I spent a good chunk of my life in the tail end of the Digger years and the agony that was John McCloud (I thank him for Murphy, Graves, and Swanigan). I think it is quite possible we don’t make the tournament again next year. I expect that once Gibbs is a senior, that we will be contending for the ACC title again. But a lot depends on the guys that already here improving as well as hitting on the majority of the recruits coming in.
First of all, even at full strength, they aren't exactly a powerhouse. It is basically a one trick pony in Colson with Farrell a major bit player and Gibbs and Geben minor bit players. Geben had a really good year but Gibbs started out strong and then more or less just became another guy. Nobody else did anything once Harvey was done.
If Colson is effective and both Gibbs and Farrell are hitting, they can beat some teams and would have made the NCAA tournament. They can't beat a good team unless there are three guys scoring which is tough to do because Farrell is so ball centric and a hot Farrell essentially shuts down much of anything from Gibbs. In short, it takes an aligning of the stars for this team to be much more than a average team incapable of beating good teams if they are paying attention.
Considering the injuries, they had a good year.
And just to make sure you set your expectations correctly for 2019, it won't be much different unless Durham is really good, Gibbs takes the reins and plays at a consistently high level and they find an effective 3rd wheel to score. I have a hard time picturing much of a highly competitive starting 5, much less the top 7 and I think just making the NCAAs would be a major accomplishment. 2020 shapes up to be a very good year as Gibbs, Durham and Harvey(assuming all 3 pan out) will have had a full year together in 2019 and some of the new kids(this year frosh will be junior sand next years frosh will be sophs) will have had time to evolve and be contributors.
Lower expectations for ‘19 are topped.
next level. 2003, 2015 & 2016 in 18 years...
I thought we were a bubble team from the beginning. Despite all the injuries, we were the last team out. Nice job.
Might miss it next year. Harvey, Hubbs and Burns already injured. Gibbs leads the guards as old man, Pflueger the wings and Mooney the bigs. They will have more talented folk behind them. Hubbs at PG. Goodwin and Carmody at wing. Durham and NL at 4 and 5. Can Brey coach young.
If Pflueger starts, they are headed to the NIT...Brey should be held accountable for his poor recruiting year after year...time for a change
His job is to defend, get some rebounds, get some assists and keep the ball moving with 8-10 points a game. He does well. All the injuries exposed his scoring challenges. That is not his game.
Can Carmody play defense? His athleticism is very near Pflueger's.
He apparently dropped 20 pounds and it shows on the court.
A solid vertical and everything is fine, but if it doesn't translate to the court, it's meaningless. How many dunks does Plueger have in his ND career? I'll bet no more than ten.
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injured as clock ran down on homecourt loss..He was a credit to his team and university..ND would definitely have been a NCAA tourney team if he didn't get injured..
A class act all the way. He will always be remembered.
really say they underachieved. I say it was more of a lost season from what might have been.
Pflueger's shooting was horrible but Geben played better than I thought this year.
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