Roy Williams Overrated?...Advice for a Confused Coach

Ever since last year I've thought that Roy Williams wasn't quite as good of a coach as everyone gives him credit for, and after his suspect personnel decisions cost us yet another victory last night, I've never been less confident in him.  Don't get me wrong, after having been a student at UNC during the Matt Dougherty years, I'm as grateful that Roy decided to come back as anyone.  Roy Williams is a super-competitive guy who brings in great recruits and gets his players to play hard, but his in-game decisions leave a lot to be desired.  I think Ol' Roy lets emotion play too big a role in his basketball decisions, as it appears that he becomes attached to some players and has trouble realizing when they should be replaced.  It seems so obvious to me that Kendall Marshall and Reggie Bullock are definitely two of our best five players, and it's not a difficult choice to see who to take out (Larry Drew II for sure, and Dexter Strickland would be good in a supporting role off the bench).

When Reggie Bullock only played 13 minutes against Hofstra, I was very worried about what would happen if he played those same minutes against Minnesota.  My worst fears came true, as he only played 19 against the Gophers, many of them after it was already too late.  Along with Harrison Barnes (who had a horrible 0-12 performance to balance out his incredible outing against Hofstra), Reggie Bullock is one of the teams best scorers and has to play closer to 30 minutes a game.  He's just one of those guys that makes everyone better, and he can create his own shot to get a bucket when the team is struggling.  Kendall Marshall is much more under control than Larry Drew II, and last night he showed us a glimpse of the scoring and shooting contributions he could make as well.  Drew II clearly hasn't improved much from last year, as he's still making the same freshman mistakes a year later.  He's shooting terribly, and in general just not playing well enough in any aspect of the game to warrant major minutes. 

Tyler Zeller, John Henson, and Justin Knox all played solid games inside, and they really offset the production of Ralph Sampson III, Trevor Mbakwe, and Colton Iverson for the Gophers.  Coming into the game this is what I thought they needed to do for the Heels to get the win, and I think it would have been enough had Marshall and Bullock played more.  This young Tar Heel team just can't afford to have two of it's best five players sitting on the bench for over half the game and expect to beat good teams.  The UNC big men showed they can compete with one of the better frontcourts around, which is a great sign going forward for the Heels.  Now if someone can just talk Roy Williams into playing the guys that will give UNC one of the better backcourts in the country, this should be a very successful year.  If he continues with this lineup much further, the Tar Heels are going to lose several more games that they would have won otherwise, starting with Vanderbilt on Sunday.  Reggie Bullock is going to be a good NBA player, and keeping him on the bench at this point is a huge mistake.













UNC is now 2-1 and faces a Vanderbilt team with the same record.  The Commodores lost a close one to a very talented West Virginia team yesterday, and will be hungry to bounce back and avoid losing two in a row.  Guard John Jenkins had a bad shooting day against the Mountaineers but scored 27 points, while backcourt mate Brad Tinsley has a triple-double to his credit this season and is another player to watch out for.  Sophomore forward Jeffrey Taylor has been Vandy's best player inside this season, but UNC should still have a sizable advantage up front in this one.  The Heels should be able to control the boards and pound it inside, and if the other two freshman get some more time it should be a win for UNC.  If Roy decides to roll with the same unsuccessful backcourt, the Tar Heels could return home from Puerto Rico with a .500 record.