The time has finally come.
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The question is–will Virginia actually play at a fast pace comparable to the rest of college basketball. Despite the talk about Odom wanting to play fast, his past teams haven’t done so in a while. At least not statistically. Only once has his team ranked in the top 100 of Division-1 in adjusted tempo, and that was his first season at UMBC. His VCU squads ranked in the bottom half, outside the top 200, both years there.
I think the overall pace numbers can mask a little what’s happening offensively. Last year’s VCU team was 27th in percentage of offensive possessions ending in transition (ie shot made, turnover, shooting foul drawn): https://hoop-explorer.com/TeamStatsExplorer?advancedFilter=SORT_BY%20off_trans_pct%20&confOnly=false&gender=Men&sortBy=power&t100=false&year=2024%2F25&
I take from that plus the middling overall pace numbers to mean that outside of transition they will run their stuff and work the clock down if need be.
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Yeah, Odom talked about that in some interview recently, I don’t remember which. About how his teams don’t play at a high pace nationally because they pick up full court and tend to force a lot of long possessions on defense but that they do play in transition a lot.
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Personally, I can’t wait until Odom has this team within a standard deviation of the tempo stat and we never have to talk about pace ever again.
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We talked about this in the Xs/Os thread over the summer, but pace can be broken down into Offensive and Defensive pace. Under Tony, we were pretty much DFL in both (or close), so it was moot to really tease them out.
Below is Odom at VCU last year. Relatively fast offensively (121 out of 350+ or so), but slowed teams down defensively.
Then, even with offensive pace, you can try to get out in transition yet still not have super fast pace. That was the sweet spot of the UConn natty teams. Attack in transition, but if it’s not there attack methodically in the half court.
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Being so close to the bottom makes it easier to trace our stat line horizontally.
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Miya’s depth metric (based on 8th man, in our case Ugo) puts us at 23
https://twitter.com/evanmiya/status/1984317344500629922?s=46
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Agreed. But I think our position is skewed by KenPom, which didn’t know what to do with our Euros. That is why I highlighted the Coaches poll; they are the most bullish, which means something, imo.
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Draft nuggets from Sam V:
- he has GrĂĽnloh at 37 in his preseason mock draft
- and this from an article today:
Virginia has also gotten some buzz from the scouting community for its duo of international imports in Thijs de Ridder and Johann Grünloh. The older de Ridder, who turns 23 in January, is originally from Belgium and was one of the best young players in the tough Spanish ACB last season as a skilled four who can defend, move without the ball and knock down shots from the perimeter. Grünloh is the one scouts have had a bit more excitement about, though, as the 7-footer is a tremendous shot blocker and defender who can also step out and occasionally knock down a shot. Both have a real shot to get drafted in 2026. In general, the Cavaliers have been one of the teams scouts have mentioned as a potential surprise. They’re essentially ranked 40th in the preseason AP poll to start the year, but they have an older, experienced team that should hit the ground running.
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He also still has Tillis, who I believe is probably our 6th or 7th best player as our best.
This seems fair though. I’m definitely pleased with out depth, even if I expect at least 2 of these guys to basically wash out.
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Matt Norlander: The lowest high-major KenPom ranked team to make the tournament? I’ve got Virginia at 59.
Our KenPom ranking is very aggravating to me. But it is just the beginning of the season, so I suppose I should let it go…
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No need. Give into your anger.
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ACTIVE SHOOTER NEAR SHANNON LIBRARY
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Just heard this, and was coming on to post. I pray no one gets hurt.
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It’s been called off thankfully. Police found no evidence of a shooter
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So I don’t know any more about Tillis’s injury situation than the rest of you. But I do wonder if it’s more of a late season targeted return…do you consider a medical redshirt? Especially if things are going well playing without him. From Odom’s comments, I get the sense Tillis isn’t interested in that. Any competitor wants to come back and play this year. But if we get there and the options are, try to come back for 1.5 months or stay in college and earn lots more money another year. Gotta wonder.
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Two usually, somewhat in the know posters on 247 said 4-6 weeks with a target of the American game. Would leave all of conference play in play.
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Yeah not an ortho surgeon, but it looks like if it was a minor clean out, usually guys back 4-6 weeks. Cole Anthony and Iman Shumpert examples of guys that went through it in college and missed limited time.
Would take the fact that they didn’t burn Barksdale’s redshirt last night, on top of the insider optimism, that it was minor procedure.
That said recovery varies person to person. If we see Silas out there, think we’ll know more…
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