FAIL: Early ACC Basketball Preview
The News & Observer’s JP Giglio and Robbi Pickeral published an early ACC basketball preview and an editorial on the league’s parity this year. A few thoughts:
- It’s impressive the columns Giglio can churn out with K’s balls in his mouth and Wojo’s dick in his ear. There are plenty of complete sentences and he almost got his facts right!
- No one knows exactly how the lineup will look come November, but the N&O’s projection seems a little, how do I say this? Oh yeah- fucktarded. The Heels are thin in the backcourt. You know this. I know this. Roy knows this. Even these boneheads say so in the breakdown. So why would we start three guards (Drew, Strickland, Ginyard) and two big men (Davis, Thompson) on a team with shallow wings depth and too many post players? You mean to tell me John “Will Make Singler Look Like A Muppet” Henson won’t be the first frosh in this class to start? It’s not even funny.
- Giglio’s knock on Carolina’s experience is a bit exaggerated. You’re going to judge this team’s mettle by the number of players with more than two starts? Not by more significant numbers like minutes played or percent of offense (or defense)? How about underlining the truth: the Heels are nowhere near as experienced as last year, but are loads better in that area than in 2006. Between Ginyard, Thompson, Davis, Zeller, Drew, and Graves (sorry Copeland), they have a number of players with Final Four experience who made at least somewhat siginificant contributions on those teams. Number of dookies who fit that criteria? Zero.
- I guess the first lesson in sports journalism school is to follow an arbitrary statement with fact that completely undercuts the assertion. How else to explain Giglio’s indictment of the Heels’ perimeter shooting this year? In the same breath that he says the Heels’ backcourt has a different skill set that isn’t as strong in outside shooting as last year’s, he concedes “Roy Williams’ fast-break offense is not predicated on the 3-pointer.” Does Giglio have any doubt there will be wide open looks with our stable of hosses down low? Did a Polish cumshot in the eye blind him to his own contradictory statements?
- Here’s a tip, JP: if you think dook will be better than Carolina, that’s fine. However, as a sports journalist who’s supposedly paid to offer insightful analysis, you should be able to support your assertions with facts and reasonable projections. Reducing UNC’s experience to two guys with “more than two college starts” while swooning over dook’s “Singler, Scheyer, Nolan Smith, Lance Thomas, Brian Zoubek” as ” five ACC-tested veterans” is disingenuous at best and an assault on logic at worst. Simply assuming dook’s coaching, experience, outside shooting and motivation (all monosyllabic “checks”) will be consistently stellar is nonsensical. Stating that dook’s season comes down to “the ability of Singler, Scheyer, Smith and freshman Ryan Kelly to hit outside shots” while once again assuming that their weaknesses in the paint and at the point won’t be exposed by the ever-changing and improving ACC…that’s just laughable. Carolina fans don’t mind a writer who picks dook- we just can’t stand a writer who sucks dook cock. – “I do know this – it will be different.” Someone give Nostradamus here a fuckin’ cookie. You’re a hack, Giglio.
- The only thing that’s changing in this picture this year is that Tyler’s making millions in the NBA. 
Go Heels.