I agree with much of what has been said in this thread. I think with everyone but Joe Thomas back, guys having the experience playing together, physical/mental development of this year's freshmen, and adding in Kamari Murphy, we should be a serious contender in the ACC. I think that how far we go will really depend on the development of a few guys:
Jekiri - the improvements he's made each year have been remarkable. In his first year of playing, he was a liability on both sides. This year, his defense was excellent and he improved his jump shot and free throws. To get to the next level, we need him to work on his back to the basket game. We need to be able to throw it down inside to get points in close games and not have to rely on jump shots from our guards. Jekiri needs to spend all summer working on his post game as well as his finishing around the rim. The coaches need to have him practice going up strong with the ball in traffic. Too many times, he was tentative around the rim, getting shots blocked when he should have been going strong.
Rodriguez - We saw what happened to this team when he went through his slump. He's the leader of this team and we need him to be more consistent with his play. He definitely has hero ball tendencies, which can be great when he's on but a disaster when he's off. With the talent on the team, and the development of the young guys, we shouldn't need him to do that as much. He needs to work on finishing around the rim as well, as he had too many drives into the lane that ended in him throwing up wild layups or resulting in turnovers.
McClellan - He has the potential to be a top notch college scorer, a guy that should be our go to at the end of shot clocks and games. I felt that too many games this year, he didn't assert himself enough and deferred to Angel. He's explosive enough to get into the lane more often instead of settling for jump shots. If he asserts himself more (like he did when Angel was out), I think he'll make the game much easier for everyone else.
