Anyone that marks higher than a 7 isn't being honest. Heck, I am still mildly optimistic and I marked a 4. Next year will be a big test for Manning. AT that point there are no excuses. We should have been much better this year, there is no doubt about that. I think for me the most troubling part about this year is that we were actually pretty good in the first 1/3 of the season, and we then regressed pretty much on a downward arc for the rest of the year.
The one interesting, and somewhat encouraging note to this year is that we seemed to play much better basketball when either CMM or Devin was not on the floor. I am not going to claim causation, but the correlation was there. We simply played better team basketball when those two weren't out there. Manning still has a lot of growing to do as a coach, and it drives me nuts that he rarely shows any emotion. You don't need to be Gary Williams to show your team (and your fans) that you are invested in every dribble on the court. I realize that a lot of that is personality driven, and I am not going to make the stupid claim that Manning doesn't care, but it would be nice to see some more fire out of him, for both the good plays and the bad plays. You don't have to act like fan to encourage your team, and you don't have to paint your face to criticize the refs with some gusto.
Our defensive schemes still need massive work, and Manning needs to find an identity for his offense. Too often we seem to be running plays for the sake of running them without seemingly any thought to a higher strategy. Part of that is probably due to the fact that CMM and Devin don't fit into Manning's system (this seems to clearly be the case) as we don't really see any replications of them in the recruiting class. Manning seems to like true centers with size, stretch 4's that can score, and a lot of shooters. I look forward to next year, but I am nervous. If we aren't at least close to an NIT next year, then I don't see much hope for Manning lasting beyond his 4th year. I think Manning deserves 4 years regardless of what happens, but I don't think we should be too hesitant to pull the trigger at that point if he doesn't work out.
Manning will definitely leave us a better program than the one he inherited, but it still remains to be seen if he will restore us to true respectability in the ACC.