Our starting line-up should be:
Childress
Brown
Sarr
Mucius
Massoud
That should actually be a better than average starting line-up, but we would have nothing on the bench.
Childress should not be running the point. He is a turn over machine and a shoot first point guard. I would like to see Wright at point guard and see if we could have a guard that creates for his teammates and drastically reduces our turn overs. Today we had 14 turnovers. If we had 8 turnovers like Pitt today and hit 50 percent of the other 6 positions we would have at least 6 extra points in this game. In the last 5 minutes Childress turned the ball over and took a bad shot. He is a major liability on the court. The reason we won today is because he did not shoot us out of the game and turn the ball over like he normally does.
Chaundee back in a boot so I’m guessing he tweaked that ankle again.
That is a shame and does not bode well for FSU or Duke(our toughest for the next month back to back) but let's heal him up for the 3 games after.
Brandon had 6 assists and two turnovers. That is hardly a "turnover machine." He was 2- 4 and 1-2 from 3. 3-4 FT, including two at the end to ice the game. He was +12 for the game. Second only to Sarr (+13). Pretty good game for him.
Tough for Wright to contribute while suspended. Plus you cant play point if your courtvision is blocked by hair in the eyes.
Brandon has had his share of clunkers. Today wasn't one of them. He passed up two open three's to assist Massoud for two three's in the 12-2 run that turned a two point deficit into and eight point lead. Johnson assisted on a Massoud layup in that run as well. Senior guards recognizing and fueling the hot hand. Pitt never had the lead again.
That was the first time this season I recall Manning and the team giving Massoud some run after he hit a three. What in the world is going on?
Road ACC win, bad for getting rid of Manning.
LOL at the idea of someone on our team running the point other than Childress. We have no one remotely close to being as capable. "Shoot first" PG with 6 assists this game vs 4 shot attempts.
We didn't make a field goal in the last 4 minutes. 0/5 plus a missed front end of a 1 and 1. Luckily Pitt missed everything as well. We played solid defense on the last couple possessions, sure. But good teams make at least a bucket in the last 4 minutes even if you play good defense. Definitely a double choke, especially when you consider our awkward turnovers.
It's early, but this has to give us reason for hope. I'll take that.
This team would be borderline decent with an actual point guard on the roster. I have found myself wondering what it would look like if the Dosunmu kid had come to Wake instead of going to Illinois, for example. Sarr and Brown have been legit ACC frontcourt players when healthy, and we are getting good contributions from Mucius, Ody, and Massoud. The backcourt is weak, though. Having a real PG that would allow Brandon to slide to the off guard position would be huge.