Originally Posted by
uh_no
I think they could be, and I think they might not be. I think there is still a lot of unknown there.
While cook is mostly a known entity at this point, will he improve on his weaknesses moving into senior year?
Sulaimon is what he is, but needs to show he can contribute with consistency. He had excellent games (cuse part 1, uva part 1, and to some degree, mercer), and some poor games (uva, clemson ND, games 3-10)...when he's on, he can break down defenses and get to the lane...when he's not, he disappears...we need more of the former...I think he needs to add another 3-4 points per game.
matt certainly showed moments of promise, but also only scored a grand total of 20 points in ACC play. I certainly think he could turn out to be huge, but in the end, I think there is simply too much talent and experience in front of him this year.
Tyus is shows promise in his HS games...I loved his play in the McD game, only putting up 10 points, but chopping up defenses so well that if the defenders were onions, we'd all be in tears, and then finding his teammates....I thought it was impressive for a bunch of guys thrown together for an allstar game, that he was able to find them with ease. but will he be able to do that in the college level in whatever system K puts in? we simply don't know. Is he kyrie 2.0? is he even close? I hope so.
so who will be the guards? if we want combos like boatright/napier, smith/siva, lamb/teague, I think it almost must be tyus and sheed. I don't think quinn is enough of a threat to consistently break down defenses on his own, and matt i guess could be, but he's so unknown right now. could we go with just tyus as the premier PG and play quinn off him? perhaps that could be the main, and that gives you flexibility with quinn as another shooter/ball handler...but I don't think quinn is complete enough a player right now to give us an elite combo...certainly pretty good, but not elite.
So i think whichever way we go, there are some big question marks...consistency, inexperience, drive-ability, defense...so best case:
tyus is everything he's hyped up to be, and quinn playing off the ball allows him to do what he does best (passing/ballhandling) without having to worry about breaking down the defense against pressure...he then only takes good threes, makes a ton of them. Rasheed having the pressure off him doesn't feel like he needs to carry the team at times (mercer...) gives us a deadly combo when we can play any of them all the time. Matt turns into dwyane wade over the summer and teams need to double team him while HE's on defense
worst case:
tyus has a big toe injury, quinn proves he has the same faults that have led us to two first round exits in 3 years, he gets benched in favor of matt and sheed, and gets so angry that he decides to transfer for his last semester of eligibility to UNC, where he goes on to win a national championship. Sheed feels he has to lead the team in every category, including turnovers and blocked shots, and the rest of the team puts of 25-trillions every night. matt doesn't like his lack of playing time last year and his lack of usage this year, and transfers to kentucky, where he raises their APR high enough that the rest of the one and dones don't even need to take any classes for the next 3 years
reality: probably somewhere in the middle. but there's a HUGE range, and we simply can't know where it will fall. as I've said, though, I believe that Jon's increased role will be a boon for those guys at the guard position...he knew more than anything, how to run an offense in all situations. and I hope the guys can learn that from him.