While a lot of our deficiencies seem to be leveling themselves out, a few are starting to become more alarming.
I think moving forward, throwing out the fact our defense will probably be up and down all year, our biggest issue is our bench production. Our starting 5 are strong--scorers at every level, average to above average rebounding, and seem to be a well developed 5 man team. Our bench may be deep in terms of potential talent, but when guys come off the bench (sans maybe Mav and sometimes TJL), things on both ends tend towards chaos. Regardless of who's coming off, whether it be Finke, Tate, DJW, or AJ things, or lack of a better term, just seem off. Something that all great teams have is a 6th or 7th guy who comes in and adds something to a team. Right now, we have guys coming in that take away from on court efficiency.
As for now, our best hope seems to be DJW or Kipper, they are guys who can play a couple of positions, though not sure if Groce will be playing him in different spots.
As far as I'm concerned, I'd like to see AJ step up. He's got the makings of a perfect 6th man--aggressive rebounding, 3 pt shooting, and defending. Kipper is also a great option, just more of an inside threat and probably a more shutdown defender.
I also think that this is less of an if and more of a when question. Someone will become that Bertrand type guy. Sadly, Tate and TJL aren't our solution at the one right now, I'd like to see AJ steal all but maybe 5 minutes from TA at the 2 and have JCL play 25 or 30 there. That leaves 15 minutes (ish) for Tate and TJL, which I'm fine with them splitting though I'd rather have TJL play 10 and Tate 5.
Black will be the reason we make the tourney this year. I know he hasn't faced stingy D yet, but I think he ends the season average 16 to Hill's 18.
Also, people need to understand that even if NCST and VCU are bubble teams or even less than that, we really handed them decisive losses. Just because neither is a top 25, or even a top 50 team, we beat them by 14 and 18 respectively. Those are both huge margins for teams with borderline top 50 talent. VCU is probably closer to 75ish and I dont think they make the tourney, but NCST is going to end close to top 50. They are both quality wins based not only on the teams ranking, but by how much the final box score shows.