Friday, November 13, 2009
ACC previews
Boston College
Coach: Al Skinner
Last season: 22-12, 9-7; lost in NCAA first round.
Starters returning: Corey Raji, Joe Trapani, Rakim Sanders, Josh Southern
Starter lost: Tyrese Rice
Al Skinner on the loss of Tyrese Rice: “I really don’t have a big concern about scoring points. The concern is having the attitude that he brought to the table. Craig Smith, Jared Dudley had a certain attitude that allowed us to be successful. Tyrese understood that. Hopefully part of Tyrese’s legacy will be leaving behind that type of attitude, what it takes to be successful in this league.”
Joe Trapani on the offense: “The responsibility kind of spreads out a little bit. It’s just going to be more team-oriented. It’s not going to be so much focused on Tyrese making the last shot. Everyone’s going to share in taking on some of the scoring burden.”
Clemson
Coach: Oliver Purnell
Last season: 23-9, 9-7; lost in NCAA first round
Starters returning: Trevor Booker, Demontez Stitt
Starters lost: K.C. Rivers, Terrence Oglseby, Raymond Sykes
Trevor Booker on the team’s outside shooting: “When I’m in the post, I know people are going to try to double me, and they think we don’t have shooters right now. But they’ll learn real quick that we have shooters — a lot of shooters. We’re still a great offensive team. People think just because we lost Oglesby and Rivers that we can’t shoot the ball and stretch the defense.”
Oliver Purnell on his defense: “We’re probably on paper not as good an outside shooting team. Well then, we better be a better defensive team. I think we can be a better defensive team because of our personnel. We can be quicker, longer and put better defenders out there.”
Coach: Mike Krzyzewski
Last season: 30-7, 11-5; lost in NCAA Sweet 16
Starters returning: Kyle Singler, Jon Scheyer, Nolan Smith, Brian Zoubek
Starters lost: Gerald Henderson, Elliot Williams
Jon Scheyer on the team’s expectations: “From seeing what we can do this preseason, to me it’s the best team I’ve played on because of the size and the overall talent that we have. Not only are our inside guys really big, but our perimeter’s really big. Overall, our team’s going to be bigger than most teams. We really need to take advantage of that.”
Mike Krzyzewski on his team: “We could be a really good rebounding team because of our height, and I think an outstanding fast-breaking team, which some people wouldn’t think with the people we have. I think we can really move the ball down the court quickly, but with the pass, not the dribble.”
Florida State
Coach: Leonard Hamilton
Last season: 25-10, 10-6; lost in NCAA first round
Starters returning: Derwin Kitchen,
Chris Singleton, Solomon Alabi
Starters lost: Toney Douglas, Uche Echefu
Chris Singleton on the loss of Toney Douglas: “We’re more dangerous. Everybody improved their offense. Anybody at any time can score. We’ve got six guys 6-8 or taller. Plus we’ve got shooters. Do you help down on the big man and leave one of the shooters open, or do you stay on the shooters and let [someone] go one-one-one in the post?”
Leonard Hamilton on his team: “We have to be a little more fine-tuned than what we were last year. We don’t have that guy that’s emerging to be the guy who, when all else fails, you just give it to Toney and let him bail you out. I’m confident we’ll be able to replace his offensive productivity. The big concern is how we’re going to replace his defensive productivity.”
Georgia Tech
Coach: Paul Hewitt
Last season: 12-19, 2-14
Starters returning: Gani Lawal, Iman Shumpert, Zachery Peacock
Starters lost: Lewis Clinch, Alade Aminu
Gani Lawal on highly touted freshman post player Derrick Favors: “He catches everything — he’s got a 7-4 wingspan. Great hands, high basketball IQ. With me and him on the floor, nothing but good things are going to happen. There shouldn’t be no excuse while we shouldn’t get every rebound. We’ll work well together. You can’t double-team both of us; it’s mathematically impossible.”
Paul Hewitt on the return of D’Andre Bell, who missed last year because of a spinal condition: “It’s a big addition because he’s a good player, he’s a great defender. Late-game situations, he’s a very steady and sure-handed player. He’s not going to turn it over and he’s going to make his free throws at the end of games.”
Maryland
Coach: Gary Williams
Last season: 21-14, 7-9; lost in NCAA second round
Starters returning: Greivis Vasquez, Landon Milbourne, Eric Hayes, Adrian Bowie
Starter lost: Dave Neal
Greivis Vasquez on the chances of a second straight NCAA bid: “We look like another NCAA team. We’ve got great guards coming back, two new big men coming in. I definitely have no doubt we’re going to do good. They’ve got to do more than stop me because we have so many good guys.”
Gary Williams on Vasquez’s supporting cast: “Eric Hayes played well down the stretch. I thought Sean Mosley, for a freshman, had a great second half of the year. Cliff Tucker had 18 in a half against Carolina. Adrian Bowie had [23] against Miami. We had guys that showed they have this ability. Now it’s doing it more often.”
Miami
Coach: Frank Haith
Last season: 19-13, 7-9, lost in NIT second round.
Starters returning: Dwayne Collins, James Dews
Starters lost: Jack McClinton, Lance Hurdle, Brian Asbury
Villanova transfer Malcolm Grant on the offense: “Dwayne Collins is a beast. He’s going to have a great year. James Dews is great. He’s going to have a good year. There’s so many ways that we can attack this year. We’re going to surprise a lot of people.”
Frank Haith on the loss of Jack McClinton:
“We’re a different team in terms of what we are going to do offensively. A lot of our plays were diagrammed to get Jack a shot or make Jack make a play. But I think we have more of an equal-opportunity offense. But I think our main go-to guy is Dwayne Collins. We’re more inside-out.”
North Carolina
Coach: Roy Williams
Last season: 34-4, 13-3; won NCAA championship
Starter returning: Deon Thompson
Starters lost: Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington, Danny Green
Roy Williams on his team: “We have a couple of major question marks that have to be answered. Who’s going to come through at the point guard spot? Because we’ve got nobody who has ever done it. Who’s going to make the outside shot? Because nobody’s ever done it. It’s a drastically different team. Defensively we have a chance to be even better.”
Swingman Marcus Ginyard on the loss of Ty Lawson: “There’s no question that we’re going to have to use our brains a lot more. We’re going to have to play smarter than we ever have in the past because we’re not going to have a guy like Ty Lawson that’s going to be able to break down a defense at any time.”
N.C. State
Coach: Sidney Lowe
Last season: 16-14, 6-10
Starters returning: Javier Gonzalez,
Tracy Smith
Starters lost: Brandon Costner, Ben McCauley, Courtney Fells
Guard Farnold Degand on the media expecting a down year: “When you lose your top three leading scorers from the year before and you bring in a lot of freshmen, it’s understandable for them to feel that way. But I feel we have a good core of returning players and the freshmen, they’ve been learning the system very quickly.”
Sidney Lowe on adopting a more up-tempo offense: “It’s just hard to grind in this game and in our conference. These coaches are too good [for us] to come down in halfcourt sets and grind, grind, grind and win games. They’re getting two and three shots to your every one shot. So we want to try to get up and down and get some easy baskets.”
Wake Forest
Coach: Dino Gaudio
Last season: 24-7, 11-5, lost in NCAA first round
Starters returning: Al-Farouq Aminu, Chas McFarland, L.D. Williams
Starters lost: Jeff Teague, James Johnson
Dino Gaudio on his offense: “We’re going to still push the basketball up the floor. We’re still going to play fast. Ish [Smith] is an incredibly quick point guard. When we don’t have the break, we’re going to pull it out and we’re going to put the ball on the blocks to those big kids. Last year, the first option might have been Jeff.”
Dino Gaudio on his expectations: “This team could win an ACC championship. We have four seniors. We have a quick point guard. We’ve got one of the best young talents in the ACC in Al-Farouq. I think this league is wide-open.”
Coach: Al Skinner
Last season: 22-12, 9-7; lost in NCAA first round.
Starters returning: Corey Raji, Joe Trapani, Rakim Sanders, Josh Southern
Starter lost: Tyrese Rice
Al Skinner on the loss of Tyrese Rice: “I really don’t have a big concern about scoring points. The concern is having the attitude that he brought to the table. Craig Smith, Jared Dudley had a certain attitude that allowed us to be successful. Tyrese understood that. Hopefully part of Tyrese’s legacy will be leaving behind that type of attitude, what it takes to be successful in this league.”
Joe Trapani on the offense: “The responsibility kind of spreads out a little bit. It’s just going to be more team-oriented. It’s not going to be so much focused on Tyrese making the last shot. Everyone’s going to share in taking on some of the scoring burden.”
Clemson
Coach: Oliver Purnell
Last season: 23-9, 9-7; lost in NCAA first round
Starters returning: Trevor Booker, Demontez Stitt
Starters lost: K.C. Rivers, Terrence Oglseby, Raymond Sykes
Trevor Booker on the team’s outside shooting: “When I’m in the post, I know people are going to try to double me, and they think we don’t have shooters right now. But they’ll learn real quick that we have shooters — a lot of shooters. We’re still a great offensive team. People think just because we lost Oglesby and Rivers that we can’t shoot the ball and stretch the defense.”
Oliver Purnell on his defense: “We’re probably on paper not as good an outside shooting team. Well then, we better be a better defensive team. I think we can be a better defensive team because of our personnel. We can be quicker, longer and put better defenders out there.”
Coach: Mike Krzyzewski
Last season: 30-7, 11-5; lost in NCAA Sweet 16
Starters returning: Kyle Singler, Jon Scheyer, Nolan Smith, Brian Zoubek
Starters lost: Gerald Henderson, Elliot Williams
Jon Scheyer on the team’s expectations: “From seeing what we can do this preseason, to me it’s the best team I’ve played on because of the size and the overall talent that we have. Not only are our inside guys really big, but our perimeter’s really big. Overall, our team’s going to be bigger than most teams. We really need to take advantage of that.”
Mike Krzyzewski on his team: “We could be a really good rebounding team because of our height, and I think an outstanding fast-breaking team, which some people wouldn’t think with the people we have. I think we can really move the ball down the court quickly, but with the pass, not the dribble.”
Florida State
Coach: Leonard Hamilton
Last season: 25-10, 10-6; lost in NCAA first round
Starters returning: Derwin Kitchen,
Chris Singleton, Solomon Alabi
Starters lost: Toney Douglas, Uche Echefu
Chris Singleton on the loss of Toney Douglas: “We’re more dangerous. Everybody improved their offense. Anybody at any time can score. We’ve got six guys 6-8 or taller. Plus we’ve got shooters. Do you help down on the big man and leave one of the shooters open, or do you stay on the shooters and let [someone] go one-one-one in the post?”
Leonard Hamilton on his team: “We have to be a little more fine-tuned than what we were last year. We don’t have that guy that’s emerging to be the guy who, when all else fails, you just give it to Toney and let him bail you out. I’m confident we’ll be able to replace his offensive productivity. The big concern is how we’re going to replace his defensive productivity.”
Georgia Tech
Coach: Paul Hewitt
Last season: 12-19, 2-14
Starters returning: Gani Lawal, Iman Shumpert, Zachery Peacock
Starters lost: Lewis Clinch, Alade Aminu
Gani Lawal on highly touted freshman post player Derrick Favors: “He catches everything — he’s got a 7-4 wingspan. Great hands, high basketball IQ. With me and him on the floor, nothing but good things are going to happen. There shouldn’t be no excuse while we shouldn’t get every rebound. We’ll work well together. You can’t double-team both of us; it’s mathematically impossible.”
Paul Hewitt on the return of D’Andre Bell, who missed last year because of a spinal condition: “It’s a big addition because he’s a good player, he’s a great defender. Late-game situations, he’s a very steady and sure-handed player. He’s not going to turn it over and he’s going to make his free throws at the end of games.”
Maryland
Coach: Gary Williams
Last season: 21-14, 7-9; lost in NCAA second round
Starters returning: Greivis Vasquez, Landon Milbourne, Eric Hayes, Adrian Bowie
Starter lost: Dave Neal
Greivis Vasquez on the chances of a second straight NCAA bid: “We look like another NCAA team. We’ve got great guards coming back, two new big men coming in. I definitely have no doubt we’re going to do good. They’ve got to do more than stop me because we have so many good guys.”
Gary Williams on Vasquez’s supporting cast: “Eric Hayes played well down the stretch. I thought Sean Mosley, for a freshman, had a great second half of the year. Cliff Tucker had 18 in a half against Carolina. Adrian Bowie had [23] against Miami. We had guys that showed they have this ability. Now it’s doing it more often.”
Miami
Coach: Frank Haith
Last season: 19-13, 7-9, lost in NIT second round.
Starters returning: Dwayne Collins, James Dews
Starters lost: Jack McClinton, Lance Hurdle, Brian Asbury
Villanova transfer Malcolm Grant on the offense: “Dwayne Collins is a beast. He’s going to have a great year. James Dews is great. He’s going to have a good year. There’s so many ways that we can attack this year. We’re going to surprise a lot of people.”
Frank Haith on the loss of Jack McClinton:
“We’re a different team in terms of what we are going to do offensively. A lot of our plays were diagrammed to get Jack a shot or make Jack make a play. But I think we have more of an equal-opportunity offense. But I think our main go-to guy is Dwayne Collins. We’re more inside-out.”
North Carolina
Coach: Roy Williams
Last season: 34-4, 13-3; won NCAA championship
Starter returning: Deon Thompson
Starters lost: Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington, Danny Green
Roy Williams on his team: “We have a couple of major question marks that have to be answered. Who’s going to come through at the point guard spot? Because we’ve got nobody who has ever done it. Who’s going to make the outside shot? Because nobody’s ever done it. It’s a drastically different team. Defensively we have a chance to be even better.”
Swingman Marcus Ginyard on the loss of Ty Lawson: “There’s no question that we’re going to have to use our brains a lot more. We’re going to have to play smarter than we ever have in the past because we’re not going to have a guy like Ty Lawson that’s going to be able to break down a defense at any time.”
N.C. State
Coach: Sidney Lowe
Last season: 16-14, 6-10
Starters returning: Javier Gonzalez,
Tracy Smith
Starters lost: Brandon Costner, Ben McCauley, Courtney Fells
Guard Farnold Degand on the media expecting a down year: “When you lose your top three leading scorers from the year before and you bring in a lot of freshmen, it’s understandable for them to feel that way. But I feel we have a good core of returning players and the freshmen, they’ve been learning the system very quickly.”
Sidney Lowe on adopting a more up-tempo offense: “It’s just hard to grind in this game and in our conference. These coaches are too good [for us] to come down in halfcourt sets and grind, grind, grind and win games. They’re getting two and three shots to your every one shot. So we want to try to get up and down and get some easy baskets.”
Wake Forest
Coach: Dino Gaudio
Last season: 24-7, 11-5, lost in NCAA first round
Starters returning: Al-Farouq Aminu, Chas McFarland, L.D. Williams
Starters lost: Jeff Teague, James Johnson
Dino Gaudio on his offense: “We’re going to still push the basketball up the floor. We’re still going to play fast. Ish [Smith] is an incredibly quick point guard. When we don’t have the break, we’re going to pull it out and we’re going to put the ball on the blocks to those big kids. Last year, the first option might have been Jeff.”
Dino Gaudio on his expectations: “This team could win an ACC championship. We have four seniors. We have a quick point guard. We’ve got one of the best young talents in the ACC in Al-Farouq. I think this league is wide-open.”
