Any criticism of KK at this point is just plain ridiculous. Coming into the season, it was known that if Johnson didn’t return, we would struggle. No Johnson = not a good team. The kid was averaging close to 8 points per game, led us in assists and steals, and is an incredible on ball defender. In the press, he’s a monster. You’re looking at a 10-20 point swing minimum with him off the court. Think about that. His absence is requiring the guards to play more, and we’re very thin there already. Batts played well last night.
Prior to the UNC-G game, we had 2 losses: 1 to a top-25 team in Tennessee, and another to a Northern Iowa team that sits atop the MVC, has 3 losses, 2 of which were Villanova and UNC. And we’ve beaten 2 top 35 teams in Arizona and Penn St. AZ is only going to move up in the polls as they’ve finally getting healthy.
No Johnson = we’re in for a terrible season. With Johnson = we’ll be competitive in ACC games.
