April 05, 2007
Forward Thinking
As soon as a season ends, the first thing most fans do is wonder about the next season. Will my team be better or worse? Is anyone going to leave early? What will I do without Jason Cain's mustache?
Thankfully, some of the answers to those questions have been answered by ACC guru Dave Glenn. In a three-part series, he previews next year's ACC taking educated guesses about who's leaving and who's staying. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
The bottom line? The league should be quite good next year. Unless Hansbrough or Lawson leave, Carolina should be even better. Georgia Tech could be really good. Duke will be better too. The only two teams who are really being decimated are Maryland and Virginia Tech. The Terps had some promising freshmen though and it might actually be a good thing to continue to sweep out another post-title recruiting class. Actually, Miami probably counts in the decimated category as well, but they weren't too impressive to begin with, so that's no big loss.
2008 should be a hell of a season!
I'm surprised Clemson isn't picked higher. They were a solid team except for their midseason funk, and they were losing close games during that stretch. They only lose one guard and still have two good ones. Improvement alone should make them better than this season -- much better than 7th in conference.
Overall, it's pretty wide open. I feel confident saying that UNC will be very good and that Miami will suck (and probably Wake, too). That's pretty much it.
| BJD95 wrote: |
| Joe Lunari is drinking so much Sid Lowe Kool Aid that he has NC State as a 2 seed (and in the real tourney, not the NIT). Even the most delusional of our lunatic fans dodn't believe that. |
Yeah, that always seems to happen with new coaches who have even moderate success. You might recall a similar situation with a certain red-shoed coach.
Another example was the wild overrating of Pete Gillen and his teams until folks realized that it was all a facade.
NC State certainly seems to have a nice core and had a good season, but we won't really know about Lowe for a few more years. He was lucky to inherit a surprisingly talented (if thin) squad.
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