I would argue that the NIL and all this crazy money being thrown around is ruining it
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Even if we get De Ridder, I totally understand why we wouldn’t be considered top 25 going into the season. But I also think this group has the highest ceiling of any since the championship group.
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Also should translate better than open floor shot-making. I know there is an athletic component to getting fouled, but there is definitely a ton of skill to it that I think will translate up a level well. Especially if the other shooters on our team have to be respected and he has to be handled 1-on-1.
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If we get de Ridder, anyone not ranking us in the top 25 is basically just ignoring/not paying attention. There isn’t much of a case to make for that team being worse than whoever else gets ranked 15-25. It’s not like those teams aren’t filled with a bunch of new transfers who might not pan out either.
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On that note, (the already worthless) preseason rankings have never been more useless. Most of the TV “experts” don’t pay enough attention, and gravitate towards big names switching squads that they recognize. Severely doubt any of these guys have Euro expertise to inform this newer player pipeline.
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Impossible to prognosticate for insiders or outsiders with this team - has there been another instance when literally not one player has played on the floor with each other and/or not one player has played minutes for the coach?
I think USC, Baylor, Miami are in that situation this season too (unless I am missing someone who is coming back on those teams); unusual that there are teams that didn’t change their coaches in the situation. Memphis was an Ashton Hardaway bounce-back transfer away from being another one of those teams.
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Duke and Kentucky have been close to that historically, but it’s also only so useful to look to the past for precedent given that the current situation is very different. It was one thing when Duke/UK were turning over their rosters annually when the rest of the country was retaining guys and getting older. Now, almost every single program in the country is bringing in at minimum 3 brand new starters. We will 100% take time to develop chemistry but let’s not pretend we will be massively behind our competition. They’ll be dealing with a lot of the same issues.
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What ACC team has the most projected starters that were on the team last year?
SMU has 3 guys returning that started 28 or more games and a 4th who started 10 games.
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Found this graphic on Insta from a week ago. The ones in the ACC aren’t exactly world beaters.
Concur that everyone will have this issue. Still a crapshoot, but not one unique to us.
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Right now it looks like it’ll be a deeper ACC, more good teams that should have a shot at making the NCAAT. But probably not very strong at the top, barring a few teams surprising to the upside.
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The get old and stay old devotees: Painter, Shaka, and (checks notes) John Calipari.
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Malik posted some stories from Grounds/JPJ. When he panned to the natty trophy you can hear someone say “this is why you’re here.”
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It’s interesting - I think most know that a recipe for success right now is getting a quality amount of returning minutes.
What I don’t get are the folks who use our roster turnover as an example of we should have kept more guys. Does continuity even help much if you’re learning an entirely new system with a new coach? You’re basically starting over anyway.
Also, if your continuity is that you’re used to playing with the other guys in a system that’s almost polar opposite to the one you’re moving into - isn’t there an argument to be made that continuity is actively a bad thing?
Idk - it just seems to me like continuity was never really going to be helpful for us this year anyway so you might as well get the best players you can who fit what you’re doing and then try to start project continuity next year.
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I think that any type of continuity can matter. If we had 5 starters that had all played together previously, they’d have some internal chemistry, even though they’d be learning an entirely new system.**
Just seems notable to me that the only continuity this team will have is among the staff. ***
** would they bristle at new stuff? Maybe… it’s tough to answer this stuff in a vacuum.
*** is this good or bad? My answer is yes / no / maybe / how would anyone know
I don’t think there has to be bristling, though… just habits, you know? If you’re changing your playstyle entirely, IMO, it’s easier to do so with new players because you’re learning the new things as you’re learning your teammates tendencies. It’s easy to default to old habits when you’re used to familiar players playing in a certain way and their ingrained tendencies and skills tend to steer things toward familiar territories.
Not saying that’s an insurmountable thing or that there might not be other positive tradeoffs - but familiarity with teammates becomes an ingrained feel thing and that’s often hard to shake.
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Drake had lots of continuity last year, but it was impossible to capture it in any sort of data scraping because the coach and the main players were together at a different school in D2 the season before.
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Zags-Dons WCC tourney highlights. Thomas had 27 points but kinda struggled down the stretch IMO. Or at least couldn’t quite get his team on his back to beat the Zags. Does seem like a sign of respect that they put old Wahoo summer nemesis Emanuel innocenti (from Stella Azzura) on him in the second half.
Oddly, couldn’t tell much about him defensively because I think he guarded Hickman, and Hickman was quiet. (Though I suppose that could be a good thing). Also seems like a solid rebounder.
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