(The miniseries continues. Read the previous installment here.)

I can’t wait for the Dino Gregory era down low.  Sure, he wasn’t a world beater last year, but he came on late and worked hard on his game over the summer.  What’s not to like? 

Suspen-what?  OHHHHHHHHHHH.  The sus-PENNNNN-sionnnnn.

Right, right, right, right, right.

Well, that puts a bit of a damper on the expectations now, doesn’t it?   So as we wait, and wait, on news (and the season starts Friday, so it can’t be THAT much longer), I am of two minds on this.

On the one hand, it’s unfortunate. Duh.  I wasn’t really buying all this talk that he had become some kind of offensive force in the offseason (although I’m sure he improved somewhat), but even so he was the consummate puzzle piece for the team.  He was all hustle, all heart, all dirty work.  No glory, no nothing.  When you’ve got the piercing electric guitar that is Greivis Vasquez, you need a bass player to round out the sound.  Dino has shown he can do that.  He could be the Bobby Dahl to Vasquez’s C.C. Deville.  So in that sense, his missing time (if, in fact, he does) is unfortunate.

But on the bright side, it’ll give the young bucks some seasoning time.   Worst case scenario on Gregory seems to be that he’ll miss the fall semester, returning in December.  So he’ll miss some big games (Cincinnati, Villanova, Indiana, etc.), but won’t miss a second of ACC action.  So hopefully, this gives Padgett a chance to hone his game, and Jordan Williams a chance to play his way into top shape, and suddenly we’re a frontcourt to be reckoned with when we open against Florida State.  I predict Mike Gminski repeatedly saying things like ”these young guys aren’t freshmen anymore,” and so on.

So maybe it’s a blessing in disguise, especially if Dino really did work on his game that much over the offseason, and if he stays in shape during the extended suspension that I presume is forthcoming. In the meantime, I’ll slot him in as a rotation guy.