As someone who has absolutely no idea as to how Bond’s game has developed/improved over his redshirt year I will be very disappointed if he is not playing 15 minutes a game by the end of next season. I really feel that his and Gertrude’s skill development combined with their athleticism in combination with the improvement from the other young guys will be key to UVA’s returning to the level of 2014-19.
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Let’s see if Reece comes back. If Reece returns, we’ve got 11 scholarship guys all with legit playing aspirations to some degree or another, someone is going to lose out.
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Throwing my hat in the ring, going to use “1, 2, 3, 4, 5” instead of PG, SG, SF etc
1: Harris 30, Rohde 10
2: McKneely 30, Eli 10
3: Rohde 20, Bond 20
4: Dunn 20, Groves 20
5: Minor 28, Buchanan 12
This has Rohde and Harris playing a bit more than I would like. If Reece comes back we get a bit more what I’d prefer.
1: Reece 28, Harris 12
2: McKneely 28, Gertrude 12
3: Rohde 25, Bond 15
4: Dunn 20, Groves 20
5: Minor 28, Buchanan 12
Overall, I think Dunn and Groves will see varying times depending on the matchup needs. For example, if the other team has really creative guys at the 2 and 3, we may want to have Bond on for defending those spots and throw Groves in at the 4 instead of Dunn.
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Please explain the logic of Gertrude playing more if Reece comes back which he won’t.
I think we will need to ride McKneely more if Reece does not come back was all
There are so many unknowns with next years team. I bet we will look very different at the end of the year compared to the beginning. I’m honestly excited for the possibilities and the growth of the players.
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So it would seem potentially as many as 4 All ACC caliber guys:
Reece (1st), Isaac (3rd) and Rohde (2nd or 3rd)
And Dunn - All ACC Defense
If Blake and Robinson are as good as people are saying - can they surpass Minor or Groves by January?
Hoping Gertrude is fully confident by December.
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I’m not getting too high on Robinson for this season despite the positive reports, still expecting a redshirt there.
I’m gonna make a semi-bold prediction though and say that BB starts at least 5 ACC games this year.
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Because he’s better or injury?
No way Reece comes back, don’t even start. He barely came back this year.
I really think we’ve got something special with him and that he’s gonna be our best offensive option at the 5 by mid season. Very much going out on a limb based on what’s been reported in practice and am also banking on Tony going defense for offense in the frontcourt which as we know rarely happens, but I think our potential is higher in March if we get BB some big PT against quality ACC teams.
Would be unprecedented, pretty sure a true freshman hasn’t started at the 5 for us since Tobey but I think it could happen this year. We’re gonna hit some bumps as our team gets acclimated to playing alongside each other, and those are typically the times when Tony likes to tinker with his lineups before settling on something going into the homestretch.
Minor has a career 58% FT percentage. He would be a significant liability in late game situations. Do we go small with Dunn and hope we can still get rebounds of missed shots? Is Blake strong enough to hold up inside? Outcome of our close games may be decided by answers to these questions.
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Yes. I like a closing lineup of Reece, Isaac Rohde, Dunn, Blake.
But Tony has actually done some defense for offense switching recently and could see Bond in for Isaac or Rohde in a must defensive stop possession.
And then for offense go - Reece, Isaac, Rohde, Jake, Blake/Dunn
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I want to see a ln occasional lineup of Beekman, Gertrude, Bond, Dunn, and Buchanan. Spacing would probably suck but that’s so much length and athleticism I wouldn’t care
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I’ll ask the question on this board as it was asked on Le Sabre earlier: " Which player is everyone looking forward to seeing the most?"
If I’m only choosing one then I am excited to see how BOND does. He has had one year on campus, fully healthy, fully bought in, has been able to practice as well.
My second would be a tie between Rohde and Gertrude.
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Great question, and I’m tempted to agree with Bond, but I think I’ll go with Dunn.
Can he go from “flashes of brilliance” to more consistency? Can he become a legit offensive weapon?
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Harris… I love quick, penetrating PGs. Hopefully, he’s a good finisher too. Yes, I know this sounds dirty…
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I’ll also add with regards to Bond- what I’m hoping he could be is a *contributor at the level of Dunn last year, except on the perimeter. If he does then that will help cover some holes defensively or atleast to be another option in the Reece mold perhaps.
Now- since he played in the front court in highschool is his foot speed not as quick as we’d hoped and therefore will he be relegated to the front court in college too?..
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A lot of good answers here. Rhode and Gertrude for me
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So many good possible answers. I’ll think I’ll go with Dunn too for the same reasons @haney gave. I’m also looking forward to seeing what Reece looks like when the team context is really calling for him to try to get up towards 22-25% usage.
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