2009/10 ACC Hoops – Where Are the Guards?

General65

Another one bites the dust – guard Elliot Williams is leaving Duke for family reasons. This means that the consensus pick for 1st place next season returns only two guards, neither of whom is really that good (Nolan Smith, Jon Scheyer). J.P. Giglio has more on how this potentially shakes up the ACC race. Our best wishes go out to the Williams family.

Just down the road, consensus #2 (and defending national champion) North Carolina must replace both starting guards and its top 2 reserves (Frasor and Danny Green shifting over from the 3). Ol’ Roy is already in full “aw shucks” mode in this morning’s N&O. Those freshmen will have to really suck in order for Graves to play significant minutes at the 2, though. Even facing the prospect of starting Larry Drew or Marcus Ginyard (Ginyard would be my choice) at the point – I’m sorry, Roy, but we’ll always expect the Holes to be very good as long as you are the head coach. Wow, do I ever hate typing that.

So…who’s got any good guards, anyway? Looking back at SFN’s all-ACC selections from last season, Malcolm Delaney (2nd team) and Greivis Vasquez (3rd team) are the only returning guards (and if you want a dark horse for 2009-10 POY, it’s Delaney). Perhaps we are underestimating Maryland and Virginia Tech’s chances to streak forward into contention. After all, Delaney and Vasquez might be the only “take over a game” type talents in the ACC next year. Dead-tree media ROY Sylvan Landesberg also returns for Tony Bennett’s Cavaliers, but I can’t imagine UVA doing anything beyond being a pesky annoyance with an outside shot at .500. And I laugh uncontrollably whenever I see predictions of Iman Shumpert (who can barely walk and chew gum at the same time) leading GT’s talent-laden frontcourt into the promised land.

But certainly, somewhere on somebody’s roster, there is a breakthrough performer guard or two. Throw out your possibilities in the comments (I would keep an eye on FSU’s Derwin Kitchen and Clemson’s Demontez Stitt).

About BJD95

1995 NC State graduate, sufferer of Les and MOC during my entire student tenure. An equal-opportunity objective critic and analyst of Wolfpack sports.

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65 Responses to 2009/10 ACC Hoops – Where Are the Guards?

  1. NCSU4ever 06/25/2009 at 2:44 PM #

    I asked someone in the know about Brown’s “tendency to coast”, and was told he was given that label by some observers early in his high school career, but this person, who has seen him play described him as smart, passionate, and “all over the place diving for loose balls.” went on to assure that he was going to be one of the speacial players.

    To eveyone posting where Brown falls in the ranking: One site has Brown third behind Snaer and Scott, another site has him edged slightly by Udofia and Strickland. What difference does that really make? Are recruiting web sites 100% spot on. Brown is the player that is going to be wearing Red and White. He is also important because he fills an important niche on this team because there will be someone else on the floor who can handle the ball besides the PG. Even though Brown is a freshman his presence should immediately impact our performance due to this.

    Given our young team, the down ACC, and our recent history I say 8-8 is about where this team falls. If things go extremely well a higher finish may be possible, but as said previously the key is going to be OOC wins we cannot lose to Marquette and Florida again.

  2. choppack1 06/25/2009 at 2:44 PM #

    BJD – that would probably give us another plodding team w/ tons of TO’s, limited ability to create shots, limited ability to handle the ball and poor on the break…it makes sense though.

  3. BJD95 06/25/2009 at 3:04 PM #

    It all depends on how certain things play out. Is Mays better suited to getting minutes from the 1 or the 2 – and if so, how many? What’s more of a net positive (or less of a net negative) – Javi (purely a 1) or Wood (probably a 3) playing more minutes? Brown and CJ will likely shift around accordingly.

    I agree with chop on the plodding possibility, but it might mean more offensive efficiency in the half court and better defense.

  4. 66pack 06/25/2009 at 4:03 PM #

    i do not understand why so many NCSU fans consider our sitution to be better because other teams are worst.it surely does not make state bb better.i guess a life time of supporting bad bb does that.

  5. Thinkpack17 06/25/2009 at 4:09 PM #

    ^I’m not a boxer…if you put Roy Jones in front of me, I am probably going to get hurt. If you put Davy Jones in front of me I’m still not a boxer, but I like my odds.

    BTW Demontez Stitt is a fine pick.

  6. pakfanistan 06/25/2009 at 4:13 PM #

    I think people see it as an opportunity for the team to get some traction.

    We’ll have a young, but by all accounts talented, team who, instead of going up against equally talented but more experienced teams, will have an opportunity to grow without too much pressure being put on them.

    This is important because we don’t have the luxury of NOT playing them. We don’t have skilled upperclassmen to rely on while the incoming players mature.

    So, if things go well, they play to up to their abilities this year, and as they mature, we stay right in the thick of things with the rest of the conference.

  7. Dogbreath 06/25/2009 at 7:02 PM #

    6-10 in the league is the ceiling for Sidney Lowe. He could have Grant Hill and Kenny Anderson in the back court and it wouldn’t matter.

  8. Clarksa 06/25/2009 at 9:36 PM #

    ^that adds a lot to the conversation…

  9. Dogbreath 06/25/2009 at 9:49 PM #

    Well what the hell else is there to say? I am sorry that, unlike some others on this forum, I cannot purge from memory the dozens of games we have squandered in the waning minutes due to inexplicable coaching errors, the erratic substitution patterns, the abysmal chemistry issues that have characterized this program over the past 3 years, the disjointed roster makeup. We are speculating that a program that returns 30 ppg in scoring off a team that missed the postseason is poised for a breakout? Based on what, a recruiting class that is around 15th in the country? We are counting on no fewer than 3 of the freshman players to be impact, double digit scoring types of threats their first year. We have a mercurial point guard and a nice junk post player coming back off of a bad team, supplemented with 2 or 3 guys who would be 7th men for most ACC teams.

    So color me unimpressed heading into year 20 of the 4 year rebuilding plan.

  10. Thinkpack17 06/26/2009 at 9:20 AM #

    ^You could actually get back to what the OP was asking and pick a guard that may have a break out year. Yeah…that would be more productive.

  11. nycfan 06/26/2009 at 1:17 PM #

    The thing that makes it such a head-scratcher is that more than one some one HAS to emerge at guard but there are no slam-dunk, obvious candidates … Shumpert at GaT, Brown or Gonzalez at State, Stitt or Johnson or Smith at Clemson, Snaer at FSU, Smith or the JuCo PG (Konnor Tucker or something like that — he was originally a KY commit that Calipari jetisonned) at WFU, Ginyard (a Okulaja/Noel like senior year?) or Drew II or Strickland at UNC, Paris at BC, etc. … It is really impossible to pick when you have so many unknowns going head to head in this situation.

    That said, I’ll pick BC’s Paris as the break-out guy.

  12. pakfanistan 06/26/2009 at 3:53 PM #

    First line of defense for the hopelessly negative?

    “Hey, don’t blame me, I’m just being REAL.”

  13. Dogbreath 06/26/2009 at 8:13 PM #

    You guys are right. Javier Gonzalez is going to emerge as the top point guard in the league.

    We are going to win no fewer than 12 conference games and we are a lock for a 4 seed.

  14. pakfanistan 06/27/2009 at 4:46 PM #

    Because that’s exactly what everybody said…

    It’s easy to win arguments when you get to make up both sides.

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