Michigan is much better at defense around the rim . Michigan by 5
I hit on Michigan allowing just 36% shooting at the rim (per Synergy) in the defense post earlier this week. Michigan’s defense really takes away what UNC wants to do most: transition and get to the basket.
This will be a tough test though.
Gotta make NC’s strength a weakness by taking advantage of transition opportunities when NC crashes the offensive glass.
I think X may wreak havoc. Not sure NC has anybody that can stay in front of him.
What’s fascinating about this matchup is that White is 5 inches taller than Zavier Simpson
This is a charitable statement, Dylan. 
IMO, this games comes down to two things.
- Will Michigan get obliterated on the boards?
- Will Michigan shoot insanely bad from 3?
UNC needs one of these two things to happen to win, IMO. If we keep the rebounding to a slight loss and shoot 33% from 3, Michigan will win by some margin.
Rebounding in transition seems particularly important and potentially problematic.
This seems like a game where lots of facets interconnect. If we can grab boards, we’ll have transition opportunities, which will lead to easy baskets, which will hamper their transition opportunities, which will allow us to be in better rebounding position, etc.
Conversely, if we brick open 3s or have TOs, they can get out and run, which will lead to baskets, so we won’t have transition opportunities and might have to take 3s, etc.
Could be a game of runs.
I was pulling for UNC last year, but after football the fan base needs this. Go blue.
Zavier did just fine against Rob Gray in the Houston game. Gray seems to be one of the bigger comparisons to White. Not apples-to-apples with White given White is 4 inches taller, BUT, they’re cut in the same mold offensively.
What is the comparison between White and Gray?
Bigger guard (Gray would post up), ball in their hands a ton, can pull up anywhere on the court, arguably the biggest factor of their offense. Just not as tall as White obviously.
I think Gray is generally in the same archetype of White. But White is the 5 star freshman version of Gray (for good and bad).
Or worse for Michigan…White will play like Divencenzo and hit pull ups from 25.
Since you know both teams well, what’s your feeling on the result tonight?
Not confident.
Interesting. Gray was 6-1 and Houston played more of a deliberate ball screen game with him. White is 6-5 and everything is going to be about attacking downhill. The primary concern is stopping the ball in transition and then not forgetting about him if someone kicks the ball to him for an open 3 after it goes inside.
White is not nearly the same kind of crazy usage ball screen player that Gray was.
Also, we aren’t talking about Wisconsin here… I wouldn’t expect White posting up to be a serious part of what UNC does.
I’d argue you couldn’t lose track of Gray in transition or for a kick out either. That was when he killed Michigan, coincidentally usually not with Zavier guarding him in the halfcourt.
I see it as Zavier needs all eyes on White all game, no matter where on the court. Gray was the same.
For me the concern with White, is his ability to get and make his shot from deep. He certainly can create his own. He certainly can shoot over Simpson. He certainly is NC’s most dynamic offensive player from what I’ve seen, and it’s not close.
I wouldn’t be shocked if Matthews gets some time on White; similar to Matthews on Booth in Villanova game
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Matthews in that matchup either but who is guarding Nassir Little?
One thing to keep in mind is that Little is only going to play 20 minutes, but I think you could see some switching of assignments between Zavier and Charles depending. Hell, we saw Zavier guard Miles Bridges last year. That’s theoretically a worse matchup than Little.
There is a lot of flexibility there for sure. To start the game, maybe you put Matthews on White, Simpson on Williams, Poole on Johnson, Iggy on Maye, Teske or Brooks. Then if Little comes in you switch Simpson onto White and Matthews on Little. When Livers comes in… he’s capable of guarding Little probably, but you might need him for Maye.
If Livers is at the five, does UNC stick with a true post?