Having watched/evaluated the team and roster thus far, and knowing what the ACC schedule is for Jan/Feb/March of 2022, if you could (re)set the Dec OOC schedule right now, would you still add/include LSU and USC? You know uga and BIG/ACC challenge opponent will be there. You expect based on winning the ACC tilte last year that the BIG opponent will not be Nebraska or Northwestern again - it will likely be at least a mid-tier BIG program (turns out to be Wisc). You know there will also be an ACC opponent in Dec (turns out to be UNC). So you know going in that you have 3 P5 opponents in Dec automatically.
If I knew Tristan and Bubba would be no gos; I might have wanted a softer game or two.
That said I think this team is continuing to feel and figure out the longer rotation. Couple of keys for me to see us get elite:
1)
BE LIKE MIKE: more fluidity to our O when Devoe is in and going off. He has shown this year he is willing to take over the game and I like him getting touches each time down the court but our guys need to be moving and creating their own open looks for a dagger pass from Mike.
As we get into the ACC part of our schedule he is going to see more doubles and scheme trying to knock him off his comfort zone so there will be open guys, and the open guy needs to be the go to guy.
2)
DEFENSE TIGHTENS: The defensive effort and scheme have been this staff’s calling card since they got here so I’m not worried but we do need the guys to keep focus and tighten the lane control in man and passing lanes in zone. I want more turnovers from picked off or broken passes out of our zone. If we give ACC teams the open corner looks out of our 1-3-1 they’ll feast. So we need fast close outs and Hard Deny on them getting the ball out to the corner without dribbling it themselves (and us trailing a D for a switch).
3)
DEVOE SHOW: if Mike can hold up his intensity (I think he can) and stay healthy (I hope to good golly goodness he does) I think he is going to have a special year. I said in the off-season I expected him to assert more of a role now - he was the calm yin to Alvarado’s frenetic yang - but he has that killer instinct in him too. Just more icy about it than rah-rah.
He knows, and the team knows, this year he and Usher are going to be the guys to twist the dagger. Our other guys just need to be filling a supporting role. No one else needs to press, because those two dudes know what time it is.
4)
YOUNG GUNS, NOT YOUNG’NS: to that point we need our newer roster guys (Deebo and Smith in particular) need to let the game come to them. They’re going to be FIERCE as they mature and as long as they aren’t pressing we will be fine. Our team speed with them on the floor is high, even in conference, so they just need to be reliable and solid. Not standout yet - when they develop though ooooh boy look out!
5)
HOUSE OF USHER: dude is so clutch for us. He is going to need to be the pain inflicted in the paint that opens the court up for the other guys to find easy back door cuts. I know we have some traditional C minutes and that we won’t often run the short nascar lineup with Ush at the 5 spot, but he still needs to keep up his rebounding and dunks/putbacks. We need the 5 for the loyal opposition to be afraid to shut down our C for fear of not being able to help on D against him.
If he keeps the scoring clip up near 15-20 even better. For me though a big influence he can have in the game is making their D account for him to open the game up for our 5; or making them pay for leaving him to be guarded by some mere mortal PF.
