Tourney Expectations

dukiejay

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Iowa is soft and lunardi is never right with matchups

In Lunardi's defense it would be impossible to come up with precise matchups. But, he's pretty good at what he does. He's usually about right when it comes to seeding.

Could we see Kennard starting at the PG because Thornton hasn't been playing well lately. Kennard can score get into the paint and can definitely pass well. Also with Jeter or Obi they have to get minutes. Once again I am not saying they should play 30 minutes but in the tournament they have to be on the court for 15 minutes because that helps with rebounding and keeping Ingram out of foul trouble. Just my 2 cents.

I doubt drastic changes are forthcoming. Personally, I like Kennard off the bench. It supplies a bit of punch that this team needs. Besides, starting doesn't really mean a thing. If Luke is playing well he's going to be on the court.

As for Jeter and Obi, if we haven't seen much of them for 31 games (and what we've seen hasn't been very good, to say the least) what makes you think they're going to become part of the solution now?

If we're fortunate to stay out of foul trouble then six guys are going to see the bulk of the minutes. I'd be happy with Jeter giving us 5-7 solid minutes per game.
 

dopeshop23

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My heart will always say NC, my head says the second weekend Sat/Sun game is when our depth catches up with us.
 
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I hope we do not see any starting lineup changes. Starting Thornton makes much more sense than starting Kennard.
With our bench being literally 1-2 guys, we must get some points from it, Kennard is much better suited for that.

Also, this goes unnoticed, but Thornton has quietly done a great job defending opposing PG's, where it seemed like he really struglled early in the season. In ACC Play, I can't name a single PG who killed us for 20 or more points.
 
Jun 4, 2015
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I hope we do not see any starting lineup changes. Starting Thornton makes much more sense than starting Kennard.
With our bench being literally 1-2 guys, we must get some points from it, Kennard is much better suited for that.

Also, this goes unnoticed, but Thornton has quietly done a great job defending opposing PG's, where it seemed like he really struglled early in the season. In ACC Play, I can't name a single PG who killed us for 20 or more points.
Excluding Cat Barber, though I know 1 game he was not efficient.
 

dukiejay

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Cat Barber is hard to contain no matter who is defending him. I hope he returns next season. A backcourt of he and Dennis Smith could be pretty dynamic.
 

crazyduke3

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S16 and Ill be happy. A first round exit will be disappointing but not surprising.
 

dbav

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The only thing I expect is for these kids to make us proud, no matter what happens.
 

Dattier

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I hope we do not see any starting lineup changes. Starting Thornton makes much more sense than starting Kennard.
With our bench being literally 1-2 guys, we must get some points from it, Kennard is much better suited for that.
It sounds as if you're saying it would be better to get 74 points from our starters and 16 points from our bench than it would be to get 81 points from our starters and 9 points from our bench.

The reason to start Derryck over Luke is b/c he's the only true PG and b/c he sets a tone we need both w/ distribution on O and w/ overall D. Luke is good at coming off the bench after observing the flow, and a lot of his skills are duplicated by Grayson w/o some of the aforementioned things Derryck has.
 

Anon1728003274

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I think I kind of get Jwil's point about bench points...So much is made of that stat I think it does represent a tangible means of winnning games...
 

dukiejay

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I like K's philosophy on approaching the NCAAT. He calls it three mini-tournament's within one. Meaning, the first weekend is a tournament, the second weekend, and finally the Final Four.

Like I said, giving expectations without seeing the matchups is hard to do. Personally, I thought at the start of this season that advancing to the Sweet 16 would be a good start. With parity the way it is this season that's no cinch, however. At the same time, we could get to the Sweet 16 as a 4-seed, and again because of parity, see the #1 in our region fall in the second round, thus making us a favorite in our next game. The tournament is tricky business. Our team this season can beat anyone....I think we've already proven that, but we've also proven we're very susceptible, and in a one-and-done format that's scary. But it should be.
 
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GabeM1234

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We can use the tired conversation with the lack of depth throughout the season but come tourney time we cannot we now have enough time to rest. I like this team I see a sweet sixteen possible elite 8.
 

HuffyJB

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I would love a run (obviously), but this is a thin team with a razor thin margin for error.
 

Baller224

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I'll be happy to see us play into the second weekend. Getting any further than that is a long shot IMO. You know what you're going to get form Ingram & Grayson, Kennard is the X factor. If he plays well we have a chance.
 

Mpm277

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I'm thinking a second round exit. But fortunately, they'll put us in the easiest bracket so who knows. /s.
 

madrussian

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wow. i am not drinking the cool aid this year. would love to see us advance-- but we almost gave the game away to state and they won't be in the tourney. we have no reliable PG who can control game flow and manage possessions. Thornton could be that guy, but he is usually riding the pine during crunch time. i sure hope i am wrong.