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Delusional Hope for the Hopeless

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slickdeac

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As everyone has said, I can't remember ever being as devastated by a loss as I was last night. And while it does seem the regular season is essentially over after last night, here is a random and (admittedly) delusional glimmer of hope:

This team has obviously shown fantastic glimpses of our potential, and if we get hot, we can play with anyone in the league (minus UNC?). Therefore, when it's a clean slate at the beginning of the ACCT, these boys COULD go on a little run and make some noise... Maybe even win the thing if we get a good draw.

So, fellas, guess we're going dancing after all ;)
 
Even if I bought into this delusion, we would have to play and win on what...5 straight days? Ain't happening.
 
If we just played on three straight days it would be a huge improvement for the program (assuming we are not 1-15 going in).
 
While any hope for the NCAA tourney is at least somewhat delusional, this team still has plenty to play for. As rough as the start of ACC play has been record-wise, its worth keeping in mind the schedule over that stretch:

We played 5 top 20 teams and were competitive in 4 of those games (at least for 35 minutes or so). We lost on the road to a surprisingly game VT team because we couldn't play defense. And we split our only two home games against unranked teams. Looking back, we won the only game I truly expected us to win and all things considered were unlucky to not come away 3-5 over that stretch.

The only truly atrocious stretch of basketball we had was three consecutive halves against Syracuse and UNC immediately after a tough loss on the road to VT.

How we respond to this heartbreaking loss will say a lot about the team and about Manning's abilities as a coach. 8 of our final 10 are winnable games and it's not unreasonable to think we could go 6-4 over that stretch.

That would put us at 16-14 (7-11) heading into the tournament. Winning two games and then losing to a top 4 seed in the quarterfinals doesn't seem that unreasonable either. This puts us at 18-15 with an RPI around 60 and SOS around 15. This would make us a good candidate for an RPI bid.

If we were to win our quarterfinal game (we've at least shown the capability to be competitive against potential top 4 seeds) we would be 19-15 with an RPI of around 50 and a SOS around 10, which would put us on the bubble.


All that being said I fully expect us to go 3-7 down the stretch and lose in the first round of the ACC tournament.
 
It's pretty amazing how one banked in 3 and a couple free throws against VaTech turned this season from love-fest to disaster. In the end, you are what your record says you are - if we were a better team we could have survived those bad breaks - but it's still pretty crazy when you think about how drastically different things would be.
 
IamThunderbolt said:
The team without Devin is not a pleasant thought right now.
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Meh. What this team lacks is consistent effort on defense and a clear go to guy on the perimeter. I still think Codi is a good player but neither him nor Manning has figured out what his role should be on this team. So losing him next year isn't going to be a big deal.

Losing Devin is going to suck, but if the effort is there all the time on defense and Crawford can fully embrace his role as the leader of this team, we will be alright. Plus we have a replacement lined up (unlike 06' with Chris), and while I don't think JC and Doral can replace what Devin did for us, they can give us at least 80%.
 
RChildress107 said:
Meh. What this team lacks is consistent effort on defense and a clear go to guy on the perimeter. I still think Codi is a good player but neither him nor Manning has figured out what his role should be on this team. So losing him next year isn't going to be a big deal.

Losing Devin is going to suck, but if the effort is there all the time on defense and Crawford can fully embrace his role as the leader of this team, we will be alright. Plus we have a replacement lined up (unlike 06' with Chris), and while I don't think JC and Doral can replace what Devin did for us, they can give us at least 80%.
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I don't know. It's more than points, rebounds and defense, our offense works best when it is run through Devin. His passing skills are integral to any offensive rhythm we've had this season. Maybe more shooters will open up space and passing lanes, but we are losing a lot.
 
IamThunderbolt said:
I don't know. It's more than points, rebounds and defense, our offense works best when it is run through Devin. His passing skills are integral to any offensive rhythm we've had this season. Maybe more shooters will open up space and passing lanes, but we are losing a lot.
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I think I'm pinning a lot on being able to run the offense through Crawford. He's the best passer we've had since Chris and there are 2-3 passes a game that are on the money but his teammates aren't ready for because they've never played with someone who can make those passes.

Right now dumping it down to Devin is like a security blanket for this team. I think when that gets taken away, Crawford will flourish.
 
Also, next season is one season further removed from the stench of the Bzaster era, sad as it is to see DT go, progress will be made.
 
IamThunderbolt said:
I don't know. It's more than points, rebounds and defense, our offense works best when it is run through Devin. His passing skills are integral to any offensive rhythm we've had this season. Maybe more shooters will open up space and passing lanes, but we are losing a lot.
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As opposed to most years, we've already got DT's replacements on the roster and given that we've had threads calling for more playing time for them, I think we will get enough from them if our outside shooting improves. I look at Collins and Moore and think ok they can't replace what DT brings next year, but they'll are going to make up for a big chunk of it.

We've seen these guys perform and it's not a stretch to say they will be ready to step up into a bigger role next year, it's not like we are talking about an incoming freshman that has never played an ACC game before.
 
So Deac 83...are you saying we make the NCAA tournament next year?
 
DCDeac said:
It's pretty amazing how one banked in 3 and a couple free throws against VaTech turned this season from love-fest to disaster. In the end, you are what your record says you are - if we were a better team we could have survived those bad breaks - but it's still pretty crazy when you think about how drastically different things would be.
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The ass beating by Syracuse was more problematic for me.
 
RChildress107 said:
I think I'm pinning a lot on being able to run the offense through Crawford. He's the best passer we've had since Chris and there are 2-3 passes a game that are on the money but his teammates aren't ready for because they've never played with someone who can make those passes.

Right now dumping it down to Devin is like a security blanket for this team. I think when that gets taken away, Crawford will flourish.
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I've seen this a few different places. Do people really all think that BC is a better passer than Ish? Ish averaged 6 assists per game as a freshman and is currently an NBA starting PG primarily due to his passing ability.
 
I'll be pretty happy if we sneak into the NIT. Get Devin and CMM the post-season experience that McKie never had; prime the sophomores and freshman for a serious run at the NCAAT next year.
 
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