My boss is an FSU fan and he sent me this link to an article debunking the myth that FSU has a ton of talent right now that they haven't had in the past (commonly held by FSU fans right now, fwiw). Anyways, while it's obviously targeted at FSU fans, it's a good read with some data about the breakdown of talent on acc teams this year.
http://www.tomahawknation.com/2016/1/8/10734272/florida-state-basketball-and-the-talent-myth
Just for fun, note that Boston College appears to be intentionally recruiting only bad basketball players.
Yeah, nice read and all but the problem is the argument is that FSU does not have the talent they need based on where players ranked in their individual class coming to the school. That incoming ranking is nothing more than a guesstimate, great players enter the NBA all the freakin time that were not top 50 prior to college. It does not matter where a kid that can play is ranked, it matters that he can play at this level.
Brice Johnson was not a top 20 player coming to UNC, I could argue that today he is a great bet to be one of the first 3 names to be called at the next NBA draft. McAdoo was considered a can't miss super star coming to college, it was either he or Anthony Davis for best freshman in that class yet after 3yrs with us he barely made the second round of the draft, Tokoto anyone? Skal was considered the #1 player in this class of freshmen and is not even the best freshman on his own team.
Point is some freshmen are ready to roll day 1 and are strong college players day 1, ask duke fans about their team last season. Some recruiting classes are stronger than others, meaning a kid that is top 20 in one class may not be even top 40 in a stronger class. Meeks for example was considered the best center in his class but he was way over weight, out of shape, and no where close to being NBA ready. Hicks is beginning to turn the corner in to stardom but it has taken till this season for that to really show itself but both he and Meeks were Micky D guys, could you say today they were both 2 of the top 20 players from that freshman class?
All for me rankings prior to college offers is a starting point, so can and are ready to play at his level but others are not and it may take a while if they can ever live up to the incoming hype. I don't like the hype of players before most even see them play and to me most of the experts out there really need to hold on to the day job, can you tell I am not a huge fan of recruiting gurus? LOL
AS for FSU, that is one mega talented roster, it just IMO is not well developed. Hamilton gets talent, he just doesn't seem to be able to develope that talent and weave it in to a solid unit. I would suggest FSU talent is absolutely on par with ours today and better than everyone else but that talent is not developed. You expect that from freshmen but not from the returning talent they also have. You give any of the hall of fame coaches in the ACC that FSU roster and that same team would be a solid contender for top of the ACC. You swap our guys for FSUs, with Hamilton coaching our players and Roy coaching those FSU guys, the out come would be the same as the game the other night. Roy may not be bringing in the same talent level he has in the past but he and his staff do a GREAT job developing the talent he gets with rare exceptions and they mix them together to form very good teams.
