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UNC Asheville Preview

Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2017 4:34 pm
by UNCA Alum
Greetings from below the Mason-Dixon Line! Hope everybody is having a great fall. It's a sweltering 71 degrees down here today. UNC Asheville fans, like yall, are very excited about this upcoming basketball season and can't wait for next Friday night. While we will be the clear underdog, we hope to put up a good fight and represent the Big South well. Here's a quick look @ our rotation:

1) PG MaCio Teague - 6'3" soph. Returning Big South Rookie of the Year and 1st team all-conference player. Doesn't have the same athleticism as his half brother Jeff, but is a really solid player and can flat out stroke it. We rely on him a lot to create half court offense.
2) SG Raekwon Miller - 6'3" senior. Former walk-on who has gradually earned a spot in the rotation. Good athlete and good defender. Streaky shooter. One of the freshmen might start here, but Raekwon will get PT.
3) SG Kevin Vannatta - 6'2" senior. Four year starter. Insert cliché white player intangibles.
4) SF Ahmad Thomas - 6'3" senior. Returning 1st team all-conference player. Best defender in conference. Very athletic, insane wingspan. Improved on offense each year, should compete for league MVP this year.
5) PF Donovan Gilmore - 6'7" rs-junior. Transfer from College of Charleston. Defense and rebounding.

6) SG Jalen Seegars - 6'4" freshman. High hopes for him down the road.
7) PF Alec Wnuk - 6'7" senior. Solid role player off bench. Might start. will likely split time with Gilmore.
8) SF LJ Thorpe - 6'4" freshman

TBD if it will show up in the game or not, but we are honestly kind of a Big South version of you all. Play the 5 best players, focus on defense, and don't really value positions all that much. Typically have 4-5 guys out there between 6'2" and 6'5" that can do it all. We do not have any exhibition games so I am not 100% sure on who will start and what not, but pretty comfortable with above. We will go as far as Thomas / Teague take us and if you all can lock them up or if they are having an off night then we'll be in trouble.

In the past four years, we've had underclassmen transfer to LSU (Keith Hornsby), Marquette (Andrew Rowsey), Louisville (Dwayne Sutton), and Arizona (Dylan Smith). We've done a great job recruiting and replacing those guys, but man it pretty much sucks serving as D-League for the big boys. We were a near unanimous pick to win the Big South this year and anything less than an NCAA tournament appearance will be considered a disappointment.

I do not know much about Rhode Island, outside of Family Guy, so I'm assuming you all do not know much about Asheville, NC. Here are some fun facts:

Breweries: Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, Highland, Wicked Weed, Oskar Blues, plus approximately 217 more.
Famous Alums: Kenny George (7'8" behemoth that captivated the nation in 2008), Wiley Cash (author), Nick McDevitt (current head coach)
Farm to Table Restaurants: Every. Single. One.
Movies Filmed Nearby: Last of the Mohicans, Hunger Games, Richie Rich (Macaulay Culkin, Biltmore House, early 90s, you know you watched it), Dirty Dancing.

Good luck next Friday and for the rest of the season!

Re: UNC Asheville Preview

Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2017 5:20 pm
by Rhody74
Sounds like a good opponent for our 4 guard starting group.

Re: UNC Asheville Preview

Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2017 5:43 pm
by UCH21377
Asheville is a great place. Spent lots of time there my wife is from that area.

Re: UNC Asheville Preview

Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2017 5:48 pm
by ramster
Visited the Biltmore House during Christmas Season before. Beautiful.
Thanks for posting the information on your team here.

Re: UNC Asheville Preview

Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2017 6:17 pm
by reef
Welcome Asheville fan good luck

Re: UNC Asheville Preview

Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2017 6:53 pm
by Iggy1979
You have better beer; we have the better team. Thanks for posting

Re: UNC Asheville Preview

Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2017 7:14 pm
by NYGFan_Section208
You can get good beer pretty much anywhere, except at the Ryan Center. But, the team you got is the team you got....

Re: UNC Asheville Preview

Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2017 7:58 pm
by KevanBoyles
I still prefer Narragansett.

Re: UNC Asheville Preview

Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2017 8:11 pm
by TruePoint
This is great. Thanks and welcome.

Re: UNC Asheville Preview

Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2017 8:36 pm
by adam914
Very cool, thanks for stopping by and providing a nice preview. Hoping you guys go 29-0 after Nov. 10!

Re: UNC Asheville Preview

Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2017 8:39 pm
by PeterRamTime
Asheville is a really cool town. Beautiful and good people.

Re: UNC Asheville Preview

Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2017 10:25 pm
by UNCA Alum
adam914 wrote:Very cool, thanks for stopping by and providing a nice preview. Hoping you guys go 29-0 after Nov. 10!
Schedule does open up a bit after 11/10.....

Look forward to watching y’all play this year. Always enjoy the A-10 Friday night matchups.

Re: UNC Asheville Preview

Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2017 11:02 pm
by Rhodymob05
Solid post Asheville.

Re: UNC Asheville Preview

Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2017 8:13 am
by Ram1019
I second that about Asheville. I went down to visit family and it was seriously such an awesome city. The vibe reminded me of Providence a little bit. If I had to live anywhere in the south (is this considered the south?), Asheville would be my top pick. I think it was the Friday night 'drum circle' in the park that really won me over. Thanks for the post, UNCA. Looking forward to a great game on Friday.

Re: UNC Asheville Preview

Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2017 9:13 am
by wgracie99
They aren't big but I bet they are probably quick. Lot's of 4 guards for us plus I think more Preston than Berry for this game.

Re: UNC Asheville Preview

Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2017 12:07 pm
by UNCA Alum
We actually aren't all that quick, to be honest. Playing small has its advantages in individual matchups, but we do not have any players with blinding quickness. We are very aggressive defensively and take care of the ball on the other end. We ranked #2 in the nation last year in turnover margin, only trailing West Virginia.

We also don't shoot a ton of threes, which is odd given our lack of height. Try to spread the court and create driving lanes on offense.

Re: UNC Asheville Preview

Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2017 12:31 pm
by bigappleram
That style can be effective against us, given our proficiency at defending the 3 and in-your-face on the ball style. Leaves a lot of space for effective dribble drivers...moreso without an All League defensive stopper to back up the perimeter guys. That said, we have some terrific on-ball defenders in Terrell, Robinson, Garrett, Akele and Dowtin so it will be interesting to see where it nets out.

Re: UNC Asheville Preview

Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2017 1:52 pm
by PeterRamTime
bigappleram wrote:That style can be effective against us, given our proficiency at defending the 3 and in-your-face on the ball style. Leaves a lot of space for effective dribble drivers...moreso without an All League defensive stopper to back up the perimeter guys. That said, we have some terrific on-ball defenders in Terrell, Robinson, Garrett, Akele and Dowtin so it will be interesting to see where it nets out.
Yeah we usually do better against guard oriented teams that shoot a lot of threes.
I fear us fouling like crazy. But that's usually a given with us...

Re: UNC Asheville Preview

Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2017 2:25 pm
by sf2010
PeterRamTime wrote:
bigappleram wrote:That style can be effective against us, given our proficiency at defending the 3 and in-your-face on the ball style. Leaves a lot of space for effective dribble drivers...moreso without an All League defensive stopper to back up the perimeter guys. That said, we have some terrific on-ball defenders in Terrell, Robinson, Garrett, Akele and Dowtin so it will be interesting to see where it nets out.
Yeah we usually do better against guard oriented teams that shoot a lot of threes.
I fear us fouling like crazy. But that's usually a given with us...
I looked up our foul stats to see if your impression matches reality, turns out it does!

On a per game basis we ranked 299 of 351 with 20.7 per game, and when adjusted for pace to a rate basis, we were even worse, ranked 324 of 351 committing fouls on 26.6% of opponents' possessions.

That said, more fouls does not necessarily equal bad defense. I would rather have more fouls with a ball-hawking defense (which I think we do), as opposed to a passive approach that resulted in less aggression and fewer fouls.

(Stats courtesy of https://www.teamrankings.com/ncb/stats/)

Re: UNC Asheville Preview

Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2017 2:26 pm
by UNCA Alum
I'm obviously biased, but I feel we'd be a mid-tier A10 team for this upcoming season. We finished with an RPI of 71 last year and most places have us in the ~100 range in overall preseason rankings. KenPom has us at 102 (Davidson at 86, Dayton 103, Richmond 113, La Salle 137, George Washington 143, UMass 472, etc.)

That being said, the 5th place team in the A10 this year will probably still be 20+ points worse than Rhode Island.

Re: UNC Asheville Preview

Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2017 2:59 pm
by theblueram
Try and work out a deal with Fordham or Duquesne. Would love to see another good team added to the league.

Re: UNC Asheville Preview

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2017 10:58 am
by ramster
UNCA,
You can listen in to our Coaches Show to learn more. Also note from the article game is streamed free.

Friday night's game will stream for free on the Atlantic 10 Network.

http://www.gorhody.com/sports/m-baskbl/ ... 1107bs8t2k

Re: UNC Asheville Preview

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2017 2:37 pm
by UNCA Alum
ramster wrote:UNCA,
You can listen in to our Coaches Show to learn more. Also note from the article game is streamed free.

Friday night's game will stream for free on the Atlantic 10 Network.

http://www.gorhody.com/sports/m-baskbl/ ... 1107bs8t2k
Heyyy ohhh!! Thanks for the info!

Re: UNC Asheville Preview

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2017 9:08 pm
by the_one_mike
Forgive me for not knowing offhand but, is this going to be a home-and-home series? I hear great things about Asheville... if this is h+h I'm going to plan on making my way down there next year.

Re: UNC Asheville Preview

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2017 11:41 pm
by PeterRamTime
the_one_mike wrote:Forgive me for not knowing offhand but, is this going to be a home-and-home series? I hear great things about Asheville... if this is h+h I'm going to plan on making my way down there next year.
Don't think so since this is part of the NIT tip off tournament.