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  1. #1

    Impact of Early NBA Entries on ACC

    Based on what I’ve read, there are only four early NBA entries from the ACC – the three from UNC and Hickson from State. IMO, next year should be a good year for the league. Several of the better players return – Hansbrough, Rice, Booker, McClinton, Vasquez, Rivers, Singler, Henderson, Paulus, Scheyer, Vassallo, Allen, Johnson, Teague, Smith, Douglas, Fells, and Costner plus a bunch like Stitt, Miller, Delaney, Thompson, Collins, McFarland, Peacock and Lawal who should improve. There are also incoming freshmen and transfers at UNC, Wake and Maryland who should play important roles for their teams.

    I haven’t given it a lot of thought but I suspect that UNC and Duke will again be at the top followed by a group of Clemson, Miami, Virginia Tech and Wake. These six teams should be NCAAT quality teams, IMO. The fate of the remaining teams will rest on how they make up for personnel losses although it certainly appears that Virginia, BC and Florida State will bring up the rear.

    gw67

  2. #2

    next year

    Certainly, compared to the rest of the nation, the ACC gained ground based on the early entry list. As it now stands the only two teams hurt at all were NC State (which was last in the ACC WITH Hickson) and UNC -- which kept its best player ... they'll be an ACC and a national contender even if Lawson, Green and Ellington stay in the draft (and I'm betting the latter two return to UNC).

    As for your preview of next season, I agree that UNC and Duke will be at the top, followed closely by Wake, Miami and Virginia Tech. I disagree slightly about Clemson -- they are still competitive, but I think the loss of Hammonds and Mays (plus Perry) hurts a lot.

    I also think you underrated Florida State -- they had a lot go wrong this year (kind of like VPI in 2006 and Miami in 2007), but if they get healthy, I think Hamilton has a nice mix of experienced talent (Douglas at PG and Echefu at PF, plus the 7-footer Alabi, who we didn't get to see last season) and maybe the ACC's best recruiting class.

    I see FSU in a middle group that also includes Clemson, Georgia Tech and maybe Maryland (some strange rumblings from College Park).

    Virginia, NC State and BC look like the bottom feeders to me. Although State could get better without the talented, but selfish Hickson (and with a little more health at the PG position).

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Goldsboro, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by gw67 View Post
    Based on what I’ve read, there are only four early NBA entries from the ACC – the three from UNC and Hickson from State. IMO, next year should be a good year for the league. Several of the better players return – Hansbrough, Rice, Booker, McClinton, Vasquez, Rivers, Singler, Henderson, Paulus, Scheyer, Vassallo, Allen, Johnson, Teague, Smith, Douglas, Fells, and Costner plus a bunch like Stitt, Miller, Delaney, Thompson, Collins, McFarland, Peacock and Lawal who should improve. There are also incoming freshmen and transfers at UNC, Wake and Maryland who should play important roles for their teams.

    I haven’t given it a lot of thought but I suspect that UNC and Duke will again be at the top followed by a group of Clemson, Miami, Virginia Tech and Wake. These six teams should be NCAAT quality teams, IMO. The fate of the remaining teams will rest on how they make up for personnel losses although it certainly appears that Virginia, BC and Florida State will bring up the rear.

    gw67

    I agree with pretty much all of this except you including Costner in your group of "better players." Granted he SHOULD be good, but he is so lazy and uninterested it is pathetic.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    Quote Originally Posted by Olympic Fan View Post
    Certainly, compared to the rest of the nation, the ACC gained ground based on the early entry list. As it now stands the only two teams hurt at all were NC State (which was last in the ACC WITH Hickson) and UNC -- which kept its best player ... they'll be an ACC and a national contender even if Lawson, Green and Ellington stay in the draft (and I'm betting the latter two return to UNC).

    As for your preview of next season, I agree that UNC and Duke will be at the top, followed closely by Wake, Miami and Virginia Tech. I disagree slightly about Clemson -- they are still competitive, but I think the loss of Hammonds and Mays (plus Perry) hurts a lot.

    I also think you underrated Florida State -- they had a lot go wrong this year (kind of like VPI in 2006 and Miami in 2007), but if they get healthy, I think Hamilton has a nice mix of experienced talent (Douglas at PG and Echefu at PF, plus the 7-footer Alabi, who we didn't get to see last season) and maybe the ACC's best recruiting class.

    I see FSU in a middle group that also includes Clemson, Georgia Tech and maybe Maryland (some strange rumblings from College Park).

    Virginia, NC State and BC look like the bottom feeders to me. Although State could get better without the talented, but selfish Hickson (and with a little more health at the PG position).
    I'm not willing to write off NC State, because I think there were just huge chemistry issues in the frontcourt with Hickson around. Costner and McCauley were both very good two years ago, (even when Atsur was not in the lineup, so it can't just be attributed to good pg play), and then stunk up the joint last year. Next year, with Degand healthy (hopefully), and a nucleus of Fells, Costner, and McCauley, they should be better again. Not necessarily NCAA tournament better, but better.
    Just be you. You is enough. - K, 4/5/10, 0:13.8 to play, 60-59 Duke.

    You're all jealous hypocrites. - Titus on Laettner

    You see those guys? Animals. They're animals. - SIU Coach Chris Lowery, on Duke

  5. #5
    Olympic – Thanks for input on Florida State. I dismissed them because they lost three perimeter players, two of whom were long-time starters. They have some returning frontcourt reserves but they will depend on freshmen on the perimeter. I note that one of their incoming frosh, Singleton, was a McDonald’s All American so he must have some talent.

    I don’t know what to think about the Terps. They required an infusion of talent and apparently, freshmen Gilchrist and Mosley are the real deals and Juco Evans has some talent. It will be interesting to see if last year’s freshmen improve and how Williams juggles his lineups, particularly during the first half of the season when Gilchrist is not available. I have a hunch that he will have a difficult time keeping everyone happy with their playing time.

    CMS2478 – I agree that Costner was out of sync all last year and so was McCauley. IMO, Hickson going to the NBA will not be a big negative for the Pack and I expect Costner to regain the form he had as a soph.

    gw67

  6. #6

    Next year

    While I agree that Hickson's loss might not be that big a deal, it's unfair to blame him for Costner's lousy year. He got wa-a-a-y out of shape last summer and never regained the form he showed late in 2007. He should have been a perfect compliment for Hickson -- Costner's perimeter skills, mixed with Hickson's post presence.

    Hard to remember now, but Costner was preseason first-team All-ACC last year. If he gets his game together ... and if one of those second-year point guards matures, then State could be decent ...

    The return of Tony Douglas is key for FSU -- he's not a great creator, but he is a vetern PG with good scoring ability. They've got plenty of big bodies in the post, even without Vaughn -- especially if Alabi (who is supposed to be really good) comes all the way back. If not, Xavier Gibson is a big-time talent in the post. I agree that their wing scoring will have to come from the freshman class, but Singleton is a perfect 6-8 combo forward to play up front with Echefu and Alabi, while Loucks is a sweet-shooting wing guard and Derwin Kitchen is a pretty good juco combo guard.

    I think they have a chance.

    As for Maryland, I'm still not sure who's going to be on the roster next year. I keep hearing that several of the recruits might not qualify and that Hayes might transfer. I want to see who is actually there before I decide to put the Terps near the top of the middle group (and maybe up there with Wake and VPI) or near the bottom of the middle. They've got what looks like a nice injection of talent coming in ... but they do have two pretty good post players to replace.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!
    Hey OlyFan,

    You really think that FSU's bunch of Chris Singleton, Xavier Gibson, LKuke Loucks, and juco stud Derwin Kitchen are better than Wake's class of Al-Farouk Aminu, Ty Walker, and Tony Woods? Aminu and Walker are both top 25 prospects and Woods is not far behind (top 40ish).

    Regardless of how you rank them Wake and FSU both brought in banner recruiting classes.

    --Jason "the ACC is gonna be extremely tough next year... we will dominate in RPI and computer rankings" Evans

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