I could see an addition-by-subtraction thing going on with Love. The Athletic article that was the season postmortem for UNC painted a disjointed on-court relationship between Davis and Love. Given that they shared the backcourt together for 3 seasons, that seems really odd. It's hard to read that and then not think about the fit with RJ Davis as nominal PG and Hubert Davis as the coach. Perhaps RJ Davis will get the role that he prefers next year. On the other hand, he hasn't been much of a lead guard for the last 3 years. If Hubert Davis trusts him, that trust might be misplaced. The offense might not be fixed by just removing Love's decision-making from the equation.
They will clearly be in the mix for competing for a championship with that core. It all comes down to who is playing well in those three weeks in March/April. Teams need depth and a bit of luck. UNC will have a tone of experienced players. Can Hubert coach them to work as a unit- that is the question.
Can Hubert coach the Tar Heels? They really like him personally, so he'll probably get two more years to make UNC a basketball power.
You know, Roy Williams was a great coach, and, aw shucks, he made it look easy. K, with his intensity, never made it look easy. BTW, it wasn't easy for either one. IMHO -- the H went AWOL as soon as the miltary draft ended.
It seems like every basketball thread eventually gets around to the biggest cheating team (so called university). Sometimes I have to check back to see what thread I'm actually on.
GoDuke!
Media seem to want to anoint the Big East as the new powerhouse conference. I could buy UNC as preseason #1 this year but Creighton & Marquette need to show me.
NCAA.com: Way-too-early 2023-24 men's basketball Power 36 rankings
andykatz36.jpg
1. ConnecticutThe ACC should be led by new favorite Miami, with the incoming recruits at Duke and the returnees at North Carolina, ensuring those three are at the top. Virginia can never be counted out and there is bound to be another that makes a push for the title like Pittsburgh did this past season.
2. Miami
3. Marquette
4. Creighton
5. UCLA
6. Michigan State
7. Florida Atlantic
8. Purdue
9. Kentucky
10. Duke
27. North Carolina
I'm not sure if I get the Miami hype. Larranaga is obviously a fantastic tournament coach, and his teams outperform their expectations. Miller was what made them scary. Wong and Pack are good, but I don't think they make them a top 5 team. I'd say top 12.
The first Lunardi :
https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/st...ld-predictions
Wish someone here would store this for us and wheel it out when the real brackets arrive next March. I wonder if even 10% of these seeds will be correct? I'm betting... not. Talk about useless, idle speculation. Transfer portal isn't even shut now... And yet, I clicked on that thing... and ESPN smiles.
Of course they won't be accurate. Lunardi doesn't deal in "accurate" and has no accountability as such. He can always say "well, it reflects a certain moment in time and isn't meant to be predictive," which is basically saying "it's all horse hockey and you are chumps for paying attention."
T-Rank has a RosterCast tool for 2024. Torvik had Kyle Filipowski as departing. Removing Mgbako and adding Filipowski moves Duke from #5 to #3 in the way-too-early rankings.
Gary Parrish of CBS Sports moved Duke from #7 to #4 based on today's news.
https://www.cbssports.com/college-ba...-top-25-and-1/
A new one and an update.
TheScore: Early top-25 rankings for the 2023-24 college basketball season
1. Connecticut
2. Michigan State
3. Marquette
4. Kentucky
5. Houston
6. Duke
7. ArizonaDuke is bringing three 5-stars into the fold for the second straight season, with Jon Scheyer picking up right where Coach K left off on the recruiting trail. The incoming class, led by forward Mackenzie Mgbako, will be accompanied by veteran guard Jeremy Roach and a pair of talented freshmen from this past season - Tyrese Proctor and Mark Mitchell. There isn't much else returning for Duke, which does put some pressure on a very young group.
8. Purdue
9. Tennessee
10. Creighton
23. Miami
College Hoops Today: ROTHSTEIN 45: 2023-24 PRESEASON EDITION #2 (cross-posted on Fanduel)
1. Duke (was #11)
2. Connecticut (was #1)Projected Starting 5:
G Tyrese Proctor
G Jeremy Roach
G Jared McCain
F Mark Mitchell
C Kyle Filipowski
Projected Bench: Jaylen Blakes, TJ Power, Caleb Foster, Jaden Schutt, Ryan Young, Sean Stewart
Key Newcomers: Sean Stewart, TJ Power, Caleb Foster, Jared McCain
Key Losses: Dariq Whitehead, Dereck Lively, Jacob Grandison
Entered NBA Draft While Retaining College Eligibility: Jeremy Roach
3. Purdue (was #2)
4. Miami (was #3)
5. Marquette (was #4)
6. Creighton (was #5)
7. UCLA (was #6)
8. Michigan State (was #7)
9. Alabama (was #8)
10. Florida Atlantic (was #9)
29. Virginia
34. UNC
Weird that retaining Kyle Filipowski (and losing Mackenzie Mgbako) moves Duke up 10 places, while Creighton is largely unaffected by the loss of Ryan Nembhard.