I mostly just wanted to use this gif - I don’t necessarily disagree that strongly, and I have literally zero desire to be down on Kihei. But I do think somebody can step into that spot and give us a contribution that is at least close to as helpful to the success of the team. We can find somebody who shoots over 40% from the field, can score occasionally at the rim, and defends his position well (without giving up height on that end), plus they might be able to spread the floor somewhat if they can hit the three consistently. We desperately need spacing and a better fit besides Reece. Will they be as effective a distributor? Probably not with no experience in the system, but they can help in other ways.
But, I mean, we’ll see. Maybe I’m totally wrong. I just don’t see the metrics or anything that make me share the opinion that Kihei has put up a particularly unique season that a solid D1 player can’t equal. Look at BartTrovik’s player analysis stats and stuff, like PRPG! and BPM. Maybe there’s something out there I haven’t seen - I don’t know where to find win-shares and stuff like that.
Anyway, more importantly, I hope Kihei goes out on the highest of high notes and leads us to an NIT championship. Would be a cool way to bookend his career here.
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My contention is mainly that 4th year Clark’s contribution will be replaced by someone(s) who has basically never played high major college ball. His play hasn’t been special or anything, but he’s still at the HM All-ACC level, so a top 20-25 player in a 15 team league. 2nd best player on an average team.
Whether it’s Murray, McKneeley, Johnson or an unexpected transfer, what can you reasonably expect from them? Freshman Beekman/Perrentes/Guy/Jerome? Redshirt Sophomore Hall? Junior transfer Franklin? None of those seasons exactly lit the world on fire and none were as good as Clark was this year.
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It’s not about being better than Kihei as an individual, it’s about how they can fit with Reece in terms of play style and how the new addition’s dynamic changes the spacing and movement on the floor.
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Did you read my original comment at all?
Yeah I agree with HooAndTrue
Also 1st Year Ty and Kyle both had BPMs that were above 5.0 which I believe only Reece and Kadin have this year. They obviously got much better as the years went on but they immediately fit perfectly into our system
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Nope. didn’t see it cross-posted.
It was quoted. Said team could be better, but Clark’s replacement wouldn’t individually play better than Clark. So your point was to disagree with me by saying what I already said?
nah i Think we are saying the same thing
2017 Jarred Reuter had a 3.4 BPM. Are you even remotely going to try to say that he was individually more productive that season than Gardner was this season? Do you trust BPM as a rankings stat like that?
Well, a lot of that value comes from the difference between being the 2nd best defensive team in the country and the 50-something best defensive team in the country, and that’s going to sprinkle out to everyone to varying degrees. And beyond that, Reuter hit 58% of his 2s and 76% of his FTs while taking a higher% of shots than Kihei.
Note I compared Reuter’s 3.4 to Gardner’s 3.3. I’m taking Reuter’s BPM number from BBRef btw. I have no idea what the formula differences between that and this are. I didn’t even notice Reuter was on this chart here.
Funny stuff from BBRef actually. Austin Nichols had a 5.8 from his one game.
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Totally fair. Don’t think we’re too far apart.
Probably going to be a huge part of why replacing Kihei is an upgrade even if the player isn’t as good individually. We were just so small this year. Also why I am not a fan of what seems to be the mainstream opinion of starting Franklin and McKneely together as the 2-3. We need to get some size back in the lineup to help with our defensive and rebounding issues.
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Really doesn’t make sense to have Reece, Isaac M, Franklin and Gardner in the same rotation. Would make much more sense to have rotations that actually fit together like this:
Reece, Isaac M, Milicic, Gardner, Shedrick.
Reece, Franklin, Murray, Traudt, Papi
Isaac M, Franklin, Milicic, Bond, Shedrick
That 2nd lineup would work, and isn’t far from the one we used to get the 2nd half run against MdU.
But the first… I just doubt Milicic can guard an ACC grade 3 at this point, and the 3rd lineup… I just don’t trust Franklin’s ball-handling and creation abilities. Against MSU, he was almost surprisingly bad at doing anything with the ball in his hands and earlier in the season I remember being underwhelmed as well.
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Good observation about Franklin … assuming current roster plus current signees … and only playing scholarship guys … what rotation would you put out there when Reece is on the bench?
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CTB wants two ball handlers out there as much as possible, right? If Traudt can’t play point forward (and he’s great, but I don’t think he can), then it’s probably going to be 5-10 min of Poindexter.
Unless Murray or Milicic can do it. Milicic is a long shot, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Murray could do it. I might be ok with a McNeeley-Murray backcourt (from a ball handling standpoint) for a few minutes.
Edit - If I had to bet, I’d say 70% chance we’ll see a lot of Poindexter. Maybe CTB puts him on scholarship?
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He is on scholarship. Lets see going forward.
I am as excited as anyone about the new M but havent seen him handle enough to have an opinion if he is that guy yet. Getting Reece!! some semblance of rest may be tough to do ala Kihei couple years ago
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Not a fan of anyone playing more than 32-33 minutes… Clark has played more minutes per game the last 3 years than anyone in Uva history… it’s tiring and guys don’t try as hard on defense knowing fouls will bench them. Jerome even talked about not trying as hard on helpside layups in first halves so he wouldn’t get benched with 2 fouls.
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