While this team has improved and has looked better than I expected after the first month, it's still a pretty bad team that I just can't see being better next year.
Girard is proving to be very up and down (frosh), but I love his fire and how he gets ticked off an goes to work. I wish he shot it better from deep over the past month because that sure would've helped in our losses. I like his makeup, but still think he's a better off guard or at creating for himself. I would love a high end PG alongside him. His D stinks, and being next to Buddy and with no shotblocker makes it almost impossible for us to have the type of zone we need. He's producing much better than most could have expected and hopefully he can get better.
Buddy has scored better than probably anybody thought. He just brings nothing else to the table. D is bad as he can't match the quickness on the perimeter that we see, he doesn't rebound and he really can't handle pressure. Too bad he isn't 2-3 inches taller and could play the bottom of the zone full time. How much better can he get and will his limitations always stand out more because of our D system?
Hughes has been a stud, possibly the best pure multi-level scorer we've had since Melo. His D hasn't been bad and he really stands out athletically on this team. It'll be extremely tough to replace everything he provides, which is why I find next year to be a tough one.
Marek's offensive game has vastly improved, but his mental mistakes just kill us. He's an intelligent, savvy player, but commits some of the dumbest fouls imaginable. Those don't jibe and I sure hope he figures it out going forward. We need him on the floor. It's too bad he could never add weight because if he were 210-220, he might be a draft pick.
Maybe our guys have been tired or we get some young guy mistakes, but we consistently struggle the last 10 minutes of games. Should we get some minutes of rest for the perimeter guys around the 10-12 minute point? I know JB hates subbing in the 2nd half and our foul problems make it tough to do much. We've blown leads, blown games against mediocre team and simply cost ourselves a shot to make the tourney. JB has done an ok job this year making an adjustment to speed up the tempo a bit to middle of the pack nationwide, but why do we constantly melt down in games? Sometimes these guys need some settling down when it starts teetering, but we keep trying to push them through it with some failures. I'm not sure what has happened or what needs to change precisely, but certainly some adjustments need to be made to our final quarter of the game strategy or in-game decisions. Maybe play some more offense/defense subs with Goodine and/or QG/Marek/Sid if no foul trouble?
With a really, really down year in college hoops and our inability to be a tourney team through this, I really find it hard to believe we'll have more success next year. We'll have less outside shooting and scoring, a reduction in athleticism (where we already struggle) and the same defensive issues. Assuming the ACC is better next year, which it might not be, how do we become a tourney team again? I want to see what some are seeing, but the warts are so apparent and problematic. I'm hoping Edwards can add some bulk and confidence, and become a two-way presence. QG needs to develop something outside the paint and we need to keep using him in mismatches. Will we even play a 3rd guard the next 2 years? Hope we can figure out the D and exceed all expectations next year...