I love Casey Morsell. However, always heard what an athlete he would be coming in. It is like how 4 is to 1 in comparison to Elijah, in raw athleticism
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Yeah Iām not sure itās possible. Thereās only so many minutes to go around, somebodyās gonna be unhappy. Blake and Elijah are hotshot freshmen who come in expecting to compete. Bond and Harris just took a whole year off and arenāt going to be eager to do so again. Groves and Minor arenāt āattrition risks,ā but guys who come here with only 1 year certainly expect to be playing. Rohde didnāt choose UVA thinking heāll have a bit role. Taine has put in the work and will be unhappy if heās been recruited over. Dunn and IMK are surely thinking theyāll step up from what they got last year. And Reece didnāt pass up NBA 2-way money to be anything less than our 35-minute centerpiece.
Iām sure everyone has been told theyāll have to compete for minutes, and the guys accept that, but accepting that when you think youāll win that competition is different from accepting it after you find out you lost.
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Reeceās return takes some of the pressure off this for me. Without him, this is a team that would be playing with house money because of youth, and so the goal would be to keep the talented core together for a run next year. Thatās still the goal in part, but with Reece this is a team that would be a real threat to make a run. (That said, I hope Reece displaces Harrisā minutes more than higher-upside guys like Gertrude and Rohde.)
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It wasnāt me but I agree with it. It depends a lot on the mindset of the student athlete when they come in. If they are hyper-focused on playing pro basketball, then the college life aspects probably arenāt going to matter much. If they are more attuned to general life experiences of a late teen/young adult, then those things will matter. Jay Huff and Leon Bond are good examples and Iām sure there are many others. Brogdon was unique in that he was hyper-focused on the academic side of things, more than most any student, let alone student-athlete.
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It is crazy how much it has all changed. Back in the day athletes were very much a part of the student body etc. now everything is so seperated Guys can literally live at JPJ and miss out on a ton of stuff
Example: Ted Jeffries is the greatest Wahoo I know. He runs the Black Student Alumni stuff now and has friends from Virginia across all spectrums of student Life back in our day
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Reece + Isaac + Dunn is the core of a team that I am very excited to watch. Iām not going to stress a ton about the pieces around them. Hopefully more guys than not will āclickā into a role. Rim protection seems like a relative weakness (except for RD), but maybe we can bottle up guard penetration more on the perimeter.
On that note, Iām optimistically going to cast Eli as the guard version of Dunn. Maybe the shot isnāt there yet (or whatever), but Dunnās athleticism was so eye-popping compared to post-championship rosters, it allowed him to contribute even with inexperience and some obvious skill deficits. He was the most exciting guy on the floor last year (for me).
Imagine an opposing guard finally getting a break from Reeceās defensive hounding, and then here comes freak-athlete Elijah ready to ball-hawk in the passing lanes. Man I hope heās ready.
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Man the Dunn- Elijah comparison makes so much sense. Elijah needs to find the attitude that Dunn had last year. RD surprised the shit outta me last year how he came into games with confidence and energy and looked like he really belonged
Awesome insight here tb00000ne
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@tboooone I discussed exactly this with EG yesterday at summer league.
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Redshirting?
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Iām totally enjoying reading about minutes per game, but my concern (with all UVA teams) is whoās going to put up the points and can we get to over 70 ppg. We know our defense will be decent enough, but the more we score, the higher the seed we get.
So, using HGNās lineups, does this sound about right?
Top 7
Reece - 12 ppg (last year 9.5)
McKneely - 12 ppg (6.7)
Rohde - 10 ppg (17.1 at St. Thomas, Franklin 12.4)
Minor - 10 ppg (17.4 at Merrimack, Gardner 12.0)
Dunn - 6 ppg (2.4)
Groves - 6 ppg (6.8 at Oklahoma, Vander Plas 7.4)
Harris - 6 ppg (11.9 at Georgetown, Kihei 10.7)
Gertrude - 4 ppg
Buchanan - 4 ppg
Murray - whatever he averages takes away from others
Bond - whatever he averages takes away from others
Thatās 70 ppg as a team. Decent increases for Beeks, IMac and Dunn. Reasonable adjustments for the transfers from lower level schools to ACC competition. Overall, you have to believe we can average over 70, right? (Am I just hoping?)
-e
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yes
Iām a big believer in the theory that elite offense is the differentiator between UVA losing in the first weekend of the tournament and making it beyond that. So I hope youāre right.
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Hereās my hope and if it happens I think everything falls into place to maximize results and development:
Minor plays less than 25 min per game
Reece plays less than 32 min per game
Groves plays less than 18 min per game
Harris plays less than 14 min per game.
That leaves about 112 minutes per game for: Isaac, Blake, Elijah, Dunn, Bond, Taine
Letās say that Isaac and Dunn get 56 min per game.
That would leave 56 min per game for Blake, Elijah, Bond and Taine.
Edited - Totally blanked on Rohde. Give him 20 and reduce Dunn + Isaac to 52 and that leaves 40 min per game for Blake Elijah Bond and Taine - may fluctuate depending on matchups. But in general something like: 10 min each to start.
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Youāre going to be so disappointed on every single one of those
He hoped that Clark would play less than 5 mpg last season, so he should be used to the disappointment, but thatās never stopped him before.
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I donāt know if those numbers are so crazy:
- Minor - less than 25 ā seems well within our norm for a center. Ben was under 25. Our last 5 to be over 25 mpg was Jay Huff at 27 in 20-21.
- Reece - less than 32. He was about 35 in 22 and about 33 last year. I suspect heāll be ~35 again, but donāt think less than 32 would be wacky or anything.
- Groves - less than 18. He played ~17mpg (2021) and about 20.5 mpg (2022) for non tourney Oklahoma teams. Last year was 20.5 on a team that had a losing record, and didnāt make the NIT. And the trend at the end of the season was down. Given that, does less than 18 mpg seem crazy?
- Harris - less than 14. With Reece back, itās hard to peg Harrisās exact role other than Reece backup. If you think Tony will play Reece and Dante together for several mpg or more, then 14 might seem crazy. If not, then it probably doesnāt. Nigel Johnson played 16.5, so thatās bit more evidence that less than 14 might not be sooo wild for Dante.
What did folks think was so crazy about this? Tbh, Reece at under 32 seems the most unlikelyā¦
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Minor is going to play 30+ I think. I donāt think Dunn is going to play the 5 and Buchanan is not going to be able to do 15+
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Rohde?
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I will take that action! The 15+ would be a mix of Blake and small ball (Dunn or Bond or Groves paired with each other or some guards). Or that new kid from NC. Robinson? Whatās his name. Kind of the forgotten man.
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I doubt ARob is going to play this year.
Maybe we can run Bond/Dunn as the 4, 5 but Iām just not sure.
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