I think the team will be more fun to watch but not necessarily better. It is deeply flawed: no interior defensive presence being a huge issue for a zone team. We will be more wide open on offense but if our outside shots are not falling, we won't have a Rak to dump it to inside and bail us out.
I think many of our games' results will be tied very closely to our field goal percentage. The good news is we have more shooting options. TC will hopefully be more selective with the weight of the world not on his shoulders.
One thing to watch is how good G is in isolation. If he becomes effective taking his man off the dribble, that would be huge.
I think we can be a tourney team but pfister makes a compelling argument why that might not happen.
Lots of good points in here, but a couple things I would add on the positive side. I can't argue with your concerns: interior offense and defense are going to take a hit. Chino has stiff hands and has not shown any moves. TR is crafty inside but undersized. And DC's coming off surgery. Although his recovery is amazing, he might not have enough explosion to score, defend or rebound against bigger ACC front lines (UVA, UNC for sure, LV, Duke, WF). This leaves us somewhat vulnerable inside. The lack of a shot-blocker on D could lead to PIP and rebounding problems. We're only plus 1 RBM after 2 games against D-II teams. And without inside scoring, we might be less balanced than last year and vulnerable to boom/bust one-dimensionalism (ala CJF's senior year).
But there's also an upside:
1) We're shooting the lights out. We've only played 2 exhibition games, but I haven't seen this kind of perimeter production since Scoop and BT were in our back court. MR is a gem. Not only does he look like the volume scorer we've been missing, he may be the most athletic kid on the team. The kid has pogo-sticks for legs, a good handle and he doesn't turn it over. I think at his size, he might struggle to rebound at the 3 against bigger teams (in these games, I like him at the 3 on O and the 2 on D). But after seeing him play, it looks like I under-predicted his ability to function at SF -- including scoring inside over size. TL is a WIP physically, but even at this stage, he has the stroke to draw defenders out of the lane. Our other second rotation guys also look good: FH shows poise and vision .. in addition to a nice outside shot. And for all those tying the noose around his neck last year, KJ is 5-9 from deep and has 2 TO's in 31 minutes. He's making better decisions, has put some range on his jumper and looks stronger. All of this depth will spread out defenses and give our starters (TC/G) more opportunities. Even better, if (as you predict for G) our guards can get in the lane, this will give our inside guys some easy baskets and and save us from being a jumpshooting team.
2) Our interior defensive problems could be negated somewhat by better perimeter defense. TC, G (who looks quicker this year) and MR are all decent defenders, and even our second rotation guys (FH and KJ) look serviceable defensively, although there is a little drop-off. As we start playing better teams, preventing penetration will be key .. as we won't block many shots and can't afford fouls. Therefore, with a much deeper and more experienced back court than last year, I think our perimeter defense will be better, somewhat negating Rak's absence on the interior.
