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I see UNC smoking them if shots are falling or Gonzaga winning a close one. I can't see UNC letting Gonzaga win while maintaining a decent lead. It's hard to tell with this UNC team though. It seems like they stop playing once they have a comfortable lead. This title game could be their coming out party and revenge for what happened last year. Roy isn't letting them forget this game represents two years worth of effort...especially from the seniors.
However, UNC has been pretty mediocre in their wins against Arkansas (blew a big lead), Kentucky (nearly blew it despite being up 7 with 0:54 to go) and Oregon (up 6 with 0:54 to go and missed 4 free throws). They haven't allowed anyone to get a big lead which is good, but they also haven't put teams away when given the chance. I don't know if that's just lack of effort, coaching or mental weakness.
If UNC wins, all the nearly blown games will be forgotten. If they lose, this team ('16 and '17) will probably be remembered as worst UNC team at closing out big games. Let's not forget they also led Duke by 13 with 13:53 to go in the ACC tournament...ended up losing by 10! And that was a Duke team playing their 3rd game in 3 days. If you're a UNC fan, you've got to feel like nothing short of a 20+ point lead (with under 10 to go) is safe.
I see UNC smoking them if shots are falling or Gonzaga winning a close one. I can't see UNC letting Gonzaga win while maintaining a decent lead. It's hard to tell with this UNC team though. It seems like they stop playing once they have a comfortable lead. This title game could be their coming out party and revenge for what happened last year. Roy isn't letting them forget this game represents two years worth of effort...especially from the seniors.
However, UNC has been pretty mediocre in their wins against Arkansas (blew a big lead), Kentucky (nearly blew it despite being up 7 with 0:54 to go) and Oregon (up 6 with 0:54 to go and missed 4 free throws). They haven't allowed anyone to get a big lead which is good, but they also haven't put teams away when given the chance. I don't know if that's just lack of effort, coaching or mental weakness.
If UNC wins, all the nearly blown games will be forgotten. If they lose, this team ('16 and '17) will probably be remembered as worst UNC team at closing out big games. Let's not forget they also led Duke by 13 with 13:53 to go in the ACC tournament...ended up losing by 10! And that was a Duke team playing their 3rd game in 3 days. If you're a UNC fan, you've got to feel like nothing short of a 20+ point lead (with under 10 to go) is safe.
I agree with this....
I consider the end of the Kentucky and Oregon games a choke on UNC's part; despite getting the W. Granted in the Kentucky game they rallied to dissolve Kentucky's 5 point lead they had with 5 minutes left but still.....blowing a comfortable lead in the second half to make it a nail-biter in the last 2 minutes has been too much of a MO for the Heels this season. They got insanely lucky (with some very note-worthy rebounding talent on their part) in the final four game and I don't see that happening again. If you get the lead....keep it.
Stillman White is a great guy and all but if I see him on the court in any situation other than a 20 point lead with with under 3 minutes I'm in panic mode.
The Zags can match the Heels skill and size in the interior. There aren't many other teams that can do that.
I'm not a Zags fan and had no interest in the game but I thought the Zags overcome some bad officiating (the worst officiated games this tournament) and SC team that refused to give up and played great defense. The Ducks left some point on the board- missing some really good looks from the perimeter. If the same Zags and Heels team shows up as the teams that showed up on Sat. I have to favor the Zags.
The toss up factor- the Heels are hungry to flip the script from last year, whereas the Zags COULD be satisfied at this point making it this far finally.
I'm gonna go Carolina 79-73 I think their perimeter players make more plays and the motivation factor comes into play.
Gonzaga is doing a great job of not giving UNC offensive rebounds. UNC goes from great to OK when they can't dominate the glass.
Just as I said yesterday: They were in trouble if they couldn't knock down shots because Gonzaga was going to keep them off the offensive glass. Though they do look a lot better in the 2nd half so far at least.
These two are just going at it, setting up for another thrilling finish!
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