One: UNC’s poor guard play
Despite recent victories over Notre Dame and Miami, the Tar Heels have displayed a dangerous flaw: uninspiring play from their freshman point guards. Say what you will about Cole Anthony’s offensive inefficiency, but at least last year’s Carolina team knew who would create and take the big shot. Though UNC sits at 2-2 in the ACC, the offense this year has been extremely stagnant, and highly-touted freshmen guards Caleb Love and R.J. Davis are the root of the issue. Their offensive futility (the two have totaled just 13 points on 5-for-27 (19 percent) shooting in the team’s last two games) has allowed opponents to play zone defense and shut down UNC’s big men. Love and Davis have also combined for 11 turnovers, often struggling to make simple passes into the post, and they’ve been unable to consistently create open shots for themselves or anyone else. UNC has weathered sketchy guard play just well enough to beat some of the ACC’s weakest teams—Notre Dame and Miami are both in the bottom four of the ACC standings—but UNC’s Jan. 16 matchup with Florida State could be ugly if the Heels don’t find a guard who can generate offense more consistently.
Two: The best team in the triangle is… N.C. State??
A loss to a Miami team that shot a remarkable (and flukish) 42 percent from long range shouldn’t overshadow the Wolfpack’s strong play recently. N.C. State looks like a deep and complete team. Contrary to Carolina, the Wolfpack does have a bona fide scoring guard in senior Devon Daniels (who, unlike McDonald’s All-Americans Davis and Love, wasn’t even a top-200 national recruit). Jericole Hellems and Shakeel Moore provide plenty of added shooting firepower and helped N.C. State come up with a win against UNC’s vaunted frontcourt, even without big man D.J. Funderburk. Funderburk, who missed that game with an injury, has been extremely efficient this season, making 66 percent of his field goals and 90 percent of his free throws. The preseason expectations may not have been as high as those of UNC or Duke, but the Wolfpack are hitting their stride already, and they’re the kind of experienced team that could easily make a run in March.
Three: Duke finally kicks off 2021
I’ll keep this section short to reflect how little we know about the Blue Devils. A one-point win over Boston College Wednesday was their first game in 21 days and only their sixth of the season. They’ve lost their only two matchups with ranked teams, but were able to survive a strong challenge from the Eagles thanks to a balanced scoring attack. Duke had five players in double figures, led by sophomores Matthew Hurt (who had a double-double) and Wendell Moore Jr. (who finally broke out for 25 points). But aside from Hurt, who has continued his consistent play, the Blue Devils are an enigma of a team who should, as usual, sink or swim based on their heralded freshman class.
