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Message: [QUOTE="SU94, post: 1926838, member: 202"] Why do all of the national pundits/magazines, etc., believe that we are behind Virginia? It is almost universal. To be fair, before we added Gillon, White and Thompson, I would have easily agreed. We were likely behind 6-7 other teams before those late additions. But the bottom line is, JAB does have these 3 at his disposal this year. Yes, we lost Silent G, Cooney and Malachi. But they lost Tobey, Gill and Brogdon. You could best argue that they lost more, but it is at least close. Bennett is a [B]great [/B]young coach. Boeheim is a [B]HOF [/B]Coach. Call this one a push. Bennett is high quality. JAB is ... one of a kind. Both have strong recruiting classes coming in. No distinct advantage either way, although their class is 4 deep, ours was 3 deep. It'll be interesting to see who is more impactful between T.Battle and Kyle Guy (their top new face). I just like our roster much, much better and personally, I see UVa floating in and out of the Top 25 this coming year. Sort of like a typical ND season. Likely much more dangerous in early March than in December, especially thanks to Bennett. Perrantes is excellent, and he'll score more this year, but I think he had the space to excel because of the 3 seniors who departed, especially Brogdon and Gill. So, he'll have to make an adjustment. Beyond the ACC's resident finger sniffer, their top returning scorer is Isaiah Wilkins at 4.6 ppg. They have other talented/athletic options, but none have DONE it, and that his is my underlying point. They have a good number of unknowns. The Wahoos do have a transfer of note coming in, Austin Nichols, who was a top 30-ish player and averaged 11-12 ppg in 2 seasons at Memphis (and is stout defensively). Which begs the question, has any transfer ever executed a greater academic upgrade than Nichols? Good for him. To be fair, perhaps one could lay many similar arguments "against" SU. Who do we have coming back? We are a bit of an unknown too. But we know we have (in no particular order) ... Roberson: A certified double-double threat every night White: An NBA talent who finished 6th in B1G in scoring last year. Great shooter. Gillon: A double-digit jet from the Mountain West Conference. Very good shooter. Battle: A Top 30 recruit, who JAB seems to be enamored with as much as any frosh in 5-10 years Lydon: A first-round talent, potential Lottery pick. Strong shooter for his size Coleman: A strong 23-year-old man with one year left and is healthier than we have ever seen him Moyer: A top 60-ish recruit from talent-rich Ohio Thompson: A 6-foot-10 top 75 recruit with a surprisingly advanced offensive game Howard: A top 50-60 recruit from DC that is a great distributor & appears to have taken great strides Paschal: A top 75 recruit transfer that is 7-foot-2 and will allow us to press whenever we so choose This whole narrative of Duke, UNC and UVa bunched at the top is a bit perplexing to me. Hey, I could be wrong ("I didn't know) - Dino). I think we're at least among that grouping, with the potential for more if White really meshes with his new teammates. [/QUOTE]

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