ESPN.com just unveiled its "Shoot Around" on the ACC. Check it out:
It's a given that Jay Bilas is a douchebag and it was probably inevitable that we'd be picked to finish 12th in the conference. I think we'll be better than that. Much better than that. The only players we lost are the slump-shooting and turnover-prone Mamadi Diane, the generally ineffective and constantly injured Tunji Soroye, and the seldom-used big man project John Brandenburg. The core of the team -- Sylven Landesberg, Mike Scott, Assane Sene, Sam Zeglinski, Jeff Jones, Jamil Tucker, Calvin Baker, Mustapha Farrakhan, Jerome Meyinnse (or "Jerome Mayonnaise" as my dear friend Joe hilariously calls him), and Solomon Tat (listed in order of importance) -- returns intact, a year wiser and 18 losses hungrier. Uber-athletic wing scorer Tristan Spurlock and gritty-tough attacking point guard Jontel Evans are added to the mix. Tony Bennett has a plan of action, and I think his pack line defense is the perfect antidote to penetration-based ACC offenses. The improved D alone should be worth a few wins in conference action.
So yeah, I disagree with the Bilas picks. Namely, I think he has overrated Mayland and Miami, and I think Virginia will finish ahead of at least three or four other ACC teams this season. If I'm naming names, I'll throw out NC State, Boston College, Virginia Tech, Florida State, and Miami.
But that brings me to another topic, and one which I'd like to tackle in a different blog post -- What should the realistic expectations be for Tony Bennett's first year at Virginia?
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