I had initially thought about including this news in my Sunday links, but decided it was actually worth a full post upon further review.

For those who follow ACC basketball (as I hope you all do if you read this blog), you probably already know that former Duke guard Elliot Williams announced he would be leaving Durham because of family medical reasons. He has already picked a new school and, as many predicted, that school is Memphis. Williams is a huge get for new coach Josh Pastner, but that is not what I want to focus on.

As you may remember last season, Williams, a freshman, began the season out of coach Mike Krzyzewski’s rotation, but eventually replaced now-departed Greg Paulus as the starting point guard and performed admirably.

After registering a DNP on February 15 against Boston College, Williams averaged 7.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.0 assists per game, all while being asked to bring the ball up and guard the opponent’s best perimeter player. Most pundits thought he would build on his stellar finish to the freshman campaign and take over the starting point guard job for the Blue Devils full time, but now he is gone.

How does that affect the Terrapin men’s basketball team? Read on to find out.

With Williams gone, the Blue Devils will rely on a combination of rising junior Nolan Smith and rising senior Jon Scheyer in their backcourt. Williams’ departure gives the Terps arguably the best back-court in the ACC (give an assist to uber-recruit John Wall for not choosing an ACC school).

Take a look at what each team lost and who their best three guards are for next season (keep in mind these are just guards):

Maryland

Loses: I may be mistaken, but I don’t remember Dave Neal being a guard

Best three: Greivis Vasquez, Eric Hayes, Adrian Bowie

Duke

Loses: Gerald Henderson (NBA Draft), Elliot Williams (Transfer), Greg Paulus (Graduation/football at Syracuse)

Best three: Nolan Smith, Jon Scheyer, Martynas Pocius

Boston College

Loses: Tyrese Rice (graduation)

Best three: Rakim Sanders, Biko Paris, Reggie Jackson

Clemson

Loses: KC Rivers (graduation), Terrence Oglesby (left to play in Europe)

Best three: Demontez Stitt, Tanner Smith, incoming freshman Donte Hill

Florida State

Loses: Toney Douglas (NBA Draft), Brian Hoff (graduation)

Best three: Luke Loucks, Derwin Kitchen, incoming freshman Michael Snaer

Georgia Tech

Loses: Lewis Clinch, Ty Anderson, Gary Cage (all graduation)

Best three: Iman Shumpert, Maurice Miller, incoming freshman Mfon Udofia

Miami

Loses: Jack McClinton (NBA Draft), Lance Hurdle (graduation), Ryan Quigtar (graduation)

Best three: Eddie Rios (if he can stay un-suspended), transfer Malcolm Grant, incoming freshman Durand Scott

North Carolina

Loses: Ty Lawson (NBA Draft), Bobby Frasor (graduation), Wayne Ellington (NBA Draft), Jack Wooten (graduation)

Best three: Marcus Ginyard, Larry Drew II, incoming freshman Dexter Strickland

N.C. State

Loses: Courtney Fells, Farnold Degand (both to graduation)

Best three: Javier Gonzalez, Julius Mays, incoming freshman Lorenzo Brown

Virginia

Loses: Mamadi Diane (graduation)

Best three: Sylven Landesburg, Sammy Zeglinski, Calvin Baker

Virginia Tech

Loses: A.D. Vassallo (graduation)

Best three: Malcolm Delaney, Hank Thorns, Dorenzo Hudson

Wake Forest

Loses: Jeff Teague (NBA Draft), Harvey Hale, , Jimmy McQuilkin, Mike Lepore, (all to graduation)

Best three: Gary Clark, Ishmael Smith, L.D. Williams
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Scan the list and you can see, the only teams close to competing with the Terps for the best guard groupings are Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Virginia, and Virginia Tech, and that is assuming that ballyhooed freshmen Udofia and Strickland live up to potential. If Williams had stayed, the Blue Devils would probably be right up there in that group as well.

Also consider that the Terps can also run out rising sophomore Sean Mosley who is almost sure to improve offensively, and the streaky Cliff Tucker. If you expand to the best five guards there is no doubt Gary Williams club is the deepest.

Granted we knew that, with Vasquez back, the Terps would be stacked at the guard position. The real problem still remains in the depleted front-court where the Terps will need incoming freshmen James Padgett and Jordan Williams to grow up in a hurry.

But it is still nice to know the foundation is strong with an impressive stable of ball-handlers.

lemairedbk@gmail.com

This entry was posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 8:17 pm and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.