AP Preseason #3 | Page 2 | The Boneyard

AP Preseason #3

Every year the B1G flops with 8,9.10 teams in the tourney. Fascinating.
 
Kansas, Alabama, and Duke have 3 of the most on paper talent loaded rosters I can recall. Duke and Kansas learned from their mistakes from last year. Alabama has been building to this. We've got talent, but taking x's and o's out of it, we're not as loaded as that group.

But scheme and program infrastructure is going to put us in that conversation.
 
My thing with Storr is I am averse to wing scorers who can’t pass (he averages less than an assist per game). You can’t win with guys who have the ball in their hands a lot and can’t/don’t make plays for their teammates. Offense becomes too predictable.
 
uh-no said:
clingan ain't walkin' back through the doors of Gampel this year. It's not fair to expect this team to be as good as last year, Dan Hurley has said as much.
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As Hurley said, they don’t need to be as good as last year to win the title. Not being as good as last year doesn’t mean that they’re still not better than everyone else.
 
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Preseason doesn't mean much. I think #3 is fine. If anything they've learned that Hurley will get the team together and it will be more than the sum of its parts. No real complaints about the rankings, some teams will surprise to the upside and some to the downside. Always happens.
 
Platt81 said:
As Hurley said, they don’t need to be as good as last year to win the title. Not being as good as last year doesn’t mean that they’re still not better than everyone else.
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Returning players need to be at least as good as last year.
 
back2BE4us said:
Maybe but Mayo hasn't done it yet at high d1 level...Storr has that Caleb Love gene where they have a 99/100 on the confidence slider but 13/100 on team concept. Very dangerous combo, both good and bad. Can shoot teams out of late game situations a lot.

Mccullar couldn't shoot either but he was a Swiss army type, somewhat like AJax was. That's a big piece to miss and they better really really really hope that Elmarko takes a step and the transfers get it done because their team last year was unbelievably bad at shooting.
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Jackson is out for the entire year and with the portal additions they've added he wasn't going to be a make or break player for them anyway
 
superjohn said:
Well we lost 3 starters after 2022-2023 and we went on to be the most dominant tournament team ever in 2023-2024.
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We were bringing back Newton, Karaban, and Clingan, which was two starters and a third guy who everyone acknowledged was starting-caliber. We added top 10 recruit Castle. The question mark was Spencer and the bench. Spencer turned out to be a perfect fit and the bench was good enough given how elite and well-composed our starting lineup was.

This year we're trying to elevate bench guys to two starting guard positions, or possibly Mahaney (poor man's Spencer), and hoping that Johnson or Reed is up to the task at center (much bigger question mark than Clingan). Karaban is Karaban. McNeeley should be the real deal. But that's like 3 spots you're having to project and making up for it with depth, which isn't important as the quality of your first 5.

I just find it funny that we're ranked more highly to start 2024, even though we ostensibly have more question marks. I guess chalk it up to the respect that Hurley/UConn is (finally) getting.
 
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auror said:
Kansas, Alabama, and Duke have 3 of the most on paper talent loaded rosters I can recall. Duke and Kansas learned from their mistakes from last year. Alabama has been building to this. We've got talent, but taking x's and o's out of it, we're not as loaded as that group.

But scheme and program infrastructure is going to put us in that conversation.
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You’re judging this purely off of HS rankings.
 
CardiacAndre7 said:
That’s offen how talent is evaluated, yes.

Kansas just outright is probably the most talented team, regardless of recruit rankings.
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Thats how lazy talent evaluation is done.

Also my comment wasn’t based on his inclusion of Kansas or Bama. But rather his mention of Duke. Saying they’re more “talented” is as stupid as Goodman saying Indiana was “just as talented”
 
7774 said:
Yeah that’s what talent on paper means.
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Not when you have proven college guys who are mid. And proven guys who are champions. We have enough information about college guys on both teams so that we don’t have to use HS rankings
 
AntG168 said:
Thats how lazy talent evaluation is done.

Also my comment wasn’t based on his inclusion of Kansas or Bama. But rather his mention of Duke. Saying they’re more “talented” is as stupid as Goodman saying Indiana was “just as talented”
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That last statement is patently false. Cooper Flagg is more talented than anyone we have, by a pretty large margin. Talent doesn’t always win as we know. But Duke probably has a more talented team than us. They don’t have as talented a coach or staff though, which matters as well.
 
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Chin Diesel said:
Easy enough.

Sets up nicely for two games in Providence and East Regional at Prudential Center.

Duke and UNC are other high ranked east coast schools and the committe is going to put at least one of them in Raleigh.
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Put NC teams in NC? They wouldn’t do that, would they?
 
RayIsTheGOAT said:
I was hoping we’d be unranked.
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There may be an unranked team now that has us in their sights…. Like we did just a couple years ago… Disrespected and ready to prove everyone wrong…

We have to keep up the intensity no matter who we’re playing - think we’ll see tonight how far we have to go in that regard.
 
auror said:
No. They also all have good veterans, transfers, and returnees.
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Bama and Kansas, sure. Duke, we’ll agree to disagree

When it comes to Duke, regardless of who the coach is, I’d rather have our roster.
 
auror said:
No. They also all have good veterans, transfers, and returnees.
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I'm biased, but KU is loaded. Self is still a top tier coach and learned his lesson about depth. They should have a two headed monster at center. We know how that works. Dickenson being able to play without needing to stay on the court 30+ minutes might be a much better defender.

I don't know Bama's roster, but they have become a perennial contender.

UConn probably does not have the starting 5 we had either of the last two years, but should have more depth. Can we use that effectively? Will we press for example? It's going to be interesting.
 
HuskyHawk said:
I'm biased, but KU is loaded. Self is still a top tier coach and learned his lesson about depth. They should have a two headed monster at center. We know how that works. Dickenson being able to play without needing to stay on the court 30+ minutes might be a much better defender.

I don't know Bama's roster, but they have become a perennial contender.

UConn probably does not have the starting 5 we had either of the last two years, but should have more depth. Can we use that effectively? Will we press for example? It's going to be interesting.
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Kansas and Bama are indeed loaded. Duke is what they’ve been. I think Bama’s roster fits a little better than KU’s.
 
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Austin316 said:
Big East:
3. UConn
15. Creighton
18. Marquette
RV. St John’s, Xavier, Providence

I think Xavier will be much better now that they’re healthy with Freemantle.
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Would not be on freemantles foot lasting the year
 
AntG168 said:
Kansas and Bama are indeed loaded. Duke is what they’ve been. I think Bama’s roster fits a little better than KU’s.
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Duke didn't have the veteran bench defending/shooting role player wings they have this year. Sion James and Mason Gillis. They had defenders (like Stewart and Mitchell), but none of them could shoot and were young. Or they could shoot, but couldn't defend (Power). They won't rely on them to start, but they (or at least one) will be in the rotation. Maliq Brown should be a better version of Sean Stewart, as well. Just generally they're going to be an insanely good defensive team this year with Flagg, Brown, and Maluach. So, so much better than the zero rim protection they had with Filipowski.

(I also have Alabama #1. Oats is hungry).
 
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