West Virginia continued its slide down the national polls with an embarrassing loss at TCU, and UNC lost to a feisty Virginia Tech team.
The UNC loss I can forgive as they had been pretty hot coming into the game. They were winners of their last 4 games and looked to be figuring things out. This loss seems to be more of a blip on the radar rather than an overlying problem. This UNC team just isn't that good as last year, so it's not a question of underperforming. The fact of the matter is that UNC is going to lose some games, and we shouldn't be alarmed by it. This team is still capable of stringing together 4 wins to get to a Final Four, but also regressing to a 5 seed and losing to Western Kentucky in the first round. We just have to wait and see with this Tar Heel team.
West Virginia I'm more concerned about. What once was a defensively stout, offensively capable team has turned into the same old West Virginia story. I remember two weeks ago when West Virginia was #2 in the country and seemed to be destined for the Final Four. That changed. West Virginia has now lost three of their last their last four and hardly look like a contender. They look offensively inept in the closing moments of games, and teams are starting to figure out their defense.
Between these two, I'm less confident in West Virginia going forward because they don't have reliable scorers in late-game situations. Jevon Carter is their only options, and he struggles to get shots off when he is the only threat to the defense.
North Carolina has Joel Berry and Luke Maye. Both of those players have proven themselves on the national stage, and I trust their experience more than that of West Virginia.
No comments:
Post a Comment