Itâs still a young team in new roles. I think as the season goes on and guys get more used to what theyâll need to do, weâll see fewer of them. In this game, I noticed the bigs being more active setting screens in the back court and flashing to the ball more this game.
I think whatâs less important than the margin of victory is that this team dominated Nova for the majority of the game. If you take out Novaâs runs at the end of the first half/the end of half/end of game it was a 24 point game.
My view is that we lack athleticism more so than talent. Just replacing Reece/dunn in the starting lineup with power/saunders means a downgrade in athleticism. But the emergence of Cofie definitely has me softening my view. Iâm not totally sold on Dai Dai yet.
UVA has, remarkably, turned the ball over on between 18 and 19% of its possessions in all. 3 games. 3 games isnât a big sample size, but so far there arenât a lot of signs this team will be good at protecting the ball.
To be honest, if we improve defensive rotations among bigs, especially Power, Cofie, and Buchanan, itâll go a long way. We can beat mediocre teams with those breakdowns, but good teams are going to torch us. As weâve seen itâs very teachable and Ron should have a template for teaching it.
Apart from that wanna see us protect the ball better. Weâve done OK against bad defenses.
Those two things could get us into bubble team territory.
Itâs early, but Tennessee just doesnât look that scary on paper. A veteran PG who can dish, but big TO rate and not a knock down shooter. Then some guys. Igor is the most impressive guy statistically, but Iâm betting we can guard him. Theyâre going to play fierce defense, but theyâre not big. And then on offense, they donât have a lot of shooting. Three blowout wins so far, but 2 cupcakes. I guess it depends on whether Louisville is any good.
Watched the whole Tennessee-Louisville game. Tennesee is going to gum up our flow on offense so much more than any other team weâve faced. Louisville has a lot more versatility and playmaking and they couldnât get anything.
Donât think Tennessee is going to put up 80 on us or anything, I think weâll be OK on D. Itâs our offense Iâm more concerned with.
I donât think you replaced Reece / Ryan with Power / Saunders more like Dai Dai / Saunders. Who are both better offensively at the college level.
What you lose defensively you gain offensively. You canât convince me that last years team was better offensively.
Additionally, the whole purpose of the pack line was to contain more athletic teams and eliminate the dribble drive. It doesnât need elite athlete like Dunn to be successful, it obviously helps but itâs not what makes it effective
TLDR, I think the flooor is lower but ceiling higher.
I think Reece is better offensively than dai dai. And Iâm not trying to convince anyone that last yearâs team was better offensively. I was talking about raw athleticism.
Their front court offensively is not that intimidating. Their guard play however is really good and Zakai is as good as pg at the college level as you can get. And they are SUPER athletic and long (outside Zakai who is just a bulldog)
I think my initial prediction was like a 56-38 Tennessee win. Of course we can win and thatâs what makes college basketball great, anyone can win on any given night. But I think itâs going to be a low scoring ugly game where their perimeter defense and our lack of ball security will just be too much to overcome.
That sounds about right. Watching both Tennesseeâs exhibition vs Indiana, and their Louisville game, they are just so intense physically on the perimeter.
@zh00s noted it too that the last thing you want to do vs Tennessee is run a 5 out offense, which is sort of what we are doing. Indiana was the complete opposite, and they were able to pull off the win because of their post players and their guards getting downhill.
I jokingly (but maybe more seriously now) suggested our best bet would be to actually run Mover blocker vs Tennessee. To at least get our bigs going towards the rim when they slip the screens and attack the rim vs unset defense trying to help on McKneely if we donât just outright post up players.
As a Message Board Laureate, I would do what theyâve done for practicing against zone defenses and practice our offense against 6 defenders, two of whom are always trapping McKneely/Rohde/Dai Dai.
Force Buchanan and Cofie and Saunders and Power to be more comfortable with the ball at the top of the key or free throw line area if the guards can beat the trap to pass it up to them, and force them to make plays instead of getting the ball and then just sitting their and waiting for the guard being trapped to free themselves up and get the ball back
Virginia vs Tennessee @ Nassau, Bahamas, Thursday, 21 November 2024, 2130, CBS