Hello Dukies, a few words, first GREAT site here

[A_boy_named_HOO]

I stumbled across your board a while back, sometimes I lurk on others boards, rarely post. However, during the season I always read the articles here, some of the best ACC writing around, aside from the sabre which is like my daily paper, I read articles here daily. Props on a very good site, pre season all the way through March.

Been a hoo fan since Birth, starting attending games in the early 70's with my grandaddy, been to cameron several times, all over the acc. I am glad that I grew up during the glory days, golden days of acc hoops, but enough about me!

Obviously as a HOO I am very proud of the run the team made this year (unbalanced and all) and we all hope that the hoos' under Bennett are building a consistent top 5 acc , ncaa caliber team (I truly believe that we are). Now, I know Carolina is hot, but in my heart I think the 2 best teams are UVa and Duke, nothing against Cuse, or UNC, I just think Cuse lacks depth, certainly a team that can beat anybody and make a run, but the lack of depth is gonna hurt them. Carolina has depth, but against strong defensive teams, primarily in the post, they MUST make jumpers, and can be beat. Again, they can certainly make a run. Now, UVa and Duke have depth, lots of options that can be thrown at you, and score. Also, the very good guard play is huge too. Duke gets going from the 3 and they become so hard to beat.



If chalk holds (which is rarely) in the acc toruney I believe Saturday and Sunday in Greensboro can be awesome. I hope FSU and Clemson work their way into the dance somehow, we will see. Anyway, wanted to drop a line here, great, informative site for hoops fans, look forward to some debates/chats here in the future, beat UNC and GO HOOS
WAHOOWA

[OldPhiKap]

I stumbled across your board a while back, sometimes I lurk on others boards, rarely post. However, during the season I always read the articles here, some of the best ACC writing around, aside from the sabre which is like my daily paper, I read articles here daily. Props on a very good site, pre season all the way through March.

Been a hoo fan since Birth, starting attending games in the early 70's with my grandaddy, been to cameron several times, all over the acc. I am glad that I grew up during the glory days, golden days of acc hoops, but enough about me!

Obviously as a HOO I am very proud of the run the team made this year (unbalanced and all) and we all hope that the hoos' under Bennett are building a consistent top 5 acc , ncaa caliber team (I truly believe that we are). Now, I know Carolina is hot, but in my heart I think the 2 best teams are UVa and Duke, nothing against Cuse, or UNC, I just think Cuse lacks depth, certainly a team that can beat anybody and make a run, but the lack of depth is gonna hurt them. Carolina has depth, but against strong defensive teams, primarily in the post, they MUST make jumpers, and can be beat. Again, they can certainly make a run. Now, UVa and Duke have depth, lots of options that can be thrown at you, and score. Also, the very good guard play is huge too. Duke gets going from the 3 and they become so hard to beat.



If chalk holds (which is rarely) in the acc toruney I believe Saturday and Sunday in Greensboro can be awesome. I hope FSU and Clemson work their way into the dance somehow, we will see. Anyway, wanted to drop a line here, great, informative site for hoops fans, look forward to some debates/chats here in the future, beat UNC and GO HOOS
WAHOOWA

Thanks for posting, we have had a number of good Wahoo posters lately (as well as some long-standing).

UVa has a lot to be proud of, and a nice future under Bennett.

I wish I agreed that UNC was a step behind, but other players are starting to step up for them. Shockingly, Roy is doing a pretty good job after botching the whole first half of the year with the "waiting for PJ" drama.

Duke has so many good pieces -- if it all falls together, this team could be very difficult to beat. If it doesn't, we have some nervous moments ahead.

Congrats on what is probably the best Cav team and result in years. You have had bigger named players, but not the cohesion that Bennett has brought.

[MCFinARL]

I stumbled across your board a while back, sometimes I lurk on others boards, rarely post. However, during the season I always read the articles here, some of the best ACC writing around, aside from the sabre which is like my daily paper, I read articles here daily. Props on a very good site, pre season all the way through March.

Been a hoo fan since Birth, starting attending games in the early 70's with my grandaddy, been to cameron several times, all over the acc. I am glad that I grew up during the glory days, golden days of acc hoops, but enough about me!

Obviously as a HOO I am very proud of the run the team made this year (unbalanced and all) and we all hope that the hoos' under Bennett are building a consistent top 5 acc , ncaa caliber team (I truly believe that we are). Now, I know Carolina is hot, but in my heart I think the 2 best teams are UVa and Duke, nothing against Cuse, or UNC, I just think Cuse lacks depth, certainly a team that can beat anybody and make a run, but the lack of depth is gonna hurt them. Carolina has depth, but against strong defensive teams, primarily in the post, they MUST make jumpers, and can be beat. Again, they can certainly make a run. Now, UVa and Duke have depth, lots of options that can be thrown at you, and score. Also, the very good guard play is huge too. Duke gets going from the 3 and they become so hard to beat.



If chalk holds (which is rarely) in the acc toruney I believe Saturday and Sunday in Greensboro can be awesome. I hope FSU and Clemson work their way into the dance somehow, we will see. Anyway, wanted to drop a line here, great, informative site for hoops fans, look forward to some debates/chats here in the future, beat UNC and GO HOOS
WAHOOWA

Welcome! I'm pretty excited about the resurgence of Virginia under Coach Bennett--only partly because I am a Virginia resident. I like almost everything about your team right now and am usually cheering for them if they are not playing Duke. The ACC tournament should be exciting this year, with the top four teams all extremely competitive and a couple of other teams that could do some damage.

[UrinalCake]

Thanks for stopping by! I know a lot of people point to the unbalanced schedule as the only reason UVA won the conference, but I disagree. You guys still went 2-1 against Cuse, Duke, and UNC. Even if you played two of those teams a second time and lost both, you'd still be at least tied for first. So congrats on a great season and I hope you can keep it going (except when you play us of course) and represent the conference well in the NCAA tourney.

[throatybeard]

I like anyone whose screen name is a reference to Johnny Cash/Shel Silverstein.

[jv001]

Great first post. Thanks for the good words about Duke. One of my favorite non-Duke teams was the Jeff Lamp lead team for the HOOS. I really liked watching them play. Keep posting and good luck, except against Duke! GoDuke!

[Listen to Quants]

I stumbled across your board a while back, sometimes I lurk on others boards, rarely post. However, during the season I always read the articles here, some of the best ACC writing around, aside from the sabre which is like my daily paper, I read articles here daily. Props on a very good site, pre season all the way through March.

Been a hoo fan since Birth, starting attending games in the early 70's with my grandaddy, been to cameron several times, all over the acc. I am glad that I grew up during the glory days, golden days of acc hoops, but enough about me!

Obviously as a HOO I am very proud of the run the team made this year (unbalanced and all) and we all hope that the hoos' under Bennett are building a consistent top 5 acc , ncaa caliber team (I truly believe that we are). Now, I know Carolina is hot, but in my heart I think the 2 best teams are UVa and Duke, nothing against Cuse, or UNC, I just think Cuse lacks depth, certainly a team that can beat anybody and make a run, but the lack of depth is gonna hurt them. Carolina has depth, but against strong defensive teams, primarily in the post, they MUST make jumpers, and can be beat. Again, they can certainly make a run. Now, UVa and Duke have depth, lots of options that can be thrown at you, and score. Also, the very good guard play is huge too. Duke gets going from the 3 and they become so hard to beat.



If chalk holds (which is rarely) in the acc toruney I believe Saturday and Sunday in Greensboro can be awesome. I hope FSU and Clemson work their way into the dance somehow, we will see. Anyway, wanted to drop a line here, great, informative site for hoops fans, look forward to some debates/chats here in the future, beat UNC and GO HOOS
WAHOOWA

Fine post. Thanks. I'll pick the only thing I can disagree with to quibble about. You are clearly right in saying Cuse lacks depth. I only think it hurts them though if Grant's back doesn't recover and then they are like any team, take out a star/near-star and the team falls back. Other than that, they usually don't get in foul trouble except at the 5 where they do have some depth and the zone keeps them fresh enough to play 40 min. I think.

Again, fine post.

[Des Esseintes]

Fine post. Thanks. I'll pick the only thing I can disagree with to quibble about. You are clearly right in saying Cuse lacks depth. I only think it hurts them though if Grant's back doesn't recover and then they are like any team, take out a star/near-star and the team falls back. Other than that, they usually don't get in foul trouble except at the 5 where they do have some depth and the zone keeps them fresh enough to play 40 min. I think.

Again, fine post.

I would phrase it differently, although you are clearly right that a major Grant injury severely weakens them. Rather than a depth problem, their most pressing issue is a dynamism problem. They have one ball handler, and they have one real long-range threat. An absence of multiple guys who can create or drill from distance makes them them very vulnerable to an opponent who can take either Ennis or Cooney out of the game. They've been great in spite of that limitation, but it may now be catching up to them.

[Listen to Quants]

I would phrase it differently, although you are clearly right that a major Grant injury severely weakens them. Rather than a depth problem, their most pressing issue is a dynamism problem. They have one ball handler, and they have one real long-range threat. An absence of multiple guys who can create or drill from distance makes them them very vulnerable to an opponent who can take either Ennis or Cooney out of the game. They've been great in spite of that limitation, but it may now be catching up to them.

Sounds reasonable to me. They *are* vulnerable. Of course, this year so are the top 5 (highly vulnerable to lose to a not-in-top 16 team [NCAAT 4-seed]). The quantitative measures usually had Syracuse outside the top 3 and KenPom and BPI have them around 10 while Sagarin's system, if I recall, never liked them as well and now has them deep in the second ten.

[A_boy_named_HOO]

good stuff, you guys make great points. Cuse though, may be able to stay fresh due to playing zone, their defense will always be solid, the seem to be sluggish on the offensive side. of course Grant being out is huge, but even with him they struggle to score. I just think a lot of their weaknesses have been exposed and they FINALLY stopped pulling games out of thin air., aside from the carolina game at home, I cannot think of an acc game where they looked dominant. Anyway, good luck vs Wake, maybe the hoos and devils can meet up on sunday in the acc final!