Sorry to borrow from Saturday Night Live, but here is the Weekend Update for Carolina athletics.
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UNC MEN’S BASKETBALL is undefeated and tied for first in the ACC after surviving gutty Georgia Tech, 68-65, in the Smith Center. The 1-0 Tar Heels are tied with eight other teams that also won their ACC openers. UNC remains a precarious 5-4 overall.
The Heels had a season-high 18 turnovers and Hubert Davis said they weren’t playing “fast and free.”
“We’re a team that is a little wounded,” he said, “losing our last three games, close games, sometimes you want to play so well and to win so badly you don’t play fast and free.
“Maybe they were wondering what my mood would be coming into the locker room, but I said I was really proud of them. Even before the game. I told ’em you have to find enjoyment in how hard it is to be successful individually and as a team. It’s just hard winning at this level, winning in the league is difficult.”
Davis’ conundrum may be how to divide the 200 minutes (five players at 40 minutes) per game by position and get maximum production from the team. If Ian Jackson and Drake Powell are emerging as two of his best players, where does Hubert find more minutes for them and who loses time in the process?
For example, could he come up with a rotation of minutes with R.J. Davis getting 32, Elliot Cadeau 30, Seth Trimble 28, Jackson 25, Jae’Lyn Withers 23, Powell 22, Ven-Allen Lubin 20, Jalen Washington 15 and Cade Tyson 5?
Ven-Allen Lubin had one of Carolina’s more productive performances for a frontcourt player this season against Georgia Tech, but still only managed five points and fouled out in 16 minutes.
Breaking it down, at center, Washington and Lubin (who earned his first UNC start against the Yellow Jackets) look like they deserve 15 minutes each and be backed up by Withers with 10.
At the four spot, Lubin moves over for 5 minutes, Withers gets 13, the 6-foot-six 6 Powell plays 17 there and even Tyson gets 5 minutes to see if he can be comfortable enough to hit some shots from the corners.
At the small forward 40 minutes, the 6-foot-4 Jackson (who has been the Heels’ best player over the last three games) gets 25, Trimble 10 and Powell 5.
The All-American Davis takes more blows on the bench for Trimble and Jackson. He played 38 minutes against Georgia Tech, and simply looked tired late in the game, making only 5 of 15 attempts. Say he plays 22 minutes there, running around screens and trying to get open?
And at point guard, Cadeau plays the most minutes, subbed by Davis for 10 when Elliot needs a rest to recharge on the bench. Cadeau played 28 minutes against Tech, shot poorly and had a team-high 7 turnovers.
“It’s not sustainable to put all the pressure on our guards to score from the outside, attack the basket, get us to the free throw line, get us into the penalty,” Hubert said. “We have to find a way to consistent production out of the four and five positions.
“And 18 turnovers is uncharacteristic for us, but it’s something that we need to address because starting in Maui, we’ve averaged more turnovers than assists. We haven’t played teams that have pressed us, trapped us and extended their pressure. So that’s something that we’ve gotta get better with.”
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THE UNC WOMEN’S SOCCER TEAM had an epic fourth match of the season against Duke in the College Cup Friday night at Cary’s WakeMed park. After crushing the top-ranked Blue Devils, 3-0, head coach Damon Nahas surely deserves to have the “interim” removed from his title, win or lose against Wake Forest Monday night for what would be UNC’s first NCCA championship since 2012.
The Tar Heels showed superior spacing, passing and speed, despite being outshot by Duke 15-8. They dominated after All-American Kate Faasse scored on a penalty kick and Olivia Thomas added the insurance goal with a sensational left-footed cross into the right corner of the net.
UNC’s Olivia Thomas celebrates her goal vs. Duke in the NCAA College Cup on Friday. (Photo via NCAA Soccer on X.)
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AND THE CAROLINA VOLLEYBALL TEAM beat Yale, 3-1, in its return to the NCAA tournament, coming back after losing the first set to win the next three. But Coach Mike Schall’s team fell in the second round to top-seeded Penn State. Making their first NCAA appearance since 2021, they finished the season with a 21-8 record.
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IN FOOTBALL, more than 20 news outlets reported Friday on the Inside Carolina story about a presentation made to UNC by the six-time Super Bowl champion coach Bill Belichick, who at 72 is younger (six months) than the fired Mack Brown. It was a 24-hour news cycle, above-the-fold headline since Carolina needs a successor to Brown and Belichick, who was fired by the Patriots after the 4-13 last season, obviously wants to coach again and not go out on such a sour NFL note.
Whether raising eyebrows of interest or scoffed across the country, one Hall of Fame coach interested in replacing another was a super swerve away from the first college signing date, where only eight high school stars of 4-star and 3-star notoriety inked with a program that has not named a new head coach.
While it was good for UNC branding to have someone of Belichick’s stature show interest in coaching the Tar Heels, here is why he’s not exactly the “fit” Cunningham mentioned. Sure, Belichick lived in Chapel Hill when he was two years before moving to the Naval Academy with his parents. But:
- He has never coached in Division 1 college football.
- He will need someone to head recruiting, which he has never done.
- Ditto for NIL, which isn’t much like NFL revenue sharing and salary cap.
- The transfer portal, which isn’t exactly like free agency, opens Monday.
- He will bolt for the first NFL job he wants (Cowboys, Jags, etc.) if offered.
And the 24-year-old girlfriend and cheerleading champion? When you win six Super Bowls in New England and coach the GOAT quarterback, you can date, go steady, live with or even marry when the age difference is only a number (even if that number is 48). However, in a state with already a dozen other schools playing football, and in a conference whose rivals have hated your guts for more than a century, this would be a detail that never dies as long as the coach is alive. Signs at visiting stadiums. Salty cheers from rival student bodies. Social media going bonkers that the “’chick and his baby chick” would be tracked on every platform out there.
Could we really see Bill Belichick try to re-enter the coaching ranks by turning to college football instead of the NFL? And would that actually be the best move for UNC’s program? (Photo via AP Photo/Michael Dwyer.)
Of course, if Belichick were to win UNC’s first ACC football championship since 1980 or bring home the CFP trophy, it would go down as the greatest hire of all time.
I have no idea how the story and interview got started, but I guess when your secretary says, “Bill Belichick’s on the line,” you either say it is another scam call for Medicare Advantage or pick up to see what kind of moron would prank you like this. Then, when the distinguishable voice proves it is not a crank call, you say hello and ask who is the “coach in waiting” he would bring, reminding the next Coach B that the last Coach B had no such plan.
First thing would be a private meeting with Chairman of the meddling Board of Trustees John Preyer and warn him that the BOT boss might think he knows as much football as you do.
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
