Saw that one, takes a few moving parts (leaving Houston) and would require the Pacers to open their wallets which they haven’t been big on. Also They’d have to redo their entire roster to play his style, not sure what that would mean for Brogdon.
Just read the article on UVa this season in the Athletic. It is awesome!! Check it out if you can.
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I read it first thing this morning. Eamonn does a great job with his UVa coverage. But he really outdid himself this time. That is really a first-rate breakdown of our squad.
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When Justin McKoy was describing the work he put in this summer on the JWilly show…
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“over 500 shots a day”
“worked on my shot nonstop”
“worked my defensive slides as much as I could”
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The guy is gonna be golden for us one day. Super hard worker and tremendous attitude. Love it.
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That was a great interview. I’m pulling hard for McKoy - seems like just a great kid.
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I see him as maybe an Isaiah Wilkins type guy if ya know what I mean. Might be off, but that’s my initial opinion
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Glue Guy for sure but I think he has a higher offensive ceiling. The few times he was on the court he seemed hesitant and afraid to be aggresive/make a mistake like wilkins was a few times as well. Hope with more game reps and confidence in his hard work over the summer, he unleashes himself. I think he can also play on the perimeter even though he is a stretch 4 in our offense.
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I just love the look of joy on his face and his energy on the bench last year. How could anyone not love this guy!
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I believe his offensive ceiling is much higher. He was hesitant last year but once a couple of short jumpers fall for him I think we will have another offensive threat on the court
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Not sure we beat UNC in Cville without Caffaro & McKoy stepping up.
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I would think Tony might say, a number of guys in this group need work defensively.
This is the first season in memory that I’m concerned more about defense that our ability to score consistently.
Much better athlete than Wilkins. And his shooting range and versatility of ways to score is superior. Same work ethic…indeed!
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Let me preface this with this: I view myself as MEGA a UVA hoops optimist. However, I don’t see why everyone is so sure we’re going to score so much more than last year. Hauser will get his, but it could be less ppg than at Marquette. That would replace roughly Mamadi’s ppg. The first years have loads of potential, but so did Casey (I know their burdens aren’t as large as his was last season) and he didn’t score. I believe Kihei can be great, and some players may make a leap, but relying on first years for consistent points at uva is kind of unrealistic in my opinion.
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Couple things I believe (but could be very wrong when it plays out)
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Morsell will not shoot as poorly as he did last year. His three point shooting towards the end of the season was an upward trend and he has shown solid shooting both in AAU and US camp. I think the work over the summer gets him over the hump and he can become a 30-35% three point shooter on the season which still leaves room for improvement but is much better than last year.
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Reece Beekman will no doubtedly struggle with his shot but once he gets comfortable (whether it be after a few games a la London or midseason like Ty Jerome) he will show glimpses of the floor general that made Tony go all in on him. Having another ball handler will also help rest kihei some and maybe not make him feel like he has to force everything which will lead to the turnovers.
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Floor spacing with Hauser will be HUGE. Once Woldo and Morsell picked up the 3pt shooting we saw how Huff and Mamadi took advantage with the space inside due to respecting our shooters. Imagine the spacing with a 4 out 1 in style offense and how much space there will be for the screeners to slip into in the continuous ball screen sets. Also I am a McCorkle believer. Dude is mad underrated even with the foot injury.
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I am also a firm believer Jabri Abdur Rahim would have been Tony’s first consensus 5* recruit if he had not been out almost the entire season due to his foot injury. Yes freshmen take time to adjust and go through rough patches, but we also have never had an offensively polished talent as Abdur Rahim #40ballbri. He will need to develop defensively but I also think his offense will allow us to be slightly more lenient with growing through the rough patches. Of course Tony is a very conservative coach and won’t abandon his principles, but he will also have to adjust. What makes a great coach is how he adapts to the players he has.
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Maybe we run a little more, especially with Reece’s full court vision, stattmann’s ability to finish in transition and more shooters who can spot up for the open 3 against unset defenses, as well as Tony showing a little more openess to run when our offense is struggling vs set defenses.
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Last year’s ball movement was actually fine. We generated a lot of open looks and missed a lot more than we made. This year we will have better shooters taking those shots.
idk
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Quite simply the offense just can’t stay at the same level with the quality of our coaching staff and level of talent. It would’ve been the worst offense of the KenPom era to receive an at large bid (unless we won the ACCT). Hauser has a higher career 3% than Kyle did on basically the same number of attempts. Reece will help Kihei with ball handling and allow him to get some rest. That should drastically cut our turnover %. Just those two improvements should conservatively move us up to a top 100 offense from 230 or whatever we finished last year. Throw in normal growth from the other returners and some sort of impact from Jabri and/or Carson and I think it’s easy to see a top 50 offense. Getting to a top 10-20 level offense will probably depend on how much Jay and Casey improve. Those are the two guys who can make the team special.
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I think McCoy may have a similar career/ role as his coach J Willy did back in the day.
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