For 18 minutes yesterday...

...we saw what this team is going to look like next season, without Mike Scott.  And you know what?  It looked pretty damn good.

Sadly, Mike Scott lost his battle for ACC POTY yesterday, I think.

I'm not trying to bang on Mike Scott, nor am I trying to give short shrift to a hard-fought game against a vastly more talented team, nor am I trying to shift focus from this great season in which we are inching our way ever closer to our first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2007.  But I've said it before, and if you're going to continue to read and follow this blog, you need to always understand it to be true: With me, it's always about looking ahead to the future and dreaming about increased success.

What I saw yesterday - despite rebounding woes against what is probably the best rebounding team in all of college basketball - was a four-guard (really, two-guard / two-wing) offense, running Bennettball efficiently and effectively.  Jontel Evans ate [UNC point guards] Kendall Marshall and Stilman White alive, both defensively and offensively off the bounce.  Joe Harris chipped in his best jack-of-all-trades performance, proving he's capable of serving as the face of the franchise moving into the 2012-13 season.  Darion Atkins proved he's a burgeoning big man, realizing his potential in rapid fashion.  Paul Jesperson showed that he belonged on the floor and in that game -- his confidence is growing with every minute he plays.  Malcolm Brogdon showed his defensive chops and his ability to find points for us by attacking the basket.  All together, it was a cohesive, controlled, balanced effort that held us in the game with our ACC POTY candidate in serious foul trouble and sputtering badly.  It was ultimately a frustratingly close defeat, but it all bodes very well for the future.

I'm enjoying eating crow over Jontel Evans.

Moreover, given the evidenced recruiting patterns and the effort to transition Mike Scott from a true 4 to more of a 3/4-type "power wing," I think we're seeing something come into focus: Tony Bennett isn't "making due" with this lack of bigs.  I think this is the way he wants the team to be built -- one true post player (Atkins, maybe Mitchell, Sene, Mike Tobey) on the floor, with a power wing (Mike Scott, maybe Mitchell, soon to be Justin Anderson), a versatile swingman (Joe Harris, Evan Nolte) or a long-lengthed spot-up shooter (Jesperson), a combo guard with 3-point ability (Zeglinski, Brog), and a point guard who can create offense off the dribble (Jontel Evans, Teven Jones).

Evan Nolte: Joe Harris 2.0

I kinda had a hunch we'd be pretty good next year, but now I have some degree of confidence in that fact.  Year four of Bennettball, the systems having taken full root, the hand-picked Bennett recruits being the only players on the roster...  It's going to be a balanced team with a weakness in defending great post scorers (but really, how many of those do we face?), but the ability to really take care of the ball, shoot from the perimeter, and run the packline defense with quickness and active hands and feet.  We'll get pummeled inside from time to time, but the pack D and the 3-point shot are the great equalizers.

I think this year's team is a Tournament team.  8-, 9-, or 10-seed, winning its first game and hanging tough in its second.

But now, I think next year's team is also a Tournament team.

And under Tony Bennett, the successes begin to string together and elevate our program to heights not seen since the early '90s.  Now more than ever, I have faith in our head basketball coach.  We played well with Mike Scott on the bench, and it was more than just encouraging... it was enlightening, eye-opening, and inspiring.  For 18 minutes, we saw the future, and it was bright.