Jay Bilas Comments During Halftime and Postgame Of The UNC Beatdown

Bilas at halftime: “A little embarrassing? That was the most embarrassing first half I’ve seen all season long. What do you do if you’re Sidney Lowe? Do you draw a play up? You’ve gotta go in (to the locker room) and draw a big heart there and say, ‘Do we have any?'”These guys are not relating to each other. Their body language is horrible. They look like a bunch of zombies whenever they get into a huddle. They didn’t come prepared to fight. When you go on the road, you have to come prepared to fight and fight together. This is a team going in five different directions on the floor. I have not seen a performance as embarrassing as that all year long.”

Bilas after the game: “There’s no way that any team in America is going to hold a good team to 13 points in a half with their defense alone. N.C. State helped them (UNC). N.C. State was a huge problem for themselves.

“There is something going on with that team — and I don’t know what it is, I’m not Dr. Phil here — but they don’t get along with each other. That was not a team that trusted each other, that valued each other. They didn’t come together when things got tough, they went in different directions. That’s the first thing that they’ve got to address, how that team relates to each other.” Jay Bilas, ESPN

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07-08 Basketball Quotes of Note

124 Responses to Jay Bilas Comments During Halftime and Postgame Of The UNC Beatdown

  1. ZZ 01/13/2008 at 4:46 PM #

    Personally, I don’t doubt Sid will be ready, as he most likely was yesterday. But when your pen doesn’t write and your calculator reads “I quit” everytime you hit the = button, what the hell do you do?

  2. ZZ 01/13/2008 at 4:49 PM #

    Struggle through it, just like Sid did. Then break the pen in half and throw the calculator against the wall, just like you do to the players who quit on him yesterday.

  3. JeremyH 01/13/2008 at 4:55 PM #

    It was said one of the things Sid does really well is in-game coaching and strategy. I haven’t seen this in these egg-laying games or at the macro-level for the adjustments of the team through the course of the season. Are we stagnated with poor play-making, shooting, rebounding, defense, chemistry?? Are these things for this particular coach and this particular team impossible to fix or improve on? Is there really an impasse here? I don’t think a radical lineup shakeup is an entirely bad idea as one proposed, but it may not get us anywhere; still I am all for seeing hustle players like Simon Harris and Dennis Horner starting and logging major minutes. In fact I would like to see plays designed for getting Dennis open shots. Sid: just show us improvement.

  4. ShootingGuard 01/13/2008 at 5:11 PM #

    nycfan,

    I agree with you that if Lowe makes excuses about reffing, then his players will use it as an excuse. And, I agree with you that the refs weren’t responsible for the total blowout. State was in over their head and gave up leading to complete destruction and embarrassment.

    However, I totally disagree with you in that I believe Lowe—and every other coach in the league—should totally call out the refs when they play UNC or Duke.

    Did you criticize Roy for getting huffy in public with the refs about how he thought Tyler was being roughed up? Is that ok? But, when the refs bend over backwards to please Roy and Lowe complains, that’s not ok?

    Coach K called out the “double standard” when he was trying to build Duke in Dean Smith’s shadow during the 80’s, and influencing the refs in said manner has really helped Coack K long term—just like it helped El Deano forever. All manner of coaches with success far greater than Lowe, such as V and Cremins, joked about it for years—because all they could do was joke, they knew it wouldn’t change.

    Lowe should be vocal as hell about it just like Gary Williams and Paul Hewett and others have. The league completely promotes Duke and UNC to the detriment of the other programs as has been revealed over and over in scheduling, and such just seeps down to the courts with negative influences. I am not saying the refs are paid or are cheating, but they seem to buy into all of the crap about Tyler and his will and such and just assume such great players coached by such great coaches don’t do such and just give them the benefit of the doubt. Plus, the refs know who has the power in the conference, and they don’t challenge them. How is a low paid ref going to call it when Roy is calling them out in the media to take care of Tyler? Are they going to go against Conference Poster Coach Roy, subconsciously or otherwise? How does Sid stand up to Roy’s media play? Sit in his office and be quiet like Herb Sendek or challenge it like Coach K in the 80’s?

    Players should never give up, but State’s definitely got frustrated watching fouls being called when they played Hansborough and Thompson tough, whereas they couldn’t buy a call when Hickson & Co. were trying to make plays and received contact. No one should accuse State of not coming out to play originally—they took a quick 5-2 lead and were 9-9 before they lost their way. I am not saying they would have won, as they were clearly outmatched on talent irregardless of later frustration and effort, but the contest could have gone on longer had the refs not acted on their usual assumptions and biases.

    While you may look at that as sour grapes, it is not. State beat Duke in the ACC Tournament last year, so you can go back to the Duke game at the RBC for an impartial example. State comes out seemingly ready to play, Duke proceeds to hack without conscience to zero calls while State gets called for everything and unravels. Another impartial example is when UNC played at the RBC last year, should have beaten State by 20-30-plus just like the year before and this year, but the game was called fairly evenly with Hansborough even picking up a few fouls, including his sissy punch which would have led to anyone else in the conference being ejected but only a tech for Hansborough (which you take and count your lucky stars).

    You are a UNC fan, so maybe you never see it. Just be glad State’s guys gave up this time because other teams have started hard fouling Hansborough because they know he is allowed to do anything he wants—walk, push, shove, whatever. Players around the league quietly cheered Gerald Henderson for doing what they wish they could do (ironically, only a Duke guy could get away with such versus a UNC guy and not be marked by the media and the refs forever). It is good that State’s nice, uncaring guys didn’t have a Gerald Henderson in there when UNC finally pulled all of their starters with 1 minute left…It’s like Chris Rock says: “I’m not saying he should have done it, but I understand…”

  5. BillyVest 01/13/2008 at 5:17 PM #

    I’m not quitting on Sid. Just keep an open mind, if things don’t work out in a year or two. One thing Dean Smith, Mikie K (who was mentioned by another poster earlier) and even Norm Sloan, who resurrected NCSU basketball from a decade of stagnation because of severe sanctions and poor recruiting by Maravich, have in common is despite struggling early in their coaching careers at UNC, Duke and NCSU respectively, each one had won something by year 5 or 6, whether it was an ACC title, Final Four appearance or both.

    I do not think we need to agonize about the merits of any coach, like we did about Herb. The internal fan struggle about Herb had as much to do about searching for our identity after the Valvano scandals and the Robinson era and where we really were and wanted to be in the basketball pecking order, as anything else. I think the fan displeasure over Herb’s inability to hang a banner and the fact successful coaches, usually don’t take more than 5-6 years to show results in men’s college basketball (see Billy Donovan at Florida, as another example), shows we are all on the same page about what we want a coach to do. We want a coach, who can occassionally win an ACC title, and get us to the Final Four and hopefully win it all.

    The great coaches, who built great programs, didn’t take long to reach the lofty heights of the elite.

    I’m not saying we should go NBA-esque on coaches and can them after one or two seasons, but we also don’t need to keep settling for lackluster results.

    We know what we want and we shouldn’t be shy about making sure we find someone, who can meet our expectations.

    I hope it’s Sid. I really really do. But if it’s not, it’s not and we need to move on.

  6. ZZ 01/13/2008 at 5:22 PM #

    If the refs aren’t calling it fair, IMO you give “beaker” from the muppets (Hansborough) a hard enough foul to send a message. Would that be called a “giving him the business” foul?

  7. nycfan 01/13/2008 at 5:28 PM #

    ^^ ShootingGuard, I don’t disagree at all in concept but I think you have to consider the podium from which you speak.

    Sid did not speak from strength when he complained about referees in a game State quit in and lost by 30 in the first half. I don’t think the dig in that context had any resonance with anyone except perhaps State players looking for an excuse.

  8. wbnation 01/13/2008 at 5:42 PM #

    some good observations here, and Bilas was right on the mark. I have to agree with “turnoffthetv” in that Atsur is missed more than you can imagine. We literally have 5 guys starting who can not create there own shot let alone a shot for anyone else.

    Everyone is down on heart, or Sid’s not seeming to make adjustment in game or out. How about a better answer is he and this team are handcuffed by the fact that they are a stationary team with young point guards who no matter how you want to adjust, you just have nothing to adjust too.

    I would be more willing to believe its the coach or effort or heart if we saw some at some point this year. We haven’t. So I think both the heart and effort is there, it just looks stangnent cause thats what this team is. This game made this diffenciency all the more real. Atsur could shoot a decent percentage from the outside and break a defense down. NOT one player on this team right now can do that. You think Ben and Brandon have digressed or not developed in their second year. I see it as they were not great players last year save for Atsur making them look good. Getting them the ball in areas where they could maximize their limited abilities (not quick and athletic). How many assists did Ben have last year that ended up in Atsurs hands for a score? 85%? Now who does he go too? No one can drive backdoor, no one can hit an outside shot with any regularity. So the team is what it is, and if you think we can see the diffencies and other teams can see them, well you can bet this team knows them.

    So to answers Bilas’ question about I don’t know whats wrong with this team, they look like they hate each other. Thats the one statement I have to disagree with . Its the fact that they have huge holes in their collective abilities so when other teams start to shut down the only things we do do well, then this team falls back into a one on one mentality where they feel the need to get it done on their own, to the point where we look like 5 guys going 5 different ways.

    Look at it this way, the one glaring thing we have an advantage in is size in the inside, with some skilled inside play, but other teams know this so like in yesterdays game when we get good looks like when it was tied 9-9, Carolina decided to pack it in and make JJ or Ben throw it back out. Well no one was back cutting (guards don’t want to be out of position, and or learning where to be)and no one could hit and outside shot. So what begins to happen is Ben or JJ say screw passing that ain’t working so to the hole I go against 3 players, its the “hell I can miss just as easy as the next guy” and from there the ball begins to roll down hill, and it becomes every-man-for-hisself until you can get a break like halftime to regroup and the fact that it was a 30 point deficit meant our guys where much more willing to run their sets and play more relaxed and the young guys didn’t feel the need not to make mistakes cause at that point it didn’t matter. That and the fact that Carolina called some of the dogs off helped, but we definetly looked better and shot the ball better in the second half. I still think this team will win as many or maybe one or two more then it did last year, but we are going to have to look ugly doing it. This is the growing pains year whether we like it or not and luckily for us we don’t play the #1 team in the nation every game, we will be fine.

  9. ShootingGuard 01/13/2008 at 6:08 PM #

    nycfan,

    No argument on your point there. If Sid’s comments come off whiny and weak and an excuse, then it is bad.

    In hindsight, Sid should have told JJ to hammer his way to the basket like Clemson did a few times when things were starting to slide—not in a dirty or potential injury way, just plow through like a mad man…And, THEN, gone ballistic on the refs and drawn a T and gone crazy mad. Maybe it would have kept the fire under his guys to see how intense their coach was about this game…

    Of course, if it hadn’t worked and then State was blown out, the media would say how Lowe lost control and is nuts, etc. just like they are acting like he doesn’t care right now…

  10. BillyVest 01/13/2008 at 6:23 PM #

    The one thing that is hurting us about Atsur being gone is the four returning starters are not stepping up their game to make things easier for the rookie PG’s.

    Why our four returning starters are not playing better is beyond me, but if they showed signs of improvement, like folks expected them to over the course of the off season, I think the lack of experience at the PG position wouldn’t be so glaring.

  11. vtpackfan 01/13/2008 at 6:34 PM #

    Saturday was “a bad day”, just as Coach said after the contest (technically it is called that). Let the players put this in context monday night. Let them decide how freaking monstrous the problems are.

    ShootingG., your right about Lowe throwing his hat in the ring concerning officiating in conference games. Who cares what it does to our player’s mental outlook? We have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Has anyone noticed that our Athletic teams are a laughing stock? Shoot from the hip for all I care. Fowler doesn’t care, Oblinger doesn’t care…..call ’em out for the hypocrites they are Sidney!

  12. turnoffthetv 01/13/2008 at 7:03 PM #

    BillyVest said “The one thing that is hurting us about Atsur being gone is the four returning starters are not stepping up their game to make things easier for the rookie PG’s.”

    Agreed but the Lack of a good PG is not making it any easier for them to step up their game. Who of the returning 4 could actually step up their game and become a leader.My only candidate as I said before would be Gavin. It’s just really a bunch of straight-up confusion that I see. Especially Costner, he looks like he’s in the Twilight Zone. I dont know if it is so much about all these returning players to be producing more than they did last year as opposed to someone—be it one of our newbie PG’s or one of the returning players to Step up to the plate and Emerge as A Leader.

    As of 1/2 the regular season is history the puzzle still isnt solved, and the pieces are scattered all over the court.

  13. #44 17 24 01/13/2008 at 7:41 PM #

    Im betting the team’s roster next year is going to look very different, and I’m not going to be upset.

  14. smile102 01/13/2008 at 8:01 PM #

    ShootingGuard, even if the refs don’t call the game the way you see it, a coach criticizing the ref or trying to hurt players that are beating you is far from the solution to this team’s problems. Those are sandpaper answers to a chainsaw problem. It’s also poor sportsmanship. At the end of the game one of the announcers commented the game was physical in the first half but well officiated.

  15. Sweet jumper 01/13/2008 at 8:53 PM #

    Jay Bilas was dead on. The truth hurts–especially from a Dookie.

    My Dad is a life member of the Wolfpack Club who was disgusted with our administration’s treatment of Valvano and lost interest during the Robinson/Voldemort(HWSNBN) years. As a State grad, in the 1950’s and a friend of Ronnie Shavlick, he has seen a lot of heart and excellent bball at NCSU over the years and he knows first hand what can be achieved at NCSU. Last year’s late season run gave us false hope that the long dry spell was over. My Dad and I plan to give Sid 5 years to turn this mess around. He deserves to have a roster full of his recruits. However, yesterday’s egg-laying was a tremendous setback. We have multiple problems and Sid needs to get to the bottom of all of them–whether they are player to player, coach to coach, or coach to player issues. He also needs to get in some grills including his own after that meltdown.

    I have been amazed that we have been a poor rebounding team for HWSNBN’s 10 years plus Sid’s first 2 years. I know that Larry Harris has been assigned to the big men and to recruiting for the past 10+ years. I have to wonder if he cannot teach rebounding fundamentals, cannot inspire the effort to rebound, cannot recruit solid rebounders or some combination of all of these factors. Just a thought.

  16. beowolf 01/13/2008 at 9:11 PM #

    I keep waiting for the moment they hit rock bottom — only then will they start rebuilding as a team.

    I don’t follow your line of thinking here. Why should the team have to get worse before they can get better? On a separate note, is there any reason to think that they will make substantial improvements this year?

    My assumption is that this isn’t a team, it’s a group of pride-ridden individuals. As such, the only solution to getting them to function as a unit is for them to be broken down, until they all reach the same conclusion, that it’s not going to get any better until they start pulling together as a team. Preferably it would take a loss so embarrassing that there’s no wiggle room out of it, no excuses — that they will have to face and process the horrid ugliness of their play without rationalizing that they just overlooked someone (NO) or were playing with tired legs (Mich. St.) or somebody just got hot (ECU).

    You can’t get around 43-13. You can’t excuse away a 13-point half. The only positive sign from this game is how utterly shocked the players sounded afterward. I hope — I can only hope — that this will become a catalyst for checking attitudes, rethinking things, and finally coming together and playing as a team. Because it’s getting a little late in the season for a turnaround.

    The assumption for improvement is a complement to this: if they can regroup and leave the prima donna ‘tudes behind, they should be able to play very well; we know how talented they are, but that talent isn’t worth much without cohesion.

  17. ShootingGuard 01/13/2008 at 9:12 PM #

    “ShootingGuard, even if the refs don’t call the game the way you see it, a coach criticizing the ref or trying to hurt players that are beating you is far from the solution to this team’s problems. Those are sandpaper answers to a chainsaw problem. It’s also poor sportsmanship. At the end of the game one of the announcers commented the game was physical in the first half but well officiated.”

    Which part of “not in a dirty or potential injury way” did you miss?

    You can play tough without trying to hurt a player or being a poor sport. NOTHING I said sanctioned that…

    Who gives a crap what the announcers said? Aren’t these the same group that acted like Herb Sendek was the best State could ever be and that State never competed with Duke historically? (Even though Sid left with NCAA titles 2-0 and way more ACC titles…) Are these the people you get your opinions from?

    Tyler Hansborough runs over people left and right—and could injure them—but the announcers only compliment his toughness and will and say nothing about his antics. There have been plenty of great big men come through the conference, but there is a reason players want to take Tyler’s head off. Even Christian Laettner didn’t receive such treatment…

    I didn’t hear the announcers criticize Roy Williams for leaving his starters in until the last minute either, even after Bobby Frasor’s injury. Carolina class, through and through. Is that the sportsmanship that State should aspire to?

  18. Elrod 01/13/2008 at 9:16 PM #

    I’m not going to add any “me too” points to the ongoing entries. You guys have done a great job breaking down the game, its causes and impact. I wanted to describe what I watched and let y’all figure it out.

    After the 9 – 9 tie and the subsequent quick spurt-out by BBU, I decided to quit watching the game in a normal fashion and watch one specific thing. Based on many prior comments, I decided to just watch Brandon Costner to see in detail what he did and if the comments about his being lazy, slow and selfish had any merit. This is what I saw:

    – When he was on the offside defense, he consistently watched for any BBU player flashing to the post. Whenever they did that, he made a quick move to cover that player. Since nothing usually became of that threat, he would later stroll back to the off-block area. Those few moves were literally the only times he moved quickly to do anything.
    – After we managed to get a defensive stop or rebound, he NEVER turned upcourt immediately to contribute to the offense. Every time his response was to stop, watch the team go toward our basket, then turn and break into his patented upcourt trot. In the second half it was particularly pronounced, as the offense literally had to wait for him to join them on several occasions.
    – If he was more than ~6′ from the basket when a shot went up, he stopped where he was to watch the ball in flight. He never moved to fight for rebounding position. When he was closer to the basket, he occasionally tried to put a body on an opposing player, but not very energetically. When there was a rebound to be had, let’s just say he didn’t make himself any taller or wider to gain any advantage.
    – A known fact about playing most any sport is that you’ve got to play with some amount of ‘flex’ in your hips and knees in order to make quick moves when needed. Sometimes you have to play with a slightly wider stance to secure or hold a position. Brandon very rarely did either of these things. The only time I saw him do it yesterday was on two dribble-drives in the second half. Otherwise, he was straight up as a stick with his feet about a foot apart. No wonder he appears slow, because he never prepares to be quick.
    – I don’t know if it’s him or what Sid has prescribed for this offense, but Brandon for the most part just wanders around the right-side 3-point line, waiting for the ball to fall into his hands. The one thing I never saw him do was work for position to take advantage of his size. Maybe we’re watching the resurrection of a young Marcus Melvin.

    These are the things I observed. Maybe this is what Sid expects of him, but I kind of doubt it. I do know that if one of my players did these things throughout a game, there wouldn’t be any minutes available to him for the next game. I understand times when a player gets tired and just doesn’t have the energy to do some things, but that is not what I watched. Maybe someone in here can properly interpret what I saw.

  19. Stoner 01/13/2008 at 9:36 PM #

    I will always wonder, this year, how much Brandon’s knee is bothering him and / or has effected his offseason conditioning.

  20. wufpup76 01/13/2008 at 9:59 PM #

    w/ regards to shooting guard’s post and the refs …

    refs always have certain things going against them:

    they work too many games / travel too much (affecting health, concentration, focus, fatigue level) … this needs more regulation …

    aside from that they’re human, and humans have bias – whether conscious or sub-conscious – about who is higher ranked or who the better players are … this is unfortunate, but true … and when you work too many games and you’re tired and have a lack of focus you’re not going to call a game objectively, you’re going to fall back on bias and player reputations …

    this is why i especially hate anticipatory calls, such as calls you see psycho ass get ALL THE TIME (the defender was breathing in his space – FOUL!!!) … other fans can say it’s whining about the refs, but this goes a long way as to why other fans complain about playing duke and carolina … you KNOW going in who is going to get the benefit of the doubt … those teams are in general year-in and year-out great, but they also get the benefit of refs’ perceptions – when in doubt, give it to the favored team / more reputable player

    AND IT SUCKS

  21. howlie 01/13/2008 at 10:22 PM #

    I appreciated what Bilas said, as well as the other commentators at halftime. They called it ‘straight up.’

    What I didn’t appreciate was ‘color man’ Dan Patrick [?], who actually LAUGHED AT the Wolfpack. He didn’t just make comments about the bizarre play, he mocked, lollered, and added his insults to injury. He seemed to be totally enjoying the disaster, and laughed his way to the hilarious end of the game.
    Bilas and others are to be praised.
    Patrick is to be strung up…

  22. RAWFS 01/13/2008 at 10:34 PM #

    Dan Patrick isn’t on ESPN any longer. His radio show is now distributed by the same group that does the Jim Rome show and he is working with Sports Illustrated in print and television.

  23. Primewolf 01/13/2008 at 10:59 PM #

    Patrick did insult us and enjoyed it. Bilas called it like he saw it.

    The game looked like the MSU game, totally destroyed, didn’t make adjustments, game plan wasn’t right, weak defense, poor offense approah.

    However, we don’t have a guard that could start in any major conference in the country. We have slow bigs. We have no real outside threat.

    I am disturbed by what appears to be poor coaching. I don’t think you would see a K, Roy, Knight team play like we do.

    It is going to be a long next few years. I hope I am totally wrong, but our coaches don’t seem to get it.

    I can’t believe they brought in Javi.

    I must say Degand was coming along. He would have made a difference.

    I pay big bucks for my seats and contribute significantly to the school. I just wish we had a Chancellor, BOT that wanted us to be the best. It is clear that it is not important to them. They don’t realize the negative impact it has on the school, alums, and students to be so bad for so long in athletics. It makes us look incompetent. We must have the worst athletic record of any ACC school over the past 20 years across all sports. Heck, this fall we had teams that won from 0 to 3 ACC contests.

    Did I say leadership was missing?

  24. travelwolf 01/13/2008 at 11:04 PM #

    not to excuse out play, but during the first half, i was wondering how we managed to have so many balls stripped with carolina hardly having any fouls called against them. several times, i could have sworn they were grabbing arm and not ball. well, if you look at the AP photo on the sports page of the san francisco chronicle (yes, i’m out here and this is the first time i’ve seen a state player in a color photo in the chronicle), you’ll notice gavin grant about to get the ball blocked while he’s arching back. well, at the same time #14 on carolina’s team is grabbing his arm just below the elbow – which explains why grant is in such an awkward position. no foul called – no surprise. lets hope we get better refs during the next game.

  25. blpack 01/13/2008 at 11:20 PM #

    The basketball team has major problems. I don’t know if they can work it out. I hope this is the bottom. If not we are doomed to the NIT or staying home. I see this sad note as a small part of the larger problem with our athletics program. We are not the best team in the country, ACC or even the state in just about everything sport we play. Why?

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