Things I have heard

My early take on the basketball players individually and as a team are based on what some people in the basketball program and others involved in basketball, but not directly connected to the program any longer and are pretty close to each other. This is based on their observations, not mine.

Team wise defense is perhaps a little better with more length making opponents having fewer clean open shots.
Rebounding is poor and will likely be an issue all season
Offense will be a work in progress with shooting being good some nights and bad others, probably more bad than good though
Pray, and pray hard, that Brandon stays healthy
Good quickness and athleticism
Expect to see many lineup combos that are very small in stature

Individuals

Brandon- Will have to stay healthy and out of foul trouble. Needs to attack the gaps in the defense and not get too deep driving to the hoop
Torry Johnson- Won't be much of a factor offensively but does play decent defense
Chaundee- Needs to take the step up which people are expecting/hoping for, so far still questionable
Mike Wynn- Good shooter but has some footwork issues and is limited (especially laterally) athletically. Not much of a rebounder or defender
Ikenna Smart- Very strong but not very skilled. Will get in foul trouble a lot against ACC level competition
Hoard- Very skilled but can try to force things and will make freshman mistakes
Jamie Lewis is just not ready yet which hurts us depth wise at the PG spot. Has skill but his 18 months away from playing has been damaging
Sarr- Definitely stronger but not a volume rebounder and will appear MIA at times. Still could be out 2nd best player
Mucius- Just not strong at all and is a streaky shooter
Wright- Has to get stronger but has some really good skill and plays with a high motor. Shot is inconsistent but has good form on it
Okeke- Still big and strong but has not developed much

Starters for the ECU scrimmage and likely to start the season are Sarr, Hoard, Brandon, Chaundee and Wright Jr. 1st off the bench will depend of foul trouble, poor play, matchups etc will be Mucius ,Johnson, Smart or Wynn. Minutes will change but my guess would be:

Brandon-33 all PG
Hoard- 32- 22PF, PG5, SF4
Chaundee-30 -24SG 6SF
Sarr 35- 28C 7PF
Wright- 22- 15SF 7SG
Mucius- 10PF
Johnson- 10 8SG 2PG
Wynn- 10- 8SF 2SG
Smart- 6C

I know the minutes don't add up exactly but the "deep down the bench", walkons will get the remainder. This will b a very young team but one of the more athletic at Wake in several years

Interesting and bleak. Surprising that Wright is considered significantly better than Mucius.

With that motor and understanding of the game, I'd love to see Wright play a lot. Playing hard is infectious. It also shows those who don't and let's you minimize them quickly.

Very interesting. Thanks for all this info.

So is Wright going to play the 3 then? It’s good news that he’s better than many here expected. When I saw him in Kernersville I had the same take on his shot - good form.

Hopefully Mucius is the first guy off the bench.

I figured we wouldn’t be able to back up Brandon effectively.

This is exactly the report I expected when I heard something: good play from the starters and the backups past the 6th and maybe 7th guys are going to be pretty bad.

Hopefully Ryan Horn has our guys in top shape for the season.

Appreciate the intel. All sounds about right with the quasi-surprise being Wright in the starting lineup and performing better than Mucius.

The minutes and position for Mucius seem inconsistent with the analysis of "weak." PF minutes for a guy who is weak? Doesn't make sense. All through recruiting he was a wing 2/3, mostly 3.

So that raises the question is he truly weak, or just weak compared to guys playing PF? Or is he badly placed at PF?

So, teams are going to attack BC...he'll either have to play matador defense or risk foul trouble.

No depth in the frontcourt. No depth at PG. Bad rebounding team. This is going to be another 10 win season.

Is BC on track to graduate after this year so he can be a grad transfer when Manning and staff get fired ?

The one positive is length improving defense. Yet, expect small lineups.

wfu22fan said:

No depth in the frontcourt. No depth at PG. Bad rebounding team. This is going to be another 10 win season.

Click to expand...

< 10

Last year's team was more talented, yet I think this team will play harder and be easier to root for (well, as easy as it is to root for a team that goes 5-13 in the ACC).

Thanks for the info. Interesting that Wright may start...Wasn't expecting that at all.

Well, they require you to start with 5, so somebody has to fill the 5th spot.

What's the back story on the return of Ernie Nestor? That can only be a good thing.

have you heard whether or not Manning is still the coach

Thanks for the info.

I'm fine w/ Hoard forcing things. My biggest concern with him was that he'd be passive. Didn't he have zero points in a pretty important game for Wesleyan? As far as I am concerned, he can make a ton of mistakes, as long as they are of the aggressive variety.

I still believe Brown is going to have a huge season for us... Partly because of the jump from Frosh to Soph, but also because we'll need scoring to come from somewhere.

Guess we need to hope that Chaundee can find that next level because outside of Wright looking better than expected this team sounds limited offensively (shooting) and defensively (rebounding) with poor depth. In other words, it's time to give Manning a new extension I reckon.

"Sarr- Definitely stronger but not a volume rebounder and will appear MIA at times. Still could be out 2nd best player"

That's probably the most damning statement in that post.