Not much to note from Roy Williams' press conference. There continues to be no update concerning a resolution of P.J. Hairston and Leslie McDonald's eligibility concerns meaning this Saturday will mark the 11th game both players have missed, assuming the NCAA counts the secret scrimmage and exhibition. If and when the NCAA comes down with a decision, the current number of games missed will be seen as "time served" assuming the suspension is more than whatever number of contests UNC's schedule gets to before this thing mercifully ends.
Outside of that, Williams covered some basics of the current reasoning behind which lineups play and what it would take to see Brice Johnson and Kennedy Meeks on the floor more often. The answer is their defense has to improve which isn't a surprise. In fact Williams noted that if Johnson ever figures out how to be a complete player on defense, Joel James would need to start scoring more points.
The long and short of it is, UNC has Meeks and Johnson who are really good on the offense end but struggle defensively. Then there is Joel James and Desmond Hubert, who Williams says, gives them more on the defensive end. The result is this platoon of big men and playing time divvied up based on how well they are playing or if their respected deficiencies are necessarily balanced out by their strengths.
Both Williams and Marcus Paige commented on Nate Britt's progression. Paige said it has been difficult for Britt since it wasn't supposed to be this way which is similar to his own situation. Of course Britt's sudden role as a starter is actually worse than Paige's. It was known by April, 2012 that Kendall Marshall was not going to be back in Chapel Hill giving Paige the whole summer to prepare. Britt hasn't been afforded that kind of time and until early November the thought process was UNC wouldn't miss Hairston and McDonald for more than a few games. Based on the past two games, Britt has looked more comfortable after a rough start.
One interesting tidbit. Williams, when talking about lineup choices, stated that in 2009 he would have started Danny Green over Marcus Ginyard even if the latter had been healthy. He said he felt Green gave the team something they needed going into the 2009 season so he was going to make the change. This is the first time(that I know of) Williams has made this assertion and thought it was worth mentioning.
