At this level, he’s a superior defender. That factors in his height and length, which has an undeniable effect in altering shots. In past years, he couldn’t hedge and recover but last year became fully competent in that regard. He isn’t as strong as some of the bigger post players, but he proved by the end of last year strong enough to absorb some contact. Even if he gets pushed back a bit, he still affects shots with his length. His footwork has improved and he, like other well-schooled UVA bigs has learned to stay vertical and not slap foul. He’s no Akil Mitchell, but I think he can now hold his own with any big at the college level. His rim protection against any penetration makes him an outstanding defender at this level, but I don’t think it all came together until late last year, similar to Diakite two years ago.
Decided to break a recruiting. Who do you think can play on the FT line against Syracuse’s zone next year? Our guards are small. Jabri and McKoy are inexperienced. I think those 2 and Murphy can do it in 21. Tomas maybe. What do you think?
Great question. Tomas maybe, but not sure he has the playmaker ability to create a pass, or potentially drive. Sam or Jay would be where I’d look. Sam can knock down the mid-range consistently and with Jay roaming the baseline it would keep teams honest, esp if you have a few shooters on the outside.
Hauser is probably the obvious choice. Huff wouldn’t be a bad option either but you want him behind the defense working the baseline for screens and lobs if Cuse leaves that door open.
The reason I didn’t include Hauser is because I want him on the perimeter to hit an open 3 if they leave him (or Tomas) open if they
collapse on the guy at the FT line.
That’s a great point and would love to capitalize on Sam’s spot up 3 point ability. But from what I’ve seen so far, I think you get a larger net gain by letting Tomas being the spot up player and Sam the decision maker, but that could have changed after summer workouts and development.
Especially if we’re playing Hauser at the four, which I expect us to, him playing in the middle makes a lot of sense. With Kihei, Tomas, and whoever among Casey/Kody/jabri/Reece/Carson, we should still be able to stretch the floor effectively. Could even sneak Huff out the back door of the zone for a spot up in the corner if we’re desperate to spread the floor.
Great question to follow up on - who was the best ever at UVa for playing the FT line against the 'cuse? I pick Dre, with Malcolm a close second.
Ty ripped them apart in the second half playing the FT line
For that 1 half Ty was the best for sure for me
Ty gets my vote. His playmaking ability was killer.
Boy had some OniOns…
Do you guys know what the current players are doing this summer with the coaches? I know they call it skill development. Do you know whether they play pick up games among themselves? It would be good for Carson and Reese to go head to head with Clark and Casey to get a taste of what big time defense is.
That’s a good J Willy show question. Relatedly, has anyone thrown a ball at Kihei’s head yet like Ty did one summer?
all i know is they have been doing things in groups of 8. not sure if that group changes day by day or not. We will get the scoop from Jay
They been playing pick up. Im not sure if that should be shared or not. I cant say more but everyone is healthy but not in great basketball shape. The only people I have not heard anything about is Carson and Kadin. Not for any particular reason. I just havent heard anything about them.
So what do we think the odds are of a basketball season at this point? I had assumed for a while there would be alterations to the schedule but the threat of missing it all is suddenly getting all too real with football crumbling.
I go back and forth. A lot can change over a few months and the logistical challenges for basketball is a lot less than football. I think it’s possible they work our a bubble system for conference play and eventually a tournament
I think the chances of a season are quite high. Cases are starting to decline in all the states with recent spikes and have remained low in states like New York that had early outbreaks. In three months case curves will appear far less scary and there will be a vaccine approved and available by year end
Assuming ppl have seen this…