Six 'starters'? Only best have enough talent

One statement Roy Williams and Mike Krzyzewski both made over the last few days illustrates why North Carolina and Duke are the ACC’s only top-10 teams.

“I feel like I have six starters,” Williams said Saturday.

“We have six guys who really are deserving of starting,” Krzyzewski said Monday.

Duke’s sixth guy is wing Jon Scheyer, who is second on the team in minutes per game, averages 10.7 points and is shooting 42 percent from 3-point range. North Carolina’s No. 6 is Danny Green, whose 12.7 points per game rank fourth on the team and 24 3-pointers rank second.

Both were McDonald’s All-Americans as high school seniors. As you look around the ACC, there are a lot of coaches who would love to have somebody as talented as Scheyer or Green in their starting lineup.

N.C. State and Georgia Tech don’t appear to have effective options at point guard. Wake Forest doesn’t have a reliable wing shooter. Florida State played four guys at least 47 minutes in a double-overtime game Saturday at Clemson, and Virginia Tech doesn’t have a reliable big man.
Six starters? That’s a luxury only the teams at the top of the conference possess.

– Ken Tysiac