They will be an NCAA tournament team even if they supremely disappoint us. Jordan and Harrison will be too good. The bigs will be too experienced to not at least get there. The problem is that just getting there should have happened this year. We all expected this core to be Final Four contenders next season , but that doesn't look too likely right now.
We need some production form the SF position. We can' play teams four on five. Either we need a shooting threat or we need a do-everything guy to create and prolong possessions. If Lavor Postell was on this roster, we would be playing in the Elite Eight...but Lavor Postell is not walking through that door.
Dom has to go or be a fixture at the end of the bench. Bring in Antoine Mason and give him 30 minutes at the three. If not, my boy Felix has to get the nod. He's composed, he's always under control, he understands positioning, he is much better defender than Dom, he can hit an open three, and he hustles like nobody we've had since Ced. I like what he does on the baseline...I love his understanding of angles (maybe he was a soccer player?) and I love he follows everything. We need that so bad. Dom is shot...he's soft...he reaches and gambles, he doesn't get low on defense...he's awful on offense....he's never under control...and he hates contact.
Next.
Harrison to Balamou dunkAll we need to see between Dom and Balamou here. Both coming down on the wings...Dom jogs to the three point line while Balamou sprints to the three point line, recognizes the backdoor wide open and alerts Harrison of the alley-oop. Dom plays 20+ minutes per game and is a world-class athlte...how many of these have wee seen from him this year? Two or three in the wide open court maybe. He doesn't have this type of IQ. Of course he celebrates like an idiot afterwards.
Double-block by Balamou against South Carolina. Notice the positioning and awareness of his man on defense while he goes for the block. Dom is simply not capable of that. He would have completely forgotten his man, charged at the kid for a foul and left his man for a layup.