again tonight. In the first half Drew did feed the post a bit, but mainly to John Henson and Tyler Zeller. Unfortunately, Henson was routinely manhandled by the Seminoles front line and Zeller must have run out of gas as he played limited minutes in the second half. Without Ed Davis, our most talented player hands down, and the Wear brothers our front court is literally thin - and thin.
I thought he would, but Deon has not established himself as the go-to player for the Heels this season. And Ginyard seems to lack the talent - perhaps due to his multiple injuries - to lead this team. Our two senior leaders have struggled to lead this team ever since the loss to Texas in Cowboys Stadium.
No, no, no.
To make matters worse, with the exception of Will Graves and Zeller the Heels played as if they were going through the motions tonight. Most of the team acted as if the season was already over despite the fact that winning four in a row, though improbable, could have gotten the Heels to 7-9 and probably into the NCAA tournament. Winning against FSU would have meant the team still had some fight left, perhaps enough to run the table - again improbable - at the ACC tournament. Or at least stay out of a last-place tie with NC State.
The lack of effort was most pronounced on the defensive end, where FSU easily moved the ball on offense and seemingly got any shot they wanted.
So still no answers, no wins, and another loss in Chapel Hill. Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, it did.
