Alright, we've all read all about the other teams in the ACC this year and seen all the predictions. But now basketball's finally getting started, so this thread is for posting your impressions of our future opponents from watching exhibition/non-conference games.

I went to Wake's opening exhibition game against Winston-Salem State tonight. If preseason rankings were based at all on reality, this should've been a blowout, but Wake didn't seal it until there were six seconds left.

So, my thoughts on Wake as of the moment:

OFFENSE: Not nearly as versatile as last year. Very poor execution--bad shot selection, bad pass timing. Unable to break the press. Gray showed some skill at point--he's a better slasher than he's shown in the past--but the sets they ran tonight did absolutely nothing to get him open beyond the arc. They have a very strong post presence, but unless they find a way to hit outside shots they'll get killed.

DEFENSE: They still don't have one. Gave up way too many open 3s and backdoor cuts. The only thing they had going was, same as on offense, the size and strength of their frontcourt.

FRONTCOURT: Wicked. Williams is still the same, and Visser showed some real presence. Strickland had some good moments as well, but needs a little work.

BACKCOURT: Gray's decent at point, but showed a lack of composure at times and didn't protect the ball. Again, weak against the press. Prosser briefly put in Dukes at point and rotated Gray over to SG, where he showed some of his shooting skill, but that didn't last long--and Dukes doesn't look anywhere close to ready to compete in the conference.

ROOKIES: Not much of a contribution. Drum looked decent, but again not at the level they would want. Wake has very little depth this year.

MATCHUP AGAINST STATE: Potentially very much in our favor. WSSU broke the D with motion plays, and we have experienced players running those. Our size in the frontcourt will help tremendously. And unless Wake gets some serious practice at the fast-tempo style they've been playing, they'll be destroyed on turnovers.

SUMMARY: They have talent, but it's very, very raw at this point. If they're really the second-best in the ACC (as some have predicted), then the ACC's even weaker than I thought.

11/3/2005 9:59:39 PM

I approve of this thread. Too bad the only preseason games I'm going to see are ours, so I won't be able to input much. It's good to hear Wake couldn't finish off an exhibition team until the last few seconds.

[Edited on November 3, 2005 at 10:10 PM. Reason : .]

11/3/2005 10:09:29 PM

Actually, they came amazingly close to losing.

If WSSU had been able to capitalize on its (many) opportunities, they could've put it away.

11/3/2005 10:10:24 PM

is it me, or does every year seem like everyone thinks we're going to be at the top of both the basketball and football standings?

11/3/2005 10:10:37 PM

Did they not have problems getting the ball to Williams? I mean i'm sure they did it with some success tonight, but I really think his good play these last 2 years was more Paul than him.

Losing him hurts them SO much more than people think...Just look what we did to them in the ACC tourney...and they even had Downey at point for that game.

This puts a smile on my face. Hopefully when I come back home to Winston this winter their fans will have crawled back into their holes and I wont have to listen to those fuckers. Some of them were worse than UNC fans.


^I dont think anyone in here made that claim

[Edited on November 3, 2005 at 10:13 PM. Reason : ]

11/3/2005 10:12:26 PM

Well Duke will be at the top this year *le duh*, but I def think we have a better chance this year than in past years simply due to the flux of players from ACC teams that left for the NBA.

[Edited on November 3, 2005 at 10:13 PM. Reason : asdf]

11/3/2005 10:12:36 PM

?

I don't think we'll be at the top. I'm not making any comments on State's potential standings until I see them play (maybe going to the game tomorrow night).

All I'm saying is that, even for a first game, this was a very poor showing for a supposedly top-25 team.

^^Ball movement in general was a problem. I only noticed two good plays in the first half--a nicely-executed give-and-go between Strickland and Williams, and a nice all-beyond-the-arc motion set. During the second half, they did a better job of drawing defenders to the outside and dishing it in, and Gray drawing to the inside and dishing out.

I think a lot of the problem comes from the lack of a true outside threat. Without Paul, and with Gray playing more of a driving role, they weren't able to draw the defense out. They really need to address that, and get Gray moving off the ball to open him up. I think they'd actually do better by using both guards as swingmen, but then again I'm not sure anyone else is ready to handle point duties.

[Edited on November 3, 2005 at 10:25 PM. Reason : ]

11/3/2005 10:12:45 PM

^i concur.

11/3/2005 10:13:56 PM

CIAA REPRESENT BITCHES

11/3/2005 10:14:21 PM

did swinton get any pt

11/3/2005 10:39:52 PM

I know it's just an exhibition game...but Wake is going to struggle to make the tourney this year.

There were some dumbasses on the ACC prediction thread saying Wake was going to finish above us. No fucking way.

11/3/2005 10:43:48 PM

Nope, never set foot on the court.

11/3/2005 10:43:53 PM

thats what i thought. good chance he is academically ineligible. didnt look like the smartest kid in high school

11/3/2005 10:46:49 PM

Oh, one other comment:

Wake does have several guys that seem capable of clutch plays (basically all five of their returning scholarship players). So if they keep the score close, don't expect them to drop it at the last second.

11/3/2005 11:07:06 PM

We're gonna get beat by Clemson

b/c James Mays is going to be the best PF in the ACC this year

Garner represent

11/3/2005 11:16:15 PM

best acc pfs in no order
dudley-bc
mcroberts-duke
thornton-fsu
ibekwe-maryland
evtimov-ncstate

nc state is easily 2nd or 3rd in the acc give or take bc. wake is 3rd tier

11/3/2005 11:47:05 PM

McRoberts is a frosh.

You haven't even seen the kid play yet.

11/4/2005 12:03:37 AM

^granted this wasn't acc but he tore up the all-american game

11/4/2005 12:07:34 AM

ive seen him play and he has no business in college. we should all know he is a beast inside but what was the scariest thin about him is that he can dribble and shoot as well. i also saw him score on sheldon williams easily

11/4/2005 12:10:47 AM

Its hard to take you seriously when you say that Evtimov is a PF.

11/4/2005 12:11:57 AM

11/4/2005 12:16:17 AM

well i see him as a 3 but hes listed as a f-c and just because of that i had to put him up there on an ncstate forum or a lynchmob wouldve burned me on here. catch 22. if he is a pf he is one of the top in the acc. give me that much

11/4/2005 12:18:22 AM

What about Tyler Hansbrough?

11/4/2005 12:23:26 AM

He's slimmed down to play the 3 this year. Unfortunately he's gonna stuggle even more trying to keep up with quick opponents.

11/4/2005 12:23:58 AM

I hope he starts at 3, so Brackman and Simmons can start. WOW the other team would never come inside.

11/4/2005 12:25:38 AM

if only we had someone to drive so that they would help off of evtimov. It's going to be raining 3s

11/4/2005 12:25:48 AM

I have seen Cedric play against shitty competition and he has no buisness in college. Did anyone pay attention during the Chavis league? The man was dunking like it aint no thing. He damn near brought the back board down on several occasions.

[Edited on November 4, 2005 at 10:36 AM. Reason : .]

11/4/2005 10:35:46 AM

Quote :

"I hope he starts at 3, so Brackman and Simmons can start. WOW the other team would never come inside."

I've thought about that. I think our depth will let us play some interesting lineups this year.

If we want fast guard play, we can put in a Bethel-Atsur-Cam lineup (and rotate in Grant and Fells) at the 1-2-3.

If we want big men to take on a larger frontcourt, we can play Ev-Brack-Simmons (and rotate in Costner and McCauley) at the 3-4-5.

11/4/2005 12:00:05 PM

^^i wasnt talking about shitty competition. sheldon williams or even dukes 2nd string defense is not shitty competition.

11/4/2005 1:03:44 PM

^^our depth is what has gotten me excited about this season. that's an advantage we have over the other acc teams that we might not have had in past seasons. should be interesting to see what herb can do with it.

11/4/2005 1:15:31 PM

I don't see Evtimov starting at three because there's no way he can guard the opposing team's three. You might would say that Brackman would play the other team's three...but I just can't see a 6'10" guy guarding another team's 6'5" three guard.

I see it as...

Brackman
Evtimov
Bennerman
Atsur
Bethel

Simmons will either come in first for Brackman, or come in for Evtimov and move Brackman to the 4. Grant can come in and sub for all three positions, Costner can sub for the 3 and the 4, Fells can sub for the 2 and 3, and McCauley can come in for the 4 and 5.

Every now and then we might go with Simmons/Brackman/Evtimov lineup if the other team is big. But as much weight as Evtimov has lost this offseason...he's still not quick enough to guard the 3.

11/4/2005 1:51:50 PM

it seems like every year the media talks about our upcoming season and says we have a good backcourt but our frontcourt is suspect. this year we should be pretty balanced

11/4/2005 2:25:27 PM

I was at the duke vs concordia game last night. duke looks pretty decent, but it is still too early to tell. mcroberts definitely seems to be the most impressive of the freshmen, from what I saw. Paulus looked pretty good also. Nelson and Dockery both seem to be quicker and stronger than they were last year. One big advantage for duke this year is that they are so much deeper than they have been in years past, so they can keep everyone fresh by subbing frequently, which is what they did last night.

concordia was a decent shooting team but they did not have any height, so it was hard for them to compete inside. final score was 123-66. I think they are scheduled to play davidson, gerogia, uconn, and virgina within the next week or so, we'll see how they fair.

11/4/2005 3:44:41 PM

^Very glad someone else is contributing here. Thanks for the info. Depth was definitely a big weakness for Duke last year (unfortunately, Melchionni still managed to get hot against us).

Quote :

"Brackman Evtimov Bennerman Atsur Bethel"

I agree that that's the most likely standard lineup we'll see (once Tony is healthy). The ones I posted were more of a switch to make in-game to take advantage of some potential matchups.

[Edited on November 4, 2005 at 3:55 PM. Reason : except maybe Simmons over Brack at the 5]

11/4/2005 3:54:52 PM

Well, for awhile tonight we actually did run that three big-man lineup I suggested earlier.

[Edited on November 5, 2005 at 12:03 AM. Reason : albeit with our best two guards not playing]

11/5/2005 12:03:00 AM

I want to see Fells in the lineup. He really looks impressive. I wouldnt mind seeing him replace Atsur or Bennerman if they both start out slow this year.


one thing I kept thinking about tonight at the game was how damn young our team is. I wouldn't be surprised if we dont do well this year, but in a year or 2 when Simmons, Grant, and Brackman are seniors (assuming b-rack makes it that far, which he wont), we will be NASTY. Our team is VERY VERY VERY young, so i think I'll be able to handle a mediocre season as long as we show some flashes of brilliance.

[Edited on November 5, 2005 at 12:28 AM. Reason : ]

11/5/2005 12:24:57 AM

Went to the Wake-Mississippi Valley State game tonight; this is what I posted in another thread:

Quote :

"They looked much better tonight than last week (which isn't saying much in itself). Gray did a pretty good job of moving the ball. They started spreading the ball out early, using Strickland and Drum on the perimeter, driving Gray inside, and feeding Williams and Visser at the post. They got out to a 24-10 lead that way, and then proceeded to totally fuck themselves with stupid turnovers (some of the most idiotic passes I've ever seen) that put the Devils on a 19-4 run. The second half was more consistent. Looks like they might be grooming Hale for the PG spot--he drove to the basket on a few plays. The kid has some spark--and he was pretty good on defense too. (Speaking of defense, how many times do you have to get burned by the deep ball before you decide to switch out of a 2-3 zone?) If I were Prosser, I think I'd go ahead and let Hale start at the 1 and move Gray to the 2, so they get coordinated before conference play starts. Dukes will not be a starting guard this year, and Drum is absolutely no match for Gray on the wing."

11/10/2005 10:16:11 PM

Bowling Green defeated Virginia Tech today by one point. Home game for VT.

11/12/2005 9:10:08 PM

^^That Mississippi Valley team lost the next day to UC Irvine 94-40. Wake barely won in OT over GEORGE FREAKIN MASON 83-78.

11/13/2005 10:39:54 AM

Not only did VT lose, but apparently a freshman from their tip had the winning tip....into the wrong basket.

http://www.roanoke.com/sports/vtbasketball/wb/40517

Not a good start at all for Virginia Tech.

11/13/2005 10:51:02 AM

We need a pure point guard to make our system click. I hope like hell Bethel can get healthy but not holding my breath.

11/13/2005 1:06:51 PM

Bethel really isn't a pure point guard either... but he does the job well.

11/13/2005 1:07:46 PM

I agree with that. He's capable enough, but I've love to see our inside-out game would be like with a kid who just loves to dish.

I think we'll be fine, 2nd or 3rd in the conference. It's to early to base that on anything but homer-ism, but I don't have my usual sense of dread after watching this year's exhibition games.

11/13/2005 1:21:55 PM

Did anyone see Va Tech lost to Bowling green?!?!??!



and WFU got taken to OT by the crappy George.. Mason

[Edited on November 14, 2005 at 12:59 PM. Reason : f]

11/14/2005 12:58:20 PM

Wake cannot be that good barely beating Mississippi Valley State and George Mason. Miss. Valley got beat the very next night 94-40 by UC IRVINE! WTF and they are ranked and we arent. So much for preseason polls.

11/14/2005 1:02:16 PM

...because preseason polls don't (and can't) have anything to do with the way the team plays.

Wake returned five very strong players. The difference is that they're trying to play the way they did last year, but replaced Paul with Gray and have a newcomer playing wing guard.

We, on the other hand, lost one of the great players in the history of State basketball.

Based on those facts, you'd expect people to rank Wake and not State. This will get rectified pretty fast over the next few weeks--our team looks good, and Wake doesn't.

11/15/2005 2:09:04 AM

I know this isn't an ACC opponent, but it's a one of our bigger out of conference games....Alabama is tied with Miami (OH) at halftime right now. We play Alabama at their place on 12/22. They're ranked 14th as of now. I hope they pull it out so its a bigger win if we end up beating them, but it does look like they've got some problems to hammer out.

11/15/2005 9:08:36 PM

^ bama survives 64-58.

Charlotte is on the ropes against Wyoming with 23 seconds left in the game

11/15/2005 10:29:58 PM

^man, charlotte blows. losses to wyoming and northwestern already? weren't "experts" predicting them to be decent this year?

11/15/2005 10:37:08 PM

It's amazing what an NCAA run will do for a team.



Also I think McCauley is gonna be insane in a year or two, will make b-rack look silly.

11/15/2005 10:44:47 PM