Prediction?

[uptownathlete]

Now that we know what our roster is going to look like..and some of our schedule, what do you think our record will be at the end of the season?

I know we won't go undefeated, but I refuse to lose our "toughest' game named to date in Memphis. And with our team, and coaching there's not a game I fear.

Is 3 losses realistic?

[aggypryd]

I'm looking at a 10 loss season.

We'll struggle to find our identiy at the beginning of the season, but by late January, we'll be pulling things together.

Trip to the sweet 16...

[chep3]

I say 7-8 losses. We'll lose 2 ooc, then go 12-4 in conference, but not win the BET. We'll see if we add on another loss after that.

[williambraskyiii]

PAIN!

[nashvillehoyas]

Next years team will be better than this year's. Summers, Macklin, Rivers and Sapp should be significantly improved. Wallace and Ewing II will continue to provide leadership. Our record could be even better and still not return to the final four. Green would have made an improved team even better. It is remarkable what Florida and UCLA accomplished last season.
I believe that you need to be lucky as well as good to reach the final four. However, I am excited about next year's team. Go Hoyas.

[FromTheBeginning]

Why should we struggle to find our identity? 4 of 5 starters back - 2 experienced subs to fill the one open spot - 2 AA guards to provide depth at the 1,2 & 3. We might have an adjustment period for the new kids but the team's identity is intact from last year. It's just like playing the whole year with Jeff in foul trouble with much better depth to fill in for him. 4 or 5 losses - most early. See you in San Antonio.

[uptownathlete]

I'm optomistic with the last two posters. A team should not struggle to find their identity EVERY year. And now that I think about it, we lost Bowman, Cook, and Owens, THATS why we struggled early. Everyone who will see the floor this year with the exception of Wright and Freeman has already played in the system for a year or more now. I like the possibilities

[SFHoya99]

fromthebeginning said:

Why should we struggle to find our identity? 4 of 5 starters back - 2 experienced subs to fill the one open spot - 2 AA guards to provide depth at the 1,2 & 3. We might have an adjustment period for the new kids but the team's identity is intact from last year. It's just like playing the whole year with Jeff in foul trouble with much better depth to fill in for him. 4 or 5 losses - most early. See you in San Antonio.

I'm very wishy-washy right now. So I don't know that we will struggle to find our identity.

But here's a scenario where we might:

1) We ran the offense through Jeff. Either Pat or DaJuan will likely fill his spot on the floor, but can either fill his role? Pat's complete game isn't there and DaJuan didn't register an assist until halfway through last season it seemed.

The result may be that after we toss it into Roy, we no longer have the Jeff Green safety net. The result may be an offense that fails to flow. At minimum, we may struggle in close games early.

2) One of the freshman or DaJuan blow up and are better than even we expect. But the result is a complete rejiggering of the offensive flow. No longer does the best player on the team often create for others from the forward position -- maybe they now create mostly for themselves and from the perimeter. I think it will be easy for the Hoyas to slide into an offense with Roy as option #1, but imagine how different our offense would be if Chris Wright is option #1 as a scoring PG. The offense will adjust, but it may take some time.

[EasyEd]

Why do we need to run the offense through a big man like Jeff? Why not just run it to whoever is in there, like Sapp or Wallace or even Freeman? In our offense it's hard to distinguish between who's playing what position since it's all about movement and the open man taking the shot. Ewing will never be the scorer that Jeff was and that's why I'd like to see us go a bit smaller and start Freeman, using Ewing off the bench.

[SFHoya99]

ed said:

Why do we need to run the offense through a big man like Jeff? Why not just run it to whoever is in there, like Sapp or Wallace or even Freeman? In our offense it's hard to distinguish between who's playing what position since it's all about movement and the open man taking the shot. Ewing will never be the scorer that Jeff was and that's why I'd like to see us go a bit smaller and start Freeman, using Ewing off the bench.

I never said we did. Just simply that if we don't, it may take longer for the team to adjust.

[DudeSlade]

I love the optimism over our incoming frosh and I, too, am very excited about their potential. BUT, we are not Nova with Scottie Reynolds coming in; we are not Texas with Durant coming in; we are not Ohio State with Oden coming in; we aren't even like UNC last year with Wright and Lawson coming in; we are Georgetown with 4 of 5 starters back, 1 of the best 6th men in the country back, a McD AA and our best defensive perimeter player with a year under their belts back, and Final Four experience for the whole crew. Plus our freshmen will be having to learn a very complicated offense.

We will get great contributions from Chris and Austin and they will provide a great scoring punch off the bench when we need it. But I will be absolutely shocked if they are starting, let alone leading our team in scoring. I know we have been spoiled over the years by watching Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, Scottie Reynolds, and Allen Iverson come in and make huge contributions immediately as freshmen, but it requires the right situation and generally a young team. We will be a very veteran team with 3 seniors, a junior, and 2 sophs at the top of our rotation and Chris and Austin play a position where we have talented, experienced players. If we were talking Donte Green at PF, I could say maybe, but we're not. Now the year after is another issue, I do expect that one of our bigmen froshies like Braswell, Sims, or (let us pray) Monroe or Dunnigan will be starting before the end of that year. But Chris or Austin will have to play out of their minds to overcome the calm, cool confidence, and experience that our Final Four run provided our guys.

[PopeJohn2]

it took us 2.5 months last year to integrate 1 new guy into our offense. without green the job will be even tougher. we got stuf freshmen coming in. we got a really tough schedule this year. i think we got 5-8 losses this year most coming in the beginning. next year will either be really great, or really bad. we will find out just how important green was.

[uptownathlete]

First off, Summers didn't start in the beginning of the season. So 2.5 months is a stretch, especially considering by mid Jan? we were settled. Consider the fact we lost Bowman, Owens, and Cook. This year all we lost was Jeff. No doubt he's THAT important, but it will not take that long

[HoyaSinceBirth]

1. who says we have a tough schedule. The Big east is the same as always. no tougher than it's been in the past. We have one very tough OOC game alabama nad michigan should be good games but until we see the OOC games we can't exactly estimate how many losses we'll have. Unless we add some more memphis level games i don't see us losing more than one OOC (not necessarily Memphis).
Right now I'd see us losing 5 games tops most likely around 3.

[Locker]

I think 3 losses is realistic, though I'd probably say 4 myself.

We know players improve a ton under JT3. Out of Hibbert, Wallace, Summers, Sapp, Ewing, Macklin, and Rivers, we know at least 1 or 2 of these guys are going to be MUCH improved from last year (and by that, I mean like the improvements we've already seen from year to year for Roy, Jon, and Jessie). I wouldn't be surprised if we see 3 or 4 of them make that leap. If that happens, and if only one of Freeman and Wright brings production like Dajuan as a freshman by the end of next year, we will be a better team next March than we were last March.

[lichoya68]

i like 12 and four in the big east but are we playing 18 big east games next year if so then 13 and five big east and agree two or maybe three outa conference losses but then WIN THE BIG EAST TOURNEY AND ONWARD ONCE THE BOYS GET GROOVING TOGETHER AS OUR FROSH WILL PLAY AND CONTRIBUTE YES GO HOYAS SO SIX OR SEVEN LOSSES OR SO MAYBE EIGHT IF THERE ARE 18 CONFERENCE GAMES ANYBODY KNOW FOR SURE THATS WHAT I THOUGTH I HEARD WITH EVERYONE PLAYING EVERYONE THATS LIKE FIFTHEEN ADN THREE DOUBLES MAYBE HEARD WRONG GO HOYAS

[][-][ 0 `/ /-\ 5]

I'll go on record now as saying we're goin undefeated because we are damn good. Plus, I look really smart if we do.
(viciously knocking on wood)

[hoyastrong]

man, hanging around some of you guys must be DE-PRESSING!! Is is that far-fetched to say we only drop 3 or 4 and take it all the way? I know it may be a stretch, but your realism is killing me!! We have the best center in the league surrounded by athleticism and shooting that might not be matched by anyone, and don't forget JTIII!! If Jeff was still here everyone would be saying all the way, but theres 5 guys on the court!

prozac presciptions may been necessary for some on this board, haha

[ExcitableBoy]

popejohn2 said:

it took us 2.5 months last year to integrate 1 new guy into our offense. without green the job will be even tougher. we got stuf freshmen coming in. we got a really tough schedule this year. i think we got 5-8 losses this year most coming in the beginning. next year will either be really great, or really bad. we will find out just how important green was.

Pope, we lost three graduating seniors two years ago (all of whom had extensive experience), how does this equal "integrating 1 new guy into our offense"? Just because only Dajuan was seeing big minutes come tourney time does not mean he was the only change we made last year.

[PopeJohn2]

it took a while for last years team to gel and to get its formula right. green was the center of the offense last year and king of the backdoor pass. he had 3 years experience and became the center of the offense. i bet that will have a big impact on the offensive chemistry. hopefully they will adjust quickly. we should be a better outside shooting team and we have a guard that can break the press and penetrate but less deep up front. until i see otherwise im not going to underestimate the impact of green. but 5-8 losses might be high, so ill go with 4-7. now if green stayed, id be saying undefeated.

i think 3 losses is overly optimistic. even kansas lost 4 games last year in a weak big 12 conference.

as for our schedule, we are playing bama, memphis, louisville 2x and marquette maybe 2x. thats 5 games against potential top 10 teams, with memphis and louisville as potential top 5. last year we played pitt which floated in and out of the top 10. throw in a bunch of games against good nova nd cuse and pitt teams which should be between top 10-30. last year we played duke which was really a really bad team. compare last years duke, pitt, marquette to this years memphis, louisville, marquette. each are significant upgrades in level of difficulty. the big east is better this year than last. to say this years is not a much tougher schedule is inaccurate.