Call it like it is...don't be scared.

[UofLouisville]

Last year I saw a whole lot of 14 wins, 15 wins maybe 18 wins prognostications. Not me. Josh brought in a firebrand coach, even if he wasn't a name brand or wasn't a top choice. Once I saw the guys he was bringing in, I knew this wasn't a settle for what you get coach. He got hustlers, lay it all out players that was easy to see if anyone bothered to look. We lost our best player and our backup point guard and still made the tournament and close to twice as many wins than most figured. The last 'coach' put a choke hold on optimism, strangled hope and sold apathy and excuses as the future of this program. This coming year will be an eye opener. Without injury yet again, CPK has a championship caliber team put together. Athletic, multiple pure shooters, size and physicality inside, passers, rebounders, depth, the whole deck of cards (pun intended). We have multiple, intelligent guys who can handle point duties if needed. Mismatches can be created at every position. Right now my only concern is if Aly is cleared, that's it (ncaa governing body is useless, inept and corrupt). If so, we are good to go. Final Four, here we come.

 

[CardHack]

The situation with Aly obviously is the first thing to be resolved. He's not a high end rebounder which if you put a gun to my head rebounding is the one question mark I have of the team overall. Where I think he will be most critical is in the halfcourt offensively because his passing ability off of dribble handoffs, high and side ball screen situations opens up a ton of stuff with the skill sets of Mikell Brown, Conwell, McNeeley and Wooley. His skill set contrasts with Fru's who looks like in those sets is more the rim runner. We are shaping up to see a squad potentially lethal in the halfcourt. While Khalifa's career stats won't knock anybody's socks off, his skill set contrasts well with Fru's which means Kelsey can martial their minutes based on matchups, which is something he proved to be pretty impressive at given how hamstrung we were last year with injuries.

...but the Final Four is a big ask with how big NIL bags kept talent in College the likes we haven't seen since the early 2000's. Purdue, Houston and Florida alone are returning rosters that would have skated through the 2020-2022 fields. The ACC will be improved to the extent it's not Duke well clear of the field, but the other focal point program in the league UNC is a shadow of what program has been traditionally. We're going to face a pressure of expectations we didn't have last year and the out-of-conference schedule is TOUGH. I'm just happy we have high expectations and pray for a healthy roster.

 

[real2it]

ACC Championship and Elite Eight! That's my ask...the ACC Championship can be either the Regular Season or the Tournament. I think we have the roster to get one or both.

 

[shadow force]

Kelsey definitely surpassed my expectations in his first year. It was a fun and memorable ride despite all the injuries.

This season there are some goals that PK can and should attain with a healthy team. The OOC is tough once again but this season he needs to be able to win some or most of those ranked games. Prove he can win or at the very least keep it close instead of blow out losses. He also needs to win some NCCAT games, as that's the biggest hurdle he needs to overcome as a head coach IMO.

With the roster he has assembled, I think he will accomplish that.

 

[Ipartiedwithhopgood]

The program is competitive again. They give us a reason to keep up with it if we are interested.

Need a lot of luck to play late into a season.

With the new landscape it's really difficult to know what you have with a roster. I think this team needs Aly eligible. The HC has shown he can hold it together, but we really don't want to open a season down a player we expected to have that's supposed to play a key role.