North Carolina was picked as the preseason number one and already this year they have lost twice but in both instances the Tar Heels were down a starter. College basketball has changed in just a short time. No longer does Carolina or Duke have a team full of McDonald's All Americans. They do have the best of the best but no longer are all their bench player just as good as the starter.
Television where every network carries basketball and every conference has every game on TV those second team bench warmers no longer sit on the Duke Bench but are going to The Butlers of the world. The days of non conference 100-52 scores are now replaced with 90-76 scores.
If healthy Carolina will be playing late March or early April. Marcus Paige has to be one of the healthy ones. The Rocky Mount Gryphons demonstrated what any team can do that is very good and healthy during the playoffs.
Duke has shown when they are healthy they can be very good. Even limited with injuries they have fought hard and with their coaching if they are healthy in March they could be a factor. Their problem how long is Jefferson going to be out. If they dig a hole early in conference play they might get a very low seed and have to play the entire NCAA tournament against heavy weights and that is hard to win six in a row. If there has ever been a coach that can reinvent a team in the middle of the season Coach K is the man. If I am a Duke fan I fear for the day when K calls it quits. It is a lot sooner than Dukies want.
NC State has played several games this season that all they wanted to do was shoot. Their losses can be attributed to the lack of defense. Like everyone one else injuries have hit the Pack. The lack of defense in several games has shown a major hole for the Wolfpack. Who is going to score besides Cat? The best way to score is fast breaks points off steals which will require defense.
Abu, Anya and Freeman all can play defense and rebound but five points a game from each is not enough. There have been too many times already this year that Barber was the only player on the floor who could score.
The good thing about college basketball is it is only December and plenty of time to develope into another sweet 16 season. All three Triangle teams are capable to make Sweet 16 or better. Injuries must heal and no injuries that takes player out for the season will help all of them.
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The other thing is transfers. Kids who start out at Connecticut end up at College of Charleston. That is why one sees the closer games than 20 years ago. Disappointed with playing time? Transfer.
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