ACC Early Entries, Summer o' '16

[Indoor66]

Eh, does it really matter any more?

It's as if God is sending us Pack fans a message. Quit trying.

Somebody else sends another one: "Don't give up. Don't ever give up."

[Ichabod Drain]

Kennedy Meeks is returning to the Hell... I mean Hill.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Kennedy Meeks is returning to the Hell... I mean Hill.

Is it cus he figured out there's no Carolina BBQ in Ukraine?

Smart move by Meeks. Get a degree, even if it's not worth much...

[English]

Is it cus he figured out there's no Carolina BBQ in Ukraine?

Smart move by Meeks. Get a degree, even if it's not worth much...

Some on this board may disagree, especially when considering the balance of talent at UNC (not deep), but I actually think this is subtraction by addition (er, subtraction by x1). If Meeks continues to GOBBLE UP minutes that would otherwise go to Hicks, who is by nearly every indication a better player, that bodes well for the ABCers. Of course, I understand the argument that behind Meeks and Hicks is only a top-50 recruit and a lotta not-much-else. Either way, Meeks coming back doesn't really register for me. Plus, it was essentially a foregone conclusion in my mind, considering his paltry draft stock.

[ncexnyc]

Kennedy Meeks is returning to the Hell... I mean Hill.

Those free Big Macs can be very addicting.

[Billy Dat]

Is it cus he figured out there's no Carolina BBQ in Ukraine?

Zing!

[PSurprise]

Those free Big Macs can be very addicting.

As long as they're available to the entire student body, they're ok.

[elvis14]

Eh, does it really matter any more?

It's as if God is sending us Pack fans a message. Quit trying.

Serious question...what the heck is going on over there?

[Olympic Fan]

More bad news for our friends at NC State ...

Ben Carter, the big man from UNLV that Gottfried was pursuing, just committed to Michigan State.

And Omer Yurtseven, a 7-footer from Turkey, that State has been pursuing is visiting Syracuse today.

Yurtseven is kind of an interesting prospect -- the next Enes Kanter, both in talent (I've seen him projected as a lottery pick in the near future) and also in terms of eligibility issues. In fact, I was told that Yurtseven would wait until summer to make any visits as he tries to straighten out his issues.

No guarantees that he plays next year ... but if he does, he's an impact guy.

[gofurman]

May 3. ( X man back at FSU)

ACC players declaring and 'testing'.. I am also listing transfers too - a FULL list of player 'losses' if you will.

As far as I can tell, underclassmen in the ACC who have declared are
" GONE "
Ingram, FR, F - Duke
Barber, JR, PG - State
Demetrius Jackson, JR, PG - Notre Dame
Beasley - FSU

"Testing the waters" includes at least:
Justin Jackson - UNC (Combine invite)
Malachi Richardson - Syracuse (Combine invite)
Onuaku - L'ville (Combine invite)
Blossomgame - Clemson (Alternate for combine)
Abu - State (No combine invite) *tweet that he is “seriously considering transferring or hiring an agent.”
Anya - State (No combine invite)

Transfers"
Thornton - PG Duke
Both Martin twins - Fs at NC State
Jalen Hudson VTech
F Satchel Pierce, Va Tech
PG Kaleb Joseph, Syracuse
G Robbie Berwick, FSU
C Andre Washington, Wake Forest
G Rondale Watson, Wake Forest
G Matt Milon, Boston College
Idy Diallo, Boston College


[ * Now Returning to school
- Beacham, Notre Dame ..
- Rathan-Mayes - FSU
- Meeks, UNC

With Rathan-Mayes and Bacon back, FSU should be pretty decent next year

Also interesting is the list of combine invites vs non-invites. Hopefully, Jackson leaves UNC

[gofurman]

May 16. ( Jackson back at UNC ... also M Richardson of Cuse is gone. Anything I missed here that is for sure now?

ACC players declaring and 'testing'.. I am also listing transfers too - a FULL list of player 'losses' if you will.

As far as I can tell, underclassmen in the ACC who have declared are
" GONE "
Ingram, FR, F - Duke
Barber, JR, PG - State
Demetrius Jackson, JR, PG - Notre Dame
Beasley - FSU
Malachi Richardson - Syracuse

"Testing the waters" includes at least:
Onuaku - L'ville (Combine invite)
Blossomgame - Clemson (Alternate for combine)
Abu - State (No combine invite) *tweet that he is “seriously considering transferring or hiring an agent.”
Anya - State (No combine invite)

Transfers"
Thornton - PG Duke
Both Martin twins - Fs at NC State
Jalen Hudson VTech
F Satchel Pierce, Va Tech
PG Kaleb Joseph, Syracuse
G Robbie Berwick, FSU
C Andre Washington, Wake Forest
G Rondale Watson, Wake Forest
G Matt Milon, Boston College
Idy Diallo, Boston College


[ * Now Returning to school
- Beacham, Notre Dame ..
- Rathan-Mayes - FSU
- Meeks, UNC
- Jackson, UNC

With Rathan-Mayes and Bacon back, FSU should be pretty decent next year
With Meeks and Jackson back, UNC should be good again.

Also interesting is the list of combine invites vs non-invites.

[Olympic Fan]

Just to note that Blossomgame WAS invited to the combine. He had one bad day and one very good day.

Chad Ford suggests that Blossomgame and Onuaku have two of the toughest choices to make of all the players at the combine.

Also, it's been reported that Anya is coming back to NC State, although I can't find official confirmation of that.

[Olympic Fan]

Update: a reporter for the Boston Globe just tweeted that NC State's Abu will work out for the Celtics tomorrow, but its expected to return to school.

Of course, no guarantee that he is returning to State, but I can't imagine him going the transfer route and sitting out a year. When Jeff Goodman tweeted that Abu was not likely to return to State, I thought he was going to jump start his pro career, either in Europe or the D-league.

Now there are signs that he might be back at State -- this tweet and Abu's own very positive tweet when Yurtseven signed with the Pack.

[Olympic Fan]

NC State just announced that Abu will withdraw from the draft and return to NC State.

https://accsports.com/acc-news/acc-b...ning-nc-state/

Still no official word on Anya, but he's almost certainly coming back too.

[gofurman]

May 19. ( Abu coming back to State.. Anything I missed here that is for sure now?

ACC players declaring and 'testing'.. I am also listing transfers too - a FULL list of player 'losses' if you will.

As far as I can tell, underclassmen in the ACC who have declared are
" GONE "
Ingram, FR, F - Duke
Barber, JR, PG - State
Demetrius Jackson, JR, PG - Notre Dame
Beasley - FSU
Malachi Richardson - Syracuse

"Testing the waters" includes at least:
Onuaku - L'ville (Combine invite)
Blossomgame - Clemson (Alternate for combine)
Anya - State (No combine invite)

Transfers"
Thornton - PG Duke
Both Martin twins - Fs at NC State
Jalen Hudson VTech
F Satchel Pierce, Va Tech
PG Kaleb Joseph, Syracuse
G Robbie Berwick, FSU
C Andre Washington, Wake Forest
G Rondale Watson, Wake Forest
G Matt Milon, Boston College
Idy Diallo, Boston College


[ * Now Returning to school
- Beacham, Notre Dame ..
- Rathan-Mayes - FSU
- Meeks, UNC
- Jackson, UNC
- Abu, NC State

With Rathan-Mayes and Bacon back, FSU should be pretty decent next year
With Meeks and Jackson back, UNC should be good again.
With Abu back and the new big guy coming in (if he qualifies) that's a big boost to the State post game next year. I hope Yurtseven does qualify, I want State to be good

[JasonEvans]

NC State just announced that Abu will withdraw from the draft and return to NC State.

https://accsports.com/acc-news/acc-b...ning-nc-state/

Still no official word on Anya, but he's almost certainly coming back too.

I feel like getting these guys back, combined with some very nice recruits, likely means State will be among the top half of the conference in the pre-season standings. I found a great page that shows the ACC pre-season poll over the years and how it translates to the final season standings. Here is how NCSU has done lately:

2015-16 Preseason ranking - 8
2015-16 final standings - 13

2014-15 Preseason ranking - 9
2014-15 final standings - 6t

2013-14 Preseason ranking - 10
2013-14 final standings - 7t

2012-13 Preseason ranking - 1
2012-13 final standings - 4t

2011-12 Preseason ranking - 8
2011-12 final standings -4t

2010-11 Preseason ranking - 4
2010-11 final standings -10t

Not sure there is anything definitive you can say about State in regards to this. It does seem that when they are highly ranked, the tend to underperform.

-Jason "I bet some of you will look at that link and suddenly find you've spent hours studying it and looking at historical performances for ACC teams. Ha!" Evans

[Olympic Fan]

I feel like getting these guys back, combined with some very nice recruits, likely means State will be among the top half of the conference in the pre-season standings. I found a great page that shows the ACC pre-season poll over the years and how it translates to the final season standings. Here is how NCSU has done lately:

2015-16 Preseason ranking - 8
2015-16 final standings - 13

2014-15 Preseason ranking - 9
2014-15 final standings - 6t

2013-14 Preseason ranking - 10
2013-14 final standings - 7t

2012-13 Preseason ranking - 1
2012-13 final standings - 4t

2011-12 Preseason ranking - 8
2011-12 final standings -4t

2010-11 Preseason ranking - 4
2010-11 final standings -10t

Not sure there is anything definitive you can say about State in regards to this. It does seem that when they are highly ranked, the tend to underperform.

-Jason "I bet some of you will look at that link and suddenly find you've spent hours studying it and looking at historical performances for ACC teams. Ha!" Evans

Well, we should leave off 2010-11 -- that was Lowe's last team and they almost always underperformed -- the worst were 2008 (picked third, finished 12th) and 2011. Three of the five Gottfried teams have bettered expectations. The exceptions were last year, when the team was decimated by injuries, and 2013, when there team really finished almost exactly where they should have ... picking them first that year was just stupidity by the ACC sports media.

In followup news, Jeff Goodman is tweeting that Anya is returning to school (although no official announcement yet). Also, Gottfried recently said that Freeman is likely to redshirt next season -- he is seriously hobbled. That means they need Anya back to give them a three-man post rotation (Yurtseven, Abu and Anya_, although Rowan can play some stretch four.

As it now stands, I could see State somewhere in the 5-8 mix in the preseason poll -- definitely behind Duke, Louisville, UNC and Virginia ... but right there with FSU, Virginia Tech, Pitt and Miami in the middle of the league. I did have Syracuse in that group, but the loss of Richardson and the failure to get Albrecht or Yurtseven leaves them on the next echelon.

[Olympic Fan]

The deadline for draft decisions by the early entries is approaching -- May 24 (not sure the exact hour, but everybody still on the fence must declare by tomorrow).

It appears that two ACC guys still have decisions to make:

Jaron Blossomgame of Clemson

Chinanu Onuaku of Louisville

At least I have not seen any news reports that either is staying in the draft or returning to school. Clemson could be decent with Blossomgame back -- without him, they are down near the bottom of the league. Louisville will be a strong contender with or without Onuaku, but they will obviously be better with him.

Nationally, the big one is Melo Trimble. The Terps are definitely losing four starters off a good-but-disappointing team. But if Trimble returns, the Terps will have a chance to be solid.

[richardjackson199]

So much for 87%

http://www.aseaofblue.com/2016/5/23/...a-return-to-uk

[Olympic Fan]

Lots of decisions coming out, involving a lot of key national players:

Withdrawing from the draft:

Josh Hart, Villanova (means the defending champs will start next season in the top 5)
Dillon Brooks, Oregon
Tyler Dorsey, Oregon (means Oregon probably starts the season in the to 10)
Nigel Hayes, Wisconsin (makes Wisky a likely preseason top 10-15 team)
James Blackman, Indiana (along with Bryant, who withdrew earlier, makes the Hoosiers a borderline top 25 team)
Isaiah Briscoe, Kentucky
Marcus Lee, Kentucky (but will transfer to the West Coast and sit out next season)

Staying in the draft:
Isaiah Whitehead, Seton Hall
Troy Williams, Indiana (the reason Indiana is only borderline top 25 next season)

Still to be decided in the final hours before the deadline:
Melo Trimble, Maryland (a kid who hurt himself by staying -- he was first round after last year, but elected to come back and play his way into the lottery ... oops)
Caleb Swanigan, Purdue (the betting is that he stays in the draft)
Malik Newman, Mississippi State (not official, but according to his father he's going to pull a MarCus Lee -- withdraw from the draft, but transfer)

and the last two ACC guys:

Jaron Blossomgame, Clemson (has a 2 p.m. announcement set)
Chinanu Onauaku, Louisville (Pitino thinks he's gone, but the pro guys are telling him to go back to school).