That was my first Pod, Dean ... really enjoyed it. Before I get to basketball, my sincere condolences to you for your loss. That's a tough thing that takes a long time to get over. As far as the team, you pointed out many aspects that are working and few that aren't. Cooney and G are playing very well, especially G as Cooney hasn't hit his stride shooting. We're not as deep as 09-10 with Scoop coming off the bench, but the starting lineups are definitely comparable, Rautins and Triche and TC and G. People will argue that Rautins was an NBA-level shooter, but I tell you what, G's tearing up the net with some truly ridiculous numbers. And our defense up top is much better. G and Cooney have their hands up, they're pinching in on high screens and I think they have 29 steals in 6 games. Nice to have veteran ball handlers to close out games without silly TO's.
Malachi's shooting it pretty well. When he adjusts to bigger, quicker defenders at this level, I think he'll finish more drives and take better shots. When that happens, his scoring efficiency will go up and, with his athleticism, we might be reloading next year when he and Battle take over.
Lydon's another kid with huge upside ... sweet stroke from the outside, solid rebounder .. has excellent length and can block some shots, and even drive the lane. If he doesn't win ROY in the ACC, 6th MOY might be there. At the 4, he stretches the D and opens up the lane. On the downside, he gets shoved around at the 5. And when he and Malachi are paired at forward, they are frequently late rotating down when the ball goes to the foul line and the center moves up. In this scenario, until the last few minutes of the A/M game, he and Malachi were getting run by Davis, Jones and the other A/M big. Once they figure this out we should get better defensively, as DeJuan regains his form and gets more minutes. He looks really good, brutal rebounder and soft touch around the rim. I don't want him looking TOO good, if you know what I mean. Because next year, we're still going to need some experienced bigs to help Chukwu in the middle.
As you pointed out, the guard rotation is an even bigger concern than front court depth. No way we can keep TC/G fresh all season with the minutes they're playing. Howard looks good but needs some experience to get comfortable out there. Not sure what KJ's mindset is, but we need him to focus .. get his hands up on D, and relax out there instead of over-thinking. His shot is better ... but he's tentative running the offense. I'd also like to see Chino get some minutes so Lydon can give Malachi or Roberson a breather without having to play the middle.
I don't pay much attention to Seth Davis .. so he can kick rocks. But I have other suggestions for ESPN that are not appropriate for a public forum. I/m tired of them humping Kentucky's leg with all this exposure. Meanwhile, they're messing up SU broadcasts by putting games on ESPN3 (?) or selling the broadcast rights to chumps like MSG+2. So they need to focus on covering sports instead of building market share.