Is UNC Basketball turning the corner?

This is the Adam Gold Show. Oh, there's some truth to that.

There is some truth to that. You've heard me reference this, Dennis. My practice wife, we had the actual big wedding and I was intentionally excluded from my own perspective. I was given one job at my wedding. Make sure that all of my groomsmen were dressed appropriately, similarly.

Same types of tuxedo, blah, blah, blah, whatever, tie, everything. That was my only job. I had no other responsibilities. Congrats? They didn't ask me, do you like this? Do you like this? Do you like that?

Nothing. Smart, very smart. So thanks to my practice wife and my practice mother-in-law for allowing me to remove myself from the equation. All right, my friend Brendan Marks is joining us now from the athletic at Brendan R. Marks on Twitter, covers Carolina, covers Duke. We'll see how much of it we can get done as he is in transit.

I appreciate your time, Brendan. The Tar Heels won a basketball game. It looked a little squirrely for most of the first half and then something clicked. I know Hubert Davis said that it was the first time maybe all year that he thought that they looked like the university in North Carolina.

What was it that clicked and what impressions did it leave on you? Yeah, so at the end of the first half against Georgia Tech, UNC goes on this 11-0 run. To sort of add some perspective to Hubert Davis' comments about it being the first time that it looked like Carolina basketball all year, to me what it looked like was the first time North Carolina got some easy shots all year. You had sort of the pinnacles, the foundations of what North Carolina's offense had been for so long. You had an offensive putback, a true catch-and-shoot three. You had a baseline drive to a layup. The sorts of shots that North Carolina traditionally got running the secondary break that it just hasn't really gotten this year. As a result, you saw an 11-point run basically put the game away. Georgia Tech never really made it close from there. That was sort of the way that North Carolina was supposed to be able to handle a team like Georgia Tech. It was certainly encouraging to see them be able to do that. Hubert was asked after the game, how do you do this on an every-game basis?

That's the question I have. I'd like to see if that's referenceable now. Brendan Marks from The Athletic is joining us here on the Adam Gold Show.

I'm going to ask you to reference your piece in The Athletic, which we encourage you to become a subscriber to as I am. You wrote about three things that you know and three things that you think you know. Of the things that you know about this team, what is the most important? Yeah, I think the one that we know right now is that this is not a good three-point shooting team.

It just isn't. This is a team that's still making less than 30% of its threes on the year. Both Caleb Love and RJ Davis have taken steps back in that regard. This was my number one concern, Adam, throughout the offseason of North Carolina.

How are you going to replace the three-point volume? Not just the efficiency Brady Manik had, but the pure volume. By the end of last season, this guy was taking about 10 threes a game, making them at 45% clip. No one-for-one replacement on this roster is capable of providing that level of production. I think that through the first eight or so games of the season, North Carolina was still acting as if it could find a Brady replacement.

That's not the case. Because of that, what you saw finally against Georgia Tech, and what I assume we're going to see more of going forward, was a tweaked offense against Georgia Tech. For the first time all season, Armando Bacott led the team in field goal attempts. UNC had 27 post-entry attempts against Georgia Tech alone. That was more than they had in the losses to Indiana and Virginia Tech combined. So you saw a dedicated commitment to getting the ball back inside. Armando Bacott is a top 20 player nationally in terms of drawing fouls. North Carolina finally played to its personnel.

And right now, while it's a bad three-point shooting team, it just doesn't need to be taking threes at the rate that it was previously. The J.C. Penney mystery sale is back for the holidays. Through Thursday, usher in huge holiday savings with our in-store coupon giveaway. You can get an extra 30, 40, or even 50% off while they last. Simply find an associate for a coupon, then peel to reveal your deal. Hurry in now to discover the savings you've been wishing for.

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See store for details. A hundred percent agree there. And the funny thing is that Pete Nance theoretically is a better version, individually a better version of Brady Manick. But anybody that watched that team from, maybe it was March 1 on, and I think you referenced that date in your piece in the athletic. Anybody that watched that team when they were on their game, Brady Manick not only took a lot of shots, but he made big shots. And for all of the physical gifts that Pete Nance has, maybe more so than Manick, man, it's hard to replicate the impact that Manick had on that team and their performances.

And that's why I thought it would be different this year than it was last year. We were kind of selling Manick's impact short over the course of a season. Now, maybe Nance will kick it into gear and it may not even be up to him, to be honest. It's just going to be hard to replace the moments that Manick provided them.

Yeah, I think it's going to be hard to replace the moments. And like, look, Pete Nance is not a bad three-point shooter by any means. I mean, you know, last year I think he hit about 45% this year. He's about 36%, you know, taking three a game.

Like those are all very respectable, solid numbers. They're just not otherworldly and you know, Pete Nance before coming to North Carolina, you know, I looked it up this summer. I think all of last season, Pete Nance's three-point attempts were basically equal to what Brady Manick did the last 13 games of the season for North Carolina last year.

So that is the sort of discrepancy we're talking about. And you know, the trickle-down effect is huge because when you had Brady Manick, the gravity he commanded on the court meant that teams couldn't hard hedge your guard. They couldn't double and trap R.J. Davis and Caleb love every time because you had to worry that if you did, the ball would eventually find its hands to Brady Manick. And that hasn't been the case so far the season.

So I don't think that Pete Nance is going to be able to replace that production. I think UNC needed to tweak the way that it was going about its offensive operations and clearly Hubert Davis has started to do that. Brendan Marks at Brendan R. Marks on Twitter from The Athletic, a finalist for the North Carolina sports writer of the year from the National Sports Media Association. Here's the thing, you know, because North Carolina is such a national brand that when Carolina was struggling, everybody had a hot take on what was what was bothering UNC. And it all boiled down to I read something on The Athletic about The Athletic on ESPN.com.

I was watching the Field of 68 podcast where former Clemson basketball player Terrence Ogilby was ripping Hubert Davis. It's his fault because there's they're playing with no effort. Did you hear all did you see all of those things can consume all those things and roll your eyes because and when you're losing, it always looks like your efforts not there.

Yeah, I you know, I can certainly understand some of you know, why people were sort of looking for this like golden answer, right? It was like the question I kept getting was what's wrong with North Carolina and for all of the attention that was going to well, you know, maybe Armando Baycott hasn't been rebounding at the same rate or maybe you know, XYZ players not shooting at the same rate. Eventually everybody sort of tripled down the path and got to Hubert Davis is a bad coach Hubert Davis thinks you were dead can't do anything blah blah blah.

And I just don't think that's the reality. I think we you know, sort of look back on the end of last season and Hubert obviously deserves a lot of credit for what happened but we forget this is still a dude who's in his second season as a head coach. And it took him until February of last year to figure out how to make everything work and I think he's sort of realizing and has realized and hopefully fans are starting to pick up on it too. But it's going to take him some time to to figure out what buttons he has to press with this team and you know last year it wasn't until he basically said to everybody outside of the iron five.

Look, you're just not playing. You know, I think he has been more accountable with and you know, if you go back to the end of the Virginia Tech game Leaky Black didn't play his best game Puff Johnson didn't play his best game. Those guys aren't on the floor while North Carolina's, you know, full court pressing and making this comeback. So I think Hubert Davis gets a lot of credit and I think you know, if some of it deserved probably could some of these tweaks have come more readily. I think so but at the same time he is identifying them the schedule was tough in terms of just logistically going from the West Coast Indiana. It's on the road. Does he deserve some criticism? Yes, but I just thought that it was a little oversized to what were clearly some problems with the players and the way that they were performing as well. I'm going to ask you one thing about Duke then we'll let you go.

The Citadel is in Chapel Hill to take on North Carolina tonight at 7 o'clock on ESPN 2. All right, sort of like a Rubik's Cube where it looks like a jumbled mess and then all of a sudden it's done. Although I have never completed a Rubik's Cube. Brendan Marks, you might have. Duke at times just looks like a mess and I were fortunate to have played UMES over the weekend and not a team that could really scare them and take advantage of the 19 turnovers and I know they didn't have Jeremy Roach. What is your view of the Blue Devils so far as we head towards the holidays? Yeah, I actually have been pleasantly surprised by Duke this season and I'm sure that all of the people in my mentions who think that I'm a Duke homer like rolling their eyes as they hear that but I am surprised at the depth of this team and at least so far how effective John Shire has been in managing you know, I think at the start of every season you know, you read these preseason predictions and you know, this guy's in store for a breakout and this guy could be an X Factor and like then by you know, the middle of January to seven-man rotation and those, you know, media darlings have sort of fallen out of favor. I still think that Duke is sort of figuring out what it's got.

I don't I don't think that it fully notes Kyle Philipowski was the straw that stirred the drink early on and he has not cooled, you know considerably but he has cooled a little bit. Jeremy Roach is shifted into more of a distributing to more of a scoring role. Dreek Whitehead is still coming back. He had arguably his best game so far this season against UMES, you know, Mark Mitchell who is the guy that you know, a lot of NBA scouts told me this summer. They were not crazy about has been really impressive has been arguably the team's best defender certainly its most versatile like there's a lot of pieces here and you know sort of in years past with Duke. I think the argument was well, you know, you wish that they had one more guy off the bench. I wish that we had you know, XYZ to come in and give us, you know, 10 minutes of scoring pop this year.

I almost feel like it's the opposite like eventually John Shire is going to have to cut this thing down a little bit and I don't know who gets the short straw right now. So I've been really impressed by that so far, you know, they're deeper than I thought their defense is much more connected than I thought for a team that young but Duke to me looks like a top 10 top 15 team. And if you told me that before the season that they'd be there already, I'd be surprised. I didn't think they'd be this good until maybe a little bit later in conference play. Do they need a little bit more shooting if you understand the joke there, you know, as what SCH you never mind.

Yes, I think they do and you know, Jayden shoot is a guy who grew up watching JJ Reddick videos and he looked a lot like him the other night. But that's the thing is, you know, for a team like Duke right now, it clearly has its identity, you know, we're going to be a defense and a team that is so much bigger and more athletic than you that we're going to dominate the glass. We're going to score inside and that's, you know, going to be the formula. If you can get a guy with some confidence who can hit down a couple of threes, you know what it almost reminds me of? It almost reminds me of when North Carolina found Kerwin Walton in December this time a couple of years ago, and he became a fixture the rest of the season. I'm not saying that all of a sudden Jayden shoot is going to be starting and he's going to like supplant Tyrese Proctor or drink Whitehead or anything, but I certainly think he can be that sort of impactful three-point shooter off the bench come off screen doesn't need the ball in his hands a lot. He's going to space the floor just by being out there. I certainly think that you know, there's a reason that Duke went out and got this guy.

He hit 17 threes in a high school game before anybody on the Blue Devil roster right now who can put the ball in the hole from deep to somebody that at least deserves a second look at Brendan Marks at Brendan are marks on Twitter from the athletic. I appreciate your time, man. We'll talk to you soon. Yes. I appreciate you and I appreciate the marriage advice earlier on. I'm going to tell my fiance that I want that version of planning.

Yeah, absolute everything except the practice wife part. I bestow on you. Yes. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks man. Take care of Brendan marks from the athletic covers not only tutorials, but the Blue Devils.

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Try syntax today exclusively at O'Reilly auto parts. Got your coffee. It is early. How do you take your coffee? What's the best way to take your coffee?

Well, coffee tastes terrible anyway, so don't put anything in it to obstruct the harsh bitter taste and just put it down one sip at a time, you know. So it's just all about the effect. The taste says it's not about the experience at all. It's about the outcome.

No, the experience is terrible. He's not wrong. Well, I don't disagree there. I'll disagree there. Like everything. It's all an acquired taste.

Beer is an acquired taste. I'm a I'm a 50 something year. I forget how old. How old am I?

Um, I'm my 50 somewhere. Um, I don't understand for the life of me how people drink brown liquor. I for the life of me. Why would you do that to yourself? Because I've had it and it makes me go, Oh, I don't want that. So you have to fight through it. Apparently you have to get through. It's like running, like running a marathon.

You have to break through the wall. Everything like that is an acquired taste. I agree. Coffee, black, maybe a little cream. It depends on the coffee. Dunkin Donuts coffee. I don't like black.

I like with cream. Starbucks coffee. I'll do black. The coffee we have at home. I do black. All right.

Um, we don't have a ton of time here, but that's probably fine. The head coach of the U S men's national team, Greg Berhalter, I think made a pretty gigantic error in two ways. The first was he was at a, uh, a moral leadership summit and exercise. I think questionable moral leadership by relating a story about a current men's national team player that he did not name, but it was fairly easy to connect the dots because the story had been reported on, uh, in the media already about a player that nearly was sent home for essentially dogging it in training and in a match. And it really impacted the team to the point where rather than send him home, they made him apologize to the team.

And then members of the team's leadership council read him the riot act about how he was supposed to behave. Now, it wasn't hard to figure out that he was talking about Gio Reyna, who is a young going to play in maybe three more world cups, assuming the United States qualifies. And it's going to be hard not for the United States qualify going forward automatically in the next one because they're the host, but, uh, with what 48 teams going to be in the world cup, it's going to be almost impossible for the U S to not qualify.

Uh, so he might play in the next three world cups or more. Who knows? So it was clearly what he was saying was about Gio Reyna and Reyna slapped back on Instagram, basically saying, Hey, I thought everything was supposed to be in house. Uh, Greg said that anything that pops up within the team would be handled within the team. So it's all about unity.

Yeah. Until it benefited Greg Berhalter in two ways. The first way is to explain how his moral leadership was so great, which of course he was demonstrating little moral leadership when he was telling that story. And also he was playing CYA because the number one story as it pertains to Greg Berhalter coming out of this world cup was his lack of use of Gio Reyna, one of the most creative offensive players on the U S roster. He played seven minutes in the first three games total in the group games, seven total minutes. Didn't get, I didn't get on the field against Wales, got on the field for seven minutes at the end of the game against England and did not play at all against Iran.

He was called on at halftime in the game against the Netherlands when the U S was down two nil. Oh, go save us Gio. But here's the part of the story that made me the most angry.

I get, I don't know if angry is the right word. I've basically been milk toast about Greg Berhalter and I think he did a very good job. But when Berhalter admits that he told Reyna at the beginning, going into the world cup group stage, that his role would be very limited. All I could think of is a, why would you tell him that? And B, why would that be your move? He's one of the most creative offensive players that you have on the roster.

Why wouldn't he be me? You don't have to start him, but he's gotta be on the field. I mean, even if you played him 25 minutes, a match, bring them on in the 65th minute and let them see the game out. You're bringing on somebody with fresh legs and a creative offensive mind to tell him that your role would be very limited going in. It's coaching malpractice.

It's ridiculous. This is the Adam gold show. The JC penny mystery sale is back for the holidays through Thursday. Usher in huge holiday savings with our in store coupon giveaway. You can get an extra 30, 40 or even 50% off while they last simply find an associate for a coupon, then peel to reveal your deal. Hurry in now to discover the savings you've been wishing for. We got your holiday JC penny coupon valid on select styles through 12 15 exclusion supply giveaway in store only must be 18 years or older. See store for details.