^^^^^ Big part of the reason our offense looked so good that night (not floor spacing - Taine and Igor were essentially unknown before the game). Iowa is, and always has been under McCaffrey, an awful defensive team. Let’s remember that Iowa was 20-35 from 2PT (57%) and 10-21 from 3 (48%) that night and exposed a lot of flaws (12 fast break points - we used to go 3-4 games giving up that many fast break points). Very good thing Murray was hot, because he was utterly lost on D. And as to #2, it has been an issue all year - we haven’t gotten stops down the stretch.
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Man I’m just so bummed about it all lol.
Which is why the frustration about this being a lost season.
We are 178th in the country on defensive rating. The guys playing ain’t getting stops … and they can’t score either. At least the M’s have demonstrated they can get buckets.
And Igor has actually shown to be a plus defender - mostly because of his length and defensive rebounding prowess.
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Uh… no one loves Igor more than me, and he does have length, but during the OOC you could see he knew which part of the floor to be on and then process-of-elimination his way into who he should be guarding. His defensive stats might have been good, but he was the recipient of absolutely accidental blocks and steals.
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Where’s 178th in defensive rating coming from? Is it adjusted for opponent strength? KenPom has the D at #67, Torvik has it at #55.
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Not sure how “lost” the season will be until transfers happen. It may have an effect on Tony’s recruiting and coaching that are a net positive hereafter - just dunno.
Question whether Taine and Igor are proven bucket getters. Sample size is so small. In non-conference games, they shot the ball fairly well, but then for the most part they were getting time against the back part of the opponent’s bench and the opponents, outside of Providence and Iowa, weren’t very good. In conference, they mostly shot 3 balls late in the game and were not very effective at it (a combined 3-15). Nor can I make the same conclusion you reach with Igor about defensive rebounding prowess (although better than Kody’s no doubt).
Do I wish Tony had given them bigger roles - sure, but I’m not so frustrated that he didn’t . In my mind, the jury is still out on their ceilings (Joe Harris or Kody S) and some additional development time would have been nice, particularly in hindsight.
If we want to play “what if” games, what if we split Navy and JMU, lost twice to Duke, but beat Wake, NC State and FSU? We end up as the 4th seed - and are 20-12 going into the tournament. Is that a frustrating season?
I guess I’m not as sold as you and some others are on 2 of the Ms (love Carson but man, he was really tough to watch on defense and there isn’t enough other stuff in his offensive arsenal to make up for it - at this point in his career, who knows for the future)…
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It is not adjusted, he would have used that one but it doesn’t fit his narrative.
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I’m not sold either, I just wish we had seen more of the merchandise (to extend the analogy). Especially given how we actually finished.
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UVA -1.5
We are going on Facebook at 8 to talk NCAA and NIT. Hard to tell if our faithful posters listen. If you don’t listen in to the podcast, tell us why? Happy to make this easy for everyone to join in if possible. Love this group and want you involved.
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I’m a faithful podcast listener, because I get to listen when convenient. These are harder to fit around bed times, family dinners, house hunters international viewings. Etc.
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Agree with @chavlicek15 i try to listen to everything I can. But jumping on something live in the evenings can be tricky. I end up doing most of my listening during the day at work
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Ditto. Listen often but when I have free time. Love the content
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Thanks guys. It’s a good group on here.
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I think the most likely explanation is far more simple: the defense sucked this year. At the end of the regular season, we were 53rd nationally on offense (Bart Torvik) and in the 80s on defense (I’m ignoring the disaster of an acc tournament for now). That’s after significant sacrifices were made on offense. Players like Taine and Igor weren’t used so that something resembling a uva defense could emerge.
I also think that narratives stating that Taine and Igor may not develop into strong players since “all of our major contributors saw rotation minutes as freshman” are unfounded for this reason. Other freshman for the last decade have had much more help on the defensive side of the court. Ty and Kyle may not have played as freshman if the 2017 defense were this mediocre. The same may have held for London, Joe, and any other significant contributor who had weaknesses on defense as freshmen.
Just my two cents on the issue though.
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Coach’s Corner:
Thanks Havs - watching now - had a USTA practice last night. 
Miss State is a top 25 overall rebounding and offensive rebounding team - seems to be the key in this game.
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Rebounding has made or broke games in the past. It seems that this game will be no exception.