Torvik has Texas -3, 78-75
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Headed there with 5 other Hoo fans. Section 107.
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Would love to see Eli getting more PT, and playing to his strengths as a slasher/finisher. But I donāt think the coaching staff wants players to shoot anything but 3s and layups. Theyāre data driven and thatās what the analytics say to do (see Houston Rockets and Kyle Guy mentioning that when he was trying out for the Rockets, he made a 2 in the lane, and the Rockets didnāt count the basket)
I am probably fan #2 of Eli (after DFresh), but Eli needs to spend HOURS with the NOAH system shooting 3s, and start making 3s in the games, if he wants more play. Pains me to say it, but thatās the truth. Heās an excellent defender, and rebounder, but this staff has prioritized shooting 3s (from every position). Thatās just not Eliās game, unfortunately. His stroke looks good, perhaps he just lacks confidence. But my sense is that he is not hitting many 3s in practice either, otherwise he would be on the floor more minutes.
Hope he keeps his head up and spends extra hours every day in the practice gym shooting 3s, because he can help this team, and I am rooting for him hard.
Go HOOS. Beat Texas.
12 Likes
Completely agree with your analysis. I only want to add that Odom also values driving and finishing at the rim; he just doesnāt want pullup 2s. Eli has the potential to be elite at this, collapsing the defense, and allowing him to finish, or pass the ball to an open shooter. You combine this skillset with his defensive effectiveness, and he can be very good for us. I think he just needs more playing time. Of course, I am not a coach, but it seems this gives us much of what we need.
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Am I the only one who thinks Gertrude doesnāt look fully healthy? He looks a step slower than we know he is. I know in theory he can be our defensive stopper, but he hasnāt looked great on that end thus far. Hopefully he can ramp up and become more mobile but from what Iāve seen from him Iām not sure heās ready for a bigger role right now.
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Itās crazy that itās December and Iām not ready to be fully focusing on basketball quite yet WHAT IS HAPPENING
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Agree. That was my guess as to why heās only getting spot minutes. He looked a fair bit slower in those minutes recently than he did in the first few games.
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Generally agree here - only caveat I think is there is just a ton of rust from not playing
My hope is - has been - the more he plays the more fluid he will look. He will begin to trust and stop thinking. The athleticism will just take over
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Very, very unpopular opinion, but I am fully focused on basketball. I watched a couple football games because a friend wanted to come over and watch them with me. But, honestly, I only care about basketball. I understand football is all the buzz, and I hope they win the championship, but I really donāt care. I am looking forward to football being over, so basketball games can be on all day on Saturdays again.
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Game day!
Looking for big Ugo and Tillis minutes. This Texas team draws a lot of fouls and will pressure our front court.
Guards need to light them up from three.
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The Hoop Explorer matchup preview is a great tool, and we can glean some insights from it:
- Both teams have similar offensive and defensive shot charts: on offense they want 3s and rim attempts and defense they want to take those things away.
- Texas is more rim-focused, UVa more three-focused.
- The Texas rim protection isnāt great, they arenāt really a shot blocking team (their 7-footer Vokietaitis only has a 4.4% block rate, compared to Onyenso at 20%, GrĆ¼nloh at 14%).
- Texas has mostly limited transition opportunities for opponents.
- On the flip side, they get out a lot in transition; all their guards and wings contribute there, and Vokietaitis seems to run the floor too.
- They post their bigs - Vokietaitis is pretty good in these situations, Traore less so. Swain can post his man too.
- Vokietaitis is a good PnR finisher (1.28 PPP), Traore less so. All their guards are capable of running PnRs, Mark and Wilcher do it a little more than the others.
- Along with Vokietaitis, Swain is their other offensive engine - heās at the rim a lot with self-created shots.
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So tonight, will tell us a lot about the direction of our PNR defense. Can only get better
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Looks like KenPom has Texas winning by 4 and Vegas has UVA +2.5
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Torvik has it at 2.8
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We both beat Rider by 34 and the overall metrics are similar
Should be pretty evenly matched
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Not a must win but really need to see us look good tonight just for me personally.
Donāt forget Funny Story.
Clear eyes. Full hearts. Must win. Canāt lose.
We really do look quite similar in profiles. Texas is a good defensive rebounding team, though. That will limit us a bit. Need to see some mix of better PnR defense, better court awareness when Texas is in transition, and good ball movement on offense if we are going to win this.
I did put a crisp $10 on the Hoos moneyline. Overall, I think Texas is just a slight step down all around, and their homecourt doesnāt confer that much advantage. The boys will come out swinging.
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This might be our only chance to get a Q1 noncon win. Heck, it might be the only Q1 noncon game we playā¦ (depending on whether youāre a Bizjack Believer)
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6-3 is a solid start to the ACC/SEC challenge. Just need 3 more dubs!
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