Originally Posted by
Chicago 1995
I don't think there's any way you can say Andre Dawkins is way ahead of either of those guys in development given how inconsistent he is. Dawkins season numbers are almost identical to Bullock's, for what its worth.
As for Curry, his third team All-ACC honor is nice feather in his cap, but I'm not going to go overboard what what that means. Greg Paulus was once third team All-ACC.
That's fair.
The presumption that I haven't done this is a little annoying. I have. Y'all disagree, which is fine, but I've looked at those rosters and in some instances, I bet I've seen those teams play more than others here have. Wisconsin, for example, should be and will be ranked ahead of us going into next season. That's been dismissed here largely because they lose Jordan Taylor. Well, they bring back everyone else and they add a recruit who is every bit the impact recruit that Sheed is. UNLV, Gonzaga, San Diego State are all teams people scoff at when looking at these rankings. They all bring back a lot more thn we do on teams that were essentially our caliber last year. Looking at Parrish's list, I don't disagree with the 18 teams ranked ahead of us (UK, IU, Louisville, Kansas, Michigan, Baylor, Syracuse, MSU, SD State, UNC, UF, Memphis, UNLV, Wisconsin, NC State, Gonzaga, Arizona) but I do concede that it's a pretty close call with UNC. I think there are other teams -- Ohio State, VCU, Creighton, K State -- that I would rank ahead of Duke that he has behind us. That's 21 on Parrish's pole alone that I think are pretty clearly in better shape than we are headed into next season. We've got a higher ceiling than several of those teams, but based on the start of the season, I'd expect a loss -- or at least not at all be surprised by a loss -- to any of those teams in November.
The difference here, I think, comes down to (1) how much weight you are willing to give to Cook, Sheed, Murphy, Gbijinie and Plumlee III; and (2) how much faith you have in the returning core. I've explained why I have concerns about two of the guys in group (1), and I'm not as optimistic about a team built around Curry-Kelly-Plumlee II as the rest of you.