Some Thoughts on the LSU Game

-Ty Lawson can still dominate, even when he's hurt. He clearly in a lot of pain, and during the press conference afterward, said he could feel his toe swelling. He said he felt a pop in his toe in the first half, which could have been dislodged scar tissue, but could also have been something more serious like a ligament or a tendon. My guess is they'll do an MRI to double check, but hopefully this week he can get back to practice.
-Ed Eazy-E (you heard it here first) Davis, once again, had a great game. He had 9 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks in 25 minutes. That's more rebounding per minute (.28 rebounds per minute) than Tyler (.26 rebounds per minute) or Deon (.24 rebounds per minute) have averaged throughout the year. Ed's yearlong average is a spectacular .36 rebounds per minute. That means if he were averaging Hansbrough style minutes (30.1 mpg), he'd be pulling down over 10 rebounds a game. Anyway, despite losing the rebounding battle to LSU, Carolina pulled down more rebounds when it mattered in the final 12 minutes (I said rebounds 9 times in 5 sentences). Rebounds (10).
-If you haven't realized, Ed has taken over Deon's minutes. Deon played just 15 minutes to Ed's 25. Considering how well Deon has been playing, you get the feeling that Roy sees something special in Eazy-E. Drew II played only 3 minutes, despite also having played well in Ty's absence.
-Roy has had the reputation of being inflexible in the way he coaches. I've personally criticized him in the past for his unwillingness to use timeouts, overuse of bench, and other minor, nitpicky aspects of his coaching. But against LSU, he used timeouts early in the second half when LSU began to make their run (and by the way, that's when Carolina began to guard again; in the timeout, Roy looked at Danny, Tyler, and Bobby, and asked them if this was how they wanted to end their careers). He's been more frugal with his bench, and he's become more willing to take playing time from upperclassmen and give it to freshman. And you have me to thank for that (maybe not).
-Next up: Friday, March 27th against Gonzaga. We'll have plenty about them, but as some of you may remember, this could vaguely be a revenge game for Carolina. A lot of players on both teams are still around, so maybe a video of that game should be looped in the Dean Dome while the Carolina players practice this week. Just a thought.