I see some strong reactions from the press availability with Heather, and I would just suggest to take it in stride and for what it was. Nothing meaningful or significant there. What can she say? It is a really tough spot and it was always just going to be 20-30 minutes of fantasy. Just the reality of it. The only reason a move was not made was the buyout. Not so much the money, but just as much as the lack of support to make such a move. They have the money, but not the support. Meaning, the thought of using that kind of money to just make a coach go away was too much to stomach. The thought process was that this is basically rock bottom, so why not see if he can get out of it? Again, this is just the reality of the situation. Not my thoughts. Heather is very aware of the situation and embarrassed by it.
There were some suggestions made on how to handle the staff, but I do not expect anything to change. Like I have said before, not even sure how much it would help at this point. This situation is basically another reset for Capel, so he has zero pressure to make a change. Especially where it is needed the most.
The Hugley return is a huge one. Kind of sets the floor for this program and team moving forward into this offseason. That was the one that you can't lose. Now you have a large piece to build around. The challenge is to find pieces around him that fit and take pressure off. There is a lot of trust in this relationship, and John is counting on a better roster around him.
It sounds like William and Nate will be back, which is a bit of a surprise to me. Femi and Ithiel are still up in the air. So no real surprises yet, but I would not be surprised to see one more departure.
As expected, there is a lot of talent out there in the transfer portal already. Nelly Cummings makes a lot of sense. I would expect a big push there. Just like every other year, you can build a team in the portal. Just have to do your homework and know why the player is leaving. Not what the player says, but all of the people around the situation. Once you figure out the why, then it is about the who. Who is this player and how do they fit? The challenge here is that you can't really mold your team until you figure out what it is going to look like. You can have a vision and a plan for your program on how you want it to look, but then it's another thing to actually fulfill that. So do they have a plan and are looking for specific players to fill that role? Or are they just taking who they can get and then trying to piece it together. Really hope it is the former. There are so many good players out there from all levels that can serve a role in the ACC.
There were some suggestions made on how to handle the staff, but I do not expect anything to change. Like I have said before, not even sure how much it would help at this point. This situation is basically another reset for Capel, so he has zero pressure to make a change. Especially where it is needed the most.
The Hugley return is a huge one. Kind of sets the floor for this program and team moving forward into this offseason. That was the one that you can't lose. Now you have a large piece to build around. The challenge is to find pieces around him that fit and take pressure off. There is a lot of trust in this relationship, and John is counting on a better roster around him.
It sounds like William and Nate will be back, which is a bit of a surprise to me. Femi and Ithiel are still up in the air. So no real surprises yet, but I would not be surprised to see one more departure.
As expected, there is a lot of talent out there in the transfer portal already. Nelly Cummings makes a lot of sense. I would expect a big push there. Just like every other year, you can build a team in the portal. Just have to do your homework and know why the player is leaving. Not what the player says, but all of the people around the situation. Once you figure out the why, then it is about the who. Who is this player and how do they fit? The challenge here is that you can't really mold your team until you figure out what it is going to look like. You can have a vision and a plan for your program on how you want it to look, but then it's another thing to actually fulfill that. So do they have a plan and are looking for specific players to fill that role? Or are they just taking who they can get and then trying to piece it together. Really hope it is the former. There are so many good players out there from all levels that can serve a role in the ACC.
