Assessing the ACC basketball picture
posted by LW, Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Wake Forest is hurting after losing Jeff Teague and James Johnson, though Dino Gaudio seems really optimistic about what those guys left behind.
"I'm in love with our basketball team next year," Gaudio said. "I think we have four seniors who have all played a lot of basketball. I think they're going to be terrific leaders for us, and I think we can have a terrific season next season."
Duke fans will get to pick on Greivis Vasquez one more season.
Georgia Tech's Paul Hewitt says the presence of Gani Lawal will be an asset to incoming wunderkid Derrick Favors.
Here's a piece that assesses the ACC, which should be big man-heavy after the departure of so many skilled ball-handlers.
In The State, Paul Strelow has the news of Oliver Purnell's second contract extension in a year.
Purnell is slated to make at least $1.35 million in guaranteed income next season, a bump from last season’s $1 million.
Also, Strelow has some nuggets on Terrence Oglesby:
Former Clemson guard Terrence Oglesby expects to sign with an overseas professional team in early July, his father, Tony, said Monday.
Oglesby, who announced last month he was leaving Clemson after two seasons, did not declare early entry into the NBA draft. He has since signed with an agent, Tony said.
A cluster of newspapers in Florida are asking Florida State and the NCAA to lift the veil of secrecy that's shrouding the ongoing academic-fraud case in Tallahassee.
Matt Hayes and Dave Curtis of The Sporting News list teams that are headed for a decline, and both list Boston College.
I happen to agree.
Bart Wright joins the Outliers craze and says Dabo Swinney could fit the bill.
Ron Morris of The State offers some illuminating context to South Carolina's accomplishment of finishing .500 or better in the three major sports, but he ignores this rather imposing elephant in the room:
Mark Bradley of the AJC reflects on ESPN's faint praise of Georgia Tech, and Jeff Schultz says no amount of success by the Yellow Jackets will eradicate the enormous shadow left by that school in Athens.
When Dan Radakovich came aboard as director of athletics, he and Hogan wanted the school’s programs to gain a bigger footprint on the landscape. If ever there was a window for that, it was this spring. The Jackets were coming off their best football season in years. They had beaten Georgia for the first time since 2000. A fan base that was somewhat divided behind Chan Gailey now is united behind Johnson.
But some things haven’t changed. Georgia fills 92,000 seats at Sanford Stadium and requires a donation of several thousand dollars just to be eligible for season tickets (which rarely are available). Tech can’t fill a 55,000-seat stadium. It averaged about 48,000 last year and its season-ticket base is 24,000. Most of the season tickets available for purchase won’t require a donation to the Tech fund.
And Dennis Dodd doesn't have high hopes for the Big Ten.
LW
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The ACC basketball picture became clearer yesterday, the deadline for underclassmen to declare their intentions as to the NBA Draft.
Wake Forest is hurting after losing Jeff Teague and James Johnson, though Dino Gaudio seems really optimistic about what those guys left behind.
"I'm in love with our basketball team next year," Gaudio said. "I think we have four seniors who have all played a lot of basketball. I think they're going to be terrific leaders for us, and I think we can have a terrific season next season."
Duke fans will get to pick on Greivis Vasquez one more season.
Georgia Tech's Paul Hewitt says the presence of Gani Lawal will be an asset to incoming wunderkid Derrick Favors.
Here's a piece that assesses the ACC, which should be big man-heavy after the departure of so many skilled ball-handlers.
In The State, Paul Strelow has the news of Oliver Purnell's second contract extension in a year.
Purnell is slated to make at least $1.35 million in guaranteed income next season, a bump from last season’s $1 million.
Also, Strelow has some nuggets on Terrence Oglesby:
Former Clemson guard Terrence Oglesby expects to sign with an overseas professional team in early July, his father, Tony, said Monday.
Oglesby, who announced last month he was leaving Clemson after two seasons, did not declare early entry into the NBA draft. He has since signed with an agent, Tony said.
A cluster of newspapers in Florida are asking Florida State and the NCAA to lift the veil of secrecy that's shrouding the ongoing academic-fraud case in Tallahassee.
Matt Hayes and Dave Curtis of The Sporting News list teams that are headed for a decline, and both list Boston College.
I happen to agree.
Bart Wright joins the Outliers craze and says Dabo Swinney could fit the bill.
Ron Morris of The State offers some illuminating context to South Carolina's accomplishment of finishing .500 or better in the three major sports, but he ignores this rather imposing elephant in the room:
Mark Bradley of the AJC reflects on ESPN's faint praise of Georgia Tech, and Jeff Schultz says no amount of success by the Yellow Jackets will eradicate the enormous shadow left by that school in Athens.
When Dan Radakovich came aboard as director of athletics, he and Hogan wanted the school’s programs to gain a bigger footprint on the landscape. If ever there was a window for that, it was this spring. The Jackets were coming off their best football season in years. They had beaten Georgia for the first time since 2000. A fan base that was somewhat divided behind Chan Gailey now is united behind Johnson.
But some things haven’t changed. Georgia fills 92,000 seats at Sanford Stadium and requires a donation of several thousand dollars just to be eligible for season tickets (which rarely are available). Tech can’t fill a 55,000-seat stadium. It averaged about 48,000 last year and its season-ticket base is 24,000. Most of the season tickets available for purchase won’t require a donation to the Tech fund.
And Dennis Dodd doesn't have high hopes for the Big Ten.
LW
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Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
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Larry Williams. Larry has covered the daily beat at Clemson since 2004. Williams, who worked for the Charleston Post & Courier from 2004-08, joined Tigerillustrated.com in November of 2008. He may be reached by email at ldubya08(at)gmail.com. Replace (at) with @.