On Sunday at 1pm the Louisville Basketball team plays their toughest game of the season taking on the Tarheels for the Hall of Fame Tip Off Championship. North Carolina leads this series 8-3 and won the last time these teams met in the NCAA East Regional Final 83-73. The Cards will be looking to go 6-0 and to win their 22nd straight game. The Tarheels are ranked 24th in the country and were picked to finish 3rd in the ACC. This game can be seen on ESPN.

There are a lot of good basketball players on this North Carolina basketball team, of the 11 players that see most of the minutes in the North Carolina rotation, 10 were four-star recruits and they’re led by a head coach that’s won two national titles since 2005. Their biggest challenge of this season so far is getting their pieces all working together and finding their identity. Roy Williams is known for playing a certain style, one characterized by a fast tempo, offensive rebounds, exceptionally tall front lines and shooting a lot of free throws, to name a few. They also do a great job of playing defense on the ball. Leading the fast tempo offense is Nate Britt (2.7 points, 2.3 rebounds, 2 assist a game) a talented freshman with the quicks to really push the ball up and down the floor. He has struggled with his defensive responsibilities this season but does lead the team with six steals. And Marcus Paige (18 points, 2.3 rebounds, 4.3 assist a game) who was moved to shooting guard when Britt arrived and has taken off in this role. He’s a solid shooter and was 6-9 from 3 point land with 26 points in his last outing. The guys crashing the boards for this team and filling the role of that tall, athletic front court are James Michael McAdoo (19.7 points, 8.7 rebounds a game), Brice Johnson (12 points, 6.3 rebounds a game), J.P. Tokoto (9 points, 6.3 rebounds a game), and Joel James (4 points, 4.3 rebounds a game).
McAdoo has all the talent and potential in the world, and can do some good things in transition, Johnson is big for them on the defensive glass, and James and Tokoto are big for them on the defensive end and offensive boards. This team also has some very promising freshman bigs in Isaiah Hicks (1.3 points, 2 rebounds a game) and Kennedy Meeks (6.7 points, 5.7 rebounds a game). They are both good inside scorers.
This team can hurt you in many ways when they put it all together.

North Carolina
2013-14 OVERALL RANKINGS
-POINTS PER GAME
75.3
176th
OVERALL
-REBOUNDS PER GAME
41.3
65th
OVERALL
-ASSISTS PER GAME
17.0
36th
OVERALL
-FIELD GOAL PCT
.486
74th
OVERALL

Kenpom Ranks
Overall – #26
Defense Adjustment Efficiency
-94.1 ranks 24th
Offensive Adjustment Efficiency
-109.9 ranks 49th

The Cards will be ready for this one and they might have been looking ahead to the match-up during their game against Fairfield. UNC can match the size and the talent of the Cardinals. It will be a tough battle on the glass as Carolina has been the better team in that category this season. And our front-court will have to step up big in this one. Montrezl, Chane and Wayne will all have to hit the boards and be aggressive on the defensive end. I think our back-court has the advantage with the depth. Russ and Chris are slightly ahead of their duo but they’ll need to take care of the ball and make good decisions. I do think our bench will also be big in this game especially Luke. This is the one we’ve been waiting for Cardinal fans, and it will be a great opportunity for the Cardinals to send a message to their future conference foes that they are ready for the ACC. It will be a great early season match-up that goes down to the wire. Cards win a close one…