Most people seem to expect us to sign Brooks and not PJ. We'll have to wait a bit to see what Vanderbilt does and even longer to know about Knox. But we don't seem to be in good shape with either at the present.
So, if that's really it, and if Roy doesn't have any rabbits to pull out of his hat, this is next year's Roster (with guys who might leave in paren):
(Berry)
Felton
7th
Kenny
Andrew
Brandon
(Theo)
Shea
(Justin)
Luke
Brooks
Manley
(Tony)
Huff
Almost everybody expects Justin to leave.
The thinking on Berry seems more in the 50-50 range, but he's looking very good, so we might not want to count on him to return.
Theo's injury seems to make it highly unlikely that he will leave. He'd have to get healthy AND have a stellar remainder of the season. And the pros would probably still want him to have a good, injury free year before they'd gamble guaranteed money on him.
A few here have speculated that Tony might be good enough to leave early. Who knows? His showing against outclassed Pembroke was encouraging, but he's still a freshman. Just a cautionary note: Brice looked really good against cupcakes early in his freshman year, too.
So . . . subtract Justin from that list. And maybe Joel, too.
That leaves us with 12 or 13 guys, and much less experienced than we have been recently.
But even without Joel and Justin, that roster isn't as weak as you might have first thought.
A backcourt of Jalek and 7th will be very quick and very dynamic. They will simply shred most defenses. Kenny and Brandon and Andrew will all get plenty of chances to contribute and one may even earn a starting role, while the others become assassins off the bench.
Theo will be healthy and hungry. By his soph year, Brandon should be a stellar backup at SF as well as at SG. And I won't be surprised if Shea Rush is pretty decent, too. Hard to take him seriously with that haircut, but I saw signs of potential there.
One of our 3 freshmen bigs should be good enough to start. That's just playing the odds. And if not, Luke will be a tried-and-true veteran. Worst case scenario is that we play PF by committee. But I sort of expect Brooks to get most of the minutes at PF. That's one of the reasons I've been hoping we'd still take him while others here were saying we should cut him loose and only go after PJ/Vandy/Knox.
Tony will be a solid center. Maybe a star in his own right as a soph. Presumably Huff backs him up (being the strongest of our frosh and the only one listed as a center), but I haven't seen Manley play, so who knows?
That team should still compete in the top tier of the ACC and make waves in the NCAA.
So, if that's really it, and if Roy doesn't have any rabbits to pull out of his hat, this is next year's Roster (with guys who might leave in paren):
(Berry)
Felton
7th
Kenny
Andrew
Brandon
(Theo)
Shea
(Justin)
Luke
Brooks
Manley
(Tony)
Huff
Almost everybody expects Justin to leave.
The thinking on Berry seems more in the 50-50 range, but he's looking very good, so we might not want to count on him to return.
Theo's injury seems to make it highly unlikely that he will leave. He'd have to get healthy AND have a stellar remainder of the season. And the pros would probably still want him to have a good, injury free year before they'd gamble guaranteed money on him.
A few here have speculated that Tony might be good enough to leave early. Who knows? His showing against outclassed Pembroke was encouraging, but he's still a freshman. Just a cautionary note: Brice looked really good against cupcakes early in his freshman year, too.
So . . . subtract Justin from that list. And maybe Joel, too.
That leaves us with 12 or 13 guys, and much less experienced than we have been recently.
But even without Joel and Justin, that roster isn't as weak as you might have first thought.
A backcourt of Jalek and 7th will be very quick and very dynamic. They will simply shred most defenses. Kenny and Brandon and Andrew will all get plenty of chances to contribute and one may even earn a starting role, while the others become assassins off the bench.
Theo will be healthy and hungry. By his soph year, Brandon should be a stellar backup at SF as well as at SG. And I won't be surprised if Shea Rush is pretty decent, too. Hard to take him seriously with that haircut, but I saw signs of potential there.
One of our 3 freshmen bigs should be good enough to start. That's just playing the odds. And if not, Luke will be a tried-and-true veteran. Worst case scenario is that we play PF by committee. But I sort of expect Brooks to get most of the minutes at PF. That's one of the reasons I've been hoping we'd still take him while others here were saying we should cut him loose and only go after PJ/Vandy/Knox.
Tony will be a solid center. Maybe a star in his own right as a soph. Presumably Huff backs him up (being the strongest of our frosh and the only one listed as a center), but I haven't seen Manley play, so who knows?
That team should still compete in the top tier of the ACC and make waves in the NCAA.
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