Because of the versatility Reece, Dunn, Bond, and Rohde provide everyone is in a competition. Can fit those guys as the 1-4, 2-5, or any combo between.
110-120 minutes likely being taken up by Reece, Isaac, Dunn, and Minor. 80-90 remaining for whoever else can grab them. Can make the positions work as needed given the ability to move Reece, Isaac, and Dunn around (Rohde too if he wins one of the remaining rotation spots). Important thing is for the best 3-4 guys to get those remaining 80-90 minutes
I think it would be very hard on Bond or Harris, both of whom just sat out a year, if they donāt get meaningful minutes this year. For that reason both will be given plenty of audition time in Nov/Dec, and I expect both of them will play well enough to seize solid roles beyond that, even if both are coming off the bench.
Going with a clear top 6 of the three returning rotation players (Beekman, Imac, and RD), two grad transfer bigs (Groves and Minor), and Rohde (high priority perimeter transfer at a position of huge need).
Groves is 6ā7ā and is the only player on the roster outside of RD with any experience defending/rebounding against high major bigs. Heāll play a ton early. I could see a RD-Groves frontcourt starting game one, and I actually think that Dunnās role is extremely safe while Minor will have to earn his as he gets used to high major competition.
After that top 6, Harris will certainly have a role as the backup point guard (Rohde as the backup point guard over Harris is unrealistic in my opinion), and I think that both Leon and Murray will be given every opportunity to earn bench roles early. Leon probably has a pretty high likelihood of claiming RDās bench defender role from last year. On Murray, Iām worried that Gertrudeās knee will prevent him from claiming a role this year. This is usually a two year injury to fully recover (different sport but look at how bad Ronald Acuna was last year), and EG wonāt be able to practice in the same way this summer and fall. Therefore, I think Murray keeps a bench role.
So Iām going with an 9 man rotation of Reece, Imac, Rohde, Dunn, Minor, Groves, Harris, Leon, and Murray with the first five being starters by the end of the year. Both Leon and Murray will be in sub 15 minute roles.
Donāt want to completely discount Taine but I have a hard time seeing him ahead of Gertrude and Bond. And there already might not be room for either of those guys in the rotation if we stick at 8
To be clear, I donāt think āmake a transfer harderā is a good reason to play guys a single minute rather than 0 minutes. But I also think that assuming we are talking about something reasonable like, play everyone at least a little bit (like ~5 minutes against cupcakes and ~1-2 minutes in blowouts), for umpteen million reasons, then you are doing what 90%+ or so of peer schools do each and every year, so there isnāt any reputational risk.
If we want to talk about reputational risk, letās talk about the reputational risk of the associate HC (who we all love! No joke, heās great!) getting a call from a local beat writer who wants to write an article about redshirting, and not immediately yelling āNo commentā and slamming the receiver down several times. I think our program should give some more thought to that reputational risk.
Iām in the camp that folks are generally underestimating how much time Bond will get. Yes heāll be a redshirt freshman, but he will bring a ton of versatility on the defensive end and people underestimate where he is on offense. His three point shot isnāt there yet, but within the arc he can do quite a bit. I think heāll at least have a role similar to what Dunn had this past year. So not huge, but meaningful minutes.
Yeah that seems fine. Thatās what I mean by āopportunity to earn minutesā; thatās the starting point of PT expectations for the deep bench guys, and they have a chance to earn more, but itās not guaranteed. Thatās pretty much what happened recently with the 3 Ms and Kody, right?
One interesting question is to try and imagine how friggin sick Bond may have looked if he were playing in the Summit last year. My guess is heād have looked rather sick.
Iām not sure if folks who value Rohdeās experience over Bondās no experience are: (1) just not imagining that world at all so have no thoughts about how friggin sick that would have been, (2) just value any experience over no experience, or (3) are imagining that world, and substantively disagree with me about how friggin sick it would have been for Leon Bond to have been teabagging Conner Vanover on the reg.
2 addendums:
yes, I understand the hope is Rohde can shoot it at an ACC+ level
there is some direct Rohde v Bond action out there for the hudl-heads, and Rohde actually held his own, tbh
Thus far in the thread I feel like Bond is the most forgotten man (competing with Eli, but Fresh keeps him in our sights), and Rohde is whatever youād call the opposite end of that spectrum (the most remembered? no, thatās stupid, I sound like an idiot). Which is to say Iām not as confident as many that Rohde is a major contributor this year, and Iām more confident than most that Bond is firmly in the rotation.
I think Bond is going to be a fun player to watch and I want him on the court this season as much as possible, but can someone explain Leon Bond at the 4 to me? Heās 6ā5" and weighs 200. Iāll be generous and guestimate that heās put on 15 pounds of muscle after the RS year, but heād still be 15 pounds lighter than Jayden was at basically the same height.
Bond at the 4 in a Hamptons 5 type lineup? Iām all for that, but Iām not getting my hopes up for the Lawn Residents (or whatever you wanna call the UVa Death Lineup) being used all that often.
Edit: The Corner 5 is a better name, and I immediately regret typing the Lawn Residents.
Rotation is hard because it can go so many different ways. Worked through it like 5 times since Reece announced his return and I get a different result each time based on what I use as the starting point. Think all we can really say for sure is Reece, McKneely, and Minor are safe bets and some combo of Dunn and Bond will see at least 30 minutes. Everything else is up for grabs
So we would have been really, really, really bad had Reece not come back? Because a lot was hinging on Rohde in that scenario but I didnāt see people expressing this sort of concern then.
Honestly this just feels like setting the stage to complain about line-ups when Rohde is getting run early this season. I do think Bond will be good, but Iām just scratching my head at this line of conversation.
Hereās the 4 in each ACC teamās most played lineup last season:
Duke - Filipowski
Miami - Miller
UNC - Nance
NC State - Clark/Gantt
Clemson - Tyson/Schiefflin depending on how you categorize them
Pitt - Hinson
VT - Mutts
Wake - Carr/Bobi
Cuse - Williams
ND - Goodwin
GT - Coleman
BC - Aligbe/McGlockton/Penha (idk they played a lot of lineups)
FSU - Cleveland
Louisville - Withers
Not too many giant 4s in there, right? And some guys in there where I think weād be happier with Bond on the matchup than someone bigger but slower.
Averaging 17 ppg as a FRESHMAN in any Division 1 league is not something to sneeze at, so I think Rohde will be more than good enough at our level. And I for one am not discounting Bond at all. I expect him to play meaningful minutes and have a positive impact.
