Serve the pitchers or take em down? I prefer my starters have a few post game
Its college after all
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I think if LJ comes in at ā22, heāll have a very similar role to Reece and Kiheis freshman years. CTB likes ball handlers.
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I know it doesnt always work this way with highly rated guys like LJ but he will also have some real ones to learn with day to day. Reece!! of course and if Kihei stays
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Another thread off the rails, lol.
Lineup continuity should be considered a massive asset next year- especially considering the one starter replacement will be Kihei for a natural 2.
I think we will be amongst the favorites for the conference/top 15 nationally. Pretty straightforward.
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I donāt want to push it back off the rails, but I think this is a debatable point. An NIT (or at best, 12-seed) team thatās young: yes, I think continuity is a massive asset. On an older NIT team? With lots of guys that have hit their ceiling? Itās debatable, IMO.
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My apologies too ā¦ just reread and realized I included Clark in same line about being Acc caliber. In my jumbled brain I meant that he was forced to play this year like Reece with a couple guys who are not rotation level on an upper tier Acc team.
My bad
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We are what we are this year, although I wish things had turned a bit differently from last year. Clearly Hauser and Murphy should have moved on, but if Sam had made a different decision or Trey had been redshirted as planned, Iām thinking this season turns out very differently (but Iām guessing we donāt have Gardner this year if one of them had stayed). Cāest la vie.
Iām thinking Kihei moves on regardless - maybe to a west coast school, more likely overseas. There will be a transfer, maybe 2, of the 3 Ms. Gardner will be here, along with Franklin. London J reclasses.
With that in mind, hereās my version of '22-'23.
Starting 5 = Reece, Armaan, Jayden, Traudt and Caffaro (yes, I know this means Gardner or Traudt has to guard the other teamās 3). Next off the bench is Shedrick for Caffaro. Isaac M in for Armaan, Igor in for Traudt, and Taine for Gardner. London in for Reece. CTB plays match ups from there, Maybe Bond gets a little action, more time obviously if one of the other Ms transfers. Dunn will have to be very special to get run next year. Reece plays 32 minutes a game, Franklin and Gardner get 26-28 apiece, Caffaro 16-18, Shed 20, Isaac T and M each get 15-18, Igor and Taine 12-14 each, London 10, Bond 8. (adds up to approx 200 minutes). There is room for Carson to stay, but he is going to have to work his a** off this summer if he wants time. Without improving his lateral quickness (or anticipation a la Ty) and strength, he appears to be too much of a defensive liability (teamsā guards isolated on him as soon as he came in the game).
Thatās my best guess and looking at the ACC next year, itās a top 3 finish, and no worse than a 4 seed in the NCAA.
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Assumes a few factors, but to start:
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Gardner has shown great, consistent production on offense with improved defense. He should immediately slot in as a go-to, leading scorer.
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As HGN has alluded to, Franklin has shown offensive improvement in every area but the 3-point shot. He should be, at worst, a top 15 guard in the league. With an improved three pointer, that goes up a level.
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Reeceā¦ with the keysā¦should be very good.
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Papi + Shedrick combo is a very good big rotation as well. Shedrick in particular has room to take a Mamadi-like leap.
The missing piece is the two guard who can fly off screens. But great base + elite talent infusion
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Franklins season, IMO, has been overrated. His defense has improved to being good enough, and heās shown remarkable adeptness from midrange coming off curls, but heās taken WAY too many threes at 25%. Thatās a ton of possessions ended with zero points. And itās not like he adds a ton in the assist or rebound department. Thatās all the eye test, and the analytics sites tend to agree. Heās sup-100 ORtng on KP.
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Unpopular take. Mid way through season I would have told him to NOT work on his 3s in extra self workouts. take a gazillion shots from mid range or watever and see them go in. BUT I also would have told him to take open in game 3s
Think less, shoot the same
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Raleigh Harbour come on down!
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Thank you Mr Traylor for being the 2nd person to answer the threadās question and first to do it so fully ā¦. My point was simply to actually hear the minds of some of the people here
WTH Is Malachi? 
Maybe at Radford?
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lol. Maybe he will maybe he wonāt. Itās all his decision to make. One thing I can say is he will be playing somewhere. He look good in Blue and Orange to me. Hehe
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Agreed. Experience coming back is usually a good thing, but if the experienced players were mediocre the prior year and most are on the older side, how much growth can you assume? If Clark comes back, we all know weāll have the same top 6 with about the same minutes allocation. Give or take a couple per player. So if all youāre replacing are Stattmann and Poindexter minutes, how much better can you get?
Remember that Northwestern NIT team that brought back all 5 starters a few years back? Got a lot of preseason hype because of all the experience coming back. Result? Missed the NIT. (All from memory, Iāll have to look it up to confirm accuracy).
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The best one I can think of is actually close to home: ND. They had a bunch of guys going into their senior year, so some folks thought theyād be much better. And they are ā¦ but theyāve got a potential OAD lottery pick to whom theyāve given the keys. (Wesley #23 in Vecenieās latest mock)
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Weāre not gonna be meaningfully better next year with Kihei back. Partially because of his deficiencies, and partly because having him at PG forces Reece to SG and Franklin (or someone else) to the 3. Wastes Reeceās top level potential, and makes for a smaller than ideal lineup.
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Trying to soften my language around this topic, so the way Iād say it is that we are not going to be meaningfully better by running out the same undersized, poor shooting (overall) guard lineup. Guards are collectively really important and ours are NIT caliber and I donāt see that changing much next year.
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