Did anybody notice the comments of Corey - GT has the ability to finish in the upper have of the ACC. Believe it or not, I personally agree.
I think the potential is there.
IMO a line up of Alvarado, Devoe, Usher, Wright, and Banks can play with anyone when they are playing well. That means Banks playing with his head in the game like the second half tonight or the NCSU game. It means getting good Usher and good Devoe. Defensively that lineup can be very strong, and offensively, there isn't really a weak player there (again with the caveat of when they are playing well). The big questions are how consistent can that line up be. Devoe had a rough couple of games against Cuse and Kentucky but overall he's still had a great year. He's scored in double digits the last 4 games and I think with Jose back he'll be more comfortable and feel a little less pressure. Moses has been remarkably consistent for us double digits in 9 games and 15 or more in 6 games. And it's not just garbage points either. He's improved both his post moves and his mid range jumper to the point where the other team has to respect it. Two years ago teams could ignore him on offense. That is certainly not the case. Same is true for Usher at the 3. He's often out of control, and hasn't been overly efficient in his scoring but he's shown the ability to get to the rim and the ability to create decent looks for himself off the dribble. Obviously we saw last year, and this year for Devoe, the ability of Devoe, Alvarado, and Banks to score. If we can get consistent play from that group, we'll have a chance in most games which will be good enough for top half in the ACC.
The question for me is can Moore find his niche on the team. He had another 0fer game tonight. Tonight it wasn't so much of a problem. He played good D and pulled down 6 rebs (tied for most). If he can give us that and can finish some drop offs and run out opportunities that will be a good contribution. The big thing is he can't give us negative plays. He needs to not have turnovers. Same with Bubba. He had a solid game. 7 points while not forcing the issue, good ball handling (0 turnovers) and solid defense. The way I am starting to look at Bubba is it would be wonderful if he could consistently be a guy who could hit 2 or 3 threes every game but I'm more hoping he can win 3 games for us by going off big in those games, and otherwise just contribute solidly like he did tonight. If we can get 3 games from him where he hits 5 or 6 threes that would go a long ways towards being able to finish in the upper half.
Otherwise, I just don't see Price contributing much this year. I like him and think he has a bright future for us, but if his shot isn't falling there is no real reason for him to play over any of the other guards/wings right now. I would like to see him get a few minutes every game to see if he can find his stroke because I do think he has a nice looking shot, but I generally see this year as a year he gets experience, adds some muscle, and learns from those ahead of him. Unfortunately I think Cole just hasn't developed like we hoped. It would be great if he could play the 5 but I just don't see it and with the way Moses is playing there is no way Cole is getting minutes over him. I would like to see a line up with him and Moses in there with Jose back because Cole could benefit a good bit from Jose being able to create for him.
Overall we have the pieces but we need some guys to quickly step up their game and live up to their potential. The biggetst one is Banks, but we also need Jose to get healthy and knock down some more shots, and for Usher to settle in a bit.