I think the backcourt of Femi and Horton is going to be quite a bit better than you are anticipating starting in 5 days. That doesn't include Burton or Mintz who's Oak Hill team has been winning games by 50 so far this year with Mintz the driving force in the backcourt. Oak Hill is one of the very few heavy favorites to win the National Title and they are going to pound teams all season long.
The players like Collier, Oladapo, Ezeakudo, Im not high on any of these players. Our backup point guard played almost 13 minutes against Gannon and was a +1 in the game. That would never happen with Burton or Mintz on the floor. He shouldn't even be playing but with Burton out and no Mintz because he isn't here, he did. Femi is going to play heavy minutes this year to offset this.
John Hugley is the biggest key. If he is going to play at a Terrell Brown level like he did against Gannon, then, we are in some serious trouble I agree. I don't expect that to happen at all, and I do predict he will bounce back starting next game. I called for him to be one of the top breakout players in the ACC previously. He has to be much better and the team needs him to be an inside presence. The team had 7 total turnovers and he was responsible for 4 of those. That cant happen any more where one player has over half the entire teams turnovers like he just did.
I am not the biggest Nike Sibande fan as a player. He is a respectable player. Had Burton been healthy, Im not sure Sibande would even be a starter this year over the course of the season. Burton is far better on the defensive end of the basketball and this team will be dependent on defense to win games this year. I predicted Pitt to be in a lot of close games this year, against good teams and bad, because of our defense.
My biggest wildcard preseason was Nate Santos and his shooting ability. As a true freshmen, we are going to get plenty of good looks at him early on. We desperately need his shooting. He has showcased high level shooting both in the past and preseason at Pitt in practice. Now on a far bigger stage as a freshmen, he has to actually make them in real games.
We will see, if any, how much Jeffress improves this year. He should be better than last year, but I'm not offering any prediction of how much.
As for Chris Payton, he had 3 rebounds, 2 points on 1-2 shooting, and 1 assist and 0 turnovers in a little over 8 minutes. As a backup to Gueye, that production was just fine, especially on the glass.
5 days. We'll start to know a lot more in real live action.
As for Buchanan...
He has shown the ability to play at a high level in the past but consistency is the name of the game to be a good or great player. At the DMV live earlier this summer, you can see his name at the top of scoring column over other 4 and 5 star players like Cam Whitmore who just committed to Villanova not long ago. When Buchanan makes shots, he can be really good. He just has to be much better at making them consistently. We'll see what kind of senior season he has. He has the tools to be a real quality player in time.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E5BtPXVWYAEy6T_?format=jpg&name=medium
