There were 16 teams in the conference. Sure the ACC had strong teams at the top who did well in the NCAA. but I think the drop off after that was steeper than it was in other conferences. Like saying Arnold Schwarzenegger and I combined to bench 600 lbs so "we" are really strong,
I have to admit I'm not really feeling it with this team either. Freeman is highly rated but you just never know with a freshman and I'm just not sure about Carlos stepping up to the Power 4 level. Starling needs to be more consistent and Bell needs a more well-rounded game. Obviously hope I'm wrong, but I can see where Gary gets that ranking, especially since all of our questions haven't been answered positively in recent years.
I think this is a year that we are definitely hoping for the whole to be greater than the sum of its parts. It seems like that is what the staff is all in on.
Also need that elusive thing that most teams hope for but few achieve of most of the "ifs" turning out positively - i.e., "if this player can develop into... if this other player is actually healthy..." Our success hinges largely upon ifs - here's to hoping!
You summed up what I was trying to say better than I did. There are a lot of questions we are hoping to be answered positively this year.
Yep. And I'd point out further that several other ACC teams that guys like Parrish are rating above us also have these questions to answer - I'd venture to say the only team that on paper is sure-fire as you can get preseason is dook and NC to a lesser extent - and then you can extend that to every other conference too...
I'm in on guys that can share the ball (Carlos, Westry, Starling, Lampkin) and three good shooters in Moore, Taylor, and Bell.
We've had 3 guys that have played at this level before and none of them have been that much better than average. Brought in a bunch a lower conference above average guys. I expect average and have no expectations because I really don't know what to make of it. Fingers crossed, glad guys smarter than me are in charge.
Fortunately, we have lots of redundancy this year. Last year we had McLeod and a lot of wishes and dreams at center. This year, every position has a solid backup, or TWO!
I wouldn't expect the committee to bet on us either with our recent reputation.
6th a decade ago got us in, 6th now may not.
4 instead of 5 conf means everynody gets a few more bids
I tend to agree - seems like there's a lot of solid players and depth appears strong, but we have glaring weaknesses that are going to get exposed - defense across the board, rebounding, shooting, possibly PG play. We don't have many big bodies either. JJ, Bell and Eddie are going to be major issues on defense and I'm not sure this team has the ability to outscore many good teams.
Most of what you said is "wait and see" type things.
Amen
