A Gym Rat's Notebook: A Look Ahead at the ACC, Part 2by Elijah Kyle, 6/21/05 While the ACC returns the men’s NCAA defending champion in North Carolina, that team will look quite a bit different, as well as much younger than the edition that head coach Roy Williams guided this past season. But, the ‘Heels aren’t the only team in North Carolina that will see substantial turnover in their roster, as Wake Forest loses several key components as well, while Durham’s finest is bringing in perhaps the best recruiting class in the conference while only losing one vital member from last year's team. We will continue our look ahead at how the ACC is shaping up for the 2005-06 season at this juncture, with a look at those schools listed above, along with Virginia Tech, Virginia and North Carolina State. In addition, it has been learned very recently that one of the players thought to be moving on via transfer, mentioned last week in part one, instead appears to be returning to his school of origin. Others have since announced plans to transfer, further disrupting programs. After publicly announcing his intent to transfer earlier in the spring, and meeting with the coaching staff of South Carolina, where his father played his college basketball, 6-1guard Zam Fredrick has had a change-of-heart and appears likely to return for his sophomore season at Georgia Tech next year. Boston College is eagerly counting down the days until their first ACC game and will have to do so without guard Steve Hailey and frontcourt player Gordon Watt, both of whom have decided to move onto other locales. What we know: The conference has the defending NCAA champion, there will be one more team than the conference had last year, the play will be as competitive as ever, and some teams will take on a drastically different look than witnessed last season. All in all, just another typical ACC season that already has fans counting down the days until October 15, when practice officially kicks off.
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While the Blue Devils surprisingly saw injury-jinxed frontcourter Shavlik Randolph declare for the NBA Draft, they were able to keep the more important possibilities, Redick and Williams, from declaring. Those developments were not the only positive things to come out of Durham this spring as the ‘Devils will welcome a deep and talented recruiting class to the fold, thus alleviating some of the depth issues that the program ran into last season. McRoberts might be a better, more talented Randolph. Paulus is a very cerebral point guard who turned his back on football, where he was a celebrated quarterback. Boykin is the kind of player that coaches love because he is willing to do anything asked of him, while maximizing his talent, and Boateng is a true, legitimate center.
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To give you an idea of the challenge that Roy Williams has ahead of him this coming season, only two of the five returnees averaged above 1 point per game last season. The Tar Heels’ best returning player is former walk-on and now-senior, David Noel, who averaged 3.9 points last year, making him the leading returning scorer. Things will look very much different in Chapel Hill during the 2005-06 season, but the ‘Heels incoming group of players will help ease the transition. All four freshmen will have a legitimate chance to start during their freshmen season, so the cupboard is far from bare, only considerably less experienced. Ginyard and Frasor are versatile, interchangeable players, while Hansbrough is an inside scoring beast and rebounder. Green quietly gets his points in an efficient, understated manner.
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The Wolfpack started slow last season, then played their best basketball in the months of February and March. All-purpose player and former conference player-of-the-year Julius Hodge will be greatly missed. Brackman had a surprisingly good freshman season and the player that might turn out to be the biggest sleeper on the team next year could be fellow sophomore Cedric Simmons, who can score, rebound and block shots. Incoming freshman Courtney Fells is a talented offensive player who seems an odd match to the ‘Pack offensive system, while Costner is an intelligent and versatile player with a strong pedigree. Evtimov might be the glue on this team, while a healthy Bethel, with his perimeter marksmanship, could be a very welcome occurrence
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The Cavaliers did not have nearly the kind of season that they anticipated last year, resulting in the loss of head coach Pete Gillen’s job. Dave Leitao takes over for Gillen and has his work cut out. Smith was arguably Virginia’s best player last season and the three incoming recruits appear to be role players, at least initially. Singletary showed flashes of brilliance last season, but Leitao has to hope for consistent seasons from Reynolds and Forbes next year if the Cavs are to make a move upward in the conference.
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The Demon Deacons saw their magical season come to an early end with their NCAA tournament loss to West Virginia. Then they saw sophomore point guard Chris Paul enter his name into the NBA Draft where he is expected to be among the first ten selections. Returning senior Eric Williams actually entered his name as well into the draft, but he did not hire an agent and has decided to return to Wake. The ‘Deacs should have an inside/outside combo threat in Williams and Gray to build on next season, and they scrambled late to pick up unheralded point guard Dukes, once they saw Paul was headed to the NBA. Hale has his admirers and detractors, while Swinton suffered through an injury-plagued senior high school season. Weaver will be an underage freshman, but might be the best down the road signee in the four-man class.
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The Hokies will face the battle of increased expectations next season, after last year’s surprising 4th-place finish in conference play. Carlos Dixon will be sorely missed, but there is an early buzz generating around Vassallo, despite his rather pedestrian ranking nationwide. Head coach Seth Greenberg added the inside depth that was greatly lacking last year with the additions of Diakate, Vinson and Taylor. The Hokies’ overall incoming class was picked at, or near, the bottom of the conference, so Greenberg will have to hope that one or more of his players turns out to be better than advertised. Witherspoon or Vassallo will have to pick up some of the scoring and outside shooting slack that departs in Dixon, while Krabbendam remains a player of intrigue, with positive reports about his offseason progress from those close to the program. While the Hokies have added potential depth, they are still greatly dependent on a healthy Dowdell, Collins and Gordon to string together another successful season. |
