ACC Sunday Night Hoops 12/20

[thewiseben]

If anyone else is watching tonight's matchups in the ACC, feel free to post observations about the games.

FSU-GT: Despite FSU trying to give this one away at the free throw line, GT's Paul Hewitt manages to once again out-coach his competition in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

NCSU-Wake: Still early yet, but it looks like Wake's got every advantage in this game.

[RainingThrees]

If anyone else is watching tonight's matchups in the ACC, feel free to post observations about the games.

FSU-GT: Despite FSU trying to give this one away at the free throw line, GT's Paul Hewitt manages to once again out-coach his competition in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

NCSU-Wake: Still early yet, but it looks like Wake's got every advantage in this game.

When is Paul Hewitt going to be out? I'm predicting in 2 years once all his talent is gone and he is left with the players that weren't one and done and GT finishes near the bottem of the ACC. If GT wants to be consistant they need someone to bring in good 3-4 year players.

[Bob Green]

Paul Hewitt consistently accomplishes less with more. Georgia Tech needs to wise up, give Hewitt the boot, and move forward.

[SMO]

Paul Hewitt consistently accomplishes less with more. Georgia Tech needs to wise up, give Hewitt the boot, and move forward.

On a related note, does Derrick Favors strike anyone else as overrated? For a guy considered a one & done, I'm surprised he hasn't done more.

[RainingThrees]

On a related note, does Derrick Favors strike anyone else as overrated? For a guy considered a one & done, I'm surprised he hasn't done more.

People made him out to be the next Chris Bosh. If he leaves after this year i don't see him being a lottery pick.

[SMO]

People made him out to be the next Chris Bosh. If he leaves after this year i don't see him being a lottery pick.

That's what I thought! There will be a lot of quality bigs in this year's draft.

On a separate note, NCSU is just hanging around with Wake. Ish Smith looks good as does Aminou, but Wake's depth seems to drop off after that.

[FireOgilvie]

On a related note, does Derrick Favors strike anyone else as overrated? For a guy considered a one & done, I'm surprised he hasn't done more.

No. Have you seen his numbers? Maybe overrated in the sense that he was rated the number 2 player in his class and is only playing like the number 3 or 4 best...

He shares the paint with GT's best returning player, Lawal, who averages 10 rebounds/game. There are only so many rebounds to go around. Favors is a better all-around player than Lawal, IMO. He's a better shot-blocker and has a pretty good assist/TO ratio for a big man. Favors will be a top 5 - 10 draft pick I'm sure.

[FireOgilvie]

People made him out to be the next Chris Bosh. If he leaves after this year i don't see him being a lottery pick.

Chris Bosh averaged 15 pts and 9 rebounds in his freshman year and he didn't have another guy that could rebound/score inside like Lawal on his team. Favors is averaging 13.7 pts/8.8 rebounds so far. I don't think he's as good as Bosh, but he's not THAT far off. There aren't too many guys as good as Bosh out there...

[SMO]

No. Have you seen his numbers? Maybe overrated in the sense that he was rated the number 2 player in his class and is only playing like the number 3 or 4 best...

He shares the paint with GT's best returning player, Lawal, who averages 10 rebounds/game. There are only so many rebounds to go around. Favors is a better all-around player than Lawal, IMO. He's a better shot-blocker and has a pretty good assist/TO ratio for a big man. Favors will be a top 5 - 10 draft pick I'm sure.

That is better than I thought, but for some reason I thought he was getting Dwight Howard-esque reviews. Should be interesting to see how he shakes out against all the other bigs in the ACC.

[RainingThrees]

Chris Bosh averaged 15 pts and 9 rebounds in his freshman year and he didn't have another guy that could rebound/score inside like Lawal on his team. Favors is averaging 13.7 pts/8.8 rebounds so far. I don't think he's as good as Bosh, but he's not THAT far off. There aren't too many guys as good as Bosh out there...

I expect Favors numbers to go down once conference play starts. Lawal will be the go to guy when the games get tight.

[FireOgilvie]

That is better than I thought, but for some reason I thought he was getting Dwight Howard-esque reviews. Should be interesting to see how he shakes out against all the other bigs in the ACC.

It's a really really deep draft for big men, so it's not clear how high he'll go at this point. Who knows how he'll compare to other NCAA guys like Cousins, Ed Davis, Monroe, Aldrich, or Pittman at the end of the season (among others I'm forgetting). Oh, and watch out for Art Parakhouski from Radford; I might take him over a few of those guys.

[FireOgilvie]

I expect Favors numbers to go down once conference play starts. Lawal will be the go to guy when the games get tight.

Like tonight in ACC play against FSU/Alabi where Lawal had 4 pts, 4 rebounds and Favors had 8 pts, 12 rebounds, 4 blocks? That might not be what always happens, but Favors is definitely legit.

[Greg_Newton]

That is better than I thought, but for some reason I thought he was getting Dwight Howard-esque reviews. Should be interesting to see how he shakes out against all the other bigs in the ACC.

Same... I don't have links, but I thought I remembered projections for various All-American teams and at LEAST 2nd-team all-ACC, depending on who you asked... people were basically putting him on the same level as Wall. After watching the McD's game, I was buying that too. However, just from the eye test this year, he doesn't look like a major difference making ACC player yet to me... he'll put up decent numbers, but I'll be surprised if he makes 2nd-team All-ACC.

[FireOgilvie]

Same... I don't have links, but I thought I remembered projections for various All-American teams and at LEAST 2nd-team all-ACC, depending on who you asked... people were basically putting him on the same level as Wall. After watching the McD's game, I was buying that too. However, just from the eye test this year, he doesn't look like a major difference making ACC player yet to me... he'll put up decent numbers, but I'll be surprised if he makes 2nd-team All-ACC.

I honestly don't remember what other people were saying. In June, I said that I thought that Favors would average 17 pts, 8 rebounds a game and 20/10 if Lawal left for the draft. He's at 13.7 and 8.8 right now after a slow start to the season, so I was off a few points. Based on this year's stats, I think he would definitely be averaging roughly 17 and 10 if Lawal was gone just because he wouldn't have to fight with him all the time for rebounds and touches in the paint. Favors isn't getting nearly as many shot attempts as I thought he would; he's only averaging 8 FG attempts/game. I was thinking he would get more like 11 or 12 with Lawal. Favors makes 62% of his FG attempts. In my opinion, he needs to get more touches and GT needs to work on getting him to the free throw line more. But, I also believe that Hewitt is the worst coach in the ACC...

Favors and Lawal at Georgia Tech remind me a lot of UNC with Thompson and Davis. Both Lawal and Thompson had better starts to the season than Davis and Favors, but the younger guys are more talented (and better shot-blockers) and by the end of the year should move ahead of the older guys, IMO.

[studdlee10]

What I like about Favors is that he's a true banger with good size and excellent athleticism. Right now, he's a bit unpolished, but you can tell the necessary tools are there. I'd take a true big guy (he's not a C, but a prototypical PF in the NBA) like him who is unafraid of contact and getting inside over a finesse power player like Ed Davis any day of the week.

[gumbomoop]

Paul Hewitt consistently accomplishes less with more. Georgia Tech needs to wise up, give Hewitt the boot, and move forward.

Back in summer, speculating on ACC-predictions for '09-'10, I opined that after top-tier Duke-UNC, most likely to emerge from the middle-muddle to possibly challenge the top 2 was..... GaTech. I was reminded by several posters that PH was their coach and therefore my scenario was unlikely.

Well, it sure looks like you folks were right and I wrong. FSU's pretty good, not outstanding, but even without Shumpert, PH's gotta have his guys prepared to start out on a high note in the conf opener, on TV, etc. They looked, instead, woefully disorganized, tentative, not intense.

So, desperately trying to avoid saying I was not only wrong, but dumber than dirt, can I at least wonder whether Shumpert's talent can overcome PH's incompetence? Surely, surely, with that talent Tech will wind up 4th or 5th.

[thewiseben]

Ok, not really inconceivable gumbomoop, I just don't think it likely. Talented players listening and trusting a bad coach are going to produce a bad outcome (before they leave early for the draft that is). And if they still listen after that, then they play for the LA Clippers.

I make no assumptions about GA Tech's competence. Much as it pains me, this ain't Bobby Cremins' team anymore. I'll always have a slight soft spot for them (as Cremins' 1985 team won the ACC Championship on the day I was born), but they are going to be a middling team at best until they get a coach in there who knows half as much about basketball as he does about recruiting.