Marcus Ginyard not getting stops
Marcus Ginyard fights for a rebound during second half action from Madison Square Garden. (Photo by Jack Morton)
Nov 24, 2009
I am going to get roasted for saying this I know, but here goes. When Marcus Ginyard was unable to come back from injury last year I said to anyone who would listen that it was the best thing that could happen to the top-ranked Tar Heels. If you think I'm crazy gimme a second.
See, with Ginyard going down it allowed the versatile Danny Green to get into the starting lineup, and to not always be looking over his shoulder to see when someone was coming in to replace him. Green flourished and became the needed outside threat besides Wayne Ellington the Tar Heels were missing in 2008.
With Ginyard in the game teams were allowed to basically leave him unguarded because he was no threat to either shoot or drive, and they would have an extra defender to help out on Tyler Hansbrough inside, or stop Ty Lawson when he would drive. With Green on the floor a helping defensive move would lead to a wide open three, and Danny Green would usually knock it in or rotate the ball to another open teammate. Green also was a headache on the defensive end creating steals and blocks that led to easy transition baskets.
Basically, Danny Green was an incredible upgrade from Ginyard, and it obviously worked out as the Heels cut down the nets in Detroit.
So here we are a year later and Ginyard is back. The senior is a tremendous leader off the court, but he has always been touted as a defensive stopper. Well six games into the season I still don't see it.
With only four games against true competition the opposing players top perimeter player has gone off against the Tar Heels. Brandon Wood of Valpo went for 30, Evan Turner of Ohio State 23 points, Wesley Johnson had 25 for Syracuse, and here is the capper, little Grayson Flittner who came in averaging just 7 points per game went for 32 and tied the Smith Center record with nine three pointers. These are not the kind of performances you would expect against a fifth year senior defensive stopper.
You can say that all the points haven't been on him, but a lot of them have. And if you're the best defender on the team you move onto the hot hand even if he is lighting someone else up. There have been plenty of times that he has played well, but he is still not a complete player.
The liability that he is on offense will make it tough on the inside bigs trying to score as the season moves along. As important as guard play is in the college game, there isn't a whole lot of room on the court for wings who can't shoot.
For North Carolina to have any chance in March they will have to get more out of Ginyard on both ends of the court, because he will most certainly be out there for his leadership.
