I don't want them to be the next Miami Heat unless we're the Dallas Mavericks that get to beat them in the NCAA championship game.
4 Wooden Award candidates - I mean it should be glaringly obvious.
We've got the next Miami Heat/Philly Eagles on our hands.
I don't want them to be the next Miami Heat unless we're the Dallas Mavericks that get to beat them in the NCAA championship game.
How about this load of gobbeldygook
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebask...rd-affirmative
Handsbro/May >>>>>>> slimson/dweller
Lawson/Felton >>>>>> Marshall
marv => barnes
Ellington/mccant >>>>>>> ?
This is a joke... unc barely beat anyone good lat year and struggled against a bunch of mediocre teams (Duke and UK I think were their only quality wins), but beat Marquette in the sweet 16 and now they are the annointed ones.
It's fine with me - creates more pressure on Ol Huck at the first sight of things turning south.
UNC is loaded this year. Absolutely stacked. The only thing that would be able to stop them is if they had a self-absorbed, manic-depressive, bizzare-substituting, bus-throwing-underer as a coach.
So it's a jump ball as to whether they make the FF or flame out miserably.
If UNC does not go undefeated it would be a disappointment.
In fact they should win each game by at least 20 or it would be a disappointment.
In further fact if Barnes, Henson and Zeller do not average a double double and Marshall does not get 15 assists a game it would be a disappointment.
(Nothing ruins enjoying a good sports season like unreasonable expectations.)
Be careful guys. How UNC fans sound now is exactly how Duke fans sounded at the beginning of last year. We had our fun, and unfortunately didn't win. They'll have their fun, and hopefully not win.
1200. DDMF.
I'm all for building up preseason expectations for UNC as high as possible. Does absolutely nothing except make their accomplishments seem less impressive and their failures seem more shameful once the season starts!
We'll see if Humble Harry and Co. skype it in this year once the Dream Team's stars realize they can't all average 20 ppg.
Objectively, UNC will get my vote at Operation Basketball and my first team will have three Tar Heels on it and one on the second team. They're going to get plenty of hype for sure and that may or may not have a long term effect. They have ridiculous talent up front, but Marshall drives the bus and is the key player for this team. As for the Heels fan base, anything other than a national title will be disappointing. I fully expect the voters in the Top 25 to be unanimous in picking the Heels #1. Ohio State, UConn and Kentucky could steal a vote or two though. I cannot remember a season where the top four teams looked more obvious in the pre season.
I'd be curious as to who's the 2d-teamer, as, IMO, KM is easily - easily - the "most valuable" Heel-guy, not to mention easily - easily - the ACC's top PG. The Heels have lots of talent-depth, except at PG, where the drop-off is precipitous. A, perhaps the, key to Heels' fortunes is KM's health. No KM, discombobulation-Heel-nation.
The top 3 do seem obvious, and Drummond's decision makes UConn the logical #4. Vandy, Duke, 'Cuse probably fighting for consensus #5.
I'd guess that, save for EK readers, few fans are even familiar enough with the specifics of the Heels in 2010-11 to realize that an argument - plausible, even persuasive, certainly not crazy - can be made that the Heels, for all that talent, didn't play so well last year. The only memory of last season's Heels seems to be the Marquette game. Sure, they played "well enough" [except not quite well enough] v. UK, but they messed up some in that game, too.
But it would perhaps take a Duke, or maybe UK, fanatic to claim the Heels are vastly overrated. High expectations seem justified for the top 3. UConn, possibly. And fans of another half-dozen teams can be very optimistic, too.
Not 4, but I think it was pretty obvious last year that Duke, Mich St, and Purdue were the top 3 and there was a big dropoff to the next group of KSU, OSU, and Pitt. Of course then there was the Hummel injury and the Kyrie injury and whatever happened to MSU. The same can happen this year. If Marshall gets hurt UNC is done. If Sullinger gets hurt OSU is done. MSU was perceived as great because they had a Final Four run and returned everyone. Sounds eerily similar to something we have heard this year...
No, we will have three players added to the list at midseason. The preseason Wooden list is a mindless exercise. When the Los Angeles Athletic Club (the sponsor) compiles its list, it looks at scoring and other stats from the previous season. It does not include recruits. Duke has no player returning that averaged double digits or racked up other eye-popping stats (although Mason's RB numbers were pretty good). That's the cost of graduating (!) two AA players. This list is in line with the view that the most overlooked player entering the season is the skilled sophomore or junior who is suddenly getting many more minutes or is needed to fill a huge scoring gap.
Anyway, I'll bet three of Seth, Austin, Mason and Ryan get added at midseason.
sagegrouse
The MSU thing was strange. Their 2010 run didn't involve facing a single top-tier seed (#4 seed was the highest they faced) and they got good fortune in not losing any of the close games they played those first two weekends (they won by 3, 2, 9, and 1). And they lost two key starters in Morgan (a big loss in my opinion, as he was a matchup problem for opponents) and Allen (a terrific shooter). Yet because they managed to "good fortune" into the Final Four and returned Lucas, Summers, and Green, they were hyped as a top-3 team.
Purdue was a legitimate pick. They were a top-10 team that returned everyone except Grant and Kramer and included 3 All-Big 10 players. But the Hummel injury destroyed them.
The comparison of MSU to UNC would be more apt if UNC didn't have a ton more talent than that MSU team. UNC is probably being overrated a bit, but they bring a lot more talent than the MSU team that was overrated.
FWIW,
Last year was a tale of two seasons, pre-Drew, and post Drew.
A couple of overlooked points to consider.
I heard from people I consider reliable, that Henson is noticably more confident and stronger and is now at 6'11", 220lbs. He'll be a beast. Top 5 draft pick, IMO.
Other reports have Reggie Bullock back to being healthy and playing very well. Some forget he was a 5* recruit coming in last season and was just getting over the freshman learning curve before his injury. He's a player with NBA talent if he can stay healthy.
The biggest thing is this UNC team will be very good defensively, and hard to score on, you can count on it.
Personally, I think the "MSU" of this year might be UConn. They were a middling Big East team (before their championship run) who have lost their best player (by far) from last year. Yes, they got a great recruit in Drummond, but will he be more valuable than Walker? In my mind UConn will be way overrated to begin the season.