Well, with John Bunting now out at Carolina after this football season, Tar Heel fans can now fully turn their attention to basketball. (Well maybe not fully. More than a few will want to take part in playing the exciting game called, "Guess the New Football Coach," and this early in the game, be my guest. We'd love to hear your thoughts.)
Carolina will be loaded in basketball. That is a given. There's no ifs ands or buts about that. They have so many quality players they could field two teams that might finish in the top three in the conference. They ought to lend teams like undermanned State a few of those who won't be playing but think they should.
It's nice to have depth, and the way Roy Williams wants to push the ball, a lot of people will play. Williams has said he doesn't expect chemistry problems. He says that play in practice will determine who plays in the games and that the team knows that.
But here's something to remember: Most of the great teams in ACC history did not play a lot of players. It will be very interesting to see how Williams matches his combinations and who plays, who plays a lot and who sits and who sits a lot. Too much depth can be a great problem to have, but it can be a problem in certain situations.
Just think back to that 1994 Carolina team. However, Roy Williams has won a lot of games, and he knows what he's doing. Basketball will certainly take away a lot of pain of a dreadful football season in Chapel Hill. Carolina's a basketball school anyway, right?
Duke has been picked second in the ACC. The Blue Devils have gone from an experienced to team to one that's extremely young, and with Greg Paulus out indefinitely with the foot issue, the Blue Devils, at least for the time being, will have almost no experience at the critical point guard position.
Duke is, of course, not without talent -- this is Duke we're talking about -- but Coach K will have his work cut for him. Duke has ruled the ACC for a long time -- an unbelievable seven of the last eight ACC titles. The Devils have replaced Carolina as the team everybody wants to beat, and some may get their pleasure at that this season.
But remember Mike Krzyzewksi is not in the Hall of Fame because he doesn't know anything. He likes challenges. They have always energized him and this season will be one. Maybe Josh McRoberts will show in his sophomore year why he was the player everybody wanted coming out of high school. Still, Coach K's best shot at a championship this go around was probably lost at the World Basketball Championships back in the summer.
The ACC preseason basketball poll looked like this.
UNC
Duke
Boston College
Georgia Tech
Florida State
Virginia Tech
Maryland
Virginia
Clemson
Wake Forest
Miami
N.C. State
Carolina received 59 of the 62 first-place votes cast with Duke getting a couple and Boston College one. The middle of the pack looks very interchangeable. In other words, who the heck knows? I do think Georgia Tech will be good when it counts.
Wake Forest was really bad last season, and they had Eric Williams and Justin Gray. I think they could do worse this season. Is that possible? Maybe they'll finally play some defense. They better, because they're not gonna outscore anybody.
I don't know if I would have picked State last. They've got some pretty good players who seem to like new coach Sidney Lowe's system. I believe the Pack could move up a few notches. At least there's no Herb Sendek to knock around. State fans need to be patient, because there is some rebuilding to do.
It's hard to believe the season is so near. There's nothing like a so-so to bad local football season to get you thinking basketball. After all around here most people like football but they LOVE basketball.
