Originally Posted by
Jaymf7
I believe UNC will be good and still present challenges for us, particularly in the post, but regardless of how Wright "meshed" with Hansblah last year, he was the turning point in both of our games. Wright killed us.
I don't have time to look up the stats, but I remember him having about 18 points per game on very efficient shooting. These included clutch points that we could not answer. We very likely would have won both of those games if he had not been on the floor (not to mention if he had been wearing a different shade of blue, which is another issue).
While UNC will mature this season, they lose two very important weapons -- an NBA talent second post scorer and a versatile NBA level athlete. I do not see anyone on their roster quickly replacing those roles (but the previously unseen post guys might surprise me).
Duke, by comparison, loses a legitimate post defender. While Josh had other skills, I think we have replaced those (and added new talents) with the incoming class. If we can find someone to defend the post (or work around it as we did in the late 2001 run), we should be better this year.