2018-2019 Season - What are you looking forward to?

[MWHeels]

The 2018-2019 basketball season is fast approaching, and I was wondering what you all are excited about. Here is my list in no particular order.

1. Development of our bigs:

I'm interested to see how Brooks and Manley develop this year. Both showed improvement throughout the 2018 season, especially for Manley. If he can continue to improve his conditioning, he has the potential to be a beast. I think Brooks can improve as well, and anything we get out of Huffman will be a bonus. I'm not saying big Huff couldn't eventually develop into a solid contributor but it may be a little early this year. If he brings some energy off the bench with rebounding and easy baskets, that's a plus.

2. Freshmen Class

While we all pretty much know what to expect from our veterans (Big Shot Luke, Kenny and Cam), I'm really excited about the new freshmen coming in this year. I can't wait to watch Coby and Little in regular season games. Black hasn't been hyped as much as the other two, but I think he can do some things this year that will help the Heels win some ball games.

3. (Hopefully) Joel Berry Jersey Ceremony

Jackson's jersey went up the year after he left, and I'm hoping the same holds true for fearless Joel Berry. While I will miss seeing him in a Carolina Blue jersey, it will be awesome watching his jersey being lifted to the rafters to the join countless other Tar Heel legends. He personified what it means to be a Tar Heel both on and off the court, and he deserves this honor for everything he accomplished in his career.

 

[Middle Sound Heel]

Not particularly talking about you but I don't know why so many are picking this team to be a title contender. I have been watching the Heels for over 40 years now and this is one of the few years in that span that I can see this group really struggle. All of the pieces from the 16 and 17 teams are gone. Question marks are everywhere in my book.

 

[FranktheHeel]

Totally agree with your list @MWHeels and really enjoy the thread topic.

Some things that I am looking forward to are the depth of this year's team, and our to ability send out different lineup combos. I see us being able to adjust to different playing styles of our opponents and being able to make in game adjustments using both big and small ball lineups to our advantage.

Kenny emerging as our main senior leader, who I feel is most ready for the task and is going to be that presence for us both on and off the court while a stud defensively and setting the tone on that side of the ball.
Luuuke Maye, I can't wait to see what he has in store for us in his Senior Campaign, I am hoping a jersey in the rafters type of year for #32.
A healthy Cam is something that I am very much looking forward to. Now with a year under his belt in our system, I see him being much more of a force offensively and giving us another very reliable knock down shooter.

Like you said the young bigs are definitely at the top of my list too, I think all three will be more comfortable in the system and having this full off-season to work their bodies and games will prove to be beneficial. I really want to see more of Garrison who put on 15lbs this off-season and has been working extremely hard on his game. I really love what he did for us defensively last year especially being able to guard out on the perimeter on pick and rolls, I think he will be an even better and stronger post defender in year 2. I am excited to see the work that Big Ster put in this off season with improved conditioning, strength in the post and body control giving Roy the ability to give him more minutes. I really hope that he can be a steady offensive presence in the paint allowing us to really space the floor. I think this can help Luke to play both inside and out and do his thing as a 4.

The Freshman!! Every time I think and talk about this group I get very excited, we have a really great group with all three seeming to have really bought in and are starting to gain the respect of the upperclassmen. I really believe that Nas and Coby are going to make big impacts for us this year and be very exciting to watch. And Leaky is going to be a very good player for us over his Carolina career with his versatility being a real weapon that can benefit us this year.

 

[MWHeels]

Not particularly talking about you but I don't know why so many are picking this team to be a title contender. I have been watching the Heels for over 40 years now and this is one of the few years in that span that I can see this group really struggle. All of the pieces from the 16 and 17 teams are gone. Question marks are everywhere in my book.

While I would agree that this team has questions, I also think the same can be said about every team in college basketball right now. There are no title locks. The teams that usually win it all have great coaches and upperclassmen who provide great leadership. The Heels have both.

 

[ajklum]

The title is dook's to lose. And they will. Eventually. They have too many weapons and that will be a positive and a negative. K will run his dogs to death playing 30-38 minutes a game until February gets here and them dawgs will be tired. They will start looking ahead to the draft and get complacent because their athleticism has been enough to get them through every game, but the other "teams" have gelled by now and gotten better as a team. I think we have a chance to beat Dook every game this year. and that it what I am look forward to this year.

 

[ProfessorOwl]

Not particularly talking about you but I don't know why so many are picking this team to be a title contender. I have been watching the Heels for over 40 years now and this is one of the few years in that span that I can see this group really struggle. All of the pieces from the 16 and 17 teams are gone. Question marks are everywhere in my book.

Is there a group of Seniors in the country better than Kenny, Cam, and Luke?

That gives me confidence.

I think Sterling Manley is poised to make a massive leap. When he was on the court last year he was very impactful. I think we could get 20 minutes out of him this year, and he will average 11/8 and a few blocks each game. He could be a double double machine if he gets 25+.

Coby/Seventh will be adequate at PG. They both have their flaws, but offer enough to make it work.

Nassir/Coby also fill a role that we desperately needed last year. They both have the ability to manufacture points when nothing else is working. Nassir can shoot over basically everyone, and Coby is big and tough enough to create points by driving.

 

[MWHeels]

The title is dook's to lose. And they will. Eventually. They have too many weapons and that will be a positive and a negative. K will run his dogs to death playing 30-38 minutes a game until February gets here and them dawgs will be tired. They will start looking ahead to the draft and get complacent because their athleticism has been enough to get them through every game, but the other "teams" have gelled by now and gotten better as a team. I think we have a chance to beat Dook every game this year. and that it what I am look forward to this year.

I agree. The 2015 Kentucky team was a lock to go 40-0 and they lost to Wisconsin in the Final Four. I think there is a good chance the same thing will happen to Duke this year. That's why I love college basketball more than the NBA. No one really knows who the champion will be in August.

 

[MJUNC]

BEATING DOOK!!

 

[Middle Sound Heel]

I hope you guys are right.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

Right now, the thing I'm looking forward to most is the season starting.

 

[DeuceManJones]

Right now, the thing I'm looking forward to most is the season starting.

Can't wait for that one late night in October.

 

[IDUNK4HEELS]

More scoring options. Last season Maye and Berry had to carry the Heels until Pinso n stepped up late. This season with Expierenced seniors, big men with a full season under their belts and freshmen proven scorers this team will have many that can and will contribute to the team's scoring.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

Last year Luke came out on fire, and pretty much stayed that way all year. Sure, once teams realized he was for real they focused on him. And his shot suffered a bit toward the end of the season. But he remained very impressive.

That was 2 years in a row of clear-cut improvement. So . . . One question mark is whether Luke can improve more (and how)?

Players don't always improve. And this year, Luke may get more help up front with scoring.

Guys like Sterling and Garrison should be better. And while you don't easily replace a guy like Theo, his offensive contribution as a member of the front line wasn't where he shown. Plus Theo's passing chops made him more likely to help Luke score than to score himself. Little is more likely to take those shots.

If I had to predict, I'd predict that we'll see a bit less scoring form Luke, but a bit more passing and more assists. Mainly because he won't need to score so much, and because he'll have better targets to pass to (with the addition of Little and improvements among our bigs).

I predict at least one triple double for Luke.

 

[Tom79]

If I recall correctly, we have 11 players back and the three freshmen. All of the 11 have varying experience but experience nonetheless.
The three freshmen will acquit themselves nicely, IMO.
This will be a very fun team to watch. I have a hunch they may surprise a few folks.

 

[ajklum]

I want to know who the slasher is going to be? We have always had a guy whose shot was suspect, played great defense, and would take it to the hole. Theo, jackie Manuel, dexter strickland to name a few. I want to see someone from the present team fill that role. I am hoping it is Little, but I think his jumper is decent enough that if they play off of him he will just shoot it and not have as many drives.

 

[Ozheelfan]

I reckon Little could have an all-everything season.
The Heels haven't had a player of his type in a long time... athletic, plays great D, can shoot, has a mean streak, team guy.
He ticks every box.

 

[Green C14]

I looked up "slasher" in the basketball dictionary just now and there was a picture of Coby White.
Actually I expect Nas and Kenny to also show skills in that arena.

 

[FranktheHeel]

I just finished listening to IC's Podcast (which you can listen to for free on iTunes) from today and thought this was a good bit of intel to share, Dewey Burke was a guest and said that one of his biggest takeaways from pickup on Saturday was how excited the staff is about Coby White and how impressed the staff is with how well he has done this early after the few practices that they've had and the Bahamas trip. After hearing that I have to say that I am even more excited about Coby's impact for us.

 

[Tom79]

I want to know who the slasher is going to be? We have always had a guy whose shot was suspect, played great defense, and would take it to the hole. Theo, jackie Manuel, dexter strickland to name a few. I want to see someone from the present team fill that role. I am hoping it is Little, but I think his jumper is decent enough that if they play off of him he will just shoot it and not have as many drives.

Some kid named Nassir Little. And no one will stop him, when he wants to go, well, he goes. Nice thing about him and Coby, they are on go ALL the time. We might even see someone like BRob take a little of that action too.

 

[TPFKAPFS]

Beating puke
Playing on RW court
Freshman playing to potential
Improvement in the Bigs
Huff dunking like it is his last chance at life
A floor general emerging
CJ, KW, and BRob breaking out
ACC reg season Champs
ACC tourney Champs
LUUUUKE
RW squatting and screaming
Natty!
Kentuck losing....alot
Beating puke

 

[DSouthr]

I want to know who the slasher is going to be? We have always had a guy whose shot was suspect, played great defense, and would take it to the hole. Theo, jackie Manuel, dexter strickland to name a few. I want to see someone from the present team fill that role. I am hoping it is Little, but I think his jumper is decent enough that if they play off of him he will just shoot it and not have as many drives.

Who will be the slasher? I will give you 2 or more great candidates for that role, Coby and 7th are both natural slashers, Coby jump shoots better while 7th is more athletic. I think you can add leaky to that slasher list and very likely Naz as well.

 

[DSouthr]

The title is dook's to lose. And they will. Eventually. They have too many weapons and that will be a positive and a negative. K will run his dogs to death playing 30-38 minutes a game until February gets here and them dawgs will be tired. They will start looking ahead to the draft and get complacent because their athleticism has been enough to get them through every game, but the other "teams" have gelled by now and gotten better as a team. I think we have a chance to beat Dook every game this year. and that it what I am look forward to this year.

Well, the sports media seems ready to grant either duke or Ky the title every year so pre-season why would this one be any different...

But I do think duke is flawed, they will feature 3 wings as freshman starters and a freshman PG. They lost a ton of outside shooting threats from last season, who is going to step in to the role of sniper for them, those 3 frosh wings are all slashers, not knock down jump shooters. McConnel is a good shooting threat but he is a wing on a team that has 3 other star wings that will dominate PT? So how much PT can he get?

Duke will also be really short, very likely playing Zion at 6'4" as a power forward, yeah he has good reach and lift but he is going to struggle to handle ACC big power forwards that will play over the top of him. Bolden so far has not played well for them, he has to be a rock for them as a senior yet so far has been injury prone as well as foul prone? If he gets hurt, what do they do, bring in Delourer as a 5? LOL

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

...those 3 frosh wings are all slashers, not knock down jump shooters.

Yeah, but they are good slashers. And because of where they play, they don't have to worry about foul calls.

Zion is not only good, but he can probably out-muscle anyone in America if he doesn't have to worry about fouling.

I know it's fun to knock Zion because he's a dookie, and his weight gain makes him an easy target. But let's not forget that we all wanted him to come here - and for good reasons.

 

[Heels5150]

I am looking forward to the absolute amazing scoring options we can possibly have this year. Coby, Luke, Kenny, C.J., Sterling, Seventh, B-Rob, Andrew, Brooks, Leaky all have very realistic chances to lead Team in scoring for a game. That is a lot of potential of versatility in power!

 

[FranktheHeel]

I am looking forward to the absolute amazing scoring options we can possibly have this year. Coby, Luke, Kenny, C.J., Sterling, Seventh, B-Rob, Andrew, Brooks, Leaky all have very realistic chances to lead Team in scoring for a game. That is a lot of potential of versatility in power!

I agree, we have a lot to like about what we can do offensively this year with the weapons we have and the lineups we can throw at teams. I see us having a very balanced scoring attack, being able to attack teams both inside and out and really get the ball up the floor in transition. I really think that the willing passers we have is a big plus for this group and will open up the floor and give us better and more high percentage scoring opportunities.

Another big thing I see is that our bench will be much more improved and deeper than a year ago with most guys now having an added year of experience under their belt. At times last year we were just hoping for our bench to be able to keep the game where it was at while our starters got a rest, but this year I think that our bench will provide us with more stability and give us a real boost on both ends of the floor. I think the depth of this team and the ability to be able to rotate more guys in and out that Roy can trust on the floor will be another one of our strengths and allow us to really wear teams while we cwill have more rested guys on the floor.

 

[DSouthr]

Yeah, but they are good slashers. And because of where they play, they don't have to worry about foul calls.

Zion is not only good, but he can probably out-muscle anyone in America if he doesn't have to worry about fouling.

I know it's fun to knock Zion because he's a dookie, and his weight gain makes him an easy target. But let's not forget that we all wanted him to come here - and for good reasons.

Zion is going to be a load but him at the 4 is still a problem for them, he is what, 6'4" and dealing with ACC power forwards that are 6'9" and have been in ACC S/C programs for at least a year? He has good reach and does elevate strong but defending back to the basket a guy that has that kind of height advantage is many times a mismatch.

He got away with a lot in high school due to his strength, rarely was that able to be matched in high school, not as true in the ACC. In addition, bulling his way to the basket in high school is 1 thing but guys in college are well schooled in drawing the charges, it ain't going to be as easy. He is not a big time jump shooter, he will most often be played for the drive and he does not have a lot of knock down jump shooters to slip it off to. He is really more of a strong slashing wing than a 4 but with the other 2 five star wings they brought in Zion is going to have to spend most of his time at the 4.

 

[DSouthr]

I agree, we have a lot to like about what we can do offensively this year with the weapons we have and the lineups we can throw at teams. I see us having a very balanced scoring attack, being able to attack teams both inside and out and really get the ball up the floor in transition. I really think that the willing passers we have is a big plus for this group and will open up the floor and give us better and more high percentage scoring opportunities.

Another big thing I see is that our bench will be much more improved and deeper than a year ago with most guys now having an added year of experience under their belt. At times last year we were just hoping for our bench to be able to keep the game where it was at while our starters got a rest, but this year I think that our bench will provide us with more stability and give us a real boost on both ends of the floor. I think the depth of this team and the ability to be able to rotate more guys in and out that Roy can trust on the floor will be another one of our strengths and allow us to really wear teams while we cwill have more rested guys on the floor.

I agree frank, to me, the biggest thing is the development of our front court guys that was not there last season when they were freshmen. WE had to use Luke as a 5 far to often and thou he did best he could, Luke just is not a 5. I really see Manley/Brooks/Huff as able to take away any need for Luke at the 5 in most rotations.

 

[MWHeels]

I would love to see Manley starting if he improves his conditioning. I think he can be a real difference maker this year.

 

[j-doolsheels]

The look on Dook, and UK fans faces when we cut down the nets in April.

Id really like to see 7th as a major contributor this season, so he can have something positive to look back on after he graduates.