I pressed pause in 94 @TUGARD but I get it. Ralph is obvious 1 but I would rather offer some insight where I have it man. Also look at the guys AO and Tu dealt with back then in the ACC. Also I did say Akil so all my bases are covered hahahah
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I have a question. Do we win the chip in 18 if we still had Marial? I go back n forth. With Marial on the team, do it take away from Devon minutes and success. Do it cause conflict with Dre and his minutes. But I also think we needed another scorer and someone that can get hot. You have Ty, Guy, Marial, Wilkins and Salt as starters. Than Devon, Nigel, Dre and Mamadi off the bench. That team is better than the chip team in my opinion.
I like it get someone from every era. Thatās the joy of a questions like this thereās no wrong answer. And honestly like I said you can really break it up Ralph was a beast but he was a true interior defender and wasnāt called upon no had to do what an Akil did. Malcom and the guards have a whole different skill set. For me itās a bit of apples and oranges.
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Thatās an interesting question. Marial Shayok was an interesting fit his entire time at UVa and I thought he was fun/ interesting to watch at ISU. He would have given that team an offensive lift for sure. Heās the closest thing to instant offense the Hoos have had in a while. JA was similar I feel like. My issue with Marial was his fit with the rest of the squad he always felt a little out of place and it felt like the offense didnāt flow as fluidly as it could. Maybe it was personality, maybe it was skill set. I do agree him leaving opened the door for Hunter and Devon to grow and step into their roles much quicker.
Go back and watch the final 5 mins of ISU NCAA tournament game and I think you get the complete Marial picture. He kept them in that game and brought them back if I recall. He was also the one charged with taking the game winning shot, but he basically dribbled himself into trouble and heaved up a prayer where a better set action maybe the get a better shot. My point being I always felt like he could givith and he could taketh away.
Thatās a great what if.
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wow. no clue i will defer to @BDragon response there. Will say if Shay was all in definitely be real chance but if not not sure how the chemistry would have been and I dont know him or his story at all
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And Iām going purely off memory/ top of my head. That time period is a bit fuzzy for me. But I do remember having that feeling, but donāt recall if there was actual talk of chemistry issues. I do think Dreās emergence helped usher in the transfer.
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Great thing to think about. We wouldāve been a better team in 18, but thereās no natty in 19 if shayok sticks around imo.
Idk if we bring in Nigel Johnson if shayok stays. Would essentially have two pgs with Devon n ty and then shayok and guy would fill the other guard mins.
Prolly woulda been too crowded in one way or another. Gottta imagine dev or dre lose out on a big chunk of their minutes, but shayok prolly woulda been the best player on that team had he stayed.
Has the length and agility to lock up on d and then heās an absolute bucket getter on o.
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Iām with you about the chemistry thing. Definitely felt like something was off or at least hat the potential to be.
To me (think it was for a lot of others too) it was obvious ty and Kyle were the future of the program by the end of 2016-2017 season.
Assuming Shayok saw that and figured he wanted to be the guy rather than defer to a couple second yrs. thatās just my take
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I think youāre right. I remember being on grounds in the fall of 16 right as the season was kicking off, and watching that group of 4 Kyle, Ty, Dre and Jay and having a similar conversation that it was pretty obvious the Hoos backcourt was about to be overflowing with talent.
And like you said, if Shayok is there Iām not sure how you divide the mins. Someone is getting screwed and the end result of that is no one develops to their full potential.
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Dunno if we win it all, but we donāt lose in the first round if we had a deeper team in 2018. Its achillesā heel was lack of depth. Huff wasnāt ready, Hunter was a first year, Nigel only had one year in the system. Guy and Jerome were only 2nd years.
With Hunter and Huff injured, and Devon and Isaiah in foul trouble, we had the oddest lineup (Guy/Jerome/Salt/Nigel/Mamadi) that definitely played to our disadvantage. With any one of Thompson, Shayok, Kihei, even Austin Nichols on the team, none of that happens.
2 biggest What-Ifs in UVa basketball history IMO: what if Austin plays to his potential for two years? what if Jason Lawson was on the 95 team?
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Nichols changes everything for those two yrs. wouldāve negated the transition year aspect of 2016-2017. That team desperately needed an inside presence, and with him i feel they woulda made a deep run. In 2018 he probably wouldāve disrupted hunters development, but a lineup of ty-kg-dev-zay-Austin wouldāve been deadly with Dre providing versatile depth
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Nigel was coming if Marial stayed. Now if Darius stayed we wouldnt need Nigel. Devon point guard game just disappeared in college. I watch Cape Henry up close alot. People who know me know why. Devon was doing his thing and i saw him as a potential point guard. But I also said before London committed. London is q better point guard and will push Devon if not start.
Marial killed in all our ncaa games when we struggled. I heard why he left and he wouldnt be in the NBA if he stayed per some people. He needed a better offensive system but if we had him in 18. Look at this lineup. Guy, Ty, Marial, Dre and Mamadi. WOW. TB eff up Nigel game but Nigel was way better than what we saw. Nigel killed in the summer. Im sure TW know this. It was our ncaa lost that made TB modify and appreciate skill sets like Nigel more.
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Iād like to say that with Austin weād be three time defending champsā¦ but now having won one, we can see just how hard it is to win it all. We were the best team in 2019 (most wins, fewest losses, 2 out of 3 losses to the top overall seed) and still had to sweat through three incredibly, incredibly tight games. Austin would have helped hugely and maybe we win another natty, but itās no guarantee.
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Another big If is, what IF Justin stayed. I understand why he left but man he would have been a UVA legend if he stayed and won a chip. He is already loved by UVA but if he stayed. Man, he would have been on the Malcalm and Stith level. We needed him that yr. I dreamed about Malcalm, Evan, Tobey, Justin and Gill being seniors every nite. I was pissed he left but understand why.
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Austin would have been a gamechanger. He would have given the hoos an inside presence offense they never had.
All bets are off the table in 16/17 if he was on that team.
I had the exact same reaction to JA leaving. I got it but hated it. That was going to be a loaded team hos 4th year
Every nite I use tu say wait until they become seniors. Wait until they become seniors. That team would have been UVA second best team ever under TB. I think Joe sr yr was the best. We just didnāt know how tu be winners. Mich St didnt out play us. It was like the team was just happy tu be in the tournament but that team was ridiculous. Here is another convo I have with my UVA group. Who is better, Darion or Akil? I understand why Akil started but Darion was just as good on defense and way better on offense. If Darion dont get hurt his soph yr. I think his career is different. I think TB should have played Darion more.
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Youāre exactly right on Justin leaving early. The only thing the 2016 team was missing was a third guard, athletic who could shoot and defend. Evan, Marial, Darius, and Devon were not ready to fill Justinās shoes. Justin comes back = final four if not better.
edit: went back and looked at 2016, argh we lost so many close games. Lost eight games by 7, 6, 5, 4, 4, 3, 2, and 1.
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Those are the games that we missed JA. Hell if he doesnāt get hurt in the UofL game then get appendicitis that 15 season ends differently. He never got his conditioning or game shape back after the layoff
Yea I remember also. I was so mad at J.A. for leaving. I knew we was getting a chip that next year. @BDragon ,you are also right about '15. When J.A. went out UVA was a different team. And when he finally came back they never got their chemistry back. They were kicking everybodyās ass before Justin went down
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