True. It's so hard to put a bitter rival away. I underestimated that factor.

Jack White is such a perfect Duke name.

Never go for the "easy 2" down 3. It's a trap. Every time.

Damn, this has to be a record for ILP realizing a Michigan basketball/football team isn't a national title contender. Only took 1 hour.

Illinois survives an OT thriller against Nichols State.

what da fuq

15.5 favorites getting run off their own court. Hate to see it.

looks like nc state wasted no time slapping that bad loss up on their bubble resume

Man, can't even joke that Nebraska's a basketball school. They're hot garbage in everything, even baseball. I guess they've got women's volleyball.

As someone who went to a lot of women's volleyball matches while I was in school, I can confirm there are worse sports to be elite in.

There are some really good games tonight

Virginia at Syracuse
Cincinnati at Ohio State
Notre Dame at UNC

Virginia is the freest money that has ever been.

Guess I'll give my thoughts on the DEFENDING NATIONAL CHAMPION Virginia Cavaliers.

In brief: who the hell knows?

I really have no idea what this team is going to be like this year. I think pre-season #11 is too high, but again, who knows?


They lose Guy, Jerome, and Hunter, so the bulk of their scoring and three-point shooting, plus one of the best defenders in the country. Good luck replacing that. Salt isn't a huge loss, but he was very good defensively and a hell of a screener.

They only have four guys returning with any real experience in the ACC. Kihei Clark will start at PG. We saw in the tourney that he's a darn good player, but of course I have to wonder how much his size will limit his effectiveness at times. It's also going to hurt his three point shooting, as he needs to be open, unlike the players that went to the NBA.

Diakite is supposed to be a contender for first-team All-ACC. He's going to need to take a massive leap to do that. He's good and stepped up huge in the tourney, but he was still more of a role player last year. Fortunately, he understands that - I read some comments of his that he and some other guys will need to make up the scoring that was lost. He's a great shot blocker and definitely has some offensive moves.

Key is the one who I think will be our best player. Tough, strong SF/PF. Great rebounder. Had trouble finishing at the rim last year, but can get to the rim, so it shouldn't take much to improve there. Needs to improve his three point shooting, but has his moments last year. Good defender, too, which is a redundant statement when it comes to UVa.

Huff is the interesting one. Has the potential to be a unicorn. Can shoot the rock and has some post moves. His shot blocking rate was tremendous last year, but he had trouble staying on the court because he got lost in the defense at times. If he's got things figured out, he could be great. He'll need to figure it out because he's going to be a starter. Fun energy guy, too.

Everyone else either played in garbage time last year or has never played in the ACC.

Kody Stattmann might start at the 2. He didn't look like much of a player last year, as he just didn't have the strength for ACC basketball. Heard he's put on muscle, though. He's supposed to be a great shooter, so hopefully he'll knock them down.

Casey Morsell is the hyped freshman, who will play SG and PG, I think. Word is he is a great defender and very athletic. Can create his own shot. His three-point shooting might need work.

Justin McKoy is a strong PF. Don't know what his minutes will look like. Sounds like a young version of Key.

Francisco Caffaro might be the most ready of the guys who didn't play much last year, as he has international experience. Big 7-footer. I believe he's hurt, though, and will miss a few games early.

Tomas Woldetensae is a juco transfer. He's a 6'5 SG, so he has good size for the position. Shot ****ing 48 percent from three last season. Interestingly (to me), he admitted he's not good at defense, which is one reason he wanted to go to UVa - to learn.


That's about it. There's another freshman who will probably redshirt. Hauser sits out a year.



I suspect this team will be pretty average, as there is very little experience and it's not like those inexperienced guys are Zion, Barrett, and Reddish. Don't know where the points will come from. I think it's going to be the opposite of last season and the focus will be the big guys, rather than the guards. If they play defense like Tony Bennett teams do, they'll still make the Dance, but probably won't go far. If some of the young guys step up, though, they will be well-positioned for the coming years with some good recruits on the way.


I don't really care, honestly. I'm still riding high on the championship. Losing those three stars to the NBA is going to be rough. Tony Bennett said he didn't recruit them expecting them to leave early, but they played their way into leaving early. So the bad part is they left, but the good part is that they left because they got so good, which led to a title. I'm really interested to see how this season pans out.

Narrator: It wasn't free.

I hope the Heels crush.

And of course I can't watch the Virginia game on TV because Comcast and ESPN can't come to a deal on the ACC Network.

ND running hotter than the sun

Anthony GOAT

34-12-5

Cole Anthony, bros.

Cole world out there

UNC is gonna be the best team in the ACC

Whooops. It was pretty damn free. Under was free too it appears.

Damn. NC State's not even gonna score 20 points vs. UVA.

Syracuse didn't outscore Cole Anthony.

Virginia was pretty much what I expected in the first game. The only guys who remotely looked like they knew what they were doing on offense were the four guys who played last year. And even they were ugly most of the time. In fairness, playing at Cuse the first game of the season is tough.

Morsell looks like a stud on defense. He and all the other new guys just need to figure out how to score. You can see how different the team is from last year. This year's team is a post team. The times they did get on a little roll offensively were when they fed the bigs and got good interior passing. I was pleasantly surprised with how good the noobs were on defense (though Cuse helped by missing everything).

Both teams will have much better games on offense. Neither could shoot from outside tonight and both were facing excellent defenses.


EDIT: Virginia needs to find a second PG. Kihei played the whole game. I suspect it will be Morsell.