Depth of individual talent? I'm not seeing it. Hunt is a great player who would be a key starter for most ACC teams and Smith/Mitchell/Jacobs would be solid role players but after that I don't see anyone else getting much burn for a contending team. I don't see how this team has more depth or talent than the 13-14 squad with Golden/Holsey/Miller/Carter/Hunt. And compounding the issue is the obvious lack of ACC level talent at the point guard position as well as the transient nature of our team that has us in a perpetual state of lacking team cohesion normally gained from years of playing together.
UVA is currently 3-3 in ACC play and lost to VT and FSU as well as GW early in the year with the common denominator being all games on the road. I'd agree that cuse wasn't playing like a top 25 team then but I find it hard to argue that UVA is playing like a top 25 team now, especially on the road. Also, in 13-14, I believe Cuse was a 3 seed that year and lost in the second, technically third, round game. Maybe I'm looking at something wrong.
I've watched about as much as previous years. Very little OOC outside of the more interesting games, and catching various amounts of the ACC games. Usually most of the second half and sometimes parts of the first.
Today's game? Jorgenson and Heath played far too much. We need to gamble on having Smith and Hunt able to handle the point guard duties for good portions of the game. Simply put Smith and Heath/Jorgy just don't bring enough pressure to opposing guards nor play making ability for the rest of the team to have those two combining for 38 minutes. Having Hunt and Smith slide up a spot would allow us to play Stephens more giving us a greater chance that either he or Smith goes off, which we really need to be able to win games. It's a gamble because if the shots aren't falling then we likely lose by an even greater amount because of worse ball handling but losing by 14 instead of 4 isn't really that big of a deal. Otherwise the thing that needs to be done for the long term good of the program, and should have been done last year, is getting Lammers more experience by playing him more and guys like cox/sampson/white less. Bite the bullet.
I understand where you're coming from and agree the comparison is not black and white. We may be seeing different shades of gray.
You're right on 'Cuse's seed. I must have mentally blocked everything about that year's team after Ennis hit his half court winner over Pitt. I remembered losing to an 11-seed and forgot the team had the luxury of playing a 14-seed first. It's still beside the main point - they were not playing like a top 25 team. The ranking was based on the coattails of the first half of the season. UVA, despite its losses, is playing better now than that Syracuse team and it's not close. UVA has a coherent offense. If we're just talking quality of W/L as the gauge, UVA has beaten Miami and Clemson during their current stretch.
Imo, GT's 13-14 squad was seriously flawed. I think Golden was a SG playing PG... I'd rather have Smith. I'll take White over Holsey any day, and I don't think White is starting material. Hunt this year is better than Hunt that year. Miller, no argument, would be the best big we have this year. Carter, an enigma like many we have now. That year's Carter was as talented as our current rolodex of Mitchell/Jacobs, imo.
I think if you watched more of the games you'd at least see the merit of the "level of play" argument. I thought this year's GT team looked different than the last couple years in closing out several games, including Tennessee, VCU, and UVA. The difference this year being confidence and ramped-up aggressiveness down the stretch that suggested to me they were mentally tougher. True the team recently looks eerily familiar in 2nd halves compared to last year (which isn't the year we're comparing). My takeaway there is that BG is proving he can coach any team off the cliff. He might be in his own head now.
Re: adjustments, disagree on playing Q more. His weaknesses on both ends are being exposed. Tadric would be the better complement, imo, to the Smith/MGH backcourt because he can do at least 2-3 things better than the other G/SF options. Also, imo, we don't need to bite any bullet with Lammers. He's already experienced and talented enough to get more minutes. Additional experience is now the cherry on top.