Bediako stayed in the draft, a bit unexpectedly. I think Bama definitely has the most space, if that’s the main consideration
Here’s the Torvik roster (although he’s obviously late on Bediako)
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Yeah UNC fans feel less optimistic about Jarin Stevenson after that interview for both 2023 AND 2024. The log jam exists both years they acknowledged.
My og guess was Alabama for Jarin and sticking by it.
If Dunn indeed goes pro next year we are in the market for a starting 4 man. HGN has mentioned it’s highly likely UVA is portal searching for a forward next summer but maybe that opportunity entices Jarin?
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We’re already losing Minor and Groves (and possibly Dunn). Potentially plenty of PT available for a freshman combo wing/forward in 2024.
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Best case is that Dunn explodes this year and is off to be an NBA 1st rounder next season, Bond gets 10-15 mins this year and shows he is ready and steps into the role in 2024.
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Watching the offense clips now, and my first reaction … Yikes, Chet Holmgren is a frickin beast!
The Gonzaga game was really interesting because, aside from the fact that their three-headed monster made his life miserable and Merrimack had no one else to help him, he did very well against Holmgren defensively while Timme kind of cooked him, and he did well against Timme offensively where Holmgren kind of neutralized him.
It’s that his strength is his most effective feature defensively and his quickness offensively. He could body Holmgren but Timme had no issues. He could get around Timme but was really bothered by Holmgren’s length.
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I’ve watched the offense.
First, same as I should say always. Doing these pieces is a real mitzvah for all UVa fans. Just finding and collating all the videos would be enough. Then, the analysis is great, too. So, thanks!
Second, my bias is that the portal is not UVa’s friend under the current rules. No sit out plus NIL-forward transactional transfer recruiting both work against us. Transfer recruiting went from a serious strength of the program, to something where we are not competing with our top 25 peers in any real way. Our best transfer recruit recently was played off the court, PLAYED OFF THE COURT, against a 13-seed in round 1. He couldn’t defend and wasn’t doing anything on offense to merit him being there. And that was our best transfer. So, I won’t belabor any longer, but my main point is that I think up-transfers are very risky, and I think UVa transfers in the current era haven’t impressed me, so I start out skeptical of all transfers, and I’m more skeptical of guys like Minor and Rohde. For Groves, I can at least see where he’s fairly plug and play with what he could do well at Oklahoma. Harris is in the middle; power 6 experience, but really, really bad power 6 experience.
So with that being said, [start reading now 
] my offense takeaways:
- He can’t shoot outside the paint. That’s suboptimal. He can’t shoot FT’s (last year’s 58% is best case), so unless we are trying to draw fouls against a guy like Bacot or Hall or Burns to get them out of the game, you don’t even love him drawing non-AND1 shooting fouls.
- You’re right. He’s pretty friggin slick on PnR rolls. Great awareness, great processing, ability to adjust in air / on the fly. That will be sweet with Reece. I loved the potential with Shed and Reece running the PNR, but I will admit, Minor is a better PnR roll option than Shed, except maybe for the lob. But no perimeter shooting equals no pick and pop option, taking away a pretty important option, and making things a bit easier to defend.
- Tbh, I think that’s where I’d stop. The iso stuff is interesting, but if we are at a point where Minor playing in iso is good offense, I mean, ugh.
- Some nice stuff on the passing, which sort of jives with him being a very good “processor” of the game. (But he’s not a BVP like connector, although maybe he is and just needs to play with better talent).
So, I see one thing where I’m like “hell yeah!” and then not much of anything else. Let’s see how defense and other stuff shakes out. […reads a bit of the defense stuff … uh oh…].
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Defense:
- I have been very, very, very skeptical of his defense for a couple main reasons: (1) his role in their zone is about as far away positionally as you can get from what we will ask him to do, and (2) he’s undersized and not a leaper, and his block rate mostly came against smaller NEC lineups, with nothing above the rim that would translate to the ACC.
- So with that base, I was actually pretty encouraged by the strengths you highlighted in your writeup: “Minor’s alert defensive style, his flexibility, his body control, and the way in which he frequently used his strength to control opposing offensive players and disrupt them”.
- As I highlighted in the first bullet, translatability from zone center fielder to packline 5 is pretty minimal, but I was encouraged by how well he seems to slide in front of guys. Basically, I can see him hedging ball screens fairly well with speed, strength, and great awareness.
- But what he won’t do well is give us any rim protection off of those recoveries, which we’ve been spoiled by from Diakite to Huff to Shed.
- Rebounding looks solid. ORs could add a little punch to the offensive side.
I’m a big “yeah, that reinforces my priors” guy, because I’m a dumb, stubborn, mule. So that’s more or less how I feel here. I wouldn’t want to pencil in Minor for 30 mpg. I think there will be things where Buchanan may already be better (guesses: some spacing of the floor, better athleticism, better able to handle vertical athletes) and will get betterer and betterer with more time. Put me down for Minor at about 20 or so, 25 in certain matchups, and let’s play plenty of Dunn, a healthy helping of Buchanan, lots of Dunn-Groves lineups to goose the offense, and even some Bond at the positionless basketball 4.
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Ryan Dunn is the rim protection for Minor while he’s hedging.
Actually, this does connect to something I was thinking about while watching the NBA playoffs. Some teams have had some success keeping their main rim protector out of ball screen action by putting them on the worst shooter of the other players and having them lurk weak side. I think that would be really good for the hard hedge approach, where you have your best rim protector stay closer to the rim, and have the screen-setter defender be a mobile forward who focuses on disrupting the ball screen action. We have kinda wound up there in the past, like in the Salt-Zay lineups where Jack would blow up the screening action and Zay would clean up anything that got to the rim.
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Fair enough, but (1) Trey Murphy transferred in one year before the other transfer you’re referencing (and Murphy was no-sit and I’d consider him “recent”) and (2) your implication is that Gardner sucked because he was run off the court by a 13-seed, neglecting to mention that the only NCAAT game we got to see Vander Plas play in . . . he was the 13-seed and torched a 4-seed, when he was guarded by two guys currently in the NBA. We never got to see what he could do FOR us in the tourney (I bet he could have put a body on Slawson).
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Armaan was a very good transfer who did well despite being played out of position. If he was our starting SG for two years I think he’d be thought of more positively and would have had even more success.
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still under the old rules when he transferred and the plan was to sit out a year which from a UVA perspective would have been better production-wise
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Armaan is one of my favorite UVA guards.
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Trey picked UVa under the old rules, but played under the new rules (not yet NIL), so I put him in the old regime.
I don’t think Gardner sucks. He was very good for us for two years, but he had serious flaws. Seeing Armaan chatter, too. Again, those guys aren’t bad - they were ACC starters on a co ACC champ. But our transfer caliber went from guys who were top 75 (Hauser, Key, Nichols) and/or future draft picks (Trey) and/or future NBA guarantee contract guys (Gill, Hauser, Murphy) to guys who aren’t any of those things. And you’re right on BVP - we beat Furman if he’s playing (I can’t even say healthy, since he didn’t seem healthy for a while).
Maybe Rohde brings us back to the old standard. But I’m a bit skeptical until I see it translate. A non UVa hoops fan buddy of mine is pretty high on him …
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Everyone is underestimating Murray’s minutes this year. This is his Stattmann year. If there’s one TB trend that’s etched in stone, it’s too many minutes for upperclass Kiwis.
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I have nothing but positive feelings about Armaan. One of my favorite players from last two years. Sorry to see him not use his COVID year, but I get it. Some guys are ready to move on after their 4 years.
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Kody was Australian, but I get what you’re saying. I think CTB likes his work ethic and obviously experience. He’ll get his shot for sure, but I think we have more options now, so he’ll need to produce to keep his spot in the rotation.
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Arman is one of those guys that would be much better if there was no 3 point line. Guys are forced to focus so much on shooting 3s now it takes away from their games. Especially very good players like Arman
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Agreed Fresh. When he drove to the basket or shot his mid-rangers he was better.
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I have said to iMac couple times: you are way too good to only shoot threes. Rip it through and drive lefty sometimes
(Please dont stop shooting 3s iMac)
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