I hate Duke, and I hate losing to them, especially in the ACCT final, and the sight of all those happy Dookies makes my blood boil…what that being said, now that they’ve finally hit their stride, they’re objectively better than us this year. We made a lot of mistakes, but I attribute most of them to Duke’s talent and athleticism. And that’s okay! This is the first season in a while that I’ve felt like we’re building towards something, despite all the roster turnover that we have coming.
At the end of the day, we’re a good not great team, and I’m hoping we can get the right draw and play well enough to win a game or two in the tournament. I think this team just about hit its ceiling both in the regular season and in the ACCT, and I’m really proud of them. (We may not be as good next year, but our roster will be more of a vintage 2014-2019 makeup, which is exciting! But now’s not the time to worry about next year.) I’ll be very interested to see the draw we get tomorrow, because our fate will be a lot more determined by the matchups we have this time around, compared to the past when we were elite.
A pessimistic take: I have no idea how a team that shot so well for the majority of the season can go so cold for what’s been over a month now.
An optimistic take: Loved loved loved seeing iMac and Dunn get lots of run down the stretch even if they did make some mistakes.
Exactly…look at the end of the day talent trumps effort if it’s disciplined….in college bb…Scheyer coached a good game…they deserved to win this…but we will not see a team like this until elite 8
Long, athletic teams are going to give this team trouble. Next year we should be longer and more athletic, if inexperienced. I expect next year’s team to improve over the course of the season like this year’s Duke team.
Regardless of what happens in the dance, I think we’re all ready to turn the page and start a new chapter. Hope JG, KC, AF, and Papi end on a high note but goddamn I’m getting fatigue now. Time to get some new blood in this program.
Also people, myself included, I think underrate Duke’s talent this year because (1) they were injured and (2) they weren’t that good early on. But they have the #2, #3, #4 players from the class alongside a 3rd year 5* PG. They are really talented and physical and their are probably <5 teams that come close to that level of raw physical ability.
16 teams out of 363 make it to the 2nd weekend. This team has vastly exceeded the expectations that the public (and this board) had for it at the beginning of the season. If your expectations are consistently higher than that you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.
Not kidding myself. We win tonight with Vander Plas who, along with Dunn, was in Flip’s head in Charlottesville. He certainly wouldn’t have put up 20 tonight.
With a full complement of players, we’re a better team, albeit a far less talented one.
I’d kind of hoped that turning to March the whole good-bad cycle on our 3FG% would continue and we’d shoot well. Over 4 games in March we’re shooting 29.8%, so, not the case so far.
I would be a little less harsh lol but yes, to an extent I agree. Excited to see what next week brings, but even more excited about the upcoming new era!
Duke is more athletic and talented but we can still beat them. I still can’t get over that no call on that foul when we had momentum. Worst no call i can remember
Shout out to Kadin tonight and this week overall. Even though he needs to catch the ball and do something other than dunk near the basket I felt that he played well tonight and really hope he returns.
Bilas was obviously right. BVP’s absence really showed tonight. You’ve gotta space Duke, use their size against them, or else it’s like beating your head against a wall over and over to deal with their bigs.
Still despite all that, if we make a shot here and there, that’s a game that could go either way. I strangely feel pretty good about it.
I like that the team seemed loose and smiling pre-game but I will say many of UVA’s best wins over the last few years have been when they show Kihei before the game locked in, not smiling, and wanting to dominate someone.
Btw, I can’t believe it took me this long to discover the “ignore” function. Every time that “view 1 hidden reply” came up in the thread I got a little endorphin hit. Technology is amazing.
I don’t really buy into the massive talent chasm- as though we’re some upstart playing vs Duke. We have very good veteran players.
Despite the length challenges/etc, we simply did not adapt approach in time to make it a winnable game. Essentially punted on the first 20ish mins of offense, creating a massive uphill battle.
The name of the game is creating easy looks, and we simply didn’t do that tonight. I would have loved to see a heavier lean on Reece to the hoop, Franklin and McKneely and try to create more space with them as shooting threats. Thought everyone battled, but was particularly impressed by Shedrick.
Anyone who says they know what will happen the next few weeks is lying- we could lose in a 5-12, or be on the doorstep of a Final Four in a few weeks. Should be fun.
It is amazing that I spent most of the 2nd half just hoping that we would get to 40 and even though I never thought that we would win getting it it 4 points made me change how I viewed the game. I wish we had kept it in single digits but still think that we will be a 4 seed and am optimistic about the start of the tournament.