Purdue's Trevion Williams is going from All-American candidate to reserve
What's going on? Williams was one of the best big men in the country last season, putting up an efficient 15.5 points and 9.1 rebounds in 25.1 minutes. During the offseason, however, steady buzz about Zach Edey -- who backed up Williams last season -- continued to grow. Edey averaged 15.1 points and 14.1 rebounds in seven games with Canada at the FIBA U19 World Cup in Latvia, then dominated preseason practices. How Matt Painter planned to use these two together was a big October storyline.
Well, he simply hasn't. Williams and Edey have played just 16 possessions together, according to Hoop Lens, with Edey displacing Williams in the starting lineup. Through three games, Edey is averaging 18.7 points, 10.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks -- with Williams putting up 11.7 points, 9.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 18.3 minutes off the bench.
Will it last? As long as Williams is happy and producing off the bench, he and Edey are going to form the most imposing one-two post punch in the country. Tuesday's performance against Wright State was the perfect example of it working: Edey started and put up 18 points and 12 boards, while Williams came off the bench to finish with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Obviously, they're not going to combine for 38 points and 25 boards every night in Big Ten play, but it's entirely conceivable they can each play 20 minutes or so and be dominant when they get their time on the floor.
"We make each other better, these past two years," Williams told reporters after Tuesday's win. "Playing against a bigger guy, a bigger defender, somebody we probably won't see in the Big Ten besides, like, Kofi [Cockburn]. He's made me adjust my game and stretch my game out a little more. I just appreciate him for that. We probably get anywhere if we don't push each other in practice. There's a reason for everything."
North Carolina has major defensive issues
What's going on? All the usual small sample caveats apply, but through one week, there's just one team ranked in the top 50 at KenPom that sits outside the top 100 on adjusted defensive efficiency: North Carolina. Much of that has to do with the Tar Heels giving up 170 points in a five-day span to Brown and Charleston.
Last Friday, the Bears -- who hadn't played a Division I opponent in about 20 months -- scored 50 first-half points and put up 87 total in a seven-point loss. Brown shot nearly 56% from inside the arc, turned the ball over only five times and scored 1.23 points per possession. According to KenPom's database, that would have ranked as the second-worst defensive performance by North Carolina all of last season, with the NCAA tournament loss to Wisconsin being the only one worse. That effort wasn't a blip, either, as the Tar Heels then went to Charleston on Tuesday night and gave up 83 points. The Cougars made 11 3s, scored in transition and led by double-digits in the first half.
Will it last? There are always going to be hiccups after a coaching change, especially one with a different system. Hubert Davis is clearly trying to modernize the offense and play two traditional bigs together less than Roy Williams did in Chapel Hill, but that could be leading to some growing pains -- even if the Tar Heels look dangerous and highly efficient on the offensive end. They don't have much time to improve defensively over the next few weeks either, with games against Purdue, either Villanova or Tennessee, Michigan and UCLA all on the docket.
"They're not as physically imposing inside," one coach who scouted North Carolina's opening games said. "They look harder to guard at the other end with the skill from those guys [Dawson Garcia and Brady Manek]. Both are skilled, high IQ, both really talented and they help them a lot at the other end. But they probably give up some physicality and rim protection, they're not as imposing inside other than [Armando] Bacot. Their ball-screen defense was shaky against Brown, and I also thought Loyola did a better job than Brown did, but with good off-ball cutting and screening, you can take advantage of some things there. They're not where they need to be defensively, but nobody is."
