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Jon Rothstein ACC Offseason Notebook

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Still have to be concerned about the interior defense, rebounding and enough scoring to keep opponents' honest inside. Why Huell's continued improvement may be critical to team's ultimate success..
 
hotshot said:
Still have to be concerned about the interior defense, rebounding and enough scoring to keep opponents' honest inside. Why Huell's continued improvement may be critical to team's ultimate success..
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Hope he puts on some muscle
 
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hotshot said:
Still have to be concerned about the interior defense, rebounding and enough scoring to keep opponents' honest inside. Why Huell's continued improvement may be critical to team's ultimate success..
Click to expand...

I'm not concerned about that. Huell will be bigger and stronger and in his "contract year", Izundu is a beast and hopefully will finally figure out a way to stay out of foul trouble, hopeful that Gak will be stronger and ready to contribute minutes, haven't given up on Miller being a contributor, Waardenburg will be bigger and stronger. A little bit of hope and wishful thinking, but L knows how to develop bigs, and we'll have a veteran group.
 
I think this team will be better than last year. It’s much closer to Coach L’s bread and butter.

They could use a third ballhandler, but we saw what happened last year with too many cooks in the kitchen. Lykes has fully adjusted to the size of the ACC and is ready to be a star.
 
Should be a fun season. Agree with D Money that Lykes will be a star but we need a third ball handler. Can Wilson handle the ball? If needed we can always have Amp help out. This is the first year in a while that we have a strong front court with depth. We can go big with Huell and Ibaka or go small with Sam and Huell. Sam will continue to improve and I would think Gak will be able to contribute a little. And even Miller had a few nice moments and is someone who can get some minutes if needed. We also should be a much better three point shooting team this year with Wilson and Johnson being added and Dj, Amp, and Lykes improving more.
 
AustinCane6688 said:
Willing to bet anything we will finish higher than 11th
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We've outperformed our predicted ACC finish every single season Coach L has been here.

No reason to think this year will be any different.

Just need Lykes to stay healthy, the season really hinges on that
 
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tcgrad1014 said:
I'm not concerned about that. Huell will be bigger and stronger and in his "contract year", Izundu is a beast and hopefully will finally figure out a way to stay out of foul trouble, hopeful that Gak will be stronger and ready to contribute minutes, haven't given up on Miller being a contributor, Waardenburg will be bigger and stronger. A little bit of hope and wishful thinking, but L knows how to develop bigs, and we'll have a veteran group.
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Will Sam spend more time this season on the inside, or as a perimeter shooter?
 
DMoney said:
I think this team will be better than last year. It’s much closer to Coach L’s bread and butter.
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Yes. I do like how we will be older. I think if we can get our chit together before ACC play (the team can mesh well together), I like our chances.

DMoney said:
They could use a third ballhandler, but we saw what happened last year with too many cooks in the kitchen. Lykes has fully adjusted to the size of the ACC and is ready to be a star.
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Is there any reason we're not using our last scholarship? This is going to be the third year in a row. I would be fine even if we brought in a grad transfer, for 5-10 MPG, just as depth. Remember Joe Thomas, think like that. Just another body.

Even taking a 2018 HS player, a project and redshirting them, is better than not using it.
 
hotshot said:
Still have to be concerned about the interior defense, rebounding and enough scoring to keep opponents' honest inside. Why Huell's continued improvement may be critical to team's ultimate success..
Click to expand...

Huell needs to be more mentally and physically tough. A couple more baskets per game, a few more rebounds and he is a 15 and 10 guy (currently 11 and 7). There is no reason to believe he won't be more improved this season.

I also hope Sam takes another step forward as well.
 
The best thing that could happen for this team next year is for Amp to become more consistently dominant as a scorer. I think he's often overlooked and underrated when we talk about the team. There have been games throughout his career where he's taken over games, but those have been too far and few between. I wouldn't mind it if we ran our offense through him IF he improves his decision-making and shot selection. He's already an excellent passer, so I'm not worried about that. Throughout his career, he's mostly been a role player, just doing whatever it takes to help the team win - and I love that about him...but I truly think he can handle the primary scorer role IF he just lets himself do it. He's got to flip his mentality just a little to be that alpha dog scorer.

I am NOT making this comparison because they're not the same player or talent level...but Amp is only 2 inches shorter than Kevin Durant. Now...Durant's a special player...but one thing they do have in common is freakish length. Amp needs to start studying KD, stealing some offensive moves from him, because that's how KD kills people - handling/shooting the ball like he does at his size/length. I think that's the next step in his development.
 
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tcgrad1014 said:
Amp and Kevin Durant are both basketball players. That's about where the comparison ends.
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Hey - I know it's a stretch comparison, which is why I put the caveats that I did. That being said...with Amp's length, maybe he can pick up a few offensive moves from Durantula...that's all.
 
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