I believe the decision by Vasquez to return was vital to Maryland's chances of being competitive next season.
Without him, they'd have been lucky to be an NIT team. With him, they can actually build on last season (21-14, 7-9 ACC a No. 10 NCAA seed). The only guy they lose is Neal (and Dupree, who didnt play, transferred). In a weakened ACC, they should move up from a three-way tie for seventh place.
On the other hand, I think the decision by Teague is devastating to Wake Forest's chances of remaining among the ACC's elite teams. They had three NBA-talents in the rotation last season, but now two of them (Teague and Johnson) will be in the NBA. I love Aminu and think Tony Woods has a lot of potential (the Deacs will be a lot better if Dino moves him ahead of that stiff McFarland) ... but how far can they go with a backcourt of Ish Smith, LD Williams and some non-descript freshmen?
A year ago, their fatal flaw was erratic 3-point shooting -- and now their top three 3-point shooters are gone (Teague, Hale and Johnson). Let's see ... Ish Smith hit 24.1 percent of his 3-point tries; Gary Clark hit 28.6; LD Williams hit 24.5 percent; Amuni hit 17.9 percent (7-of-39!).
On paper, Wake's going to see a lot of zones ... I think they have a hard time remaining in the first division of the ACC.
Georgia Tech moves up in the standings even if Lawal had stayed in the draft. His return gives them an awesome front line with Derrick Favors and Zack Peacock up front, plus a couple of more stud recruits. The question will be the backcourt, where Hewitt's recruits are less heralded.
But they should get some bounce from Shumpert's experience, plus Mo Miller should be more helpful after he was injured most of last year.
A year ago, Tech finished 12th in the league, winning just two ACC games. But they weren't all that far away from the middle of the pack. They lost three ACC games in OT, two more by one point and three more by five points or less. It wouldn't take a big improvement -- in a league that will be noticiably weaker -- to make a big jump in the standings.
How far, I don't know, but middle of the pack sounds about right.