We can absolutely beat ND, but we don't need to be thinking ICU will be ready to play big minutes right off the bat. If we get 10 solid minutes out of him, that will be an excellent debut. Sherman is playing pretty good ball right now, and it seems that the core 9-man rotation is starting to gel (consisting of Angel/Sheldon/Burnett/Lecomte/Newton/Palmer/Sherman/Jekiri/Reed)...and if that chemistry is starting to come together in a way that allows you to blow out #4 Duke by 16 at Cameron, you don't want to mess with it too much.
I think if the Freshman can keep developing and contributing at a high level, Lecomte doesn't disappear, and we can get a higher level of play by Reed/Thomas/ICU...I think we could win 12 ACC games. That would be a good realistic goal. We're at 2-1 right now, and have 15 ACC games left (7 home/8 away). Go 10-5 in that stretch, puts us at 12-6 overall in the conference (22-9 overall)...we could be ranked at that point, and nearly a mortal lock for the NCAA tourney, even with the somewhat bad losses to Wisky-GB and EKU (both of which may win their conferences and get into the dance). Add in a possible win or two (or more?) in the ACC Tourney, and I think we end up a 7 or 8 seed.
My only true concerns are 1) a major injury that knocks out one of our key guys, and 2) Sheldon's shot selection, which sometimes spoils possessions for us.
