What is this team's ceiling this year?

[HOFCeluck]

Excluding the postseason, because that's impossible to predict.

 

[jordoo]

If you are being completely objective you would have to say the ceiling is very high. Mainly because we have two very talented freshman and two very talented sophmores that all have very high ceilings themselves. However its all speculation as to how these four guys will play this year (Kaleb, Chris, Tyler, BJ) Its not just them either, we have seen what Rak and Cooney can do but both need consistency and fine tuning. Also we have the issue of who backs up the PG and C spots. We could see everything come to fruition and we win the ACC although its more likely that a good team all season that becomes very dangerous down the stretch when all the young guys really start to get it.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I think we are impossible to predict. Lot's of unproven talent. We could be first or 8th in the league and neither would surprise me.

 

[orangefan13]

Just like the 02-03 team. They have alot of talent this year but no chance they go far in the tournament.

Honestly I didn't think we would be that good for half the summer, but then I realized we have so many weapons that can average 7plus on top of a few go to guys. Cooney, Rak, Gbinije, Roberson, BJ, McCullough, Joseph can all possibly average over 7 I think. And Gbinije can as well if he wants to score more. And nobody knows if Dajuan is healthy or not, and how ready patterson will be. Thats 9 guys that could average over 7 if given the playing time imo.

Typically we have 2-3 fresh-sophmores that aren't ready to, but this squads young talent is ready to outside maybe Obokoh. We have scoring depth.

 

[RF2044]

It all comes down to the freshman and sophomore class, IMO. How ready are those guys to contribute? Because if those questions get answered positively, this team could really surprise. But if Roberson or BJ or Bus or McCullough or Joseph--probably the most important cog in the group, IMO--aren't capable of performing at a high level, then our ceiling comes way down.

I want to remphasize that final point: there's a lot of pressure on Kaleb Joseph, the PG hand picked by this staff to be the next guy in line, to produce. He's got big shoes to fill. I believe he's up to the challenge, but we won't know until later this fall. And if he's not ready, then what? Starting Gbinije at PG or Bus alongside Cooney conjures up images of that awful 2002 squad that tried to shoehorn MeShaun into a PG before finally settling on James Thues, who was okay but certainly nothing special. There's a lot riding on Joseph's ability to produce at a high level, IMO.

 

[Trueblue25]

I think we have several players capable of averaging over 10 ppg... Rak, McCullough, Joseph, Roberson, Cooney and Gbinije. Have to see more of Johnson.

 

[RF2044]

Just like the 02-03 team. They have alot of talent this year but no chance they go far in the tournament.

Honestly I was didn't think we would be that good for half the summer, but then I realized we have so many weapons that can average 7plus on top of a few go to guys. Cooney, Rak, Gbinije, Roberson, BJ, McCullough, Joseph can all possibly average over 7 I think. And Gbinije can as well if he wants to score more. And nobody knows if Dajuan is healthy or not. Thats 9 guys that could average over 7 if given the playing time imo.
Typically we have 2-3 fresh-sophmores that aren't ready to, but this squads young talent is ready to outside maybe Ron and Obokoh. We have depth.

Uh... the 02-03 team won the national championship.

 

[cuseclappy]

Uh... the 02-03 team won the national championship.

gosh i hated that team so much

 

[Eric15]

Uh... the 02-03 team won the national championship.

I don't remember that at all - Ryan are you just making s--t up?

 

[Eric15]

Excluding the postseason, because that's impossible to predict.

Ceiling: National Championship
Basement: NIT

I know that's a vague answer, but this is an incredibly vague team at this point.

 

[jordoo]

Seems everyone is on the same page here. You can see the pieces and how they could work great together if all the guys are ready to perform at this level. That said its also easy to see how one or two players not being ready to perform could really cause the team to struggle.

 

[orangefan13]

2 things that interest me about our offense.

1.
I think Xmas,Roberson and Dajuan could all be pound it inside types. But we want one of them to be a on the block post up one on one threat. Xmas hasn't really shown to be that to much yet but has had his moments. And we don't know if Dajuan will be healthy.
I think McCullough could surprise us by quarter,mid, or last quarter of the season and show the jumpshot that would have made jerami grant jealous. But the downdside is until he finds a jumpshot to open up his dribble, we could have 4 of our main scorers being pound it inside scorers that lack a one on one post up block isoation game, dependend on transition half court offense pounding. Which is not good offensive flow, but on a positive note will wear opponents down and get to the line. It is very good thing they have a driving guard in Kaleb who can score midpost and electrify inside setting them up. And with that much pounding it inside, I think the experiment of Gbinije pushing it near the freethrow line to draw doubles will also be retested.

2.
Kaleb, BJ Gbinije Ron, and Cooney intrigue me shooting off the dribble, and it gets more interesting with BJ and Gbinije both being swing guard/forwards. Ron could very easily play himself into minutes. IMO, He should not think of his situation as competition, he just needs to bring a well rounded game or show some 6th man potential to show JB he deserves some time on the court.

 

[RF2044]

Here's a couple of early predictions I'm comfortable making, prior to preseason practice getting started:

• Tyler Roberson is going to show the sophomore leap, and have a good year
• Chris McCullough is going to shoot the ball better than people expect
• Rak is going to approach averaging 8 and 8, showing more consistency and benefitting from being "the guy" inside
• ...which is important, because Chinoso Obokoh is going to be quite foul prone
• Dejuan will end up redshirting
• BJ will be the latest "super scoring sub," and will average between 7-10ppg, giving JB the luxury of having a sixth man who plays starters minutes
• Cooney will take the next step from the standpoint of consistency
• Buss will play his way into the rotation and contribute as a three point complimentary threat, but find minutes inconsistently allocated in some games

I'm a lot less certain about what Joseph is going to do as a starter, whether Gbinije is going to show more consistent offese, or whether that last game was just a flash in the pan, and how we'll shoot the ball collectively as a team [I think a lot better than last year, but there's no way to know until they lace 'em up].

 

[HOFCeluck]

I'm asking because like a lot of people I have no idea how these new guys are going to come together. Though, I agree ultimately it's all going to come down to how Kaleb accepts his role as the guy running the offense.

Fortunately I'm not really buying into any other team in the ACC. Even all the hype Duke is getting is based off guys who have yet to play a college game.

 

[Flacusian]

JB has a lot to work with this year. Part of the problem which led to last years team stagnating and augering in at the season's end was that they had become extremely predictable. Once the Achilles heel was identified by other teams, the team had extreme difficulty scoring. Once CJ was neuturalized and Cooney became exhausted and worn down by running around like crazy trying to get free for a shot, the team became very beatable.

We didn't have people who could consistently score or hit a 3 to open up things inside. CJ was often double and triple teamed once the ball was in his hands and let's face it, he never developed his game off the dribble. The opposition always knew who was going to get the ball and in which fashion he would try to score, even to the extent of which direction he was going to go in. While people marveled at how Ennis didn't turn the ball over, that was actually a naturally occurring consequence of the manner in which he ran the team. He seldom took chances and the number of assists he had seemed to diminish as the season progressed. Tyler was very methodical and deliberate which ended up translating into "predictable". He also, as marvelous as he was in so many ways, was a terrible finisher around the basket. I recall countless layups that rolled around the rim and then rimmed out.

This season may be the largest collection of unproven talent that we've gone into a season with in quite a long time but that also plays into our hand. There are so many parts, all with considerable and varied talent and ability so although we might not be too sure of how all these parts are going to work together, the opposition sure as hell won't know either.

I've got a lot of confidence that JB, Hop, GMAC, and Red are going to figure out how to craft this amalgam of diversia into a well oiled kick-a$$ posse by year's end. I'm grateful that I don't have to have it all figured out as to who is going to step into which role and who is going to score how much when etc. I just know that we have one of the best Coaches to have ever coached the College game and he has a boatload of talent, albeit unproven, to work with.

I like our chances. Big Time!

 

[VaBeachOrFan]

I'm hoping for three areas to pan out if this year's team is going to be successful:

1. Fluidity in the open court to take advantage of the young guys' athleticism and overcome their inexperience. This will also get Cooney some better looks than he had last year.
2. Attention to defense to create turnovers that will open up the court.
3. Aggressive rebounding to start the fast break -- ditto.

If this year's team stagnates into a half-court offense, we'll probably be a decent team, but not a great one. KJ has incredible quickness to change direction, which will create offense -- however, the team will need to gel for him to gain the confidence to call his own number regularly or in key possessions. Good luck, guys. I've got the fidgets waiting for October to get here.-VBOF

 

[orangefan13]

transition offense can win some games, but there will be games where teams will prevent it by sacrificing some offensive sets to get back on defense. In games like that it can become 100% useless. Reguardless you will always have to play half court offense no matter what. Also you keep scoring in the halfcourt and get up 6-8 points and there are times when opponents will try to force things thus creating transition moments.

I love the idea of transition offense and its fun to watch creating really high percentage shots. But, you can't go all the way with it as sports announcers will beat the fact your team does it with a stick to it becomes common knowledge amoung your opponents. Still, some of our teams are better at transition then others, and I agree lots of transition potential on this team.

 

[SoBristol]

It is about time for an infusion of actual observations and real info about player development -- as most of this has been kicked around for months. Maybe some new positives about BJ (scoring ability on the team traveling to Estonia) and what else?

So much of this team's potential turns on the players who will handle the ball on the perimeter. And let's be honest -- few posters have seen Gbinije lately in that role, or Kaleb Joseph, or enough of BJ to assess what he can do against ACC level opponents. October will be a revelation in many key areas.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

 

[VaBeachOrFan]

transition offense can win some games, but there will be games where teams will prevent it by sacrificing some offensive sets to get back on defense. In games like that it can become 100% useless. Reguardless you will always have to play half court offense no matter what. Also you keep scoring in the halfcourt and get up 6-8 points and there are times when opponents will try to force things thus creating transition moments.

I love the idea of transition offense and its fun to watch creating really high percentage shots. But, you can't go all the way with it as sports announcers will beat the fact your team does it with a stick to it becomes common knowledge amoung your opponents. Still, some of our teams are better at transition then others, and I agree lots of transition potential on this team.

True enough, other teams can and will do all they can to stifle SU's transition game. However, I'm hoping this team will play alert and opportunistic BB to get what transitions they can. I want for a return to those games where SU laid on two good runs and the other team might get one -- we almost always won those contests. But last year's pace kept opponents always in the game and if we had one cold shooting spell, trouble ensued. Must get away from that scenario as much as possible, that's all I meant. Play thirsty, my friend.-VBOF

 

[Delmar]

High ceiling for aggravation. High ceiling for elation. The talent on the bench last year now gets a chance to play. The sophomores will break out, and it will be a helluva lot of fun to watch.

 

[AZOrange]

We will better team in March than November. These guys have the potential to get better.

 

[cuseattle]

JB has a lot to work with this year. Part of the problem which led to last years team stagnating and augering in at the season's end was that they had become extremely predictable. Once the Achilles heel was identified by other teams, the team had extreme difficulty scoring. Once CJ was neuturalized and Cooney became exhausted and worn down by running around like crazy trying to get free for a shot, the team became very beatable.

We didn't have people who could consistently score or hit a 3 to open up things inside. CJ was often double and triple teamed once the ball was in his hands and let's face it, he never developed his game off the dribble. The opposition always knew who was going to get the ball and in which fashion he would try to score, even to the extent of which direction he was going to go in. While people marveled at how Ennis didn't turn the ball over, that was actually a naturally occurring consequence of the manner in which he ran the team. He seldom took chances and the number of assists he had seemed to diminish as the season progressed. Tyler was very methodical and deliberate which ended up translating into "predictable". He also, as marvelous as he was in so many ways, was a terrible finisher around the basket. I recall countless layups that rolled around the rim and then rimmed out.

This season may be the largest collection of unproven talent that we've gone into a season with in quite a long time but that also plays into our hand. There are so many parts, all with considerable and varied talent and ability so although we might not be too sure of how all these parts are going to work together, the opposition sure as hell won't know either.

I've got a lot of confidence that JB, Hop, GMAC, and Red are going to figure out how to craft this amalgam of diversia into a well oiled kick-a$$ posse by year's end. I'm grateful that I don't have to have it all figured out as to who is going to step into which role and who is going to score how much when etc. I just know that we have one of the best Coaches to have ever coached the College game and he has a boatload of talent, albeit unproven, to work with.

I like our chances. Big Time!

Great post!

 

[Cuse_NYC]

Ceiling: Sweet 16. You have to be able to put the ball in the hoop. We're not going to score enough fast break points to be more than a Sweet 16 team. Teams will get back... Aside from days where Cooney is hot, not sure how we're going to score in the half court(although I do actually have confidence in Rak.) I think DC2 is a much bigger piece than people realize. Even though he hasn't showed much offensively, he's a presence and can draw fouls.

 

[Briancuse]

This is really the first year in a long time that I am having a tough time getting a read on how good we can be. There are just so many wildcards and unproven guys. If Joseph and Cmac and step right in and play well, if Rak can finally live up to his potential, if Roberson can make the soph jump, if DC can be healthy, this team can be pretty good. If those things don't happen, we could be looking at a 8/9 seed in the ncaa tourney type team.